Audience Engagement Techniques
One of the best ways to engage an audience is to get them moving, talking, and thinking in ways that give them an opportunity to share their opinions, ideas, and experiences. When an audience is included in your speech/presentation they tend to pay more attention to what you are saying since you are, in effect, addressing their concerns, building on their ideas, and responding to their opinions. Below are a few audience engagement techniques that you can choose from when speaking with larger audiences, whether they be college classes, student group meeting, high schools, and/or community groups.
Agree (fist) / Disagree (palm)
This technique can be used to get everyone to respond to a statement/question related to your topic, without feeling singled out. Read a statement/question that can be answered with “agree” or “disagree.” For example, “money plays too big a role in our political system”. Everyone in the audience who agrees with the statement puts a fist in the air, and everyone who disagrees puts a palm in the air. Now you can gauge the opinions of the audience and then cater your remarks to resonate with them. In addition, if you are good at reading people, you can call on someone who looks like they want to elaborate on their response. You can generate debate too by calling on one person with a fist and one person with a palm.
Human Likert Scale
This kinesthetic technique is used to get people to respond to a statement/question by moving around and positioning themselves in a physical space. Read a statement/question such as “I am well represented by my elected official,” or “big money special interests have too much influence in our democracy.” If people agree with the statement they move to the right sight of the room. If people disagree with the statement they move to the left side of the room. If people are waffling in the middle they can stand anywhere in between. Once everyone has situated themselves in the space, call on people to explain why they positioned themselves the way they did.
Anticipation Guide
This technique is designed to get people thinking about the topic before you begin talking. As people walk in have them respond to a variety of statements written on a piece of flip chart. Each person should mark their response by putting a check in a box that correspond with the following responses – strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. Once everyone has filled out the anticipation chart you can use their responses to make your argument and guide the discussion.
Statement: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree
Our Democracy lives up to the ideals that it promises
Young people (15-30) are frustrated about the political issues that affect their lives
Young people are playing an influential role in the political process
I would or have donated over $200 to a political campaign
Think-Pair-Share
This technique is used to avoid the awkward silence that often ensues when you ask for questions or comments right at the end of a speech. Oftentimes, people need a couple minutes to digest the information they just received in order to ask a question or comment. This technique gives audience members those one to two minutes to actually develop a question or think of a comment. Ask the audience members to turn to the person next to them and together think of one part of the speech that made sense to them and another part of the speech that they have questions about. Give them about a minute and then ask people to share what they came up with in their pairs.
Last Voter Standing
1. Have the entire audience stand up to represent the American people. Explain how every American has a responsibility to stand up and be heard, and that we all have the right to vote because we are affected by the actions of our government and hence should have a voice in determining the policies enacted by our government.
2. Ask half the audience to sit down and the other half remain standing. Those left standing represent the percentage of Americans who actually vote during elections (around 40%). Explain how the United States has one of the lowest voter turnout rates among industrialized democracies. Optional: Why is this? How can we reverse this trend and get people inspired to participate as the founders had wanted?
3. Ask the half of the people who are still standing to sit down. Those left standing represent the amount of people who have ever donated money to a political campaign. Explain how our political campaign system, for the most part, is funded by private contributions – without people donating money candidates cannot get their message out and reach potential voters. Explain how nine out of ten congressional races are won by the candidate who raises and spends the most money. Option: Why do candidates need to raise money for their campaigns? Why don’t more people donate money?
4. Have all but one person sit down. This single person represents the amount of people who have donated over $200 to a political campaign. Only 0.25% of the population donates $200 or more to a political campaign. This is significant because people who donate less than $200 do not need to be disclosed by campaigns. Only those who donate more than $200 have to be disclosed. In other words, a small donation doesn’t carry enough influence to warrant being recorded.
5. Notice how many people are left standing. The one individual left standing represents influence, power, and control of government. That 0.25% or powerful moneyed interests – are made up primarily of corporations, wealthiest zip codes, and lucrative special interests. Is it any wonder people turn cynical?
