Sarah ArcherProfessional Speaker, Organisational Consultant & Coach, Lemon Squeeze Limited · International Speaker | Speaking Coach | Top 1% Podcast Host | Helping Organisations Unlock Business Transformation & Growth Through Strategic Storytelling | Helping Experts & Business Authors Nail th

Speaker's Tip for Audience Engagement #publicspeakingtips

8 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief public‑speaking tip, the presenter shares practical ways to gauge and boost audience engagement. He first notes that a speaker’s own facial expression—like a “resting B face” when concentrating—can be misread as disapproval, reminding speakers not to assume negative feedback. He then suggests using low‑stakes check‑in questions (e.g., asking about room temperature) to uncover physical discomfort that may be causing disengagement. Finally, he encourages speakers to ask directly, “Is this resonating with you?” as a straightforward method to confirm that the message is connecting, emphasizing that asking for feedback is itself an engagement technique rather than a sign of weakness.

Chapters

I've got resting B face, and it's like, it's when I'm concentrating, I'm concentrating like that, and someone said, you don't like what I'm saying? What am I saying wrong? And you're saying that in front of the whole audience. No, I'm really loving it. But also, you can, as a speaker, you can check. If you think that most of the audience are sitting there with their arms folded and they're all disengaged and everything, you can ask, is everyone all right with the temperature in here? And people might suddenly start saying, actually, I'm really cold. And they're all doing this because they're cold. So you can ask questions, you can check, and if you, if you want the evidence, you just ask, is this resonating with you? Don't be afraid to ask. That's called engagement.