Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Interact with your audience
Please. Interact with your audience.
I mean, how hard is it to start a presentation by asking, "So, how many of you here have....?"
Seriously?
I recently sat through a one-hour presentation. I was impatient for the first 10 minutes, waiting for the presenter to get to the topic at hand. Like most of the audience, I had deep knowledge of the subject matter. I thought the presenter might be grounding us all in the obvious for a few minutes, setting a comfort level.
However, the presenter continued giving his "beginner's basic guide" lecture.
After 20 minutes, I realized there was no chance for physical escape. And the speaker gave no ground for interruption.
I glanced at my fellow audience members. We all gave each other questioning looks as we fidgeted. However, our guest speaker did not pick up on our collective body language, and kept yammering away.
Only at the very end, did the speaker ask, "Now, how many of you have had experience with...."
And we all raised our hands. A few people started talking about their experiences, and we quickly came to realize that most of the people in the audience were far more educated about the subject matter than the speaker.
So by the time the guy made his pitch to us about hiring his firm because of their "in-depth" approach, many of us were already exchanging contact information, looking to network with each other.
As it turned out, this particular business audience did not need a consultant.
We needed each other. ¶ 12/13/2006 11:11:00 AM
Please. Interact with your audience.
I mean, how hard is it to start a presentation by asking, "So, how many of you here have....?"
Seriously?
I recently sat through a one-hour presentation. I was impatient for the first 10 minutes, waiting for the presenter to get to the topic at hand. Like most of the audience, I had deep knowledge of the subject matter. I thought the presenter might be grounding us all in the obvious for a few minutes, setting a comfort level.
However, the presenter continued giving his "beginner's basic guide" lecture.
After 20 minutes, I realized there was no chance for physical escape. And the speaker gave no ground for interruption.
I glanced at my fellow audience members. We all gave each other questioning looks as we fidgeted. However, our guest speaker did not pick up on our collective body language, and kept yammering away.
Only at the very end, did the speaker ask, "Now, how many of you have had experience with...."
And we all raised our hands. A few people started talking about their experiences, and we quickly came to realize that most of the people in the audience were far more educated about the subject matter than the speaker.
So by the time the guy made his pitch to us about hiring his firm because of their "in-depth" approach, many of us were already exchanging contact information, looking to network with each other.
As it turned out, this particular business audience did not need a consultant.
We needed each other. ¶ 12/13/2006 11:11:00 AM
