Sean D'Souza: Simple questions, easy answers mean ready listeners

Put a 2-year-old child in front of a Barney video for the first time and watch the child's face. It's intent. It's focused. And not very relaxed at all. But put that child in front of that same Barney video for the 700th time and watch her face. She's shaking her arms and feet, nodding her head, and merrily singing "B-I-N-G-O".

You already know what causes the child to be so animated, don't you?

If only your audience was quite as animated when you stand up to give a presentation or speech. Instead, most audiences are quite rigid. They look at you as if you've just landed from one of Jupiter's 62 moons.

So how do you get an audience to warm up really quickly? You ask "impossible-to-goof-up" questions.

So what's an "impossible-to-goof-up" question? One where there's no wrong answer. It's an easy question where everyone knows the answer the moment the question floats through the air. This "impossible-to-goof-up" question is one that gets the audience to feel safe enough to raise their hands or call out the answer.

Let me give you an example. When I'm doing a speaking engagement for the Brain Audit, I'll do a preset format to get the audience's attention. I'll sit on a chair. And get up. I'll sit on a chair. And get up. I'll sit again. And then I'll get up for the third time.

Then I'll turn to the audience, and say: "So why didn't the chair break?"

You may not know where I'm headed with my line of thought, but the question is completely non-threatening. Which causes several members of the audience to call back their versions of the answer.

"You're not fat enough," they say. "The chair is built to take a lot of sitting and standing up."

"The chair is designed for people to sit on."

Within minutes you've got a rather quiet audience to get involved. And as you already figured out, there's no wrong answer.

Another example: I talk about driving, and listening to the music in my car. And my speed goes up from

70km/h, to 80km/h, to 110km/h. And then from the corner of my eye, I spot a cop car ahead. So what do I do next?

See? You know the answer already.

When you know the answer, you get participative. Even if you're not calling out the answer aloud, you're verbalising the answer in your mind. And every time I get you to answer the question correctly, the stiffness rolls out of your body and brain. You start to relax.

But won't all this ease make the audience too chatty? No it won't - provided you keep control. In every presentation you have to move the audience between what I call "new" and "knew". They "know" the answer so they relax. Then you pull out the "new" stuff; the stuff that's unique; the stuff that gets their attention and stops the chatter. And as you swing between the familiar and the new, you'll notice the switching back and forth between excitement and curiosity.

How many of these questions should you create in a single speech? What I tend to do is create two or three of these questions so that they pop up within about five to seven minutes of my speech starting. These five to seven minutes are the part where the audience is in the starchiest zone of all. So making sure those questions roll out in quick succession is pretty critical in getting audience involvement.

But you must construct the "impossible-to-goof-up" questions using the following parameters:

* The question must be so simple that anyone in the room can answer it.

* The question must align with what you're going to say next.

* The question must appear almost "too easy" to answer.

So here's what you need to do:

* Evaluate the content of your speech.

* Pepper the first five to seven minutes with "impossible-to-goof-up" questions.

* Make sure that no matter what the answer, your presentation can move along and is perfectly aligned with what you're going to say next.

* Use "new" and "knew" to keep control over the situation.

Do it right, and within seven minutes or less you'll have that audience following your speech with the same gusto as the 2-year-old singing "B-I-N-G-O".

And not only does the audience relax, but you do too. You're well on your way to a rousing ovation.

PS: I used the same concept of relaxing you at the start of this article. I asked whether you knew why the child is relaxed when watching the video for the 700th time. And without thinking about it much, you knew the answer.

I eased you into the article, before I pulled out the 62 moons of Jupiter. Then again I eased you back, using the "new" and "knew" concept right through the article. And what works for this article will work just as well for your next presentation.

Sean D'Souza is chief executive of Psychotactics and is an international author and trainer.

www.psychotactics.com