And if you are unafraid of technical hiccups,
I recommend those kinds of things.
I understand that in the last couple of years there's been a shift from
hardware systems to software systems.
Everybody has their smartphone now and
that means that you don't need to distribute those remotes anymore.
You don't need to keep them charged,
all you need to do is to provide the audience with a link and
they will get into a website, put in the event code and they can vote.
They can answer questions.
And it looks more or less like this.
This is one of those services called Slido.
And it looks kind of cool.
I must give them that thing.
However, you really need to be aware of the technical requirements.
And these are requirements from their website.
First thing you need to do,
you have to obviously have to have a laptop to display the presentation itself,
but then you need another laptop or tablet to manage Slido as administrator.
Then you need a secondary screen or
projector to display the presentation view which is optional.
However, you also need another tablet for
event moderator to read the questions which is recommended.
And then you need a stable Internet connection on every device.
So if the all does not scare you, well join the club.
I think for large groups of people and for longer sessions.
It really, really works and provides some added value.
Here are couple more links,
you can check them out, they are all different options available on the market.
Go ahead, investigate them.
And finally,
there's another way of receiving life feedback from the which is sometimes used.
Which is called Twitter, Twitter Backchannel, they call it.
Now, the way it works, you publicize the event hashtag.
And then whoever is tweeting with that hashtag,
all those tweets are being collected to a huge Twitter feed which
is sometimes projected on the screen behind the speaker.
Now, please do not do this.
Please do not project live Twitter feeds behind yourself.
First thing not to do is not to project liveTwitter feed behind yourself.
Because well, thing number one, some people are just being rude and mean and
the audience sees that.
So what happens is that while you're talking,
people start talking back at the same time, so both you and
the audience is using the same verbal channel, which is
really dependent on that frontal lobe thing which is really, really limited.
Quite unlike non-verbal channel, which largely depends on your unconscious,
which has much bigger resources.
So two conversations, sometimes three, sometimes four,
going on at the same time and then people start to react to those tweets and
it all disintegrates into chaos.
So please do not put live Twitter feed behind yourself.
This is a very bad idea.
If you want to use Backchannel, instruct the audience.
Have a curator, you need a moderator of the event to select meaningful tweets.
And then please use that feedback during the Q&A, not during the talk itself.
It's very difficult to discern anything meaningful from the live Twitter feed.
So to conclude this whole part, please do maintain connection with the audience.
I think this is very important, this is your job as a speaker.
I know,
80% of delivery has to do with maintaining that connection to the audience.
Monitor their non-verbals, pay more attention to positive audience members.
Ask questions to keep them engaged.
And use hardware or software things to engage logical analysis.
And of course, do customize your presentation as you go.
Once again, this presentation is a unique event in space and time.
You're not just producing a pre-recorded speech,
you are co-creating this event with the audience, so go ahead and co-create.