Underlying Problem – You are running an in-company product briefing. You want some interaction to engage the audience. You plan to do it by asking a few questions. However, one after another, the response is lukewarm – most audience just keep their heads down as you post the questions. The above situation is especially common in Asia as we tend to be reserved in public.
Quick Fix – Simple. Prepare some gifts and give to at least the first few who answer your questions. After you hand out the first gift, you will probably hear ‘wow’ and a few chuckles. When you ask the second question, you see more hands raised in the air attempting to answer your question. I tried it many many times and it always works. It worked in training courses and other kinds of presentation. (Of course, it does not quite work in formal presentation e.g. sales presentation to CFO.)
One amazing thing is that it works no matter how trivial you gift is. It could be chocolate bars, company-logo pens or just poker cards to accumulate points for the final prize!!
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