Connections Bring You Closer To Your Audience
Many speakers are aware that telling a story, making eye contact, and using the word “you” helps to connect with an audience. But, have you ever considered the distance between you and your audience influencing these connections?
My first experience with connections through proximity came many years ago as I observed a well-known speaker make her rounds at every table at my local National Speakers Association meeting. She had delivered the opening session for the meeting, and was scheduled to continue her presentation after lunch. During lunch, however, she stopped by each round table in the hotel’s ballroom to say “hello” and strike up a short conversation with those seated at each table. This practice left a positive impression on me, an emerging speaker at that time.
It turns out that by speaking to each table, the speaker at that NSA had strategically thought about her audience. A recent podcast that featured David Meerman Scott, author of the recently released book “Fanology”, acknowledges that there is a good reason to get physically close to your audience. Based on what we know from neuroscience, Scott states, “Humans are hard-wired to have a strong emotional bond to other people the closer we get to them. If your audience trusts you and feels that you are someone who can be helpful, getting closer to them will produce positive emotions.” A caveat to this rule is that you have to build rapport and trust with your audience first before you get physically close to them in order for this bond to occur.
Speaker coach and author, Nick Morgan validates the concept that getting physically close to your audience is a positive move. In his book, “Power Cues”, he writes, “Every time you move toward the audience, their interest level is raised. Every time you move away from the audience, the audience cools down. An audience unconsciously monitors the space between it and the speaker.”
Culturally speaking, social scientists agree that in the United States, more than 12 feet from a person is considered public space, and people are not strongly engaged when a speaker is at least that distance away. However, if a speaker comes within 12 feet of an audience but not as close as four feet, that’s called social space. At this distance, the audience starts to pay attention. If a speaker comes within less than four feet of an audience member, the speaker is then in an audience member’s personal space, and the audience becomes fully engaged. A strategy for audience engagement and connections is to move into personal space because that’s where and when your audience will be paying the most attention.
How can we apply this information in order to make better connections with our audience?
A couple of ways comes to mind:
1. Get to your venue ahead of time so that you can get set up and have the time to meet and greet with the audience members who arrive early. This will pay dividends in the long run.
2. Choreograph your speech so that you can build in opportunities to get close to some audience members. You only need to get into the personal space of a few audience members during your presentation in order for the majority of the audience to feel connected to you.
3. Move towards your audience when you are making a point, then move away after you have made your point in order to make your points more memorable.
4. Find an opportunity in your speech to bring an audience member on stage with you to perhaps do a demo. As long as you position yourself within four feet of your audience member, you will have impact and influence on the rest of your audience.
5. Use the JumboTron Technology. If you are delivering to an extremely large audience, a connection with you can be made by the audience seeing you on the JumboTron screens that are typically on the sides of the stage.
6. Hang around after your speech. Your audience seeks a connection with you, and sometimes the best time to connect is after you have delivered your presentation.
Space and proximity are often not on the checklist for creating a strong connection with your audience. Perhaps it’s time to consciously consider the influence and impact physical distance can make when you have an important message to deliver.