Connecting with Your Audience

Part of the “Delivering the Word To Kids” Series

Here are just a few tips for connecting with an audience of kids during presentation of the Word:

• Get their attention right away. And keep it.
  Start in a way that capture your audience. Maybe its a statement that makes everyone gasp or a story that will get them immediately engaged. Use can also suspense, I often will start to tell a suspenseful story and then stop and ask the kids if I should continue. They always say yes. Get and keep them saying “WOW“.
• Get them to participate.
  Maybe its through a show of hands, a repeated phrase, or even an action when “secret word” is spoken.
• Be contagiously passionate.
  If you haven’t caught it, they won’t catch it either.
• Use humor.
  Kid’s love to laugh, in fact we all do. Laughter releases chemicals within the brain that link to memory.
• Maintain eye contact.
  Kids will know you are talking to them if you look them in the eye. I try to get eye contact with as many kids as possible during a talk.
• Use kid’s names.
  There is no sweeter sound to a person than their own name.
  
• Make it personal.
  I love to tell stories from my life because kids connect with stories. You will always grab attention when you are telling an interesting event from your life. Personal stories will always outperform facts and stats. 
• Use different tones, volumes and intensities.
  No one wants to listen to a monotone speaker. You also don’t have to shout to keep kids attention. Some of the most powerful points I have ever given have  been delivered via a whisper.