Engaging the audience

You could pretend their blind. Which could make you more descriptive.
You could try and be bad on purpose

I got a good knock knock joke for you, but you have to start.

Thanks, rub3n, pretending they're blind sounds good to me.

How about direct interaction, something to help lighten up a bit because topic is so boring that by the time I begin, they'd be bored to tears.

ha ha ha ha bonk, Richard. That's a great joke!

Direct interaction is good. Avoid asking the general audience a question first, because that will set the tone. Instead, pick a specific person to ask. This subtly wakes up the audience, because it shows you may ask anyone a question. Always why I was a back row student. If you can meet a few of the students before the class starts that can help as well.

Ha! I'll grill them good. Only messing. I'll try to refrain from torturing them too much, just enough to waken them up a bit. Thanks Richard.

Went well enough, but I'm sooo taking a course in public speaking. Anyone know any good online resources in the meantime? Especially something on voice training?

Glad it went well. Join your local speaking club, "ToastMasters". And maybe check out Udemy.com for either a low cost or no cost online course.

Thanks Richard

Get them doing stuff, ask them to look at something, think of somewhere

toastmasters is great. so is watching comedians on TV, they are AMAZING communicators.

Oh, too late for this, but might be handy for next time:

WonderGurl wrote: topic is so boring that by the time I begin, they'd be bored to tears.

This is not a good start, fronting an audience with a topic you consider boring.

Maybe take a leaf out of sakoz's book, open by telling them they're a bunch of fools believing their own conditioning and that you're going to enlighten them. You could arrange for a friend to stroll in as the bogyman, real scary like, then whip off the sheet and go on with your talk. The jolt of adrenaline might be dysfunctional for them, but it will serve your purpose of having them on high alert for whatever else you might want to impart.

If, on the other hand, it might suit you better for them to be asleep throughout your speech, you can emulate sakoz again: take the gist of what you want to say and brainstorm about 60 pars making the same statement in each of them, with eye-popping references to authorities as diverse as Plato and Pooh Bear.

Good luck!

Whatever you do, don't I repeat don't grab your ex-wife by the throat if she is in the audience. That happened me once I was given a talk about relationships and sure enough there she was undermining my every word. I did an exercise with an audience member, a test exercise and I accidently dropped her....the ex-wife started to laugh and said good job and I just saw red I lunged at her I jumped over five people I felt like superman and I grabbed her scarf it was tight around her slender neck and I just started to pull on this silk scarf like I used to when we made love, she nearly blacked out until her hunk of boyfriend smacked me over the head with one ofthe chairs. I called the police and told them I had been assaulted.

At court about to give my speech I demonstrated what I was doing and I wanted to engage the judge a little bit better but he wasn't have any of it....I said **** you judge...you couldn't judge on the colour of sh***...so I threw the bible at him....read this I said as it bounced off his bald head breaking his glasses in the process but getting his full attention.

Later in the stockades I was telling this all with another in-mate, I was trying to engage with him but he wasn't have any of it either and blanked me...I thought I was having any of that...so I untied my shoes laces and straggled him to death....now I was up for murder one and going down hard....so don't engage them that way.

Just say hi thanks for coming or ask them some questions.

Bodhidharma wrote:Whatever you do, don't I repeat don't grab your ex-wife by the throat if she is in the audience...

Thanks, guys, despite this being over six or so weeks ago. Well, Bodhidharma, thank goodness I don't have an ex wife. And good job I don't tend to wear shoes with laces. That will help me avoid these potential pitfalls should I ever be presented with an opportunity to speak in front of an audience in future. Hmmm...maybe you should write a book, BD, you've great imagination.

WonderGurl wrote: And good job I don't tend to wear shoes with laces. That will help me avoid these potential pitfalls should I ever be presented with an opportunity to speak in front of an audience in future.

Avoid stilettos as well. Deadly weapons.