Give the audience a task at the start of any talk or lecture that’s going to last more than 5 minutes. For example, ‘Pick out the most important idea’, or ‘Prepare 3 questions you might like to ask the speaker’ or ‘How does this compare to your own experience (which we’ll discuss later)?’.

Your audience now has a focus from which to pay particular attention to the speaker, and the sense of a mission to accomplish. You’ll have a far more attentive group of participants, not to mention a richer set of contributions to the discussion or activity that follows the presentation.

If you want to further develop as a speaker, take a look at our award-winning course which equips you with a range of sophisticated techniques to make the most of your abilities, so you can excel on the platform and in front of any audience.