Presenters – dare you get your audience to move?
The vast majority of the presentations I listen to are essentially passive, at least from the audience’s perspective. All I am expected to do is sit and listen. I am not asked to move either physically or mentally and the result is usually the rapid onset of boredom.
I was at a 4Networking meeting today in Fareham where our speaker did challenge us. She had us moving around, thinking , discussing and challenging our approaches.
Now you may be saying that’s all well and good for a small audience but I speak to groups of 50, 100 or even 1000. Well I can tell you that it is possible to get audience participation and movement even in large groups. You do have to work within the physical constraints of the room size and layout but you’d be surprised what you can get an audience to do if you just ask them!
I actually think that the real constraint lies in our head not in the room. If you believe it’s impossible then you will not even try to get movement and that is a shame for you and your audience.
For example I once got an audience of 2000 people standing, stretching, chatting with their neighbours just by asking them to and believing myself that they would. It made my presentation much more memorable and I changed the energy of the group who, up until that moment, had been sitting down for more than an two hours listening to a succession of lectures and slowly losing the will to live.
So my challenge to you is to find ways to get your audience moving, physically as well as mentally.
What would be even better is if you would share your thoughts and experiences with me and the rest of the hundreds of readers of this blog. Go on, remember none of us is as smart as all of us. Add your comment and lets get a discussion going. 
Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor
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