Effective Public Speaking: Audience Contact
Although speaking in public is really a monologue of sorts, this
monologue is addressed to a ready, able and receptive audience
who wants to learn from you as much as you want to learn from
them.
Speaking in public would be more effective if it is listened to.
The following are effective tips to maintain that necessary
contact with the audience.
Greet them
Minutes before your actual speaking engagement, you could walk
around the venue and familiarize yourself with the people who
will be listening to you. As the people and the attendees
arrive, give them a warm greeting. It is so much easier to
deliver a speech to a group of people whom you consider as
friends than to a bunch of anonymous faces.
Be positive
Honestly, people expect and want you to succeed. Audiences want
to be as informed, stimulated and entertained as they could be.
If you fail, they cringe with you. Succeed and your audience
benefits just as well from your great speaking performance.
There is nothing to be sorry about
If you mention to the audience that you are nervous or if you
express your apologies to any problems you think may exist about
your speech or your speech delivery, you may be setting them up
to focus on that thing you are apologizing for. You do not have
to mention this to them, chances are they haven't noticed this
until you brought it up. Relax and be silent. Your audience will
relax with you.
Establish eye contact
Connect with your audience, appear natural. Or better yet, be as
natural as you can be, without overdoing it of course. You
should be able to get the audience to nod their heads as an
acknowledgement of what you are trying to convey. Do not breeze
through your speech. Pause for a while or for a brief moment,
especially at those points you want to emphasize. This is also a
good time to establish eye contact with your attendees as well
as to catch that much needed breath.
Do not debate
If during the question and answer part of your speaking
engagement an audience expresses disagreement with any part of
your message, you need not aggressively prove your point to him
or her. A debate is not just a futile means to get your point
across but it could just as well never be resolved. Get that
attendee to talk with you after your speaking engagement, never
during.