A few years ago, I was present in an “all hands’ meeting with a few hundred team members, the majority of the organization, when a friend of mine on the far side of the room made a comment. I can’t remember the exact words, but part of it included a phrase like “… the problem with young people….” Even though he and I are about the same age, I interrupted before he finished speaking, from the other side of the room, shouting “Okay, Boomer.” The group erupted into quick and loud laughter and my friend (wisely) did not continue with whatever point he was trying to make.
I wasn’t trying to embarrass him. I was trying to save him. Later, I had the opportunity to explain that to him in private. He is a great guy, and certainly entitled to his opinions. But at that moment, he failed to read the room, filled with far more millennials than boomers.
I have participated in and observed countless spokesperson training and speaker prep sessions and I have rarely seen any professionals address the observations, skills, and techniques to read a room and respond appropriately. Here are a few things I have learned.
Know your audience. This is the most important thing you can do before you even enter the room. Ask the requestor or coordinator questions. What is their knowledge level of the material? Are they all at the same level of experience or is the group more disparate? Is the audience required to be there or did they choose to attend? Is it possible to get questions in advance? Is the venue and group conducive to presentation materials? Any lessons learned from previous speakers? What is the outcome being sought? Is the purpose to inform or persuade? Is there any social topic or inside information about the audience that can help you connect with them more swiftly? There are more questions, and they will vary based on individual circumstances. But if you do not ask any, you can be assured that you missed your first chance to read the room and have put yourself at greater risk.
Recon. Part of reading the room is the actual room. Whenever possible, ask to see it prior to your presentation. Test the microphone and audio-visual support. If there is a lectern, see if it is in the best position for you. Determine if you have the flexibility to walk around. If you have a say in it, it is better for the room to be too cold than too hot. Ask a friend to stand in the back of the room and give feedback on sound quality.
Make eye contact. Okay, everyone does talk about this, but perhaps do not make a few points eminently clear. The two groups you want to maintain eye contact with the most are the highly motivated and the least engaged. It is mutually beneficial to keep returning eye contact with the highly engaged. You are letting them know you appreciate their support, and they will continue to build your confidence. But that eye contact does not need to last long each time. Save the longer contact for the least engaged. Move around the room as much as possible and look deep into their eyes. Make them blink first. Then go on to the next one and/or return as often as necessary. When they feel like you are talking to them and that you are engaged in them, they are more likely to return the favor.
Monitor nonverbals. They are watching and listening to you; you should do the same. Can they hear you well? Is anyone squinting to see or stretching to hear? Are more people leaning forward in their seats or slouching? Do their facial expressions demonstrate understanding? Agreement? Confusion? Boredom? Disdain? What percentage are focused on their smart phones?
Deflate disruptors with nonverbals. Once you have made those observations and identified the clues, it is time to act with your own nonverbals. Walk as closely as possible toward the most disengaged audience member you can find. Stand there for a minute as you continue to speak. Smile at the person least likely to return it. Nod at the friendly faces. If several members of the audience are on their phones, a bold option would be to take your phone out slowly and make a theatrical move of setting your phone on the lectern or floor, before you continue, without ever addressing their behavior verbally. Become more energetic with your body. Demonstrate your excitement and energy. Make it contagious.
Change your tone. Perhaps your delivery has been too monotone. Emphasize key words. Speak with passion. Repeat a profound statement twice, the second time more slowly. Change your pace. Change your volume. Pause for effect.
Stop speaking. If none of that is working and you read that you are losing more of the audience than you have pulled to your side, stop in the middle of a sentence and count to five slowly in your head before you speak again and finish the sentence. During that five seconds try to make eye contact with everyone. This works best when you can stop speaking just before divulging an interesting piece of information. For example:
“One of the greatest threats to our world’s oceans is… [one, look left, two, look middle, three, look right, four, look middle, five look left] … “NOISE. Noise is a significant threat to many marine species.”
Controlled interaction. Unless there is an assigned facilitator, you are your own facilitator. The best way to engage an audience is by actually engaging with them and not speaking at them. You can direct nonverbal participation like, “If you have ever been on a cruise, raise your hand.” You can invite general verbal participation like, “Can someone tell me how many million metric tons of plastic end up in our ocean each year?” You can invite specific verbal participation like, “Mr. Parsons, what is one of your favorite things about visiting the ocean?” Specific questions should be more opinion based so you do not embarrass anyone for not knowing. They are great to use with the disengaged to get them back into the subject. As your own facilitator, be as diverse as possible in pulling in and allowing audience participation. Pull from different genders, races, and age. Pull from each section of the audience. Pull from both the happy campers and disgruntled. And don’t allow any of them to take over.
Ditch the original game plan. The easiest way to do this is to simply skip the last four slides or major points and go to questions. You could turn off a slide show, grab a chair, and sit closer to the audience. If you have received questions outside the scope of the planned discussion, but still in your wheelhouse, go there. I have seen far too many people fail at presenting well, who have actually read the room correctly, but still failed to adjust. When I ask them why, the most common answers are, “I couldn’t do that…I’m not quick on my feet…That would cause me anxiety….” Well, here’s the motivator – you were already failing. There is nowhere to go, but up. And what better time to try something new then when you have nothing left to lose. Another option is to end early, even if you are not finished. It’s another bold move. But if you can do so respectfully and without offending the host or the audience, you can actually raise your reputation stock and save folks from unnecessarily wasted time.
The answer is eight. Eight million. Eight million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. Still, noise is a significant threat as well. If this was your speaking topic, you would want to read the room well enough to support action, pursue change, at the very minimum, be aware. Read the room. Whether you are a boomer, a millennial, or a member of any other great generation.
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Stoneking Strategic Communications (SSC) 