The brain doesn’t do boring.
We just can’t take it as humans, especially today, in a time when Twitter and Instagram posts dominate as news and entertainment sources.
Long, dense, humorless presentations are a surefire way to lose your audience immediately. And once that happens it’s hard to get them back.
Good presentations cater to audience interests, they engage emotions, they impart information that is useful and compelling. Here’s a list of top tips to keep in mind when planning your next presentation:
- Account for audience needs. What do they want? What are they worried about? What do you want them to think, feel and do at the end?
- Start strongly. Don’t waste time explaining who you are or what your company does. Start with a question or idea that gets people leaning in right away.
- Bottom line up front. Tell people what you’re going to tell them – your central thesis. Next, tell them. Then, tell them what you told them.
- Engage with emotions. Fear, laughter, happiness, nostalgia, surprise and suspense all do wonders in getting your audience interested and engaged.
- One number, one sentence. Cascading bullets and sentences put people to sleep. Less is more. Make slide copy big, bold and simple and let your oral narrative tell the story.
- Ten minutes, tops. Divide your presentation into 10 minute segments that have one core idea.
- Macro, then micro. For each segment, give the general idea first then dive into the details. Understanding goes up by as much as 40 percent.
- Finish strong. Summarize clearly and leave your audience with ideas that move them to think, support, change or act.
Don’t overload your audience. Be bold, concise – and fun.
And gain the buy-in you want with better presentations.
Have a great week.
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