Get the audience to love you and your tech

Audience participation in presentations might seem like something that just happens in the moment, but there are techniques and technologies you can employ in advance to encourage it. 

Help your speakers thrive and engage their audience with our top 10 tips for getting the audience to love them and the technology! 

1. Always run a warm-up poll

Running a warm-up poll at the start of a session, via an Audience Response App, is a great way to get people familiar with your chosen technology and set them up for the rest of the event. 

Polls help build user confidence and break the ice, especially if it’s light-hearted and memorable. The most popular type of poll for a warm-up is a multiple poll with 3 to 5 options.

2. Icebreakers

Icebreakers are powerful kick-offs to any event. They will help your audience engage with the content and make them feel more comfortable with their surroundings, peers and the technology.  Event Manager Blog has some great ideas for opening activities for meetings and conferences, to help get some positive energy flowing, read the full article here.

3. Build in some humour

People love to laugh. If you can make the audience smile, they will feel closer to you. Think about your humour closely, keep it cheerful. Perhaps it’s a funny icebreaker poll to enliven the audience or an anecdote which will warm the audience to you.

4. Make it about them

Allow your audience to help shape the conversation. Use our Audience Response App to allow attendees to submit questions or respond directly to live polls and feel they are part of the conversation. Our Voting Keypads have a built-in microphone, letting attendees immediately share their comments or ask questions.

5. Seed questions from the speaker

To kick start the Q&A and avoid that awkward moment if there is no feedback, you can seed a few of your own questions at the beginning of the session. Ask your speaker what type of things they would like to be asked, this allows the speaker to start strongly.

Seeding in questions from the outset will also give confidence to other members of the audience, setting the standard for the following questions.

6. Plan for all possible responses

As part of our service and support packages for our Event Apps and Audience Response Apps we ensure speakers are fully briefed and familiarised with the chosen event tech, and our experienced team is on-site should there be any last-minute content changes or technical issues. 

However, it’s also important to brief speakers to react quickly when they don’t get the response they expected. There is always a risk no one will respond or you’ll hear answers you didn’t expect.  Ensure they are prepared with an appropriate response should that happen.

7. Make it memorable

Light up the party with your very own light show! Our light up smart wearable badges are built with 3 LEDs allowing event organisers to surprise crowds with different effects. Whether you want to highlight key moments within presentations, group attendees by interest or industry or create an immersive light show for a captive and memorable experience.

8. Consider the ambience

Make your attendees feel at home and comfortable in their surroundings. Once they’re comfortable, people tend to relax and open up. Making sure they're fed and watered helps!

9. Get their feedback

Real-time polling apps, like our Audience Response App, have another purpose: to gather audience feedback. While you have attendees in the room, it’s the perfect opportunity to ask for their feedback. Keep questions simple and quick to respond to. Surveys can also be gamified; awarding points to attendees who complete it.

10. Give speakers the support they need

If you don’t have the time or resources in-house to deploy event technology successfully at your next event, that’s where we come in!  If you’re struggling to manage a multitude of other tasks, where the reputation of your speakers depends on successful use of technology, maybe it’s time to consider expert support. 

Our expertise in building the use of technology into an event and then delivering the technology on-site will give you complete peace of mind. From briefing your speakers and team on how to get the very best out of the tech, to managing the delivery on-site, we are here to make you look good!

Speak to one of our event professionals about your next event today, contact us here.