How to Make Speakers Adore You: 4 Simple Ways to be a Great Audience Member

If you’ve stood on stage speaking to an audience - whether they be your professional peers or the public - I hope you’ve experienced the feeling you get when an audience leans in with rapt attention, genuinely smiles, nods in agreement, laughs at a funny anecdote, sighs for a tender story, and gives heartfelt applause.

An audience like that is the best feedback a speaker can ask for. Be that audience.

Knowing how much positive audience feedback means, I try to be that audience member. As a result, I have had speakers come up to me after a session to thank me for being so attentive and encouraging – and I didn’t even say a word. Nonverbal feedback is powerful.

I share this advice with college students when I teach: Actively attend and engage – speakers (and professors) notice and it enhances your learning, memory, and class satisfaction. Not to mention your grade…

I created a tip sheet on this topic: 5 Tips for Attentive Audiences. 

What are 4 simple ways to be a great audience member that speakers adore?

1. Arrive early – assist if needed

When getting ready to give a presentation, a common fear is that no one will show up. You’ve put SO much work into preparing and practicing, will it be worth it? Does anyone care?

By showing up early, you send the message that yes, someone cared enough to make sure they got a seat. Sit close enough to be noticed.

Introduce yourself and ask the speaker if they need any assistance. Sometimes, a speaker will want someone to volunteer during a presentation; offer to do that if needed. Your willingness to be involved bolsters the speaker’s confidence that the audience will participate.

2. Attend fully – demonstrate interest

Paying attention can be the greatest compliment you can give another person. Put away your phone, avoid side conversations, and focus on the speaker. Take notes to demonstrate that you want to remember what they said.

Give the speaker nonverbal feedback that tells them you are interested. Smile, laugh, nod, be expressive, with honesty. Unless the theater is dark, the speaker will notice. If it is dark, the speaker can still feel your attention, or lack thereof.

3. Engage wholeheartedly – be a ready participant

Audiences often dread audience participation activities. Instead, embrace the opportunity to engage, fully and wholeheartedly. Raise your hand. Volunteer. Yet, allow others the opportunity as well.

Role model active engagement. Your enthusiasm will be contagious. Help other audience members fully participate. As a result, everyone will get more out of the experience.

4. Provide constructive and supportive feedback

During the Q&A, be ready with a thoughtful question if the audience is silent. Show your interest in learning more about the topic.

If an evaluation is requested, respond with constructive and supportive feedback. Be specific in both praise and suggestions for improvement. If no formal evaluation is provided, give informal feedback either in person or via email shortly after.

When can you put these 4 strategies into practice?

This week, I will be practicing them when I attend FNCE, the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo, hosted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I hope it will make a difference to the speakers. I know it will elevate my experience.

Check out these previous posts with advice for attending a conference:

• How to Travel Light: less stuff, less worry, more connection, more joy

• Countdown to a Convention

• Countdown to a Convention 2.0

• Conventions are for creating connections 

• Convention-bound? Create and cultivate connections

• 4 Ways to excel at traveling

• Maximize your conference experience

• Maximize the impact of your conference experience 

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” ~ Karl A. Menniger, psychiatrist

If you liked this content, please share it.