As a speaker or presenter, do you have trouble with people getting up and leaving before your talk is over? What innovative hacks have you devised to keep them in the room until the talk is finished?

Answer 1

Hi there. Thankfully-no! But, this is not simply because I was lucky. I have always "held on" to my audience by ensuring that I never forgot they were the reason I was up at the lectern.

On the rare occasion, someone will need to leave for a legitimate reason: bathroom, coughing episode etc.However, if you experience audience members drifting off (usually in a furtive or distracted manner) it is because you have lost their attention and they see no reason to remain.

Reasons: speaker runs way over allotted time. Cardinal sin!

Speech is badly organized, no logical flow, therefore hard to follow.

Speaker goes off topic, rambles, repeats themselves, digresses.

Speaker is boring! Monotone delivery, poor eye contact, lack of pacing, verbal tics (um, like, you know).

Material is of little interest to the audience.

To ensure this doesn't happen to you, start by knowing as much about your audience as possible and work out what is important/what matters to them.

Second; practice, practice, practice.

Finally--work with a coach.