Even if you are already an engaging presenter, add more audience participation. It will help the people you're talking to remember more of your content.
Here are some ways to add variety and help people remember the important points that you are trying to make. They are especially effective in a learning or problem-solving situation
For the rank amateur to the ignorant professional, audiences create the same effect no matter how small they are to a speaker. Fear and anxiety.
From a single person to a crowd as big as the fans in the Super Bowl, speaking in front of a serious listening audience is the true test and baptism of fire.
Despite this, audiences are predictable. Audiences listen to you because they want to learn something from the speaker.
Following this logic, the speaker would do well to follow the strategy of making it informative as well as interesting to listeners to see your speech through till the end.
Here are some tips on how you can have the audience listen in rapt attention.
Regardless of how experienced you are as a speaker, the thought of how the audience will think about you will have surely crossed your mind many times. If you are always worried about what your audience thinks about your speech, here is a short public speaking guide to guarantee a good impression amongst your audience.
1. Refrain from reading notes
It is acceptable to glance at your notes infrequently, but not all the time. When speaking, always make sincere eye contact with your audience. Ensure them that THEY are the most important people during your speech. Speak out loud and clear. Sound confident. Do not mumble. If you made an error, correct it, and continue. Don't apologize profusely; the audience probably will not notice it.
2. Pause and relax
Allow yourself and your audience a little time to reflect and think. When shifting from point to point in your speech, your audiences probably need time to digest whatever is being said. Don't race through your presentation and leave your audience, as well as yourself, feeling out of breath. While giving time to your audience, maintain your smile. Before you start again, count to three. ("One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand. Pause. Begin.) Transform your nervous energy into enthusiasm.
3. Communicate with your audience
The key to a successful speech, or in fact, any presentation is to communicate ideas to your audience. If what you prepared beforehand seems to be misaligned with the audience expectation, do not hesitate to make improvements on the spot. If you find out mid-way that your audience are interested in politics, mix some of them in it. If they are interested in finance, use currency as an analogy. Be prepared to make changes, or even simplify your speech. Ultimately, you want your audience to understand you and your ideas.
Applying the subtle techniques in this short public speaking guide will transform your audiences' impression of you. Practice them constantly to bring out the best in you and your presentation.
Good luck,
MJ
MJ is a young enthusiast and expert in public speaking. Helping and supporting others in gaining confidence to speak out is his passion.
Visit http://www.publicspeakinghelp.jjtipbits.com now to experience learning from a World champion.
When you are making a speech or presentation, you need to be aware that your gestures can support or detract from your message.
Learn to become aware of what your hands are doing while you speak.
If necessary, make yourself hold them still.
Many people have habits that are terribly distracting and yet they aren’t aware of what they are doing. They click or twiddle a pen, play with their hair or their clothes, hold a microphone with fingers unconsciously making a rude gesture, take glasses on and off, put hands in pockets and take them out.
All of these things are not necessarily detrimental in themselves, if the audience is absolutely focused on the speaker and the message. But if there is any reason for the audience’s attention to stray (and we all have short attention spans) then they will become fascinated, at best, and possibly annoyed at whatever it is that the speaker is doing with their hands.
And the first part of any speech or presentation is to gain that attention – arouse it, focus it and keep it. Don’t waste your breath on the expected or the blah. If you must begin with something like “Good evening”, then make it different, or unusual. Here in Australia, we might say “G’day!” That would be unexpected. Otherwise use your voice and body language to make the greeting unusual, challenging, noticeable. Use pause here. Then use an opening that grabs the attention. You can use a question, a joke, a comment about the people or surroundings or event.
You can make a statement, use a quotation, or simply use body language or gesture. But choose that opening to grab attention, to align with the audience and their needs, hopes and aspirations, and to lead into your message.
A presentation can succeed or fail depending on whether your audinece stays with you or not.
Get this free set of tips on "Writing your presentation to keep audience attention", and improve YOUR chances of success!
As always just let me know if you want to receive the tips
From a Commentary post at Meetingsnet ...
Don't Let a Speaker's Style Defeat Substance
A keynote speaker at Meeting Professionals International's MeetDifferent 2010 has been generating sparks from bloggers who followed the conference, not because of his message, but for the way he delivered it.
The speaker was branding specialist Marty Neumeier, who preached a philosophy of radical simplicity for organizations in search of products that are both good and different. The message was strong, but for much of the audience, Neumeier's style was his undoing.
Read the rest of the post ... and what do you think... should a speaker be hired if his/her material is outstanding, but presentation woeful?
From one of my favourite "gurus" ....
How do you make your presentation more interesting to your audience? Perhaps the most important technique is to include them when you speak. You can choose your words to engage your listeners — or leave them out. If you leave them out, boredom is the probable result. In this article, I'll give you some specific techniques for crafting your content in a way that grabs the attention of your audience.
Here's the rest of the article in Pivotal Magazine
with Cliff Atkinson
Armed with laptops and smartphones, audiences are no longer sitting quietly while speakers are talking — instead they’re using Twitter and other tools to create a backchannel where they chat with one another, make comments about your presentation and broadcast their thoughts to people all over the world.
If audiences are happy, the backchannel can spread your ideas far and wide, create buzz about your ideas, and keep a conversation going long after you leave the podium. But if audiences are unhappy, the backchannel can criticize your ideas and delivery, disrupt your talk, and even derail your presentation completely. So is the backchannel yet another thing to fear when you give your next presentation? Or a great opportunity to really know what your audience is thinking?
Cliff Atkinson, author of The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever, will share his research and ideas for making the backchannel work for you.
You will learn:
• How audiences are changing the power dynamic of presentations
• Why you need a Twitter account and how to use it
• How to make your presentation Twitter-friendly
• How to avoid backchannel disasters
• How to extend your message farther than previously possible
• How to use Twitter feedback to adjust or fine-tune your ideas
Today's freebie is a set of tips on public speaking ....
Keeping Audience attention.
It's just so basic, so crucial to your success as a speaker. And particularly for beginners, it can be very nerve-wracking, wondering how to make sure your audience stays with you. What will you do if they get bored? What if they start chatting, or worse still, go to sleep, while you speak?
From the First Steps series, this set of tips will be sent by email. It will give you strategies for the planning and for the execution of your speech to make sure the audience gets you and gets your message.
Just send me an email ... and I'll send you the tips.
