Sitting in presentations may seem like the best time to check emails [guilty]. Sadly though this is a missed opportunity for everyone.
For the speaker it is unsettling presenting to a distracted audience, not to mention a waste of everyone’s time if your information and presentation message is lost.
So, how do we help drive audience engagement and ensure your audience are looking up at you?
Audience Participation:
When preparing your material change the format and interaction style of your content every 10 minutes (when attention spans drop) using videos, stories, slides & audience participation techniques.
These six tips will help with your audience engagement:
- Manage expectations – outline your message and presentation timeframe at the start
- Interactive polls – ask your audience questions with live voting graphs in your PowerPoint slides using the Zeetings platform http://www.zeetings.com/
- Run competitions – relevant visual or brainteaser games to bring out the competitive streak in your audience. We love http://brainden.com/
- Train the trainer – research shows people play more attention when they know they have to share what they just learnt. Tell the audience you will be asking questions after for a reward
- Be helpful – Share useful information / resources and links
- Make it personal – ask individuals for their experience and memories of a situation. Others will relate and remember based on their own story (remember some people prefer anonymity)
Presentation Success:
Whilst it may feel unnerving presenting to a distracted audience these tips will help maximize engagement, ensuring everyone benefits.