How Can You Tell What They’re Thinking? - Articles - Andrew Schwartz

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How Can You Tell What They’re Thinking?
by Andrew E. Schwartz

In elementary school, most of us asked questions which were for purely informational purposes. A raise of the hand usually got the attention of the teacher and the question was treated matter-of-factly. In training however, questions from the audience are rarely asked and when they are, they don’t get the attention they deserve. However, these questions, along with other indicators, can give a presentor an abundance of information to analyze their audience. It is crucial that presentors take these questions and other indicators seriously to avoid having their presentations become one-sided.

In training, audiences don’t just ask questions because they want information. In fact, simply needing information actually represent a small percentage of the motives behind audience questions. For example, an audience member is likely to ask a question because they may want to lead you and the discussion in a different direction. Someone might use a question to tell you something that they know. A trainee also might ask a question simply out of need for attention.

Regardless of the reasons they are asked, there are some specific ways to handle an audience’s questions. When questions are asked of you, the first and most important rule is to never try to fool an audience. If you don’t know the answer to a question, admit it, and offer to follow up with an answer later. Treat the question as sincere and answer it as adequately and honestly as possible. Listen carefully to questions and give trainees the attention they deserve.

Presentors are often asked questions when they haven’t asked the audience for them. This often catches presentors off guard, but may alert them to an area unintentionally left out of the presentation, or alert themto a new area of audience interest. Such an unsolicited question can throw a presentor off balance, but there are methods for handling it.

First of all, prepare completely in advance. Survey possible questions which might arise and come equipped with the answers. When a question is asked, listen carefully and think while it is being asked. Repeat the question to be sure that all have heard it. Pause before answering in order to concentrate. Try to draw the questioner out further if necessary. Although the best answer to a question may be another question, make sure that you never argue with an audience member. Finally, after answering the question, return as soon as possible to your main thought sequence.

Asking questions of the audience is another means of getting audience feedback. Although a lot depends on the personal style of the presentor, there are a few rules to go by.

Ask “friendly” questions by putting the “you” element into the question. This lets the audience know that you are on their side and genuinely are interested in their response. In order to emphasize this fact, some presentors develop the fine art of leaning forward slightly or cocking their head. As you allow the trainee to answer, limit the answer to the information wanted but give the trainee time to think and phrase the answer. Be objective in evaluation and give the trainee credit for intelligence. From your knowledge of the experience level of the audience, be sure that the trainee can answer the question, but always supply an “out” in case you’ve chosen the wrong person to avoid the possibility of embarrassment or ridicule.

Aside from fielding and asking questions, there are other ways of analyzing audience attention and feedback. Unfortunately most presentors are unaware of these methods or feel audience analysis is not really all that effective or important. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Analysis is the main tool for what is known as the “functional approach” this dictates that you always seek to measure your progress toward an objective as well as the accomplishment itself. Without the ability to analyze feedback, presentors may have unrealistic or false impressions about the progress being made in the presentation, and thus will be uncertain or wrong in determining their success.

A Communication-Tight Compartment: Many presentors make their presentations in a “communication-tight” compartment. They forget about their audience because of their preoccupation with their own emotions, trepidations, and subjective interactions. Keeping the message of the presentation in mind and being fully committed to it can help a presentor overcome this preoccupation.

Remain Objective: After back-burnering your own feelings, you must observe the feelings of your audience. Observation is a very direct way of obtaining feedback, but your evaluation of the feedback must be objective and realistic. When presentors allow an audience member to disturb them through heckling or insults, they lose the ability to objectively analyze and control their group. Understand that it is by instinct that we take such affronts personally, but in training it is necessary to overcome this reaction. A look of disbelief or disapproval from a member in the front row should be duly registered, but don’t take it to heart. If you ask a rhetorical question and get an unexpected reaction, contain it and continue. Having fully analyzed your audience, the chances of your being thrown by such situations are reduced to a minimum.

Avoid Misunderstandings: Our emotions also cause us to prejudge an audience, often in direct contradiction to the facts. For example, in a recent presentation, one presentor continually scanned the trainees to detect the friendly faces, the hostile ones, the apathetic ones, and so on. One person in particular attracted attention. Throughout the presentation he stared directly at the presentor with a look of distinct hostility on his face to the degree that it actually became distracting. The presentor felt certain that here was a skeptical individual who saw through the presentation devices and was in effect looking at the presentor’s bare soul. Yet, at the end of the lecture the individual came forward with the statement, “I’ve always had a real problem in conveying my knowledge of a subject to an audience. It seems that no matter how well I know my subject, I just can’t seem to establish a proper audience relationship. I was extremely interested in how you did it. Could you give me some additional advice on how to establish audience contact?” Needless to say, the presentor was extremely surprised. This individual turned out to be the most interested member of the entire audience!

