Speaking to large and small audiences

Photo: Contributed

There are different approaches to take depending on the size of your audience when making a speech or giving a presentation.

When it comes to public speaking, some might assume the bigger the audience, the scarier the experience.

But that isn’t always the case. Some of the most nerve-wracking speaking experiences I’ve had have been in rooms of only six or seven people. In this month’s column, I will break down three tips for speaking to large audiences, and give three tips for speaking to small audiences.

Three tips for speaking to large audiences

1. When you’re speaking to a large audience, it often requires you to have a big stage presence.

Tools you may want to leverage are vocal variety, body language and visual aids. Your base volume should be loud enough for the entire room to hear you, and you can increase or decrease your voice at strategic moments of the speech to keep the audience’s attention.

If you’re speaking to a large crowd, you’ll want to move across the entire stage and incorporate body language to ensure the entire audience feels included in your presentation.

If you show up to a speaking event and there is a lectern with a mounted mic on one side of the stage, ask the event organizer if you have permission to use a lavalier or handheld microphone so you can move around and not get stuck in one spot. If you choose to use visual aids, such as a Powerpoint presentation, reduce text and avoid small fonts when using images or videos to supplement your message.

2. Humour is one of your most powerful tools when it comes to presenting to a large audience.

When an audience member takes his or her seat, they are often wondering whether they will enjoy the presentation and whether it will deliver them with any value. The sooner you can make the audience laugh, the sooner each audience member will relax because laughter is a universal sign that the crowd is enjoying your talk.

When you hear your audience laughing, this also gives you a boost of confidence to help reduce nervousness you may be experiencing while presenting.

3. One of the quickest ways to lose an audience’s attention, is by making a statement that doesn’t really resonate with audience’s occupation or background.

As an example, if you are speaking to a room full of real estate agents and your presentation is about how they can impress their boss to earn a promotion, they likely wouldn’t get value from the message because most real estate agents are independent contractors who don’t have a boss.

To prevent that, do your research before giving presentations to any large crowds. As part of your research, consider asking several questions of the event organizer in advance or sending out a survey to attendees prior to your presentation.

Three tips for speaking to small audiences

1. One of the luxuries you have with a small audience is it’s a more intimate setting, which allows you to make the experience more of a conversation than a formal presentation.

With a small number of people listening to you, you can ask each individual questions directly to open up a conversational presentation style. When audience members are actively participating in the presentation, they’re much more to likely to stay engaged throughout the entire session.

2. Another advantage of speaking to a small audience is you can do more detailed research in advance.

For example, if you’re speaking to five individuals, there’s a good chance you can not only memorize each of their names, but also do a bit of background research on each of them to utilize relevant examples during your presentation. If you take the time to get to know your audience in advance, they will appreciate it and your message will resonate with them on a deeper level.

3. My final tip for small audiences is to read the room.

If there are six audience members and four of them are yawning, while the other two are scanning their phones, it might be a signal that your current delivery isn’t impactful. Be willing to adjust and pivot your presentation, perhaps by asking more questions, injecting humour or posing an activity to re-energize the group.

Every type of presentation comes with its own set of challenges, but hopefully these tips help you differentiate your strategy and make a maximum impact on every type of audience.

If you’re thinking about joining Toastmasters to improve your public speaking skills, the Kelowna AM Toastmasters Club is always looking for new members.

If you’re interested in learning more about Impactful Communication, subscribe to my YouTube channel.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.