The Role of the Audience
Presentations involve both a speaker and the audience. People in the audience play a role in how well a presentation goes. People in the audience have an obligation to:
- Listen politely
- Make occasional eye contact with speaker
- Take notes or jot down interesting facts
- Control negative facial expressions
- Control bored body language
- Do not put your head down on the desk or tilt your head back to sleep
- Control the impulse to constantly check watch
- Expect a Question & Answer period to be part of the presentation
- Participate in Question & Answer period either by listening or by posing a question.
- Prepare to remain attentive throughout the Q&A speakers will dismiss their audience
- Remain seated until the speaker is finished
Verbal and Visual Cues
Verbal and visual clues refer to those sounds and reactions you may hear and see made by your audience. If you tell a joke or a funny anecdote, you expect laughter as your feedback. One good way to tell if your joke bombed--no laughter. And, as awkward as it can be in the moment, you get that instant feedback on how you may need to correct course and potentially deviate from your scripted approach in order to make that connection with your audience.
Visual cues can also include making eye contact. As you scan the room, are people returning your gaze? If so, you have an engaged audience, attentively listening to your speech. If you see half-closed or closed eyes, try adjusting your tone and volume: you just might need to wake your audience up a little bit.
And of course, depending on your speech topic, the lack of a smile or a chuckle doesn't mean your audience is connecting to your words. Tears can indicate that your words have an incredibly powerful effect on your audience if you're talking about a particularly moving or emotional subject.
The key takeaway is to remember that this feedback loop of immediate audience reaction plays out in real time as you speak, so it's up to you to be observant and think two to three steps ahead if you need to correct course based on your audience's feedback.
Source: Boundless. "Feedback: Visual and Verbal Cues." Boundless Communications. Boundless, 26 May. 2016. Retrieved 08 Jun. 2016 from https://www.boundless.com/communications/textbooks/boundless-communications-textbook/introduction-to-public-speaking-1/elements-of-speech-communication-21/feedback-visual-and-verbal-cues-100-10670/
Activity
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