5 ways to connect with your audience (& why it’s essential for success)
Is there anything more terrifying than presenting in front of a room of strangers?
That awkward silence.
All those eyeballs fixed on you.
And the booming sound of your voice in the conference hall. (Yikes! I feel nervous just thinking about it.)
To get over the awkwardness and fears, you need to make an effort to connect with your audience. Which, of course, is exactly what you DON’T want to do. But hear me out: If you don’t take the time to engage, your audience will very quickly lose interest in what you have to say.
Here’s five tips to help you engage audiences (try them the next time you’re in the spotlight).
5 simple tips to connect with every audience
To engage your audience…
Don’t just talk...LISTEN: Be responsive to your audience, and what’s going on around you. I know it’s tricky because you’re so focused on delivering your talk, but with practice you can deliver a great talk and pay attention to the people in the room. Watch for the audience’s responses, and be willing to connect when needed.
Smile: I always smile when I give a talk, partly because I have a seriously scary “resting bitch face” (my mouth naturally relaxes into a frown). Smiling is an immediate invitation to the audience to engage and relax with you, and it also is an immediate signal to YOUR brain to relax and have a good time. Enjoyment is contagious, so make sure you bring enthusiasm and a positive attitude, because it will improve your talk.
Be authentic: Audiences aren’t interested in robots, they want to hear from real people. So don’t be afraid to bring your wildly imperfect self to the stage. Give them your personal perspective and share honestly, and the audience will respond. (Tip: A great way to be more personal is to share an anecdote or a story).
Use eye contact: Yup, this is a big one. Without smart use of eye contact, the audience will disengage - they subconsciously respond when the speaker “sees” them. Glance around the room comfortably, focus on a few faces for a few seconds, and look in different parts of the room to draw people in. (For more tips, read this article.)
Be relatable: To reach an audience, share information they can relate to (or have some basic knowledge of). Don’t “dumb down” what you’re sharing, but share visual images, stories, or analogies. (Also, avoid using specialized jargon, which is often off-putting and confusing.)