Barometer people

So, you're looking at the audience, making good eye contact, focusing on specific people. You're conveying to them not only your message, but also your character, and your investment in them.

But wait: communication is a two-way street. You're communicating messages--both overt messages communicated by what you say, and subtle messages of character communicated with your body language and tone of voice. What are they communicating to you?

I'm bored.
I'm excited!
I'm confused?

You probably already know how to tell the difference between these categories. The bored one is fidgeting, maybe doodling, slumped back in his seat. The excited one is leaning forward, maybe nodding or smiling, possibly jotting down ideas in a notebook or on a keyboard. The confused one has his brow furrowed. If he's lost because he doesn't understand a foundational idea (you're explaining the finer points of itemized deductions, and he's not clear on what exactly is getting deducted) his eyes are darting back and forth as he rifles through his memory to place your message within what he already knows. While there are finer points of body language to talk about, remember, you're already a very experienced communicator--you can read some elements of body language already.

Trying to read the collective emotions of the whole room before you is hard, and, luckily, unnecessary. Instead, remember those people you're locking eyes with to help convey your message? Take note of how they're reacting to you. I call those individuals "barometer people." If you were having a conversation with a friend, and he or she looked confused, you'd probably start to explain your point in a different way, responding to that confusion. Try the same thing here, with that one friend that you're addressing in the crowd of fifty. When you're looking at someone for the sake of good eye contact, tune in to his or her emotional response. Use all the cues you use in ordinary interpersonal conversation--shades of body language, posture, facial expression that you might not be able to identify, but that you can absolutely respond to. If you're familiar with the techniques of sampling, this is a version of it applied to audience reactions. You're using those individuals whom you connect with to gather information about the whole of the room.

Then, now that you've gathered information, if you're light on your feet in the speech, try to respond accordingly!

I understand that it's hard to be nimble in a prepared speech. But as you get more comfortable with your message, and more comfortable as a speaker, it gets much easier. It's always easier when you're speaking from notes or from a memorized plan than when you're speaking from a manuscript or a memorized script. You can employ the techniques of impromptu speaking to respond to the needs of the audience, and often, audience members will remember best those moments when you stepped outside your prepared speech and started talking to them, reacting to what they expressed. That reflects how a "public speech" is a two-way experience, and it makes you a truly dynamic speaker. But the first step is to "read" the audience, and the easiest way to do that is by sampling the reactions of selected "barometer people"--the people you're already making eye contact with.