Audiences: What Are They Thinking?

[Peg Herring]

As I speak to more and more groups, I find myself wondering on the way home, "What did they really think?" It's not a question one should stress over, but it is helpful to consider the audience's post-speech behavior and comments. Did they bolt for the door at the end or stand around and chat? Did the comments about the talk seem genuine or dictated by societal politeness? ("It was very nice," is damned faint praise.) And was the non-verbal feedback positive?

Non-verbal feedback should be monitored during a speech, as every classroom teacher knows. Boredom, confusion, and disagreement reveal themselves in the faces and bodies of those not speaking, and a speaker has to do some shifting if those signs of unhappiness show up. Sometimes a person will be brave enough to ask for a break or ask a question to clarify, but most won't. (Of course there is always one person in the crowd who seems to think you and he are there for a private conversation. That person always sits in the front row, so the rest of the room has trouble hearing the too-frequent comments or questions that he spouts. It's helpful to give a brief recap for the others if Front-row Guy's comment/question is germane and useful.)

Aside from the brave souls, the speaker needs to watch the crowd for puzzled looks, negative body language, and shifting bodies that indicate some of them are not with you. Then ask yourself: is it too long since they've had a break? Did I fail to explain something adequately? Did I introduce a controversial topic? If you'll adjust accordingly you'll eliminate most (but never all) of the audience's concerns. In a workshop recently I mentioned that I like my chapters to be fairly regular in length, but I stressed that it was my preference. A woman came up at break very upset because she has a one-page chapter and "It has to be one page. The whole meaning of the book depends on it." I tried to reassure her that her book is hers and she should do as she likes, but she went off to tell others in the room that her one-page chapter had to be that way. Concerns like that are self-generated, and a speaker can only hope to be clear enough to allay them for most people. It's when you see multiple people with concerned looks that you have to ask yourself what it is you're doing that causes that.

So what are the members of your audience thinking as they drive home from your talk? You may never know, but they're probably thinking about what to have for dinner, so get over yourself.