The TED 2012 Full Spectrum conference was held last week in Long Beach, California. It was a weeklong celebration of the art of public speaking and featured inspiring talks on everything from science to social injustice and from climate change to creativity.
Since we’ve been talking about audience engagement this week, I thought I would share with you Sebastian Wernicke’s TED presentation, titled “Choose Your Own TEDTalk.” For his talk, Wernicke provided the audience with two cards, one with a letter “A” on it and one with a letter “B” on it. He would stop at moments throughout his presentation and give the audience the opportunity to choose what direction the talk should proceed – just like in a choose-your-own-adventure novel.
For example, at one point he asked the audience if he should tell a story from the perspective of Edward Packard, the inventor of choose-your-own-adventure stories, or if he should tell it from the perspective of his own daughters. The majority of the audience lifted the card representing his daughters, and so the talk proceeded in that direction. You can read about the entire presentation on the TED Blog here.
Wernicke’s presentation is a true example of how to find new ways of incorporating and encouraging audience participation and interaction. Pretty inspiring, don’t you think?
For one more example of audience interaction, have a look at this demonstration by American singer and conductor Bobby McFerrin at a 2009 World Science Festival event titled “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus.” By encouraging the audience to participate and sing along with him, McFerrin proves that the human brain is wired to understand and employ the pentatonic scale.
By actually having them prove his point for him, McFerrin has created a level of learning and engagement the audience is not soon to forget.
So how do you incorporate audience participation in your speeches? Share your tips with us here and on the Inspiring Speakers Facebook page today. Have a great weekend!
