Speakers often consider what their audience can learn from them. Have you ever considered how much you can learn from your audience?

This article explores three ways you can learn from your audience.

Discover What Resonates Most

Non-verbal feedback, such as nodding, eye contact, or disengagement, helps speakers adapt in real-time and identify engaging ideas.

If you want to become all you can be as a speaker, become a lifelong observer and body language interpreter. Buy a good book on body language. Read it, understand it, and implement what it says.

Unlike words, body language does not lie. Learning to interpret your audience’s body language correctly will determine whether your audience understands and internalizes what you are saying.

Questions during Q&A reflect the audience’s curiosity, confusion, or desire for deeper exploration — a direct signal of interest or gaps in clarity.

Many speakers do not like the Q&A session. When you realize the audience feedback during the Q&A session is a “gold mine” of whether your audience is grasping the information you deliver, you will encourage your audience to ask more questions.

I take questions throughout my presentation. I do this because I want to find out sooner rather than later whether my message is “hitting home” with my audience. If it isn’t, I need to change something in my presentation “on the fly” quickly to bring my audience back into the presentation.

Formal feedback mechanisms (e.g., surveys and evaluations) highlight audience takeaways and areas for improvement.

Surveys, evaluations, etc., are always good because they document your audience’s feedback, which you can review afterward to improve your future presentations.

Ken Blanchard, a famed management expert, says, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” You want to be a champion, don’t you?

So, one thing you can learn from your audience is what resonates most.

Another is to gain fresh perspectives and insights.

Gain Fresh Perspectives and Insights

Audience comments or pushback often introduce real-world scenarios or opposing viewpoints that enrich the speaker’s understanding of their topic.

Audience comments or pushback indicate your audience is engaged. Real-world scenarios or opposing viewpoints introduced by your audience make your presentation richer. Your audience becomes part of your presentation. Your presentation becomes two-way communication.

Questions or comments from your audience to you mean they are interested in your topic. You should encourage counterarguments to what you are delivering.

Cultural and contextual diversity in the audience allows the speaker to learn how their message is perceived across different backgrounds.

Both you, as the speaker and your audience, have different experiences in life. Audience participation in your presentation makes it more than just your delivery.

Diversity of opinion has resulted in humankind’s progress throughout history. Don’t shun diversity of opinion; encourage it.

Constructive criticism encourages reflection and professional growth, whether offered during discussion or afterward.

It encourages others in your audience to express their opinions, especially those who may other

You will not remain the same speaker after hearing your audience’s opinions. This is good. Your audience’s views add to your “speaking quiver” to be used in your future speaking.

So, two ways you can learn from your audience is what resonates most and gaining fresh perspectives and insights.

Finally, you can learn how to improve your delivery and engage your audience better.

Improve Delivery and Engagement Techniques

Tracking audience energy and attention shows which storytelling, humor, or pacing methods are compelling.

Remember, it is not about you, it is about them. Knowing your audience will determine your presentation. You need to know who your audience is to determine which story to tell and which humor to use, and you need to set the pace of your delivery.

Storytelling is one of the most potent ways to keep your audience engaged. Your personal stories are the best. Acting out your personal stories with body language and the actual dialogue and voices of the participants are particularly impactful.

Interactive moments (e.g., polls, group prompts) reveal which formats best foster connection and participation.

Any activity where your audience is participating will increase your engagement with them. Polls, group prompts, small group discussions, etc., improve engagement and learning from your audience.

It will improve your delivery and is an excellent practice for engaging with your audience.

Audience applause or laughter offers feedback on timing and tone, helping speakers sharpen their presence and expressiveness.

If your audience is laughing, they are also listening. If they are listening, they are interested in what you are saying. Your job is to maintain that interest and grow it.

If you inject humor into your delivery and you don’t get the reaction from the audience you intended, you should look at your delivery and the timing of the humor.

Three ways you can learn from your audience are (1) what resonates most, (2) gaining fresh perspectives and insights, and (3)how to improve your delivery and better engage your audience.

Make a concerted effort to learn from your audiences.

Those speakers who do succeed time and time again!

Call to Action

• Become a lifelong observer and interpretation expert of your audience’s body language. Your audience’s body language is a treasure trove of clues about how your audience is receiving your presentation.

• Solicit varying opinions from your audience for two reasons: (1) it is more interesting for your audience, and (2) You will probably learn something about your topic you did not consider.

• Every presentation is an opportunity to experiment with different engagement techniques like polls, humor, and breakout groups. Use the feedback to refine these engagement techniques for your future presentations

References

• Gallo, C. (2014). Talk Like TED. Gallo explains that great speakers monitor audience reactions and use them to improve content and delivery, particularly noting the value of “listening with your eyes.”

• Brown, B. (2012). Daring Greatly. Brown emphasizes the power of vulnerability and listening in leadership and communication, encouraging speakers to see feedback as a gift that reveals what truly matters to others.

• Morgan, N. (2008). Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma. Morgan argues speakers become more effective by responding to audience signals — adapting tone, body language, and content delivery based on real-time input.

Being a confident, engaging, and effective technical speaker is a vital personal and professional asset. With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.

Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent technical speeches and presentations. Let’s connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be. Please reach out to me at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation. Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks