How to respond to the audience's body language

In the previous articles we dealt with how to read the audience and understand what it transmits. This article explains what to do and how to behave when we understand what the audience feels. This page describes four common situations in which the audience's behavior differs from expectations, and for each of these situations explanations are attached on the correct strategy to adopt.

When the audience is bored

A bored audience can be identified by sitting position (not upright and not leaning forward), preoccupation with other things, and a decrease in the amount of eye contact with the speaker. In such a case, you should change the speech quickly and prominently:

• change volume - An immediate but short-term solution to not listening is to raise the voice or lower it suddenly. This change makes people lift their heads and listen, but its effect is short-lived.
• take questions from the audience - Questions from the audience increase involvement, create a change in the feeling of speaking, and if the boredom stems from misunderstanding, they can also help those who did not understand.
• ask questions to the audience - If the audience doesn't ask questions, you can ask the audience back.
• tell a story or joke - These always create interest and help people listen and connect to the speech. It is important to be careful with jokes because they are not always funny or polite.

When the audience disagrees or gets angry

Disapproval on the part of the audience can be noticed when people fold their hands (this is often the first sign), move away from the table but sitting upright, turn part of their body towards the door or pick up their notebook or bag in the direction of leaving. In that case you should:

• Recognize resistance - to express reference to the fact that there are opinions different from yours, and to present them and your position in relation to them. This makes the person who disagrees understand that their position has been taken into account, it may also make them understand why your position is more correct. In the debate club In ours, we recommend prioritizing an acknowledgment of the objection to any new argument.
• take a question from the audience - This action achieves the same result as addressing objections, but the same opposing position is presented by those who believe in it and not by you, and therefore it is more 'authentic' and reliable in the eyes of those who disagree. Also, the very agreement to give the right to speak conveys openness and willingness to dialogue, something that buys you points in the eyes of the audience.

When the audience agrees and is enthusiastic

It is indeed a problem of the rich, but you also have to prepare for it. We will know that the audience agrees and is enthusiastic when their body is leaning forward, when people who are busy with other things are constantly making sure to keep eye contact with you while doing it, and when people are nodding. It is also possible to notice this when the audience reacts negatively towards those who interfere or oppose. The correct strategy in such a case is to take advantage of the momentum and turn for a call to action.

• excite - You can lower the dose of logic and increase the dose of emotion. The audience does not try to argue and does not insist on small details. Instead of this, you should throw explosive slogans, tell exciting stories and the like.
• pre-emptive rebuttal - contradict in advance what the other party will say. Take advantage of the support we receive to prepare for more difficult stages.
• call for action - present demands to the audience, say what needs to be done.
• encourage involvement - Ask the audience for volunteers for tasks, ideas for action, etc.

When the audience is impatient

It is important to distinguish between a crowd in a hurry and a crowd that is bored or opposed - these will also be impatient, but they will project it in a different way. Unlike a bored crowd, a crowd in a hurry is evident by energetic and bouncy body language. Unlike the opposing crowd, the body language of a hurrying crowd will not be closed, and even if people in the crowd show hostility towards you, they will not contradict you, but on the contrary - they will show hostility towards those who contradict you. So what to do when the audience is impatient:

• To speak briefly - to avoid long stories, not to prove every point to the end but to get to the bottom line faster.
• Speak Some Faster - you mustn't speak too fast because then the message doesn't get through and the speaker looks stressed. But when talking Some More quickly you create a feeling in the audience that the speaker is aware of their pressure and he is not wasting their time.
• To move more - to exercise the body more in order to transmit more vigor and to create in those in a hurry a feeling that they are missing the action. You should move around the room more, talk with big hand gestures Some more and speed Some  More. You can also raise your voice and emphasize points more.
• Milestones - to give the audience signs of where you are in the speech and how much more is left to hear.
• Divide and rule - find a way to release those who must come out with the information they need and allow the rest to stay and listen patiently.

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