Printed Page 449
A face-to-face environment provides your audience with the best opportunity to provide feedback while you are speaking. Even with real-time technology, it’s difficult for listeners to provide that same quality of feedback.17 Of course, when a speech is prerecorded, your audience has no chance to provide real-time feedback. (Though they may be able to leave real-time comments or tags on your recorded speech if you post it on specific sites that allow this.)
This decrease in audience response leads to several disadvantages. Normally, feedback lets you know if you are speaking clearly or presenting at the right pace. If it suggests that audience members do not understand an idea, you can expand on your explanation.18 If you do not have a clear view of your entire audience, you cannot determine if they are losing interest and thus add some energy to your presentation.19 It also prevents you from gathering positive reactions, such as attentive listening, a smile, or a nod of the head, to show that you are on the right track.