Before I speak at a conference, I always talk to the audience first. You might call it "crowd work."

Here's why I do it and why I think you should too.

1. A lot of conf's give you 10-15 minutes between talks to get set up. For most of us that takes 4-5 minutes.

1/ So they extra 10 or so minutes can be really awkward. You're upfront not knowing what to do with your hands.

The audience is staring at their phone. Or possibly looking at their schedule to see when lunch is.

They're almost never talking to anyone.

2/