You are giving a great presentation. You are on the roll and suddenly you notice a “blank” stare, and then another and another. Your audience has checked out. They are not with you. How do you catch these situations on time so you may have time to correct them?
Verbal responses
Your audience may respond verbally by expressing agreement or disagreement with your message. They may ask questions that will tell you their level of comprehension or confusion. Depending on your audience’s response, you should take certain actions. You may explain your point using different examples if it was misunderstood, or continue if your audience is on the same track as you are.
Non verbal responses
Your audience responds with their body language the very powerful and underused language. Nodding and eye contact normally mean understanding and agreement. If, on the other hand, you see blank faces and no eye contact, it’s time to signal an alert. Check in with your audience and try to figure out where is the confusion and at what point you have “lost” your audience. You can start by asking probing questions.
Ask questions
Ask check-in questions. Appropriate and timely questions can make the difference between a happy audience, and a confused and unhappy one. In addition to helping you as a presenter to catch confusion or misunderstanding on time, questions are great routine breakers. An appropriate question will make your audience think or shift gears or reflect. Any of the above is a very good routine breaker.