Can Everybody Hear Me?

“Can everybody hear me?”

Presenters often open by asking “Can everybody hear me?” or “Can everyone hear me without the microphone?”

This isn’t a very effective way to find out if everyone can hear you. It feels like asking, but it isn’t really — because it doesn’t usually give people the opportunity to say no.

If you want to know if everyone can hear you, this way of asking works better:

First, ask if everyone can hear you. This will get the attention of the people who can.

Next, ask everyone “Can the person next to you hear me?”

Wait 7 seconds for people to ask each other

Next, say, “Raise your hand if you or someone near you needs me to talk louder or use the microphone.”

Wait at least 7 seconds before moving on. 

(7 seconds feels really long as a presenter. It helps to literally count silently to yourself).

Asking this way solves two problems:

It makes it easier for people to hear the question:

If someone can’t hear you well, they may not hear “Can everybody hear me?”

This can give you the misleading impression that everyone can hear you.

When you ask, “Can everybody hear me?” the people who can, tend to respond “yes” immediately

The people who *can’t* hear you well, often don’t hear the question.

Or they may not understand what you’ve said until you’ve already moved on.

But they probably *can* hear people who are close to them talking to them directly.

Asking “can the person next to you hear me?” makes it more likely that people who can’t hear you will understand the question.

It makes it easier for people to respond to the question:

Saying “Can everybody hear me?” or “Can everyone hear me without the microphone?” *feels* like asking, but often it really isn’t. 

The problem is that asking that way doesn’t give people an obvious socially acceptable way to respond.

So in order for people to say “I can’t hear you” or “I need you to use the microphone”, they have to interrupt you.

Which feels like a conflict, and most people don’t want to go into a presentation and immediately have a conflict with the presenter.

It also makes them have to identify themselves as having an inconvenient impairment in front of the whole group.

That’s uncomfortable on a number of levels, and may be actively frightening. 

Not everyone is going to be willing or able to interrupt you or take risks. 

Even when people are willing, it’s still anxiety provoking in a way that’s likely to make your presentation less comfortable and effective

Giving people a clear way to respond gets you better information, and helps you to build a better rapport with your audience 

(And doing it in the specific way I suggest makes it possible for people to let you know they can’t hear you without having to interrupt you, identify themselves to you, or identify themselves to the whole group.)

Tl;dr If you’re giving a presentation, asking “Can everyone hear me?” probably won’t result in people who can’t hear you telling you so. Scroll up for more detailed information about a more effective approach and why it works better.

good types of alone time:

“decadence”

rewatch pride & prejudice (2005 or 1995, your pick)

take a long shower & shave legs

stare at face in mirror for a long time, reflect on changes that have occured in past year

sara bareilles cd on repeat

“deep mystery”

lying on the floor listening to music you liked fifteen years ago

watch dust motes travel across the room in the late afternoon haze

what would be different about my life if i had been a cheerleader in high school?

what was the title of that book you read in the fourth grade?  you only remember the main character’s name and nothing about the plot.  you spend the next three hours googling and then you drop $60 for a first edition on ebay

cup of tea, then another

are you there god?

“efficiency”

take out five boxes of paperwork from the closet and spend the next three hours making small piles around your body on the floor

write first chapter of novel

cover wall in post it notes

lists lists lists

highlight everything

now’s a good time to start that bullet journal

must empty email inbox

plan out next five years of life down to the month, week, day

“shake it up”

blast nsync while scrubbing out microwave

rearrange living room four different ways

today’s a good day to repaint your bedroom

let’s research and plan a trip to san francisco

develop new fashion style, must throw away all items of clothes that don’t work with it

“rain day”

light candle, open windows, put on sweater

reread old favorite book

pet a cat

listen to jewel cd

my favorite genre is “kitchen sink” tbqh. yes i want your metaphysical space opera Gothic haunted house horror-comedy. yes i want your medieval road trip heist mystery. give me time traveling werewolves and noir detective robots teaming up to fight alien supervillains. i want this sundae with every topping in the shop

why you should read “the master and margarita” by mikhail bulgakov

1930s moscow in which satan messes around

there’s a scene of a party in which various animals like zebras are running around in a villa and this scene is based on an actual event

one of the characters is a big black talking cat that loves vodka and poker and sometimes turns into a human

there is a ginger vampire-witch queen who is always naked and rides her broom around to mess up places

her name is hella and i am sure she is bisexual

critics aren’t even sure what this book is about and there are at least ten different interpretations

“’you can’t eat tiger meat,’ said hella.”

if any of you guys are interested in giffing or well just p1rating I'm compiling a list of free resources i use on my edits (video+programs+assets+non edit stuff) and like my general presence because piracy is always moral and right