5 Ways to Win Over a Tough Audience

You spent the whole week preparing for your presentation. You had a good night’s sleep. You bedazzled your PowerPoint with futuristic slide transitions. You had your mom proofread your speech and she said it was perfect, just like you. You blasted “Eye of the Tiger” on repeat for the duration of your commute.

You open the door to the conference room, set your materials on the table, look up at the audience with a grin, and introduce yourself with a punchy joke. All you hear is:

*cough*

I remember doing a stand-up showcase in San Francisco where there were only two people present, one of whom was audibly snoring in the front row. Now that’s an extremely tough audience to win over, partly because the term ‘audience’ in this scenario is being generous. However, we’ve all been in a situation where we’ve had to present material in front of a crowd that is unreceptive from the outset. Either they don’t think your message is very important, or frankly, they just don’t want to be there.

While I was in graduate school I had a part time job traveling to different high schools to teach SAT curriculum to 20–30 students at a time. In the beginning, it was torture. Between their audible gum chewing and constant Snapchatting, it was apparent that I was out of my depth. I’d all but raised my white flag, assuming I could never compete with celebrity face swap selfies. However, through some determined trial and error, I learned to consistently win over apathetic teenagers. In fact, I became a better comedian/performer because of it.

Note that when I say a tough audience, I define it as disengaged and indifferent spectators, not someone actively heckling you. That’s way more fun!

Here are some of the ways I’ve learned to engage with a tough audience:

1. Analyze the situation

Before you tackle any situation, you need to figure out the ‘why?’ Why is the audience disengaged and not interested? Sometimes you might be presenting to an audience that just got out of a six-hour training session, and aren’t exactly thrilled to hear you talk about brand compliance. Or sometimes it might be as simple as a post-lunch conference slot, with food coma lulling your listeners to sleep (full disclosure: I always blame my bad performances on food coma).

Figuring out the ‘why’ is crucial to assessing your possible solution. If the audience is tired, you might try injecting some energy into your presentation. Perhaps you might want to shy away from sharing excessive content, and simply rely on the most important points, emphasizing them through visual aids or group exercises.

2. Take a breath

Yes, breathing… who knew?

After analyzing the situation and positing possible solutions, take a nice long breath and experience the moment.

Think to yourself, “Yes, this is happening. Enjoy it!”

Enjoy the experience of presenting in front of that audience. This will help to focus your energy and manage your expectations. Looking back, my favorite show included a friend and I performing for 8 people, with crickets chirping for the first 15 minutes. At a loss, we glanced at each other and decided to scrap the written material for some lighthearted crowd work. Immediately, the audience succumbed to laughter. We learned then and there, that if the audience sees you taking time to enjoy the moment, they will follow suit.

3. Start with a story that signals why we should we care.

Storytelling is a great way to surprise an audience and invoke interest about your topic, as the audience is fascinated both with the narrative of the story and your reason for sharing it (i.e. your point of view).

This will help to immediately focus the crowd’s attention, so they are aware of why you are passionate about your presentation. The ‘so what?’ question helps to create shared consensus among the audience and will ultimately increase their overall engagement because you made them see what is at stake.

4. Build rapport

Ask questions to specific audience members and learn their names. Try to weave their names into examples that you use in your presentation. I became a much better performer when I started interacting with my audience on a 1:1 basis. Your audience didn’t show up to watch a movie (and really, no one’s going to sell out a ‘brand compliance’ matinee). Be in the moment with them!

As a performer I always embrace a scenario in which a single audience member laughs at a joke. “That person gets it!” I shout. Kills every time.

5. Make your audience do something active

Lastly, surprise your audience and have them physically participate. Applied improvisation is a phenomenal tool that aids in public speaking because it acknowledges your audience as active listeners and not people idly sitting and taking in information. Before presenting think about an exercise that will either rearticulate the point you are trying to make in your presentation, or functions in the beginning as a high energy ice-breaker.

By doing something active with the audience you not only get their attention, but you can also model the kind of behavior you want to see from them within your presentation.

Ultimately these tools will help you view a tough audience as a gift, because you will learn to think on your feet and problem solve, as well as gain more confidence in your facilitation skills. Learn to manage your audience, and they will love you every time!