Your job is to engage the audience

“Your job is not to please the audience; your job is to engage the audience. And it is in the engagement that then they will be pleased.”

Nora Dunn from Saturday Night Live said this in one of my classes and it has stuck with me ever since. So often in this business, we sit down and think we have to talk. Or our physician might open with something to the effect of, “What have you got for me today?” Make sure you switch it around to get them talking, to engage them: “Any interesting patients this past month?” or “First let me ask what would make our time together successful for you?” (This is a standard coaching question so that you can get right to the need and set up a goal for the meeting.)

At the end of the meeting, you can then say, “What was most useful about our talk for you today?” This too is a coaching question to put a cap on the session and mark progress. Just ask the question and go quiet to give them time to both think and feel it is their turn to talk. The mistake many make – even professional interviewers – is out of nervousness, anxiety, or a desire to show what we know; we add possible answers to our questions, “Was it good?” or “You know I mean this past 20 minutes.” Doing so doesn’t allow the person to find their own answers because they are busy listening to yours.