Engaging participants begins before your session begins. As people are filing in the room and finding seats, introduce yourself and find out why the person came to your session. Taking time to get acquainted will help create a comfortable and supportive environment that leads to a willingness to participate.
As individuals are finding their seats and you are welcoming individuals, have a provocative question projected on the screen or pose a question that allows you to poll the audience. Not using a projector and screen, replicate the idea using tent cards on tables or wall posters.
There is a variety of methods you can use to engage participants, even in a 60-minute session. Encouraging participation and delivering an interactive program increases learning retention. To engage the learning audience, try to incorporate:
· Brainstorming
Generate ideas in a group by eliciting quick contributions without comment or opinion.
· Cordial Debate
Explore the “pro” and “con” of an issue to stimulate discussion.
· Polling
Ask for a “show of hands” in response to a question.
· Question
Pepper your presentation with experience-based or opinion-based questions. Experience-based questions are used to learn about an individual’s experience with a product or problem or to probe a given scenario. Opinion-based questions are used to elicit a value judgment from another person. There can be no right or wrong answers to opinion-based questions.
· Small group discussion
Divide participants in groups of no more than 10 so they may exchange ideas related to a specific topic, solve a problem, or debate an issue.