Curiously Distracting Audience Behaviour: and how to make sure it doesn’t derail your speaking performance.
When you speak at a conference, your audience behaves differently to a small group presentation at work. They are away from the office and in a receptive frame of mind. Sounds good but....
Conference audiences are also more relaxed, playful and stimulated. They are there to soak up information from you or equally from their peers. It’s also likely they are trying to manage work issues remotely. And this heady mix can give rise to audience behaviours that throw you off course.
Most of the time, what you’re seeing is totally innocent, and we’re the ones turning it into something unhelpful. I’ve come up with a 4-step reset process to use when this happens to you. Put this into practise, and you’ll reduce your uncertainty and restore your confidence.
The 4-step reset:
1. Notice the Unhelpful Thought or Feeling
2. Engage a Shift by replacing it with
3. A more helpful thought and
4. Keep going, because you are making a difference
Here’s how to put it into practice. I’ll share:
6 Innocent Audience Behaviours,
1 Unhelpful though
3 Shifts: helpful thoughts to keep you on track.
Looking at phone or laptop
Unhelpful thought:
- “I’m boring them!”
Shifts:
- “They’re tweeting my talk”
- “They’re making notes”
- “They looked at their device”
Arms Crossed, Frowning
Unhelpful thought:
- “They’ve found me out!”
Shifts:
- “They’re thinking about my point”
- “They’re cold”
- “Their arms are folded”
Smiling, Making Eye Contact
Unhelpful thought:
- “They find me amusing”
Shifts:
- “They’re interested”
- “They’re smiling”
- “Something amused them”
Leaves before the end
Unhelpful thought:
- “I lost them”
Shifts:
- “They needed the loo”
- “They had a meeting”
- “They got what they needed”
Joins midway through
Unhelpful thought:
- “I’m their second choice”
Shifts:
- “Welcome, glad you found me”
- “You’re in my audience now”
- “You’re just in time”
Chats to person next to them
Unhelpful thought:
- “They’re not interested in my talk”
Shifts:
- “I’ve sparked a discussion”
- “They’re networking”
- “They know each other”
What innocent audience behaviours have knocked your confidence? Feel free to get in touch and share your experiences.
In the meantime, I hope that the 4-step reset will give you what you need to respond and replace your unhelpful thoughts with something more constructive. And enable you to serve your audience well. Because you are making a difference to their world.
Thanks for reading. And happy conference speaking.
John Scarrott is a trainer and coach specialising in the areas of presentations, conference speaking, chairing and facilitation. He offers bespoke training workshops to associations that want to support members to perform well at their events.
John provides in-house training to associations. View the training here.
You can find out more about John at www.johnscarrott.com and at LinkedIn and at [email protected]
