Business Skills - Activate your audience

activate your audience. Many of us feel nervous when standing in front of an audience to give a presentation, and if we have to make a presentation in a second language, this can add to the pressure. We feel one of the best ways to reduce your nervousness is to activate your audience by getting people involved. You can build rapport with them and relieve any tension in the room. Also, when you involve your audience, they feel that what you are doing is more likely to be tailored to their interests and needs this in turn means that they listen more attentively. Here are seven techniques for activating your audience. One polling one of the simplest ways to involve your audience is through polling you ask your audience a question and tell them to answer with a show of hands. For example, when giving a presentation about the benefits of working overseas, you might start by asking how many of you have lived or worked abroad for more than one year. Once people have raised their hands, you can follow up by asking some of them about their personal experiences in this way, you can check the experience of your audience and their expectations. You can also see who might help support your ideas later on in your presentation. Too active questioning. You can ask your audience a genuine question that you would like someone to answer in this case. Be careful not to put people on the spot. Try not to jump on someone who might not be prepared to answer. Instead ask the whole audience the question and look for someone who is prepared to answer. Try not to ask questions that have a right or wrong answer. People hesitate to answer if there is a chance of getting it wrong. Ask for people's opinions or experiences active questioning shows your audience that you are interested in what they think and are taking their situation into consideration three rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is one that does not require an answer in a presentation. You pose the question pause and then answer the question yourself rhetorical questions, pull your audience along with you when you pose the question, your audience tries to answer it in their heads. They can then check their answers with the answer that you give. You can also use rhetorical questions to signpost where you are in your presentation. So we've looked at the need for change. What then are the changes we should make in this way your audience knows where they are in the logical process and this motivates them to listen to the next stage. Four buzz groups, Sometimes you want to brainstorm ideas with your audience. You can then use buzz groups, a technique often employed by trainers. First you divide your audience into pairs or small groups. You then ask them to answer a question or solve a problem in a limited time period. Afterwards you gather the ideas from the groups on a flip chart or white board and discuss them. This works based in smaller groups who know each other and are familiar with the question or problem you pose five quizzes. Most people like quizzes, they like to test their knowledge and skills. You can use this trait to involve people in your presentation, create a quiz with questions that match the main points of your presentation. For example, if you are making a presentation about dealing with difficult customers, you can ask questions about how to tackle different situations, describe the situation and give three or 4 alternative answers for people to choose from. Then you can use each correct answer as a springboard to talk about your ideas in more detail. six Question and Answge Sessions. Most presentations end with a question and answer session. There are two potential problems here. The first is that many of the questions may only be of interest to the questioner. The rest of the audience are simply looking forward to the coffee break. Your key messages become lost to prevent this from happening, Ask for questions before you summarize your presentation, deal with the questions and then come with your summary and key messages. The second problem is that this is the part of the presentation. That is the hardest to prepare during your presentation. Try to put yourself in your audience's shoes and imagine and prepare for the questions you are likely to be asked. Seven empathetic language. Use empathetic language to build rapport with your audience. Try to avoid over using the word. I starting sentences with. I can make you sound didactic, egotistical and superior. I want to tell you. Or I would like to again put yourself in your audience's shoes instead of I use you us or we. So let's look at uh what does this mean for you? This has to positive effects. Firstly it forces you to put your message in terms of your audience. Secondly, it creates a natural feeling of empathy. And this can help you feel more confident. Mhm. Yeah.