How to cause applause.

"So those are the mating habits of the wildebeest."

Silence.  Oh dear.

Other than a single clap which died as soon as it was born, nary a peep from the audience.

What went wrong?  They were definitely listening.  They seemed to enjoy it.  So why no applause?

Because they didn't know you'd finished.

Like tipping a waiter at the end of a meal, applauding a speaker at the end of a speech is appreciation of a job well done.

But while tipping is a solo act, applauding is done in concert with others, simultaneously.  And that can be an issue.  No-one wants to be the only person in the audience clapping, so people tend to wait for others to start.  If no-one starts, there's no applause.

So how do you get people to put their hands together at the end of your speech, creating that rewarding and comforting buzz of appreciation?

The key is for there to be no doubt about when they're expected to start clapping.

You could use the method favoured by broadcasters, which is for the studio manager to hold up a placard with the word Applause! printed on it in nice big letters while making vigorous upward motions with their free hand to prompt compliance, followed by a winding movement to keep it going and a cutting action to signify enough's enough.  This works fine with studio audiences, but may be a bit too ambitious for the average AGM.

Or you could use the method favoured by political leaders at party conferences, which is to have someone planted in the front row - a sort of cheerleader, but in a suit and without the pom-poms -  tasked to kick-start the applause.  And not only at the end of the speech, but at significant moments throughout, so everyone can see how genuine and heartfelt is the solidarity between audience and speaker.

But the simplest, quickest, most natural and most graceful way of getting people to applaud is to pause after your final words, look at the audience, and thank them for their attention. This signals you no longer require it, meaning you've finished, meaning now would be the perfect time to show their appreciation.

''So those are the mating habits of the wildebeest.''

(Pause.)

''Thank you very much.''

(Applause.)

In other words, if you want to get a thank-you from them, thank them first.

Does your message have broccoli appeal?

A good message is founded on an audience benefit.

But this alone is no guarantee of engagement, because people don't always do what's good for them.

Take children and food.  As any parent knows, children have a profound resistance to eating things that are good for them.

Offer them something high in fat, sugar or salt (preferably all three) and they'll bite your hand off. But something green, healthy and plant-based? Umm, I'm not hungry.

With my little cannibals, I tried every technique in the book to get them to eat their veg.  Hiding it under the meat, mixing it up in the food, playing games with it, pleading, begging, cajolery, bribery and threats. It all ended in tears.  Mine, not theirs.

Until one day I noticed (and I can't be the first person to have done so) that a broccoli floret looks a bit like a tree, with its canopy of lush, dark green foliage branching over a pale green trunk.

Eureka.  "Tonight", I said "we're going to eat some trees."  Two pairs of eyes gazed at me.  "Look, here they are."  The eyes dropped to the plate and widened.   "I wonder who can eat the most trees?" A pause and then a flurry of broccoli-guzzling to warm the cockles of the parental heart.

Sprouts, too, were a success.  But only when 'sprouts today' (yuk) became 'who can eat a whole cabbage in one mouthful?' (wow), then 'eating baby cabbages' and then finally just 'babies for supper' (yum).

What learnings do I bring you from this rigorous field-study? That eight in 10 kids would rather eat a baby than a Brussels sprout?  Probably.

That for the audience to perceive a benefit in your message, it must appeal to their imagination? Definitely.

To do this you need to add a twist that takes the message out of the mundane and into the adventurous.

Here's an example, announcing your plan for this year's company conference.

With broccoli:

This year we're going to review our policies, procedures and systems to determine how we can work more effectively as an organisation.

Without broccoli:

This year we're going to rip up the rule-book and re-invent the business to make it work better for everyone.

The same message, but transformed to offer the potential of some excitement. (Not as much as the karaoke planned for later, but there it is.)

The thing about most business communication is that the default is set to 'boring'.  Consideration is needed to transform your message into something that will engage your audience.

But it needn't take much effort, so long as you use your own imagination to appeal to theirs.