Interact with Your Audience During Your Talk

All speakers seek to converse with their audience members in order to reach them. As you are delivering your talk, consider adapting a hightened conversational tone.

Begin your talk with a "nonverbal handshake." In the U.S. American culture, this means that you make eye contact with as many audience members as you can and that you smile a genuine smile that conveys your sincere welcome and appreciation for their attention.

Look at http://www.lifehacker.com, which suggests “downloads, web sites, and shortcuts that actually save time” (their motto: “Don't live to geek; geek to live”). Read about making contact with your audience in “Tips for Public Speaking” from Berkeley’s Office of Educational Development. Or go directly to http://www.lifehacker.com/software/learning/tips-for-public-speaking-122904.php.

Use the principles and techniques of adult learning. As Beebe and Beebe recommend, adult audiences will want

• To be given information that they can use immediately;
• To be actively involved in the learning process;
• To connect their life experiences with the new information they learn; and
• To know how the new information is relevant to their needs and their busy lives.

At http://www.acjournal.org/holdings/vol5/iss2/special/beebe.htm, the site of the American Communication Journal, read the authors’ comments on their book “Public Speaking: An Audience Centered Approach.” by Steven and Susan Beebe

Click here to learn more about interacting with your audience during your presentation.