The business presentation.
Perhaps one of the least fun things you’ll ever be faced with at work.
Boring to the point of coma-inducing.
You dread getting the electronic invites: You’ve been selected to attend this week’s performance of “Guess the point of this slide” a.k.a. “Find the white space”.
Now it’s even worse.
Now you’re not attending, you’re delivering.
It’s your presentation!
Your emotions are all over the place. Anxiety, fear, nerves; worry about boring your audience.
You hate being judged. You especially hate being judged in real time by 40 people sitting in front of you.
If you do one of those typical, boring presentations, like the ones you hate so much, the audience is going to judge you harshly.
You need to do something to keep the audience interested.
Here are 3 zero-effort presentation hacks to keep your audience interested:
1. Open your presentation with empathy
It costs you nothing to use empathy in your presentation.
And it gives you so much!
Using empathy in your presentation means framing your delivery around the audience’s perspective.
It means listening to your audience.
It means taking their concerns seriously.
It means putting yourself in your audience’s shoes.
Let’s take the standard opening of a presentation and make it more empathetic.
The usual:
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen. My name is Fred Thomas from the admin department. Today I’d like to talk to you about our the state of our office. As you know we have a lot of clients visit during the week, and we’ve received several complaints about our cleanliness. In this presentation I have 3 things I’d like to talk about. Firstly, the cause of this problem. Second, the difficulty we are having securing extra storage space. Lastly, how we are going to fix this problem.”
Better:
“Good morning everyone. Have you ever looked around the office and been frustrated to see boxes everywhere? Have you ever tripped on the many obstacles scattered around? Who’s irritated by the state of the office?….. This situation has become so bad that even our clients are noticing it. Today we’re going to address the problem. Today we’re going to make your job a little easier to do by giving you the space to do it.”
In the better example the presenter focuses on the audience. He focuses on the problems they are having and how he’s going to make their lives better. He addresses the “What’s in it for me?” question at the start of his presentation in an empathetic way.
2. Deliver your presentation in an audience-centered, conversational tone
Think about the last presentation you attended.
Was the presenter stiff and formal?
Did you enjoy that?
Really?
I thought not.
Nobody likes to listen to a robot blurting out rehearsed lines; turning to the slides and reading bullets in a monotone; hands glued to their sides like a soldier in a dictatorship.
Audiences want to listen to naturally delivered speeches. And this is good news for you and presenters everywhere!…
It means that you can reduce the amount of practice you do. It means you can speak in your own natural voice. And it means that mistakes are not the end of the world.
You see, the problem with regular presentations is presenters don’t speak the way they normally would.
This bores the audience and turns them off.
Speak like a normal person in natural conversation and watch the audience’s interest peak. (If you need hints on what “natural” means, watch a Steve Jobs keynote and study the way he speaks).
3. Remember you’ve got 10 minutes or less
In his book Brain Rules, John Medina shares studies which show you have about 10 minutes to capture your audience’s attention or they check out.
If you manage to capture their attention you’ve bought yourself just 10 more minutes until you have to re-capture it.
What does this mean for your presentation?
It means you have to regularly be giving the audience a reason to care about your presentation or they’ll lost interest.
That doesn’t mean you should be planning to say something in particular at every 10 minute interval. What you should do instead is remember that even the most interested audiences will turn off eventually. You should be constantly looking for ways to frame your presentation to appeal to them.
What do you think? Let’s chat in the comments below…
Jeri says
Great tips that apply to any communication! If you’re like most people, you perk up and listen when something is about you. When we communicate, we want to be listened to, so it serves us best to make our communication about the people we’re hoping will listen!
Darren says
Interactivity is key ….. and remove death by Powerpoint!!!
Dave Mac says
“Interact” I love that word in relation to presentations. Thanks, Darren!
Randy Spicocchi says
Thank you for starting a discussion on this topic. I enjoy using a story to capture the attention of my audience. Depending on the topic this could be as simple a story as describing something related to your drive to the training site or something that occurred the night or week before. You don’t have to be an expert story teller, nor does the story have to be 100% fact based, a little fiction can be added to “spice “ up the story. Give it a try!
Chad says
I had to talk to my betters once and at the beginning I made them all shake hands and say hello. Some did. Some didnt. I told them that if they take nothing from me other than this I would be happy. You just did something for a subordinate because he asked you to. It made me notice who cared and who didnt have time for “nonsense.” That was leadership in action. It cost npthing but a handshake and breathe to say hi. Those who wouldnt do it show the people below them that they dont care about them. Respect and curtousy go a long way in morale and leadership. I then went into my presentation. I know some liked that lesson and some held it against me. I also noticed that those who cared had better retention than those who treated people like a throw away commodity. Presentations are also places we can learn as well as teach. Just my two cents worth.
John says
Chad, I just came across your comment. A long time ago I received the best piece of free advice ever and I’m going to pass it on here.
You don’t have betters – you only have people appointed in authority. It doesn’t make them better. Remember that the next time you stand up to speak!
Dave Mac says
Great point, John
Nina Munshi says
Could make it interactive, ask a question and encourage people to respond, express their point of view
Dave Mac says
You’re right, Nina! The interactive approach works beautifully. Thanks for your comment.
Darryl says
Great tips. My favorite is to use a picture (funny where appropriate) and one or two words on the slide. This forces yiur audience to listen to you to get the information instead of just reading the slides.
Chrys says
Great, practical tips