Blog
When You Lose Your Audience
- July 11, 2024
They’re sneakily texting under the table…
Whispering to their coworkers…
Digging for crumbs in the muffin basket.
You’ve lost your audience.Now what?
It can be disheartening and frustrating when you are trying to communicate important information and your audience tunes out.
How can you regain control?
Re-engage with *purposeful* changes. A few ideas:
- Move While podiums are nice for stashing your notes, they minimize your stage presence and potentially hide powerful gestures. When you move across the stage, your audience not only sees you better, but also wonders, “Where is she going?”. When you move in front of someone, they instinctively raise their heads to engage. If you really want to up the ante, you can move off the stage and move around on the floor where the audience is seated.
- Change your pacing Humans are drawn to contrast. Varying your pitch is key (see my previous post, here: https://bit.ly/3Gu2GzK) but so is varying your *rate* of speech. Think of interval training on the treadmill, but for your voice. When you change your pace, your audience wakes up to ask, “Hey, what’s different here?”
- Embrace silence and softness In western culture, many of us struggle with silence. We feel a need to “fill the space,” and eliminate any potentially awkward moments. But creating silence through a PAUSE is one of the most powerful tools a speaker has. It builds anticipation, so your audience leans in to hear what’s next. Similarly, *speaking softly* when you really want to hit an idea home can force your audience to hyperfocus to understand what you’re saying.
- Ask Questions Questions aren’t reserved for audience members. As a speaker, YOU can ask the audience questions to bring them back on board. Just make sure you get specific and personal. For example, you can ask, “Has anyone seen this issue show up on their team?”. Wait for the show of hands, but don’t stop there. Call on someone specific - Melissa, Tyson or Eric - and ask them to share a story or example. Your audience will wake up and tune in when they hear a new voice and perspective.