This specific communication misunderstanding illustrates that in the areas of emotions and feelings, it is important to avoid the natural human tendency to take situations at their face value no matter how practiced one is in making presentations.

Observe Audience Behavior: If you really aware and alert, your audience’s behavior — faces, bodies, and their hands, will literally transmit scores of “messages" .It is possible to judge how well you’re being received, how much attention your audience is paying to you, and often how close your objective is to accomplishment. For example, shuffling feet, yawns, general restlessness, glances at watches - or rapt attentiveness - all are things which should be consciously noted by the presentor. Some presentors ramble on despite every audience indicator telling them that the audience conciders the presentation over. It is far better to call an unscheduled break and regroup forces than it is to continue without audience feedback.

React to the Environment: Never pretend that things aren’t happening. Since audience attention is directly affected by such factors as ventilation, temperature, lighting, acoustics, external disturbances, interruptions, visual aid equipment failure, late arrivals and early departures, the obvious answer to coping with most of these factors is to check in advance. Thorough preparation in handling the unexpected will sidestep distractions which impede the ability to analyze audience feedback. Your confidence, ingenuity, alertness, and showmanship will enable you to take one of two courses of action.

First, you can handle such a situation matter of factly, as a part of a real-life environment, without letting it interfere with the business at hand. If a microphone goes dead, raise your own volume or move closer to your audience. There are few rooms in which a person cannot be heard if they try. It is unlikely that well maintained visual-aid equipment will break down if checked and previewed just before a presentation, but if it does, it doesn’t have to be a catastrophe. A good presentor knows what his or her own visuals contain and should be able to improvise if necessary. Podium samples that reiterate usually will save you if you have provided for them in advance.

The second alternative is to take the event and use it - build it into the presentation on the spot, if it contributes to your objective or a point you want to make. Such action adds a note of spontaneity and reality to the presentation, if it is done smoothly and appropriately. After all, it is a real-life situation, so why not treat it as such? Many training presentations are far too formal to begin with. Although they are really conversations among people, more often than not they sound like recitations or readings. You can do worse than behave spontaneously and naturally.

Response Points Pay Off: You can deliberately elicit feedback to provide date to measure your progress through the use of “predetermined response points” .An example is the “double-answer” technique, recognizable in many sales presentations, which essentially asks a question that gives a choice between two “yes” answers with no negative responses. Such questions can be subtly interwoven into a training presentation without a trainee being aware of the affirmative net being woven. For example, “Do you like the first method of time management or the second better?” or “Which long-term range planning goals would best suit your office?”

A similar type of response point is that of developing a kind of “cumulative affirmation” .The idea here is to ask objective-oriented, generalized question to which any non-disruptive person must answer with a yes and to reinforce the questions by following up with the expected answers. The natural result is the creation of an affirmative atmosphere. For example “Do you think the people in your office could function better after learning some stress management techniques?” “Every efficient office needs good records, doesn’t it?”

Regardless of what response technique may be convenient in a given situation, one thing is certain for the aware presentor: every use of these techniques will drive you deeper and deeper into the realm of subtlety, which is precisely where the art of using response points belongs. For most presentors, these direct questions will be the best method to determine how well the idea presentation is progressing.

Plant a Critic in the Audience: If possible, have a friend or associate sit in on the presentation for the express purpose of serving as a critic. They should divorce themselves as completely as possible from what would be the normal interaction of a regular audience member. Their job is to evaluate the feedback techniques clinically and objectively. They should observe both you and your audience, and note your effectiveness and their attention and reactions. In certain cases it might also be advisable to have prearranged signals similar to those used in broadcasting studios to tell speakers and performers to speed up, slow down, and how much time is left. The main aim is to get an objective evaluation of yourself for future reference and improvement.

In the final analysis, audience feedback will help you to walk away from your presentation with a much greater chance of knowing not only how good it was, but whether or not you’ve actually accomplished your stated objective. Above all else, you should remember that you always must be just as much an audience analyst as a presentor of ideas. In conversing with individual members of the audience, bear in mind that you owe them just as much attention and respect as you want from them.

Andrew E. Schwartz, CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates of Boston, MA a comprehensive management training and professional development organization offering over 40 skills specific programs and practical solutions to today's business challenges.

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