Are they there?

Ghanaian audiences are famous for showing lukewarm reactions to performers on the stage.  If you interviewed musicians and comedians about this and not just public speakers or MCs, you would get a confirmation of the fact.  Maybe there’s something in our collective psyche that prevents us from making our neighbour's head 'swollen' from our excessive praise or appreciation.  How do I tackle the issue of low audience reaction?  With humour.  

As soon as I step onto the stage and face an audience, I often ask, " Hello, how are you?"  If the response is half-hearted, I may say "Let's try again and this time, please invite your voices in from the car park."  Eight times out of ten, laughter breaks out, tension is lowered and all of a sudden, the audience is relaxed and all ears. 

Another way to improve audience reaction is to seat the participants closer together.  Don’t start speaking with your audience scattered all over the hall.  Ask them to sit up front and close together.  Proximity promotes communication.  People are more likely to ask questions and interact with a speaker when they see and hear others nearby doing exactly that.  It’s a question of group dynamics and a speaker can take advantage of it to get better feedback.