Is This Thing On?: Keeping Your Audiences Attention

First and foremost, you must deal effectively with your own emotions, ego, hang-ups, inhibitions, and fears. This will release you to focus on the audience is their attention level. A trainer must prepare thoroughly, believe in the message behind the words, and be committed to attaining his or her objective. But most important is a continual awareness of the audience members as individual persons, and not as merely a faceless mass.

There is only one way to find out whether or not an audience is paying attention. That is to look at them, not through them. The best way is to look at individual faces and directly into their eyes. This reveals whether they are looking and listening, and forces them to do so if their attention has wandered. A trainer should make every effort to get and hold eye contact with the audience, since it is the only way to talk directly to people. This may be difficult with larger groups. Sometimes it is necessary to concentrate only on the first few rows and use them to gauge the rest. Yet it is possible with a little practice to look into the eyes of people fairly far back even in a large audience, or to make them sense eye contact.

During a presentation, if possible, physically arrange the audience so that they're less distracted by late arrivals. Try to group them so that there is a minimum of space between them. Do not permit guests to remain on the podium during delivery. While setting up and choosing a room, remain aware of audience comfort-ventilation, heat, and cooling. Eliminate unnecessary material from the podium such as flowers, signs, or unused equipment. Keep visuals covered unless they are actually in use. Keep the chalkboard clean. Check lighting to be sure that it focuses on the podium and directly on the speaker. The podium should be the best lit spot in the room. Dress conservatively and impeccably. Be pleasant to look at! Do not wear highly reflective colors or jewelry. Stay on schedule so that the audience will not be distracted by time pressures.

Gauges of how well an audience is listening are such things as shuffling feet, movement, scribbling, and general restlessness. All of these must be circumvented if you are to get and maintain attention.

You can deliberately elicit feedback to provide data to measure your progress through the use of "predetermined response points". An example is the "double-answer" technique, recognizable in many sales presentations, which essentially asks a question that gives a choice between two "yes" answers with no negative responses. Such questions can be subtly interwoven into a training presentation without a trainee being aware of the affirmative net being woven. For example, "Do you like the first method of time management or the second better?" or "Which long-term range planning goals would best suit your office?"

Keeping control of your audience and eliciting honest feedback will help your presentation in the long run.

Copyright AE Schwartz & Associates All rights reserved. For additional presentation materials and resources: ReadySetPresent and for a Free listing as a Trainer, Consultant, Speaker, Vendor/Organization: TrainingConsortium

CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Boston, MA., a comprehensive organization which offers over 40 skills based management training programs. Mr. Schwartz conducts over 150 programs annually for clients in industry, research, technology, government, Fortune 100/500 companies, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. He is often found at conferences as a key note presenter and/or facilitator. His style is fast-paced, participatory, practical, and humorous. He has authored over 65 books and products, and taught/lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the United States.

---

Fading into Sameness: How Too Many Slides Can Ruin Your Presentation

"I have a love/hate relationship with PowerPoint. In the right... Read More

Dump that Overhead Projector!

What is it about overhead projectors that causes us to... Read More

Sharpening Your Presentation Skills

Regardless of the nature of our job or social standing,... Read More

1,000,001 Reasons To Connect With Your Audience

Eye contact is mandatory when giving a public presentation.The goal... Read More

Give Your Audience Something to Talk About

There is an old saying: "The first thing to do... Read More

The Seven Deadly Sins of Presentations

Every day, so many tens of thousands of innocent clients... Read More

Networking: How to Network Within Your Organisation

Although there are any number of different networking groups and... Read More

Clear Communication: The Benefits and How to Achieve Them

Communication is a complex and often difficult process for both... Read More

Present Your Message with Power and Pizzazz

If you're ready to kick your career or business up... Read More

Communication Barriers and Simplifying the Communication Process

The communication process can be much more difficult than a... Read More

Choosing a Company Shirt vendor

Where can you choose a company shirt vendor? There are... Read More

Kvetching Behavior and How it Hinders Success

Kvetching is the Yiddish word for complaining, hand to the... Read More

How To Make Your Best Ever Presentation

The most important tip...EVER!Make sure that you always think of... Read More

How to Prevent Presentation and Speaking Disasters

I just got back from my whirlwind speaking engagements and... Read More

How to Convert PowerPoint to Flash Manually

Converting PowerPoint to Flash would be absolutely a good choice... Read More

The Relationship between Information Sender and Receiver: The Art of Communication

For communication to take place, a message must be transmitted... Read More

How Storytelling Can Grow Your Business

People love stories. We love to hear about other people,... Read More

Audience Respect

One of the biggest mistakes most presenters make is in... Read More

Winning The Big Pitch - The 7 Deadly Sins Of Business Presentations And How To Avoid Them!

Are poor presentations costing you business?The ability to deliver a... Read More

Presentation Skill Mistakes

Last week my husband and I attended an awesome 4... Read More

10 Tips For Bringing Your Event To Life

Your job as an event planner doesn't stop with the... Read More

How To Run Your Greatest Conference Ever

Like most good achievements, a magnificent meeting depends on planning... Read More

The Missing Link in Presentation Skills Training

Imagine you are the most amazing figure skater who ever... Read More

Plasma Screen Hire ? What Do You Need to Know for Presentations

How many people will need to see the screen? A... Read More

The Presentation After the Presentation

Allowing the audience to ask questions after your presentation is... Read More

The End is the Beginning

People remember best what you say last. In a presentation,... Read More

Chairing A Meeting The Most Effective Way

How many times have you attended a meeting where the... Read More

Practice Makes Perfect ? 7 Tips for Making the Most of Your Presentation Practice

Believe it or not, preparation is a better determinant of... Read More

Coaching Tips for Powerful Presentations

Tip #1 The purpose of your speech is to get... Read More

Improve Your Bottom Line with What You Say

When was the last time you thought about what you... Read More

Presentation Pitfalls Series: Top 10 Content Mangement Mistakes

Here, David Letterman style, are what I consider to be... Read More

Dump Your Speeches For Leadership Talks

The CEO of a worldwide business asked me to help... Read More

How You Can Save On Conference Calling

In recent years, companies have recognized the need to expand... Read More