Get Rid of A Public Speaking Fear by Making Your Speech Interactive

This is one of the easiest ways to develop a genuine connection with your audience, and break out of the mindset of just giving a lecture that you think no one wants to hear.

What do I mean by "making a speech interactive"? What I mean is involving your audience directly in the content of your speech not only by presenting material that is informative and interesting, but also by giving members of your audience a chance to actually participate in your speech.

Many speakers actually discourage audience participation in a speech, for a variety of reasons. Some think that encouraging audience anticipation would open the door for heckling; others think that it will make it too hard for them to stay focused on the material in their speeches; still others simply fear the idea of interacting with audience members.

However, audience participation can be a very valuable tool for gaining your audience's trust and support, and for presenting a speech that audience will take home with them and remember for years and years. When you get your audience involved in your speech, you are teaching them, not just telling them. And people learn more and retain knowledge better when they are taught material, instead of just having it told to them.

So, how can you make your speech interactive, so that you can engage your audience, and create a conversation rather than a lecture? First, make sure that you ask questions that are audience focused. Sometimes, this will mean that you are directing a question to the entire audience in general; other times, this will mean that you are directing your question at the audience as individuals.

Sometimes it's okay to address the audience in general, but more often than not, you will want to ask questions that make each individual audience members feel that you are talking directly to them. Instead of opening your speech with, "So how are all of you today?", you can ask, "So how are you today?".

If you want to dig to a deeper level and make your opening even more personal to each individual member of the audience, you can ask questions designed to make individual audience members think about their own personal experiences and feelings - here's an example:

"Good morning. How has your day been so far? Have you accomplished what you hoped to accomplish before you came to this presentation? How do you feel about the way your day has gone so far?"

See, a simple "How are you?" is a very general question. If you stopped and counted, you'll probably find it people ask this question to you at least a couple dozen times a day. And so how do we respond? Usually, it's, "Fine, thank you. And you?" The problem with that is that we never actually stop and think about how we really are feeling at that particular moment in time. We hear the standard question, and we give the standard answer. There's no real thought involved, and we don't really get to take inventory of how we're feeling about our lives right
now.

So, asking specific, directed questions can help your audience not only stay involved in your speech, but also take inventory of their own experiences and feelings. And once you bring them to that point where they are evaluating experiences in their own lives, you can rest assured that they will stay involved in your presentation, and support you while you are giving your speech.