6. Have everyone stand who can afford to donate $5 to a political campaign. Everyone should be standing to represent a renewed political system where everyone can participate and where everyone’s voice matters. This is the beauty of the clean elections system, where all people can afford to participate and where all voices matter not just those who can afford to donate and bundle large amounts of money.
7. Invite interested students to come to your meeting to learn more about how money in politics impacts specific issues like health care, the environment, education costs, civil rights, and foreign policy.
Two Truths and Lie
This technique can be used to introduce members in a group to each other or to introduce startling facts about the topic of the speech. List three statements, two being true and one being lie, and then ask the audience to guess which one is the lie. For example you would say, (1) only 0.25% of the American population donates $200 or more to a political campaign, (2) Jimmy Carter was the first president to propose the idea of publicly funding campaigns, or (3) politicians spend ½ of their time in elected office dialing for dollars and fundraising for their next campaign. Number 2 is the lie, and in revealing that the audience is usually startled to find out that the other two statements are true. This technique is a fun way to give out basic facts while at the same time involving the audience.
Questions and Answers
This technique is used to engage the audience in absorbing an important startling fact. When presenting data about a particular issue, instead of just saying it to the audience introduce it in the form of a question. For example, instead of saying, “only 0.25% of of Americans donate over $200 to a political campaign,” put it in the form of a question: “what percentage of Americans do you think donate over $200 to a political campaign?” Have the audience members throw out some guesses. Chances are they will all be way higher than the actual number, hence when you reveal the right answer they will be more amazed than if you had just told them out right.
Democracy Dichotomy
This technique is used to show how our country has two opposing views of how we define our democracy. Split the audience in half down the middle. People on one side should talk with the person next to them and come up with words and phrases a cynic would use to describe our democracy. In other words how would a pessimist define our democracy? People on the other side should talk with the person next to them and come up with words and phrases an optimist would use to describe our democracy. In other words, how would a fourth grade class define democracy? Give the audience about a minute to come up with different words and phrases. Draw two columns up on a board or on a piece of flip chart. One column should be words a cynic would use in describing our democracy. The other column should be words a fourth grade class would use in describing our democracy. Get both sides to share at least 5 words and phrases for each column. Once you’ve got enough, string the words and phrases together from the pessimist column into a single definition and ask if the audience has ever heard define democracy in such a way. String the words and phrases together from the optimist column into a single definition and ask it the audience has ever hear people define democracy in such a way. This exercise elucidates the point that people have an ideal of how a democracy should work but experience democracy in a completely different. How can there be two totally different and opposite definitions of democracy that both make sense? Ask the audience why they think our ideal definition of democracy slips into the cynical column the older we get? Draw a big dollar sign in between the two columns and explain how money corrupts and corrodes the very ideals that are supposed to be at the foundation of our democracy – equality, justice, accountability, and power in the hands of the people. Explain how Democracy Matters is a movement to bring the power of government back to the people.
Hand Ranking
This technique acts as a form of instant-polling. Pose a question or make a statement to the audience and ask them to rank, on a scale from one to five using their fingers, how they respond to the question or statement. For example, ask “how politically active and engaged do you think young people (15-25) are in this country?” The audience should then rank on a scale from one to five, one being the lowest and five being the highest, there answer to the question. Once people have put their finger rankings in the air ask for people to explain why they ranked the way they did.
Collision
This technique involves a lot of moving and can take as little or as much time as you like. Have everyone sit in a circle with everyone in a chair (no empty seats should be available), except one person who stands in the middle. The facilitator then reads a statement (e.g. I have thought about running for public office). Everyone who agrees with the statement and the person in the middle must then get up from their chair and scramble to find a new chair. The person left standing has to then say their name, where they are from, and explain why and how the statement applies to them. That person can then put out the next statement or the facilitator can do it in order to maintain the focus.
Snowball Fight
This technique is a fun way to get students talking about and sharing with each other the issue about which they care. Give each student a piece of paper and have them write down what they think is the most important political issue (or some variation of that question). Have them crumple up the paper into a ball, stand up, and then engage in a paper ball or “snowball” fight. After 45 seconds of hurling paper at one another have everyone pick up the piece of paper that is closest to them and open it up. Get a discussion started as to why people think these issues are important and how big money and special interests impact those issues.