7 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR AUDIENCE PAY FULL ATTENTION TO YOU


7 ways to make your audience pay full attention to you when you speak
Having a hard time staying awake?

Saturday. 9AM. Conference room.

You are ready for the big day. You are going to be the speaker for the conference. The microphone is ready. The audience are all sitting in their seats. You feel energise and excited. You begin to speak. Everything is going well. After a while, you start to notice something.

Some of your audience are dreaming away. Some of them are looking at their phones. And some of them are chatting with one another? 

 What is happening?

You audience are not giving you their full attention.

As a speaker, have you ever experienced this before?

Have you ever wonder why your audience did not give their undivided attention to you when you speak?

The truth is you can’t force people to listen to you if they refuse to listen to you. Yes, that does sound pretty confusing but I’m sure you know what I mean.

However, there are ways to get their attention. In order to do that, there are seven (7) things you need to take into consideration.

1) Your speech topic MUST be interesting

Imagine you as your audience. Try putting yourself in their shoes. Ask yourself this question. Will you give your full attention to a speaker if the speech topic does not interest you? Of course at the beginning of the speech, you will try to listen to what the speaker has to say out of courtesy and respect. But how long do you think it will last?

Therefore, find topics which will interest your audience. Tell them about something that they are looking forward to. Otherwise, your audience will be sleeping (with their eyes open), dreaming away or lose their focus completely.

2) Don’t speak too long

Don’t you just hate it when someone speaks too long? Don’t you wish the person can stop talking? This is exactly how your audience think if you deliver a very long speech. There must be a time limit no matter how good your speech content is.

Even if you are a wonderful speaker on stage, your audience will stop listening to you after certain period of time. Remember we humans have short attention span. So it is important not to drag a topic. People will get bored after a while. They will stop listening to you. If you are a speaker at a conference, please don’t forget to give your audience a break.

3) Add some stories and humour 

Due to our short attention span, you need to add some ‘spices’ to your speech. Your audience will continue to be interested and keep listening to your speech. As human beings, we love to imagine things and we always want to be happy. We want to listen to something that get our minds working and makes us feel good. So add some stories and humour to your speech.

When you tell stories, you audience will not get bored easily and help them to stay awake. They will listen to your stories and give you their full attention. Jokes and humour in your speech makes your speech more fascinating, engaging and entertaining. It is as if they are watching a cool movie on Netflix!

4) Interact with your audience

Have you ever been to a talk where the speaker delivered a presentation and you felt so invisible? It was as if the speaker was talking to empty seats?

It is human nature. We love to interact with others. As a speaker, you must always make an effort to communicate with your audience. Ask them questions. Call out their names. Give answers to their questions. Give response to their actions. Get them involved in activities during the speech. Acknowledge their presence.

When you interact with your audience, they will definitely give you the attention that you deserve.

5) Have a variation of presentation techniques

I’m sure you know this. People learn in different ways; by visual, auditory and kinesthetic. In order to get your audience attention, have a variation of presentation techniques. Show your audience some images, cartoons and let them listen to an audio. You can also use props and visual aids. Be creative in your approach.

If you use the same techniques for your speech presentation, your audience might find your speech or presentation unvaried, dull and draining. Especially in certain situation where you need to speak for a longer time, the variation of techniques is crucial.

6) Pay attention to your voice

You may not see this as important but trust me it is. The way you use your voice in a speech can determine if your audience will give their full attention to you when you speak or not. If your voice is too soft that no one can hear you clearly, then they will shut you off before you even started.

If your voice is too loud, they might get irritated and stop listening to you. Your voice should be clear, loud enough and pleasant to listen to. The way you speak and the variation of voice you use will make your audience love to hear your voice. Thus, they will give you their attention and hear you out.

7) Have a great personality

Before you give a speech or a presentation, look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, “Do I look presentable?”

You see, people will always pay their full attention to those who possessed a great personality. If you want your audience to give their full attention to you when you speak, then do not take your personality and image for granted. Be interesting, be witty and be charming on stage. Be kind, be humble and be approachable.

Make an attempt to look good and presentable on stage all the time. Remember, human beings adore beautiful things in life. We love to look at nice things. Your audience will surely give you their full attention if you present yourself well.

That’s it… 7 ways to make you audience glued to you like ants to sugar cubes…

I know. It is never easy to get your audience to listen to you from the beginning of your speech until the end. You can never read their minds. They may be looking straight into your eyes, smiling at you and seem to be listening but it might not be the case. Most probably, they are thinking about something else.

Do not worry too much. What you can do is to make your speech presentation more interesting and exciting. Do not forget to see it from your audience’s perspectives and pay attention to the small details. It does make a huge difference.


Well, I always believe in one thing. If you pay attention to your audience and listen carefully, maybe your audience will pay attention to you too :)



Written By: Intan Salwana Anis
@2018 Public Speaking Is Cool. All Rights Reserved


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