I often get asked about differences between large and small audiences.  How do you connect with the large audience?  Most speakers are reasonably comfortable in front of smaller audiences, but there’s something intimidating about the bright lights, huge stage, and row upon row of audience members all looking up at you waiting for you to be scintillating.  How do you pull that off?

On the whole, the same techniques work in front of large audiences as well as in front of small ones.  You’re still leading the audience on a decision-making journey, you’re still connecting with them on both intellectual and emotional levels, and you’re still telling stories.  That said, there are some crucial differences.

1.  Large audiences want to laugh.   If you’re a natural ham, this is the time to let it out.  Large audiences want to indulge in big group laughs.  You can still, of course, be serious, but give large audiences the opportunity for a guffaw or two.  They will reward you many times over with energy back.  If you want a standing ovation at the end, finish on an inspiring, serious note.  “Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry” said the old vaudevillian, and the words are still true today.  First go for the laugh, then the tears. 

2.  Large audiences need more time.  It takes longer for the sound of your voice to get to all the ears in a larger audience.  You have to slow down your tempo so that your message gets through.  You can’t be as complex or as rapid-fire with groups over 300 as you can with audiences of less than 100. 

3.  Large audiences demand and give back more energy.  As the physicists have noted, energy is conserved.  With a speech to a thousand people, that means that you have to crank up the energy double for every additional 100 people.  You have to be louder, with higher highs and lower lows, and stronger in all ways.  When you move, move faster, with more purpose and intention. Note that you can still go quiet, and that can be very effective, but it has to be strong – full of emotion, not just quiet. 

4.  Large audiences need simplicity.  When you get in front of really large audiences, some of the nuances and shadings need to be edited out.  The subtleties of the message will be lost on the 100th row, so make it easy on yourself and the audience by anticipating that and keeping your overall presentation simple. 

5.  Large audiences need to be active, not passive.  All audiences want to give something back to a successful speaker, but especially large audiences.  That’s why politicians indulge in call and response chanting so often at the end of their rallies.  “Yes we can!” is a great recent example of a way a great political orator allowed his audiences to join in.