10 Refreshing and Engaging Tactics to Improve Presentation Skills

Are yous fed upwards of creating the same old PowerPoint presentations and losing your audience within the first ten minutes? You demand to upward your game and try something new! Here nosotros will share a list of ten techniques and out of the box presentation skills that go across the use of ineffective PowerPoint slides.

Change things upwardly by hosting your presentation somewhere unique and interesting, rather than just some other briefing hall.

one. Choose a unique location for your presentation

I of the best ways to attract and engage an audition for your presentation is to choose a unique and interesting location. Conference halls take a corporate and somewhat boring feel to them and if you lot don't want that projecting onto your innovative idea or product, choosing an exciting, yet relevant setting for your presentation is key.

A company called The Lost Lectures demonstrates merely how effective it can be to cull a unique location for a presentation. The concept backside their business concern thought is to host enchanting talks from secret locations that take the audition abroad from traditional corporate or academic environments and into more inspiring and imaginative places.

Another great way to engage your audience and heighten their expectations of your presentation is to keep the location a secret until the day before or even the morning of the event. This will get people talking well-nigh it and add a shroud of mystery to your idea or product.

2. Share the stage

Far too many CEOs and entrepreneurs recollect that they have to comport out their presentation alone, when in fact sharing the stage with members of their squad would make for a more interesting and effective presentation format. Equally a full general rule (which nosotros volition go on to talk more almost later) you should not be speaking for more than ten minutes at a time. A keen mode to intermission up your presentation and keep your audition engaged is to have multiple speakers contributing with their expert knowledge. Fifty-fifty if y'all can't necessarily have multiple members of your team on stage, yous could always include them via video link to add together another element of interest to your presentation.

3. Tell a story

Whilst PowerPoint slides have long been used in presentations, they are non the greatest tools for engaging and exciting an audition. Something that is far more interesting and highly-seasoned to audiences is the stories you take to tell. Telling your audition the story of your business or how you came up with an idea or project is a great way to engage with them on a more personal level. It will be like you are sharing 'behind the scenes' knowledge with them and giving them an insight into how your heed works.

Telling a story will besides assistance you to show the beloved and passion yous have for the thought yous are presenting. After all, if you lot are non enthusiastic about your product, service or idea, then your audience isn't going to be either.

When preparing your presentation, call back that all good stories have a hero and a villain. Your villain will be the problem that y'all are aiming to solve and your hero volition be your idea or product – the solution to the problem.

Make your headline, the opening sentence to your presentation, Twitter-friendly.

4. Create a Twitter-friendly headline

A fantastic technique to remember when preparing your presentations is to create a Twitter-friendly headline. This is a sentence that summarises your thought or the purpose of your presentation in 140 characters or less. By creating this headline and repeating it a few times throughout your presentation, you volition give journalists, bloggers and any other attendees of your presentation a line they can hands tweet.

A company that is renowned for creating Twitter-friendly presentation headlines is Apple. For every product launch they announce, they will create a Twitter-friendly headline to use in their keynote presentations. For case, when Tim Cook announced the launch of iOS vii he used the headline 'iOS7 is the biggest modify to iOS since the iPhone.' Needless to say, this verbal judgement was tweeted by multiple individuals and outlets immediately subsequently the presentation.

Steve Jobs was arguably i of the best keynote speakers, known for his Twitter-friendly headlines such as 'Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-zMRPZpvcw

five. Make your presentation multi-sensory

Let's face it; no one at your presentation is going to capture all of the stats and data you provide in the charts and graphs on your slow PowerPoint slides. Data is more than memorable when it's visually interesting. Rather than trying to explain challenging stats and information, why not spend time converting information technology into a format that is easier for your audition to digest? Breaking the monotony by using multi-sensory tools and visual aids similar mood boards and infographics is a swell way to highlight the points you lot are trying to brand, without confusing your audience with unnecessary ataxia.

6. Fuse online and offline content

Another fantastic way to engage your audience is to fuse online and offline content and make your presentation interactive. For example, y'all could build a simple app for your presentation that people can download on their smartphones for complimentary and use to participate. Possible interactions could involve submitting questions, answering questions or fifty-fifty merely providing feedback. Getting your audience involved in whatever way will aid to keep them focused and interested in your idea.

