Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes - The Goodman ...

If you find it difficult to look strangers in the eyes, try starting with the friendlier faces
– the people who are already smiling and nodding their heads. “Every audience has
them,” says Terrence McNally. “Just as there are great presenters, there are great audience
members, and if you find them, it’s going to make your job easier.” It can also be helpful
to make small talk with audience members in advance so that some of them will not be
complete strangers when you take to the stage.
“Presentations fail when people are not reading the audience,” says Dynell Garron. “Bad
presenters are not really looking up, not trying to see if the audience cares.” So look up,
look at one person at a time, and show them you are interested in their reactions. They
will show you greater interest in return.
What Happens When Nobody’s Looking
“I did a study a few years ago for an American company that thought it could save
millions of dollars a year with video conference links,” says Max Atkinson. “What
happened was that people in the same room as the speaker behaved like an ordinary
audience, but people who thought they couldn’t be seen by the speaker – their
behavior was abysmal.” And how does Atkinson account for the difference? “They
were released from the constraints of eye contact, so they were making coffee and
reading newspapers! The norm for good audience behavior is: Thou shalt look
attentive. If the speaker never looks or is not [physically] in the same room, the
audience relaxes and does crossword puzzles.”
pg. 41