In life, we all get in ruts from time to time. We coast; it’s only human nature. But too often speakers end up coasting through speeches and audiences end up coasting through their listening responsibilities during a speech.
Is your audience coasting? Do they have glazed looks in their eyes? Are they shifting in their seats? Are they expressionless? Are they craving an afternoon nap?
Sometimes you have to break the mode and get them out of their coasting. Here are ten specific tips:
- Hit your hand on a table to emphasize a point.
- Pause for a point longer-than-usual.
- Ask more rhetorical questions.
- Ask a real question to a real person in the audience.
- Ask audiences where they disagree with you.
- Clap your hands together to make a point.
- Keep speaking from the back of the room.
- Say something that is patently false and then pause to see if anyone catches you on it. (reveal what you are doing immediately after that)
- Think out loud and share something that really wasn’t planned in advance.
- Do something, anything, out of the ordinary that is unexpected.
When trying these gimmicks, you must use them sparingly. You don’t want to seem like a clown. Most people go too far in the other extreme in that they never use any of these techniques. They play it “safe” by just going through the motions of giving a predictable speech. Speakers “coast” through their speech. And then the audience “coasts” through the speech too. Unfortunately for you the speaker, that coasting audience means they really didn’t focus on or process anything of substance from your presentation. So whatever you do, even if it means annoying or irritating your audience a little, don’t let them get away with coasting.
