Winning Over Your Audience January 28, 2008
The beginning of a lesson or presentation is vital. In the first 5 or 10 minutes you could win the hearts of your audience or turn them off completely to the idea of ever valuing what you say. It can be hard to believe that people can be so cruel, to pass judgment in so little time. But in reality that is how our paradigms work. We use them to quickly sort the information of lives, deciding what is worth our time and what isn’t. A teacher is no different, a student will analyze them and in the first few minutes decide if its more worth their time to listen to the lesson or if daydreaming will be more beneficial.
So here are a few ideas you can use to win your audience over right from the beginning. Try a few of them and let me know how you felt they worked. I’ve found success with them and want to hear your experiences.
Idea #1: Start out with a personal experience that displays a funny or entertaining childhood moment or recent experience. Take some time to really think about yourself and what experience in your life could connect and lead into your topic. The power of a story is amazing, people are naturally drawn into personal experiences. Right off the bat you’ll not only grab their attention you’ll begin to build a relationship because together you’ve shared an emotion creating a bond. Practice telling your story and be sure to include all important details and leave those that don’t add out.
Idea #2: Introduce yourself answering questions that are not on a common spotlight quiz. Try telling things about yourself that you think a friend would know. For instance if you have something you just absolutely love whether it be Chile’s restaurant or glow sticks or collecting batman memorabilia then tell them about it and how you got started. Or what one of your dreams is. These don’t have to be lengthy speeches, just perhaps a few sentences or a short experience. Just tell the audience something that they will remember about you. You don’t consider someone a friend if you know what state they’re from, how many children they have and how old they are. Although those are important facts they are not what builds friendships. Friends are made because you share something together and know more about each other then the average person. Help your audience feel as if they know you better then the average person.
Idea #3: Tell the audience or class how excited you are to be there. Let them know and see the passion you have for the subject matter. You are more effective when you love your audience so let them know how great you think they are, even if its just for being there. People need to feel appreciated and loved and even though you aren’t going to give them the love of a mother or propose marriage you can still make them feel that their efforts to be there are appreciated and respected by you. They are putting their trust in you to enlighten them so let them know you are grateful for that. People are more open when they feel loved and acknowledged.
These are just a few simple strategies that can help you connect with your audience immediately. Its important to form a relationship with those in your audience and it is important to start that relationship the moment you are introduced to them.
I’d never thought of sharing stories that are out of the norm. I think we get so used to reciting these facts, for instance on the first day of school/church, that we don’t ever branch out. Thinking about it now I know I’d rather here something more personal from a teacher than where they are from.
First, I love this blog! Partly because I’ve been a teacher, am studying to be a teacher but mostly because it can help with everyday situations also!
Second, this post reminded me of starting new classes and the professor has you say something interesting about yourself and I can never come up with anything–my favorite college instructor–Lynn Perkes–started his class by telling us a story about growing up and his height (he is maybe 5′6) but after he shared his story the rest of the class had to say something interesting. It was interesting to compare this setting with the many other classes that started with the instructor saying “I like cats”…Perkes took the time to make us all feel like we knew something more about him and like you said–he wasn’t just an average person, so in return, the class was more willing to share about themselves which lead to a class that knew each other and helped make the learning enviroment more comfortable.
Sorry that is such a long post–it just got me thinking though on my different experiences…