Seeing their audience’s eyes glaze over with that look of sheer boredom is one of every presenter’s biggest nightmares. And the unfortunate thing is, it happens more than you might think! But it doesn’t need to be this way. There are all kinds of ways to energize your audience, engage them in your presentation, and keep their attention throughout.
And today we’re going to tell you about some of those strategies so you can try them for yourself!
How to Energize Your Audience
Q&A
Question and answer sessions have the incredible effect of captivating your audience. But if you run these sessions leading up to and during the event, the effects are even more profound.
Prior to your event, you can share a list of questions with your audience to answer ahead of time, or have them submit their own questions. Then, during the presentation they’re a lot more likely to pay attention if they know they might have their question asked/answered.
Similarly, keeping your Q&A running during the event helps ensure they remain focused on the presentation. It also gives you an opportunity to answer questions as they come up, which can help prevent your audience from becoming distracted or talking amongst themselves on the hunt for answers.
Want to learn more about Q&A software to use with virtual or live audiences? Click here to see what Digital Joy Engage has to offer.
Energize your audience with icebreakers
Icebreakers are a presenter’s best friend! They help ease any tension in the room as well as helping your audience shake off any nervous energy they might be feeling. Starting off this way ensures your audience is more energized from the get-go, then they’re more likely to maintain higher energy levels throughout your presentation.
It also includes all of these fun icebreaker questions you can use with your audience:
- Age of the audience?
- Technical Background of your audience?
- Personal Interest of your audience?
- Where are they coming from?
- Who do they work for?
- What do you fear most?
- Where would you go for your dream getaway?
- What skill or talent do you wish you possessed?
- You accidentally dented a parked car, but no one saw you. What do you do?
- What’s your favorite food?
- What’s the title of your autobiography?
- Are you a good dancer?
- How do you spend your time? with family? friends? alone?
- Share something you didn’t understand about the world as a kid:
- What’s your life hack of the week?
- Your favorite singer?
- Your favorite book?
- What sound or noise do you love?
- What’s the strangest word you know?
- Who was your first pop culture crush?
- You won a new car! What type of car is it?
- If you were an animal, which animal would you be?
- We’re replacing Mt. Rushmore with celebrities. Who NEEDS to be up there instead?
Focus on interactivity
Rather than a lecture-style presentation, focus on making it a more interactive experience for your audience. We’ve already mentioned Q&As and icebreakers, and those are both great, interactive tools to use during events.
But here are even more interactive ideas you can use to energize your audience:
- Word clouds
- Live polls
- Games
- Quizzes
Make time for breaks
Even the most compelling presenter will have a tough time keeping an audience energized for long periods of time if they’re left sitting in their chairs for hours on end! That’s why it’s important to schedule regular breaks throughout your event. This gives your audience the chance to stretch their legs, get refreshments, and reset before the presentation continues.
If possible, provide your audience with an outdoor space where they can get some fresh air and sunlight—a change of environment is always helpful!
Movement
Standing still and speaking to an audience might keep your audience energized for a few minutes. But if you’re moving around the stage, changing positions, and performing active physical movements, your audience is a lot more likely to pick up on and mimic your energy.
There are several different ways to do this depending on the type of presentation you’re conducting and the space you have to work with.
But here are some ideas to get you started:
- Speak with your hands and use hand gestures when possible
- Stand on a chair for effect
- Make sure you’re utilizing all different areas of the stage or area in which you’re presenting
- Ask your audience to join you for 10 jumping jacks to energize your audience and you at the same time
Energize Your Audience with the Help of Digital Joy
These five strategies are a great place to start! And Digital Joy has even more tips and tools for helping you energize your audience and you can find them here.
