Public Speaking: Connect with your Audience, Part 2

Call for audience involvement. How do you find out the audience’s perspective? How do you get them to participate in a dialogue with you?

Ask a question. Few things fire up an audience faster than questions. Rather than sitting and judging the speaker, when asked a question, audience members are charged to participate, their minds alive with possibilities. Will they know the answer? Will the question be challenged? How will the presenter respond to the answer?

Asking questions demonstrates your willingness to let go of narcissistic monologue and involve the audience in participatory dialogue. When you toss out questions to the audience, you interrupt your own closed-loop mental process and bring in diverse viewpoints. Asking questions is a subtle tool of persuasion. By simply asking a question, you can often make your point more powerfully than by hammering home assertion after assertion. The audience opens to your ideas as they articulate answers to your questions.

Find out if the audience is "getting it" before it’s too late to redirect them. Asking questions checks your audience’s understanding and retention, allowing you to adjust your presentation mid-stream, if necessary, to more effectively communicate.

Want to inject some tension? Demonstrate that you’re interested in your audience?

Ask questions, listen carefully to the answers and consider follow-up questions to create a dialogue. Start with open-ended questions addressed to the audience in general. As the presentation progresses, use specifically directed, close-ended questions. Avoiding boredom as well as checking comprehension and retention are key here.

Who is the target of your questions? It’s pretty safe to address the audience in general. Anyone who raises their hand probably thinks they know the answer. They like attention and like to participate. However, when you call on someone who hasn’t raised their hand, interest picks up. How will they respond? Will they know the answer?

Don’t forget rhetorical questions, questions that require no answer, but are used for persuasive effect. When asking rhetorical questions, avoid eye contact, face away from the audience and lower your volume as though talking to yourself. (Don’t forget to turn back and continue eye contact when you’re done with the rhetorical questions.)

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