Widen your audience and provide a reminder for attendees by uploading your presentation online.

half dozen. Upload your presentation for the world to come across

The presentations y'all brand will be a key part of your brand's story and volition help to deliver a marketing message, then rather than simply giving a presentation and moving on, why not milk it for all it has to give? Ane of the ways y'all tin generate a greater render from the work yous have put into your presentation is to video information technology and upload it online. That way you will be able to share your presentation with a much wider (or even global) audition and also provide a reminder to attendees.

You lot could as well consider re-purposing some of the content from your presentation and creating a series of blog posts to run along side it or even a webinar.

www.youtube.com/embed/yGENcskRGRk

8. Stick to the 10 minute rule

We mentioned before but how important it is to intermission up your presentation then that you are talking for no more than 10 minutes at a time. The reason that the x minute rule exists is because it is idea that the boilerplate person's attention span lasts no longer than ten minutes. This means that if yous continue talking about the same matter for over x minutes, y'all are likely to lose the majority of your audience.

Aside from introducing invitee speakers to contribute their noesis, another way you can stick to the ten minute rule is past inserting curt video clips for your audience to sentinel. This could exist a video demonstration of the production in action or even a humorous video outlining the problems that your production or idea can solve. Alternatively you lot could re-capture your audience's attention by asking them to participate in your presentation using a mobile app or do a quick Q&A session.

Heard of a silent disco? Capture your audiences' attention past creating a silent presentation!

9. Try your mitt at silent conferencing

Unless you lot accept been hiding under a rock for the last few years, it is likely that you volition have heard of silent discos. A silent disco involves giving participants headphones, which are linked up the DJ'southward sound system, and then but they can hear the music playing. Well believe information technology or not, this concept is actually being introduced to the world of business organisation conferences. Yes, many people are now trialing this innovative presentation method in hope that it will captivate their audience's attention and forestall them from getting distracted past their surroundings.

This concept would work particularly well if you lot were given a presentation at an exhibition, trade bear witness or another decorated surround with a lot of footfall. Information technology would eliminate the distractions surrounding your audience and ensure they are focused on you lot and your idea only.

Practice, practice, practice then when you footstep up in front of that microphone, you know exactly what y'all want to say and how to deliver it.

ten. Exercise makes perfect

Whilst yous may recollect we are ending our list on a rather obvious point, what we actually wanted to stress is that even the all-time and most natural presenters in the world practice their presentations and speeches again and again. Although you may have thought that Steve Jobs was naturally great at presenting, it may not have been the case if he didn't practice then much! Jobs spent hours and hours practicing his presentations to empty conference halls to ensure that when it came to really giving his keynote spoken language, it was delivered in a casual, still polished and effortless manner.

www.youtube.com/embed/i68a6M5FFBc

In order to evangelize a successful presentation you demand to exist able to speak it word for word without needing to refer to notes. The odd hidden bullet indicate behind the mic stand is fine, just no one wants to see you belongings sheets of paper or reading discussion for word off your PowerPoint slides (your audition can exercise that themselves). Instead take the time to thoroughly gear up yourself to requite your presentation. You will find it extremely helpful to pause your content downwardly into smaller sections. Another keen matter to practise is to use different visual aids and formats. Not only will they help your audience to stay engaged, but they will also aid you lot to retrieve what's coming upward next.

Conclusion

The idea behind whatever presentation is to educate, entertain, inform and inspire an audience, no thing whether they are prospective customers, co-workers or investors. A great presentation requires all-encompassing creativity, careful planning and a hell of a lot of practise, just if someone is willing to take the time to listen to your ideas, it only seems correct that you lot put try into making your presentation the best it can mayhap be.

Epitome credits: Admission Ad, Kooroshication, dfarber, clasesdeperiodismo, Media-Saturn and kelbycarr

Featured photograph credit: Freevector.com via freevector.com

mahomedswithimince.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/bored-with-business-presentations-10-refreshing-and-engaging-tactics-rock-the-stage.html

Share this post