The speakers who make their audience members the stars will be the ones who shine.
“When you make them the stars, you shine too.”
Below are 3 ways you can shine as a speaker by making your audience members the stars of your speech.
Way #1: Let them Speak!
Just because you’re the speaker doesn’t mean you should be the only one who speaks. Ask your audience members questions and repeat their answers. You can often uncover humor from what your audience members say and this temporarily makes them the stars of your speech. For example, watch what happened when I had them speak up in New York.
Way #2: Tell their Story
Share a story about the person and either use his or her name or let the person self-identify if necessary. I usually use the person’s name if the story involves something that’s positive and helps the person look good in the eyes of the audience. However, if it could be perceived as negative, I withhold the name and let that particular audience member identify herself if he or she wants. Usually the person does just that.
For example, here is a quick story I told about one of my audience members in Pennsylvania several months ago (you might have heard this clip before):
As you heard, she did self-identify and she was proud to have said what she said. This tool helped her become a star in my speech.
Way #3: Project dialogue onto a specific audience member
I’ll let the video describe how to do this. Take a look.
As you could tell, projecting dialogue onto Mary generated laughter but what you could not see was how hard Mary was laughing. She enjoyed it the most and she became a temporary star of the speech. When you connect with one, you can connect with all.
Final Thoughts on the One on One Connection
When you find ways to connect with individuals in your audience, you will automatically connect deeper with the group. Sometimes it’s because the group lives vicariously through that individual and thinks, “How would I respond to that?” and other times it’s because they realize that you actually see them as individuals instead of as a group.
I don’t care so much about the reasons; I just care about the results. If you want to get re-hired time and time again, make them the stars and enjoy as you shine.
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