Getting Presentation Feedback from Your Audiences?… Don’t Trust the Usual Sources (Part One)

Too often presenters are trying to get feedback on their presentations from either unreliable or pointless sources. Here are a few pros and cons to the usual feedback sources.

People talking to you at the end of a presentation. Usually, right after a presentation, you will have a few people come up to you, shake your hand, and say ‘good job’. What many speakers seemingly forget is…sometimes people are just polite. Who wants to be the guy that walks up to a speaker and say ‘wow, that was a waste of my time.”? Nobody! So, if you won’t do it, why do you think your audience will say it to you when you bomb?

I’m in no way implying that all of your audience members are being disingenuous. I’m simply wanting to open your eyes to the fact that not all of them are being honest. This isn’t to say that you can’t trust the compliments from your audience. However, I propose that you think beyond a few nice comments.

When you do a debrief on the success of a presentation, instead of only thinking about the complimentary comments after the speech, I recommend that you also consider:

• How many people inquired about your services
• How many people recommended you comment another group to speak to
• How many people said they would mention your name to another individual or group
• How many people asked for you to follow up with them, and gave you their business card

These types of discussions after a presentation signify true success. Audience members are wanting to take action with you. They are wanting to do business with you. They are wanting to be your advocates and refer business to you. This goes beyond end-of-the-presentation pleasantries.

Now, let’s say you’re speaking in front of a group that can’t necessarily do future business with you. They’re not your buyers. And let’s say they don’t run in the same circles as your buyers. How can you tell if they’re being genuine in their end-of-the-presentation comments?

I would pay attention to if they mention anything specific about the program that they can use and put into immediate use. It’s also great when they mention a specific part of your program they enjoyed the most. For example, it’s quite different when someone approaches you and says, “Great job. I really enjoyed your speech.” versus “Great job. I never really thought about X that way before. You really helped me understand that.” Or, “Thanks for coming. Great program.” versus “Thanks so much. I’m going to use your ideas and steps on X. I can use this right away!” One comment implies the audience member is being nice, the other comment implies they received value from your presentation and are grateful/impressed/happy/pleased/inspired – fill in whatever adjective you like.