Have you ever felt like you “lost the room” during one of your presentations? You probably know all the signs to look for; people texting on their smartphones or playing games, audience members nodding off in their seats, or occasionally even seeing people just get up and walk out. If you have never experienced this personally, then let me tell you firsthand…it’s not any fun.
Throughout my book and in this email series, I have continually talked about commanding the attention of your audience and get them fully invested in your performance. Here are a few specialized tips to ensure that you can achieve that effect every time:
- As you know, credibility is not something that the audience gives lightly; you have to earn their respect by building rapport and showing them that you’re an expert. You do this through body language (stand tall, smile and don’t fidget!), telling them about your experiences through stories and making eye contact.
- How you speak to the audience is also critical. You should have an authoritative tone that gives weight to what you are saying, but you also have to ensure that the audience is absorbing your ideas and staying fully connected. If you see their attention starting to drift, then change gears with a fun story or some back and forth interaction, or an exercise.
- Attention spans drift so change the energy in the room about every ten minutes.
- Then again, making an emotional connection with your listeners is easily one of the most powerful methods of all, because they begin to actually feel what you feel and see things from your viewpoint. So don’t be afraid to get personal and allow the crowd to see who you really are in life…it pays big dividends.
My final piece of advice is something your parents have probably told you since you were a small child- just be yourself to command attention. There are hundreds of different speaking styles out there and each of them have distinct benefits for engaging an audience…but it’s not your job to try and copy what someone else does well. That’s not you and people will quickly see that. So just be your authentic self on stage and it will go a very long way.