In this episode of the Presenting, Pitching & Public Speaking Podcast Toni focuses on interaction in your speeches. It is your role when you are presenting or speaking in public to get your audience involved, to keep engagement and to ensure that they feel the part of your delivery.

You sit in someone’s presentation or delivery, you don’t want it to sound like a monologue. You would want to avoid that type of presentation or speaking. So, what do you do? Toni shows you how you can avoid a low energy room environment and make sure that your audience understands and enjoy your speech or presentation every time.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Responsibility. As a public speaker, it is your duty to gauge the room and see what the energy is like within the room. It is your responsibility to elevate it when it needs to be elevated and to really calm the energy down when the energy is a bit loud or rude. You have the ability to do that when you are presenting.
• Start with the end in mind. What information do you want to elicit from your audience? Are you trying to get a response from them? Or are you trying to get them to come on board a thought process which may be yours or somebody else’s? Think about what emotion you are trying to evoke. What information are you trying to elicit? Are you to get the audience to do something? You need to know from the start what kind of response it is that you're trying to evoke on with that in mind that would determine the amount of interaction you have within your speeches.
• Networking breaks. Raise the energy in the room if you feel that it is on the low mode. Networking breaks is a good exercise for when people don’t necessarily know one another. Before you do this, make sure that you set the rules ahead of time, especially if the audience is as large as 400 people. You might not be able to control it if you don’t set the rules ahead of time. Example, you tell them, I’d like you to meet 3 people that you don’t know yet in the next three minutes. This will lift the energy of the room as they have to do something physical.
• Brainstorming. So you set the tone from the start. Identify what you're hoping for and then just to be clear, we can ask for some shares. From the root,  it becomes a group exercise. Everyone can get up on their feet. And people getting involved to get up on their feet and brainstorm, and you get people's brains into action which means they're going to remain engaged and interested. Even if they're the type of people who maybe aren't very comfortable and shout out loud to the room, maybe not the type of people who are the first to raise their hand, it could be someone quite shy, this gives everyone the ability to talk to one another and to get their voice heard.
• Debrief. We’ll ask for some shares. How did people feel like what went? People who would like to speak up will have the opportunity to speak and to stand out. Others who are quieter can speak within the group. So example, you have requested some information from your group, you’ve identified that you’re looking for a particular response, and you’ve given information. Now, you are looking for people to feedback to you. Debriefs are a perfect way to do this.
• Rob Moore’s favourite thing to do is to swap his audience seats. Everyone who is sat at the front of the room moves to the back of the room and vice versa. There will be energy, and it gets people talking.
• Raise the energy of the room. Get the people to do something physical. Let them move about. Walk around. Or let them do role plays.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“Delivering your speech is to be aware of the energy within the room and people's interest in regards to what you're saying. It's your responsibility to ensure that you care for your audience to have the best experience and to ensure that you're not allowing your audience also to drain your energy.”

“Identify it that you want to do some speaker interaction because you want people to have the best experience you want people to remember.”

“Using your speaker interaction, so people know what's expected of them, but they're not just sitting there, not there to listen to what you've got to say that they're working. They’re gonna get involved. They're gonna get motivated and really help you to make the best day for them”

ABOUT THE HOST
Toni Gargan is a Double World Record-holding Public Speaker, Mentor, Entrepreneur, and Professional Property Investor. She acts as the Director at Owen Oliver Property, a family-run property investment company helping others gain passive income through investing.

Aside from building her amazing property portfolio, she’s also a full-time mentor for property investors through Progress Property and Unlimited Success. Toni has since then discovered her true passion – helping others by training and mentoring through public speaking.

She now hosts her own show, Presenting, Pitching & Public Speaking Podcast, which aims to help you be confident, improve your speaking & communication skills and present better for you, your team, and your business.

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