Travelogue Learning 1: In the city of temples

Right from the scratch

I had a great opportunity to address a group of 185 students in the space of five hours near BBS, as an aptitude trainer for a few days. The results even though were not phenomenal enough, but the learning was really a great outcome.

Here are a few practical tips that I felt was a quick gauge, a bit different from the regular tips:

1. Never, Ever gauge your audience. You can try to understand their expectations right at the start of a few minutes. The first ten minutes of ice-breaking and the last five minutes of closure gets embedded in the mind of audience. If you fail in the ice-breaker, you will have to drag your presentation along, which will turn to boredom.
2. Please keep them excited. The fillers can come in many forms to de-stress them, to motivate them, to enchant them, but all of them should be properly planned. Even if you are giving a 5-hour extempore speech, you can at least have the points in mind. Planning does help.
3. Mood of the audience. If your audience is drooling, time for a change. If your audience is not nodding, time for a change. Please do not drag a conversation or presentation, just for the fact that you have completed it. Please respect has the mood.
4. Sell the content. If you have a good content, do not forget to sell it. Delivering content and selling content are two different processes. Kindly learn to sell.
5. Push and Pull strategy. Push your ideas, push your concept, but pull the excitement, pull the seriousness. You can gauge the emotional display to understand which strategy is required.
6. Voice Modulation is always appreciated. Intonations, pauses, mini-pauses, repeating of words, referencing from a script of a movie, or a game, comparison of a solution to a life’s real problem, personal queues, anecdotes and references, emphasis excites differently.
7. Mobility can be a good innovative idea. Starting your speech by sitting in a chair of the audience, starting from the back of the audience when everybody is expecting you to start at the front- definitely is a good bonus point. Turn to the unexpected. Let the audience rejoice at their unexpected expectations.
8. Release of emotions. Sometimes it is natural to get the release of collective emotions of the group. If anyone from the audience is displaying non-positive emotions or body-language, and if you have the advantage to go to the person, please take the risk. Mingling with the audience is a big YES. Sometimes, please cater to persons individually.
9. Prepare for a local news and happenings. If you happen to get the opportunity for visiting various places, add the local flavor, especially when you are new to the place. Add a few lines or words in the language at the start. Or sing a song in the language. Audience generally get connected.
10. Never fail to appreciate. Last, but not the least, never ever try to fail to pat on the back or a collective appreciation for the person who has answered a question, or asked a good question.

These are a few facts I found out while delivering a few lectures in BBS.