We’ve all been a victim of a boring presentation. Whether they are given in-person, on the phone, or online. Nothing’s worse than feeling your brain shut down and your eyelids close while someone drones on with no end in sight. Don’t be that guy. Be a presenter that engages your audience. Who people look forward to hearing from. You don’t have to be a TED speaker to be intriguing and pass along your knowledge. Read on for our top tips to boost your presentation from forgettable to firing on all cylinders.
Unique Ways to Up Your Presenting Game
Start at the End
This may sound counterintuitive, but consider starting at the end. Offer your audience the payoff before you even begin. What’s the goal of your presentation? “By the end of my talk, you’ll be able to hold a basic conversation in French” is surely an intriguing way to get started. You’ll hold your audience’s attention if they want what you’re offering. Just make sure the offer is exciting enough that they’ll stay engaged the whole way through. Return to the goal throughout your presentation. And make sure you deliver.
Play a Game
No one ever said that every presentation has to be lecture-style. Consider adding a fun competition to your presentation. Can you offer prizes to participants who answer questions correctly? This is a great way to improve listener engagement. Or, Add an interactive, participatory element such as a survey. Asking participants to raise their hands if they agree with certain statements and chart answers with live screen sharing.
Set an unexpected time limit
Everyone expects a 30-minute or hour-long presentation. And everyone is busy. You’ll be greatly rewarded with attentive participants if you time your presentations in an unanticipated way. Think of how thrilled attendees would be to hear “The 17-Minute Guide to Facebook Ads,”. Or, “Everything You Need to Know about Content Marketing in Under 20 Minutes”.
Your live audience will maintain focus because they know the information they need will be delivered in a contained amount of time. Furthermore, you can repurpose your presentation for easily sharable social media snippets.
Say it With Food
Food is proven to boost memory. As John S. Allen, author of The Omnivorous Mind, writes, “The taste, smell, and texture of food can be extraordinarily evocative, bringing back memories not just of eating food itself but also of place and setting. Food is an effective trigger of deeper memories of feelings and emotions, internal states of the mind and body.”
With this in mind, consider how you can bring food into your presentation. Hand out candies at the start? Send donuts to the office even if you’re presenting remotely? Bring food into your presentation and you’re sure to stand out in your guests’ long-term memories.
Get Visual
Slide presentations can be useful, but they’re often used as a crutch for the presenter. Can you complete your presentation without slides that mirror your presentation? If you need visual aids, consider using slides sparingly or using a video, paper hand out, humorous image, or animation instead. These types of media will stick in the minds of your audience much longer than bullet points on a plain background.
Get creative with a unique presentation and your audience will be more likely to remember you and what you said. Check out an additional ten presentation tips here.
Spend time extra time thinking through what people will respond to and remember and it’s sure to pay off in more ways than one.
