Tips & Techniques for Interacting with your Audience To move forward, backward or to a specific slide, move your cursor over the hidden arrows/menu in the bottom left corner of each slide and make a selection. You can also use your space bar (forward); or your Page Up/Page Dn keys (backward/forward).

Orientation Listening & Responding to your Audience Handling Problem Situations Using Questions to Involve your Audience Table of Contents Click on any colored bullet found on the Content pages to jump to a specific section.

Orientation This material was developed to help you plan for a successful business presentation. As you work through the slides, you will gain tips and techniques for developing your questioning and listening skills. How Much People Remember Return to main Table of Contents Give Your Full Attention

10% Straight Lecture 50% Lecture + Visuals 70% Lecture + Visuals + Audience Participation How Much People Remember Orientation

Give Your Full Attention As a presenter, your sole purpose is to help your audience understand your message. Focus your attention and energy on your listeners – not on your visuals, not on your notes, not even on the details of content – and plan to interact with your group. Here are a few effective techniques : Face your audience Keep good eye contact with your listeners Don’t turn your back on any part of your audience Don’t talk to your visuals Move towards your audience Walk towards your audience from time to time Don’t stand in a fixed position Orientation

Reference audience members This technique is a way of showing that you have listened to contributions from your audience. “A few moments ago, Jack brought up the issue of….” “Jane has told us that several deficiencies were identified….” Observe your audience Check for signs of confusion, impatience or boredom and address the issue before moving forward. “Mary, you look puzzled. Did I confuse you with the last set of numbers?” Listen actively Screen out distractions and keep eye contact with the individual who is speaking to you. Keep a constructive tone of voice Do not allow a question or a questioner to intimidate you. Answer the question, defer it or bounce it to someone else in the room. Orientation

Using Questions to Involve your Audience In this section, you will explore the art of questioning. You will find tips and techniques for asking effective questions to involve your audience. Return to main Table of Contents Six Types of Questions Phrasing Questions Appropriately Tolerating Silence

Six Types of Questions Using Questions to Involve your Audience Questioning skills are a major strength of a skillful presenter. You can develop your questioning skills through planning and practice. Let’s start by taking a look at six kinds of questions you may use to achieve your purpose. 1.Open-ended questions. Require more than a one-word answer and cannot be answered by yes or no. 2.Closed-end questions. Usually elicit a yes, no or some other one word response. These questions usually begin with words like is/are, do/does, has/have or will.

3.“What if” questions. Encourage audiences to visualize a future scenario and to think about the consequences of their actions or decisions. 4.Clarification questions. Help you defuse misunderstanding and help your audience members articulate their ideas more clearly. 5.Test-for-agreement questions. Check if the audience agrees or disagrees with what is being said. 6.Opinion-finding questions. Uncover information about feelings, perceptions and attitudes. Be sure to ask questions in a non-threatening way. Questions are not exams; they are discussion devices. Be conversational and courteous in your questioning – and NEVER use a question to trap someone else. Using Questions to Involve your Audience

Phrasing Questions Appropriately When you ask a question, phrase it in a way that your audience can answer easily. Ask about one issue at a time and be concise. For example: Don’t ask… Do you think we should have cancelled the project and if not, what alternatives do you think we should or could have pursued and how would these alternatives have affected the project as a whole? Rather ask… Based on your experience, do you feel we should have managed the project differently? Then ask… Suppose we had adopted the strategy you have outlined. How would the outcome have been different? Using Questions to Involve your Audience

Tolerating Silence If you ask someone a question, give them time to process what you are asking and think before answering. Don’t be intimidated by silence. You may have to wait up to eight seconds before someone breaks the silence and responds to your question. Using Questions to Involve your Audience “When you ask a question, the next voice you hear should not be your own.” “When you ask a question, the next voice you hear should not be your own.”

Listening & Responding to your Audience In this section, you will gain tips and techniques for giving your audience your full attention. You will explore ways to improve your listening and responding skills. Return to main Table of Contents Listening Actively Responding to Questions

Listening Actively When an audience member is speaking to you, give him/her your total attention…and listen actively. Screen out any distractions such as noise or other people who try to interrupt. Keep good eye contact with the individual who is speaking to you. Keep an open, relaxed stance…and smile. Listening & Responding to your Audience

Responding to Questions Provide thoughtful responses to questions from others. Here are a few strategies that will help you respond to questions. Acknowledge the question and the questioner Example: “Thanks for asking that question, John. You hit on an issue that we come up against all the time.” Paraphrase difficult questions Example: “Let me see if I’ve understood your question properly. You are asking which of the two systems would be better?” Pause before you answer By pausing for a second or two, you have time to formulate a well thought-out answer. You indicate to the questioner that they asked a good question worth your full attention and you appear confident. Listening & Responding to your Audience

Defer the question Example: “Jane, that’s an excellent question. May I hold the question as I am going to cover that issue in the next few minutes.” If you defer a question, be sure that you do not forget to answer it before the end of your presentation. Be honest If you do not know the answer to a question, say so. If appropriate, you may volunteer to find out the answer after your presentation, or you might ask another attendee to help out. Example: “I have not had direct experience with this method of analysis. But I know that Jim has worked with this system for years. Jim, would you be able to help us here?” Keep a positive tone when responding to questions. Be sure not to show irritability or defensiveness. And remember, no question is foolish to the person who asked it. Listening & Responding to your Audience

Handling Problem Situations A problem situation occurs when the behavior of one or more members of the audience threatens your ability to achieve your presentation objective. In this section, you will gain tips and techniques to help you handle problem situations. Return to main Table of Contents Typical Problem Situations Some Criteria for Handling Problem Situations

Typical Problem Situations No matter how well you’ve prepared, you can never be sure how your audience will react or behave. When your audience threatens your ability to achieve your objective, you must be able to facilitate this difficult situation. Here are a few typical problem situations you may encounter: Audience member(s) challenges your facts or point of view. Audience members continue talking to each other during your presentation. Audience member is too vocal and is preventing you from delivering your message. Audience member takes a hostile stance either to you personally or to your topic. Handling Problem Situations

Some Criteria for Handling Problem Situations In choosing how to deal with a problem situation, your strategy must include: Remaining objective Being courteous Staying calm Eliminating or reducing the problem behavior Keeping the climate positive Asking for help Linking back to your objective Handling Problem Situations

Exercise Prepare for potential problem situations before you present. Go back to the “Typical Problem Situations” slide and select one or more of the problem situations listed on the slide. With a situation in mind, answer the following questions:“Typical Problem Situations” slide 1.How would you deal with the situation? 2.How would you apply the criteria listed on the previous slide? 3.What other strategies would be helpful? Or, think about a problem situation you have faced in the past. With this situation in mind, answer the following questions: 1.How did you deal with the situation? Was it effective? 2.Did you apply any of the criteria listed on the previous slide? 3.What other strategies did you find helpful? 4.What would you do differently next time? Handling Problem Situations

By applying the tips and techniques you have learned in this slideshow, you will be well on your way to: Listening actively Asking good questions Responding well to audience questions Successfully interacting with your audience