Professional deformation, does it bother you? You like to look at things that have nothing to do with work through your professional glasses. I regularly suffer from it. Last summer I visited the Paris Olympics. As a presentation coach, I saw major differences from the London Games, which I visited as a spectator in 2012.

The big difference between London and Paris was the level of audience interaction. Whereas in London you could still sit in the stands as a passive spectator, in Paris you were constantly made an active participant.

Interactions in Paris
In Paris, interaction was used very cleverly and that made these Games a wonderful experience.

Upon entering a stadium, a short video explained the sport to you, presenters then took you through a variety of funny exercises to ease the wait until the starting signal. Kids went in search of "Pierre" (the French version of Where's Wally?). We sang French chansons in karaoke form and a decibel meter watched our ability to cheer on the athletes later. On everyone's wrist was a light which lit up beautifully to the rhythm of rousing music.

Shortly before introducing the athletes, the presenters showed us how to behave during the competition. In (beach) volleyball, for example, there were separate yells for an Ace, a Monsterblock and a Super Spike.

Large screens showed live short summaries of previous moments and indicated when which yell was expected from the audience. Wonderful to see that so much fun has been added since the invention of the wave in 1986.

Lesson for you as a speaker?
Get your audience involved!
Monologues are passé, think of meaningful interaction for your next presentation.
Your audience has more fun when they get to participate.

So get started with show of hands, short shout-outs from the audience and bodyvoting.
Bodyvoting?
Yes bodyvoting is show of hands 2.0.
How it works
People stand up briefly when they agree with a statement or want to answer a multiple-choice question.

It brings energy and engagement to your audience.
Real pros sometimes go the extra mile.
In a wonderful speech the other day, I saw a speaker divide the room into two sections.
On the left stood everyone who disagreed with the statement projected behind her, on the right stood everyone who agreed.
Walking up and down between the two sides, she collected responses which she expertly commented on.

So: get to work with interaction in your next presentation.
Then it's Gold for you and your audience (just like in Paris) will already be on the couches with enthusiasm during your talk.

An example from 2017 of a Monsterblock yell.