1. Interacting with the audience

2. What do you think? 1. At the start of a presentation it is good to ask open personal questions so that the participants feel relaxed and get to know each other. 2. You can interact with the audience without asking a single question. 3. If you are asked a question, reformulate it to check if you have understood it correctly. 4. If you don’t know the answer to a question, say so.

3. Areas Using questions Organising activities Question time

4. Involve your audience by asking questions suggesting exercises proposing experiments offering a quiz making them laugh.

5. Using questions Reducing tension Using time to relax and think ahead Creating a relaxed atmosphere Making it more colourful and memorable – „the personal touch”

6. Types Binary questions Has any of you spent a longer time living abroad? Who agrees with this opinion? Functions: - getting used to participation - conducting a quick survey to illustrate a point Do - keep it simple - indicate and show how to respond

7. Closed questions What colour is your car? When did you start learning a second language? Functions: - introduce a topic - illustrate a point Do - keep it short - sweep the audience with your eyes and designate the respondents

8. Open questions How could we improve quality assessment in schools? What are the advantages to streaming? Function: - ellicit contribution Do - set a strict time limit - ask the audience to work in small groups - keep to a pre-planned outline

9. Rhetorical questions So, just how big is the market? Enormous! Am I a native speaker at all? What is the point then? English exists in many different forms. The fact is, cheap imitations of our leading products are flooding the market. So what’s the solution? The solution is to push for tighter controls.

10. Functions: - introduce new topic - introduce and highlight main ideas - focus a key word by repetition - indicate the controversial nature of a point Do - use them in strategic places to emphasise info - not make them too difficult/impossible to answer - not use them all the time

11. Activities 1. Visualising 2. Creating ambience, getting to know each other 3. Reinforcing an idea by small group discussion 4. Movement (?) 5. Applause (!) 6. Singing (!) 7. Filling out forms 8. Stimulating competition

12. Handling the audience’s questions Clarify aim of question: Clarify confusing message Professional remark: contribution even if contestable Argue with viewpoint Provoke presenter, show off Ask for clarification/specification!

13. Procedure Understand the question: avoid anticipation Ask for clarification if in doubt Reformulate the question (TIME TO THINK!) Accept the limitations of your questioners: do not degrade them Refer to parts of talk in response Make sure your answer is satisfactory

14. Strategies Do find something positive in the question/ criticism avoid interrupting the questioner – long elaboration takes the sharp edge of criticism say if you don’t know indicate source of info

15. ask for time to think tell the truth disagree and argue but avoid saying ‘no’ stay calm, show openness for criticism be brief and precise.

16. How to cope with agressive questions Ask back: force questioner to specify and structure criticism. Open-accepting attitude „I appreciate your point but …” Preventive approach Avoiding responce by throwing in another topic Opening „Are there any other viewpoints that could contribute to the whole picture?”

17. Humour Make fun of yourself and not others. Avoid old jokes. Change strategy if the audience do not react. Do not overreact you own jokes. Wait till the audience calm down. Humour should be connected to the topic. Timing.

18. Appealing to the audience Treat them as equals. Avoid talking down or dummying down. Be interested and learn to listen. Strive for personalisation. Find similarities in interest, background, style.

19. Talk to listeners about what they would like to hear. Make them feel important. Speak the same language. Avoid heavy terminology. Speak clearly but insist on silence. Be enthusiastic (Godefroy & Barrat, 1999)

20. If you didn’t manage to prepare, prepare for failure! Be prepared for apologising and correcting yourself if you have got your facts wrong, talked too fast, forgotten something important, overcomplicated your speech, talked nonsense, run out of time.

21. Conclusion Interaction creates – the channel for shared thinking – variety – a personal flare It should – match the context – be planned carefully (timing!) – fit thematically to content – be made part of constructed knowledge

22. Journalist: „You have had many men in your life …” Elizabeth Taylor: „I’d have preferred having a lot of life in my men !”