Public Speaking Audience - Asking Questions

Here are techniques to get and keep a public speaking audience's attention.

Rhetorical questions

A rhetorical question involves the public speaking audience and makes them think about the answer. The speaker intends to answer the question, but it arouses curiosity. Be prepared for an unexpected answer from the audience - if the answer is right give thanks. If it is wrong you have an excuse to repeat the highlights of your presentation. To be most effective the question can not be too obvious or else it will not get the public speaking audience'sattention. They need something like - "Do you know how long it takes a fruit fly to crawl across a banana?" rather than "Who thinks fruit flies are dirty?"