15- 6 Steps to Being a Good Audience Member
How often have you presented or attended a presentation and looked around the room to find people working on their iPad or checking email on their phone? Being a good audience member is a trait that you can use to build respect in your industry. When I speak to a group, whether it is 5 people, or 500, I look for friendly faces in the audience. These people are easy to spot as I present. They are the ones smiling, listening, and nodding their heads. At the end of my talk, they are the people that I am more likely to spend time networking with afterwards. Similarly, when I am an audience member, I am engaged and respectful of the presenter while trying to make a genuine connection. It is through this connection that you stand out and become memorable to the speaker. This gives you a positive introduction you can use to talk to the speaker after their presentation. Make the most of your time spent attending the presentation to learn and network with the presenter and the other professionals in attendance. Follow the steps below to be a good audience member and set yourself apart from the other attendees.
Step 1: Show up On-Time and Ready to Listen
By agreeing to attend an event, you have made a commitment to the speaker that you will be on-time and ready to participate. Yet, how often have you been to a presentation where you, or someone else, walked in late. Regardless of the reason, the resulting stigma is the same. By being late, you are unconsciously telling others that your time is more valuable than theirs is. The same is true of people who show up to a presentation and are not ready to participate. As a young professional, I was invited to attend training seminar. Unfortunately, I was seated next to a gentleman who had drank too much whiskey the night before. His eyes were bloodshot and he smelled like a distillery. Others noticed as well and for the rest of the 3-day training, he was known as “the whiskey guy.” Don’t be that person. Show up to the presentation refreshed and be the best representative of yourself that you can be.
Step 2: Turn the Distractions Off 
Two of the most important resources you have are time and money. When you attend a presentation, you are investing both. Be sure to get a high return on your investment by minimizing distractions. In today’s busy business world, one of the most common distractions is work that needs to be completed while you are out of the office. If you are attending a presentation, you likely planned to be there. So my advice is to plan ahead to not only be prepared for the presentation, but also, if there is work that needs to be done while you are out, plan to have other people help out and/or set expectations with the person expecting the deliverable. As Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
In addition to good planning, it is important to turn your electronic devices off. It is all too common to look around the room and find someone on their cell phone, or worse, on a computer. Using these devices during a presentation not only distracts you, but the associated noise, key strokes, ringing, vibrating, etc, also distracts others. If you are a successful professional, your “to-do list” is already overflowing. However, the time to check tasks off is not when someone else is speaking. The next time you consider doing this, stop and look around the room. You will find yourself surrounded by other successful professionals. Their time is just as valuable as your own. Be respectful and minimize your distractions.
Step 3: Use Non-Verbal Cues to Show you are Engaged
Most people are trained to make eye contact with audience members as they speak. What people in the audience rarely consider is that eye contact goes two ways. While you are watching the speaker, they are watching you. You can use non-verbal cues such as eye contact and head nodding to show the speaker that you are engaged and interested in what they are saying. Be sure to check your body language occasionally as well. Sitting with closed arms and/or in a backward leaning position is a sign that you are disinterested in the topic, the speaker, and/or the other audience members. Instead, try to sit up straight, with arms uncrossed, and lean forward.
Step 4: Take Notes
There is a reason that you were taught to take notes throughout your education. It works. The most successful people I know still take notes Note taking helps you concentrate, improves your ability to recall information, and enables you to better connect with the information you are listening to. In addition, taking notes better allows your brain to assess the learning material and helps you form your own ideas, often building on the information the speaker is providing. Most venues that host presentations will provide a pen and a writing pad. However, you should not count on this. Personally, I carry a three-subject college ruled notebook with me everywhere I go, and I date each page I use for notes. By taking notes in the same book, it is easier to find information quickly as they are chronologically ordered. Others take notes using a computer or tablet. This can be effective as well, but be sure that you are not doing it in a manner that is distracting to others.
Step 5: Ask Good Questions at the Appropriate Time
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers,” said Voltaire. Although he lived during the 1700’s, his statement is still true. Asking well thought out questions allows you to increase you own knowledge, shows the speaker that you are paying attention, and helps others. When your brain takes in information and processes it in a way that formulates a question, you dramatically increase your knowledge level. In addition, by asking good questions you will stand out as someone who is serious, there to learn and to participate, and is making the most of their time attending the presentation.
Lastly, unless you are the only person in the room, someone else probably has a similar question. If you have a question about something you heard, ask it- chances are someone else also wants to know the answer. One way to capture meaningful questions is to write them in the margin of your notebook to help keep track of them during the presentation. If you are listening to a good speaker, it is likely that many of your questions will be answered as the presentation goes on. However, if they don’t, you can ask questions from your list at the end of the talk.
When should you ask your question? The speaker or session moderator will typically set the ground rules in terms of when a question should be asked. Please respect them by not interrupting the presentation. Unless the speaker asks for questions throughout the presentation, you should politely wait for the question period.
Step 6: Make the Connection
In addition to learning new things, one of the benefits of attending presentations is the ability to network with other industry professionals. Among those people, the speaker is likely someone you want to not only meet, but also keep in touch with. If you’ve followed my advice up to this point, you have already made a positive impression on the speaker. You are now in a better position to walk up to the speaker at the end of the session and make a personal introduction. The conversation may be short, a quick “thank you” and then an exchange of contact information, or it could be longer if you have additional questions. This is an opportunity to set yourself apart from the other professional s in the room and make a meaningful connection that can help you in future work endeavors.
Be prepared, attentive, and engaged to make the most of your time when you attend a presentation. When you are there don’t forget to take notes, ask questions, and follow up. These are all easy ways to learn something new while building credibility with the audience and the speaker, and, ultimately, get yourself noticed.
What tips do you have for being a good audience member?
