Method 6 – Make Your Speech
Interactive
Welcome to our next method for ridding yourself of the fear
of public
speaking – making your speech interactive. This is one of the
easiest ways to
develop a genuine connection with your audience, and break out
of the mindset of
just giving a lecture that you think no one wants to hear.
What do I mean by “making a speech interactive”? What I mean is
involving
your audience directly in the content of your speech not only by
presenting
material that is informative and interesting, but also by giving
members of your
audience a chance to actually participate in your speech.
Many speakers actually discourage audience participation in a
speech, for a
variety of reasons. Some think that encouraging audience
anticipation would open
the door for heckling; others think that it will make it too
hard for them to stay
focused on the material in their speeches; still others simply
fear the idea of
interacting with audience members.
However, audience participation can be a very valuable tool for
gaining your
audience’s trust and support, and for presenting a speech that
audience will take
home with them and remember for years and years. When you get
your audience
involved in your speech, you are teaching them, not just telling
them. And people
learn more and retain knowledge better when they are taught
material, instead of
just having it told to them.
So, how can you make your speech interactive, so that you can
engage your
audience, and create a conversation rather than a lecture? First,
make sure that
you ask questions that are audience focused. Sometimes, this
will mean that you
are directing a question to the entire audience in general;
other times, this will
mean that you are directing your question at the audience as
individuals.
Sometimes it’s okay to address the audience in general, but more
often than
not, you will want to ask questions that make each individual
audience members
feel that you are talking directly to them. Instead of opening
your speech with,
“So how are all of you today?”, you can ask, “So how are you
today?”.
If you want to dig to a deeper level and make your opening even
more
personal to each individual member of the audience, you can ask
questions
designed to make individual audience members think about their
own personal
experiences and feelings – here’s an example:
“Good morning. How has your day been so far? Have you
accomplished
what you hoped to accomplish before you came to this
presentation? How do you
feel about the way your day has gone so far?”
See, a simple “How are you?” is a very general question. If you
stopped and
counted, you’ll probably find it people ask this question to you
at least a couple
dozen times a day. And so how do we respond? Usually, it’s,
“Fine, thank you.
And you?” The problem with that is that we never actually stop
and think about
how we really are feeling at that particular moment in time. We
hear the standard
question, and we give the standard answer. There’s no real
thought involved, and
we don’t really get to take inventory of how we’re feeling about
our lives right
now.
So, asking specific, directed questions can help your audience
not only stay
involved in your speech, but also take inventory of their own
experiences and
feelings. And once you bring them to that point where they are
evaluating
experiences in their own lives, you can rest assured that they
will stay involved in
your presentation, and support you while you are giving your
speech.
If you want to read more about this topic
click here!
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Speaking Course could be for you, then I strongly suggest you
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