The Hand Raising Technique: Getting a room to quiet down instantly

I first learned about this technique at the Living Games Conference. It’s been about 5–10x more effective for getting a room to quiet down than anything else I’ve tried, including ringing a gong, “if you can hear me clap twice”, or even turning out the lights.

At the beginning of your event while you have everyone’s undivided attention, teach your group the following:

1. At some point, I may raise my hand high. (This is dominant arm straight up by your ear, not elbow-bent like asking to be called on.)
2. If you see me, immediately raise your hand and stop talking, even if you are in the middle of a sentence.
3. If you see anyone else with their hand up, immediately raise your hand and stop talking.
4. Get everyone to practice the gesture with you immediately, while you’re still the center of attention.
5. Now do a really quick practice run by having people start introducing themselves to each other and quickly doing the hand raise interruption.

That’s it. I’ve gotten a room of 100 people who are all talking, workshopping, and physically prototyping to complete silence in 5–10 seconds without ever raising my voice.

I believe the reasons why it’s effective include
a) the physical participation component is highly compelling
b) the physical component happens before verbal silence / full social attention transfer and segues into it
c) it’s slightly awkward to carry on a conversation with your hand by your ear
d) it’s awkward to be the only people not raising your hand
e) it doesn’t matter which direction you’re looking in, you’ll see someone with their hand raised