06 - Being an Audience Member

Being a Supportive, Critical, and Thoughtful Audience Member

In front of every good speaker is a supportive, critical, and thoughtful audience member. Your role as an audience member is vital to the success of the speaker. Remember: they are speaking for you – Be receptive.

Here are a few guidelines for being a supportive audience member:

• Be on time to class – don’t interrupt the speaker

• Be courteousTreat the speaker as you want to be treated when speaking
  

• Listen with your eyes, ears, and heart

• Be responsiveProvide supportive non verbal feedback
  

• Silence your cell phones

• Don’t text

• Put away any distracting materialsBooks, papers, computers
  

• Pay attention to the speaker

• Stay focused on the message

• Try not to evaluate the speaker but the message they are conveying

• Maintain eye contact with them – let them have an audience to talk with

• Be open to new ideas and new ways of thinking

• It is appropriate to applaud at the end of the speech

• Be able to provide thoughtful specific feedback if asked