Well, Shakespeare knew a lot of things. But the one I’m talking about today is this—Shakespeare knew that his audiences were busy. They had a lot going on, even while they were watching his plays. They were eating and chatting, and many of them were on their feet. When they were attending plays at the Globe, they were contending with the weather as well. All of this meant something very specific to him—he knew he needed to provide lots of ways to keep the audience up to speed with what was happening in the play.
Repetition. Shakespeare didn’t count on a character saying something one time to get the point across. If Hamlet only mentioned once that he was upset that his father was dead, and someone happened to cough through that bit, well, they would all be quite confused for the rest of the five acts. So Hamlet talks about it, and other characters also mention it. It would be hard to come away from that play without knowing that central fact.
Saying things in different ways. Shakespeare used a combination of poetry and prose in his plays. Not only did that clue the audience into the relative social status of the speakers, but it also gave them a different rhythm to listen to. He also used a combination of dialogue, monologue, and even song in his plays to vary the listening experience.
Taking breaks. His plays were (are) long! He built in intermissions as well as musical interludes to give the audience a break from following the story.
We can use all three of these techniques to engage our audiences, either in person or virtually. Make sure to repeat key points.
Use different methods to get the same idea across—data, stories, examples, quotes, discussion, or reflective time for the audience to write their takeaways.
And take breaks! Especially when you’re in a virtual space, give people a chance to pause and synthesize your ideas. In addition to taking a longer recess away from the screen, you can also implement stretch breaks, share a quick video to change up the rhythm of the presentation, or even do a round robin in which everyone participating responds to a prompt in the chat or shares something on their screen.
Shakespeare didn’t have to be on Zoom calls, but he would have known what to do if he were!
Tuesday April 21 at noon Eastern, Angie will be leading the How to Make Podcast That People Actually Listen To
masterclass! It’s one hour, and totally free. More info here!
