The moments I dread the most on presentation day don’t happen when I’m in front of the audience. They happen before and after the presentation. As an introvert, it’s the small talk that makes me a little bit anxious. You see, I can practice and prepare for the presentation, so I pretty much know what to expect when I stand up to speak. But I don’t have a lot of control over the conversations I might have with audience members.
Still, I know that it’s really important. In fact, small talk might be a bit of misnomer because you can accomplish some big things with it. Things like gaining your audience’s trust, building your credibility, or gaining valuable leads. So here are two tips I use to help me feel better prepared for handling those conversations.
Don’t Make It About You
Small talk shouldn’t be a personal sales pitch. This can be more difficult than it sounds because according to research conducted by neuroscientists at Harvard University and published in The Wall Street Journal, “Talking about ourselves—whether in a personal conversation or through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter—triggers the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as food or money.” It literally feels good to talk about ourselves. But as the speaker, you already have the majority of the speaking time on your side. Use those moments of small talk as an opportunity to learn more about the other people who are there. Which boils down to one thing: asking questions.
If it’s before the presentation, you might ask questions about they do, what their interests are, or how they like to spend their free time. If you learn something that relates to your presentation topic, you might then refer to that during your presentation to make it more personable.
If you are talking to audience members after the presentation, don’t be afraid to ask them if they had any unanswered questions or concerns. This gives you valuable presentation feedback while also giving them a chance to join the conversation. Just remember, this isn’t an opportunity for you to give a second speech. Let them take the lead this time.
Avoid One-Word Responses
This tip is one of my favorites, and it comes from a Forbes article called, “An Introvert’s Guide to Small Talk.” One of the quickest ways to kill a conversation, or to make small talk unbearably awkward, is to give one-word responses. Writer Christina Park says you can avoid this by expanding on those short answers with “juicy tidbits of information.” This trick allows “the other person to continue the conversation.”
For example, if someone asks where you are from, don’t just give the name of the city you live in. Give the name of the city and then provide a little more information about it. So if someone asks where you are from, you could give a response like this. “I’m from Nashville. But contrary to popular belief, not everyone there loves country music. I sure don’t. But I do love the hot chicken.” This short response allows multiple opportunities for the other person to easily continue in the conversation. He might talk about country music or food or even offer some similar details about his own hometown. However, if you just respond with “Nashville,” it puts more burden on the other communicator to figure out what to talk about next.
These two tricks can take the guesswork and worry out of small talk. Beyond that, they can make it more productive. After all, it isn’t about passing time. It’s about creating opportunities to connect with other people and to move into deeper, more meaningful discussions.
From start to finish, Ethos3 is here to help with every stage of the presentation process. Let us know how we can help you.
