The Glances

This post has nothing to do with technology, but everything to do with communication

I’m not a great speaker, but someday hope to be one. I have learned that being in tune with your audience is key when it comes to giving your presentation. When I’m at public conferences and speaking, I watch twitter in real time, in hopes of avoiding an audience Groundswell.

Like a good doctor, my job is to learn and listen, diagnose problems, and offer remedies to my patients. Since I often speak to the web strategists at a company, (VP, Dir, Manager of Web) and related marketing cohorts I’ve started to become really in tune with the non verbal gestures within a room as it relates to their core pain points. Body language, which often accounts for 80% of all in person communication, really helps me to tune into what’s really happening at the company:

Antagonist/Protagonist
Often analyst are brought in to settle disputes using data and insight between debating groups or product teams, and I can often tell when questions are being loaded, aimed, and fired at me for me to then resolve. For example, when one individual asks a particular loaded question, I immediately watch the glances of everyone else in the room –they’ll likely shoot right over to the antagonist. After I give my answer, you can often watch shoulder tension fall or raise, which can sometimes indicate where more conversation will happen later.

Find the power
It’s easy to spot the decision maker in the room, when the topic of budgets, roles, responsibilities comes up in topic or audience question, in a small room, it’s easy to see where the eyeballs all look. Most people don’t even realize they’re split second glance to the decision maker, but when I see a pattern, I can often tell who holds the power.

Echos in the backchannel
Recently, I spoke with a product team, and they were furiously discussing (and perhaps critiquing me) in the backchannel IM. While few of them looked up from their laptops at me, I could tell they were absorbing, reacting, and discussing the data and insight I was bringing. I could hear the increase of typing of notes or instant messages in between certain topics –they were reacting back.

While this observational method isn’t always spot on, it’s important that a speaker be very in tune with the audience he’s speaking to, as we know how non-verbal communication can provide data about what’s really happening underneath.

14 Replies to “The Glances”

  1. It’s great that you’re looking at ‘echoes in the backchannel’ differently than most speakers. Many interpret backchannel communication (whispering, typing, texting) as disinterest or disrespect. Sometimes meetings are mandated that way: close the laptop and put down the phone, this meeting is important.

    Instead, you’re interpreting it non-defensively as feedback from the universe. What do people respond to and type furiously about? What does their body language say about the backchannel conversation?

    I went from a culture (Dell) where typing and texting during meetings was the norm to one where it’s viewed as disrespectful. I think we should be less defensive about it. If people catch up on email during meetings, the universe is giving us feedback. It may be saying that we spend too much time in meetings and invite people who don’t need to be there. If they text and IM in response to the flow of information, it could say that what’s going on is so urgent and important that they can’t wait until they’re out of the room to engage colleagues.

  2. I dont mind if people are typing while I’m talking, in fact it could show they are more engaged if they’re writing notes.

    Often, companies are paying us to speak internally, so if they don’t pay attention, it’s their loss in investment.

    However in my recent roundtable meeting for the future of the social web, I did ask everyone to ‘be here now’ as there was more focus on building relationships

    Times are changing, we’re often always connected and online.

  6. Sean, great catch. Jeremiah, it was the half-hearted initial reach for a handshake that McCain retracted when there wasn’t immediate response. Followed by an “oh, should really shake her hand” rereach and a barely there arm tap “hug.”

  7. Pingback: Vibemetrix Daily Vibe - Twitter Groups, books, series, glances and failure | VibeMetrix Blog

  8. Backchannel discussions can be highly rewarding and sometimes more interesting than a group one, but bringing that conversation out would help everyone in the room. I like talking about cool ideas and feedback with my friends, but isn’t there the potential that one could learn more from the group who is hearing the same presentation/analysis.

    How do you approach that?

  10. I am, unfortunately, so singularly focused when speaking that I’m afraid I’d need someone to check the backchannel for me and throw something at me if Twitter is telling them that the groundswell has turned against me.

    I guess to a point I’m rather lucky that I had the chance to teach prior to the social-media backchannel revolution, but after the instigation of equipped classrooms… I’m used to my audience being on computers and typing – but I can also tell mostly when they are engaged with the topic or when they’ve moved on to other online pursuits.

    Now, however, I’ll be watching for that body-language eye-shift that I subconsciously pick up on in meetings but wasn’t aware I was doing. I’ve just always been able to pick out who the key players were. Conscious awareness is much more useful than subconscious awareness. Thanks for bringing my perceptions up a level! 🙂

  11. Pingback: links for 2008-11-10 » Johannes Kleske - tautoko weblog

Comments are closed.