Being able to speak in front of a large audience at a conference could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to get your word out there for the world to hear, but how do you make sure that your audience feels the same energy as you?
Boring slides and monotonous speeches can no longer keep our audience from drifting off and losing focus, thus it is crucial that you find ways to keep the energy levels high throughout the conference to ensure that everyone is paying full attention to you. If you want to find out 5 ways to energize your audience at your next conference - then just keep reading!
1. Collect questions before and during your event
Instead of fretting about how to energize your audience during the event, why not start off by allowing them to submit questions to you prior to the conference? This way, participants will already have their questions in mind to keep their energy levels high even before it starts, which is a great way to hype your conference up right from the beginning and build buzz around it among the attendees.
You can also continue to collect questions during the conference itself as your participants will have plenty of questions to ask during the conference as well. You can take some time in between sessions to answer the questions, this is also a good way to let your audience have a breather from the information you’re relaying to them, and recharge their energy levels for the remaining part of the presentation!
Check out Mentimeter’s Question from Audience feature which you can use for capturing questions from the audience during your conference.
2. Start with an interesting story or some ice breakers
Speaking to a large group of people might seem intimidating to some, so why not kick-off your workshop with something to grab people’s attention in order to warm them up to your speech? A funny anecdote, some interesting facts, or high energy icebreakers can set the right tone for a good conference. Check out this guide full of icebreaker templates that you can use as inspiration:
Blog post: Icebreakers for every occasion
3. Ensure your content is relevant
The main takeaway that participants want out of your conference is to learn information that is of value to them. Nobody wants to sit through hours of talks and come out with little or no takeaways.
Make sure you do proper research to find out what your audience are concerned about or what problems they are facing, then tweak your content accordingly. Directly stating the problems your audience are facing and then addressing their concerns will ensure that they are constantly engaged throughout the conference, and you’ll definitely look like a pro speaker as well!
4. Communicate Clearly
Another key aspect of a good conference is the clarity of the speaker - so it is important that you present your message in a clear and concise manner.
Try to use language and words that the general public would be familiar with, and steer clear from fancy or complicated jargon that may get participants confused and cause them to be distracted from your speech.
Don’t be afraid to slow down in order to get your message across. Many of us tend to speed through our lines out of nervousness, which could lose the attention of the audience. Take a moment to think about what you want to say, and then say it – what’s most important is that your participants understand what you’re saying.
5. Keep things interactive
Lastly, one of the best ways to keep the energy levels high at your conference is to let all participants have a chance to participate and let their opinions be heard. You can do this by adding an interactive segment to your talk to allow engagement between you and your audience.
With Mentimeter, you can create simple interactive presentations ranging from open-ended responses, voting or even fun quizzes. Your audience can use any smart devices to participate and this lets you incorporate a refreshing segment to your event that can re-energize your crowd! Check out some Mentimeter template resources you can use for your next conference:
- Event: Keep your audience engaged
- Conference: Keep the energy up at conferences
- Conference: Large group analysis
- Conference: Manage audience expectations
- Event: Christmas quiz
Bonus Tip - Add some humor!
Even large scale events could use some kind of humorous break now and then. It's your job to help people find humor throughout your presentation to keep them engaged. If you can get them laughing or smiling, their attention will definitely be drawn to you, so don’t be afraid to incorporate some light-hearted (but appropriate) jokes to help your audience relax and feel comfortable during the conference!
