Question

How might the audience's attitude, especially during the question and answer period, affect the amount of audience interaction during or after a presentation? Please explain this to me.

Answer 1

The first simple thing to try is to ask a series of questions to your audience. Throughout your presentation, each question should require a gradually more difficult response. I like to ask the audience a simple question about themselves within the first 60 seconds of a presentation–then get them to respond by raising their hands. ("Lift up your hand if you ever...") Why do you do it so early? In the first minute of the talk, the first lapses in listener attention tend to occur. So, you immediately spark an interaction by asking a question like this and establishing a small, immediate connection. They may be more willing to follow your call-to-action by the end of your presentation if they are willing to raise their hand at the beginning of a talk (and answer an poll, agree to a premise, etc.).

Polling is one of the best ways to interact with members of the audience. They cause people to think critically about what they hear, and they are urged to share their own views and expertise. Technology can help here, apart from the typical hand-raising poll. Ask people to answer a question on the screen via your smartphone or laptop. There are plenty of polling tools out there that you can use to collect responses, that can collect and broadcast real-time poll results.

Presentation slides help you communicate your ideas clearly, but while you're speaking, they can also get people involved. Give people a closer look at slides with a tool that can bring those slides into their hands directly. You can use a tool like Beamium that allows people to use their smartphones to access your slides.
Another way to help people get more involved with your slides is to just invite them to take a picture. Pause for a moment, then say, "Take your smartphones out, all right. This is the slide you want to take home with you. "Not only do they get a nice visual takeaway, but you also have another time with your audience to make a call-and-answer.