A few nights ago I attended a meeting where we
heard from a number of speakers. They each had quite different styles
and all of them had potentially useful topics. Two of the
speakers were very polished in their delivery - they gave virtually
faultless performances. But neither of these talks stood out
for me.
In fact, the talk I found most
useful was delivered in a bit of a rush and the presenter had a few
rough edges.
But his talk involved ME! He got me involved - he had tailored
the talk to reflect my interests. As he spoke, I was getting ideas that
I could put into action the following day.
I believe the other speakers
probably had useful material too - but neither of them made an
impression.
Why?
Because they didn't craft their talk in a way that involved me.
How do you weave your audience
into your talk?
- Use a short interactive
exercise - ask them to talk to their neighbour about how they
could use this information. The important thing here is to be
specific in your instructions. Ask them to discuss "How could
you use this information?" By the way, including this exercise
ensures that you provide information that the audience can actually
use!
- Ask a general question
about what they've learned so far - then get audience members to
answer. It's amazing how often people learn something quite
different from what you expected. If this happens, someone else in the
audience might find their perspective useful as well. Use a
flip-chart to store the ideas.
- Invite an audience
member or members to come up to the front and do an exercise or
demonstration with you. In my presentation "How our everyday thoughts sabotage our success" I do this twice
- it's often the most entertaining and memorable part of the talk
because the interaction is fresh and no-one (including me!) knows
what's going to happen.
The demonstration concept works because audience
members unconsciously feel connected to each other. When you
positively involve one person in the audience, you involve the others
by association.
- Tell stories that the
audience can relate to. We know the value of stories and
examples in presentations but you create mega-impact if your story
relates directly to your particular audience. For
example if your audience are work colleagues, tell a story about a
work event.
If they're retailers, tell a story about something that
happened in a shop.
An
engaging talk is much more than performance and delivery skills. It's about
creating content that involves and includes each audience
member.
Do yourself and your audience a favour - choose one of these ideas to make your
next presentation more valuable and memorable.
