Presentations are part of professional life at more than one level; if you’re a project manager, you will be presenting the project you’re managing to your higher-ups or during important meetings with stakeholders. Even as a specialist, it is always wise to present your work using visuals instead of boring your audience with a long boring description of what you do or how you would do something.
In this article, we will share with you tips on how to give a presentation that doesn’t put people to sleep.
1. Use your time wisely
The reason why PechaKucha presentations work so well is that each presentation is under the 7 minute (six minutes and 40 seconds to be exact), which is pretty much how long your audience’s attention span is.
A typical presentation is longer than 7 to 10 minutes. This means you have to break the cycle every 7 minutes in order to keep people’s attention.
Try to use mini breaks, ask the audience a question or do something interactive with them like a game to introduce the next topic. If you can’t have a break, do something unexpected to grab people’s attention again. I was in a meeting one time when the presenter suddenly stopped to say: “well, enough with the best ways to use this technology at hospitals, let’s hear you what you think, how would you use it?.” And that worked very well as everyone in the room was thinking and talking.2
2. Pause after each slide
Many presenters forget that their audience is not as interested and knowledgeable as they are; so they keep going on and on about something without pausing to read people’s faces and make sure they have grasped their point. Use the silence after each point you mention or at least after each slide smartly and give your audience a chance to process information and participate if they want to. If you talk non-stop your audience will never be encouraged to participate.
People understand and remember numbers better than words. Use numbering to help your audience focus by saying for example: “There are three marketing strategies you can follow..Number 1 is…Number 2 is…Number 3 is…”
Using illustrations, graphs and other statistics not only support the claims you make in your presentation but also help draw the audience’s attention.
3. Use humor in your talk
Engage your audience by showing them the light-hearted side of you at the beginning of your presentation. Humor often break the ice between people who are meeting for the first time. It enhances your image and excite your audience if use appropriately.
4. Serve good food
Food can be a nutritious ice-breaker when offered at the right time. Try to serve healthy snacks that are good for concentration like chopped bananas and blueberries, almonds, walnuts and dark chocolate at the beginning or use them as mini breaks.
5. Dress well
Avoid outfits that can draw too much attention to what you’re wearing because of the color or showing skin and go for elegant business clothes that boost your confidence. As for your make up, don’t forget to apply it but keep it to a minimal.
6. Make the necessary arrangements
Check to see that everything is in place the day before your presentation to avoid any mistakes. Make sure the meeting room or the place of your presentation can accommodate the number of people invited and is booked for the day and time of your presentation. Remind all the attendees by sending an email the day before as well as calling on the same day if necessary.
By using these strategies you can surely engage your audience and excel as a presenter. You may think that you’re doing everything just fine but you can’t really tell unless you watch your performance in a video recording of a previous presentation or ask trusted friends and colleagues.
Which strategies seem beneficial to you?
