It is every professional speaker’s dream to speak to a large audience. Whether large to you is 100 or 100,000, it requires a different skill set from when you speak to smaller groups.
The first time I spoke on a cruise ship I had an audience of 2,500 and felt real moments of panic. I had to tell myself it was no different than speaking to a group of 100, except they were in multiple groups of 100. I left the stage and came up to the first row in the theatre and began to ask questions of the audience, I knew if I could get them involved I would be able to make myself comfortable enough to create the required rapport. with them.
The presentation was on communication skills focusing n marriages and couples. I asked the audience how many people had been married more than 10 years and about 30 hands went up, Then 15 years and about 20 hands remained. By the tine I got to 30 years, there was one couple remained with their raised hands.
I went into the audience and asked him what the secret was. His answer “I’m deaf!”
Of course that received a great round of laughter and I slipped into my comfort zone.
Laughter is the fastest and easiest method of gaining an audience’s attention and trust. I even took a class many years ago from John Cantou who owned the Holy City Zoo where Robin Williams and many comedians got their start. There is an art to creating laughter and often, the more practiced it is, the less rehearsed it seems.
You should always strive to build rapport with your audience and the way you engage them in laughter will help you accomplish it faster than any other method I’ve known.
Sharyn Abbott 