Eighth Technique: Questions

One way to engage and make audiences participate is by asking questions. Make sure you have thought of a few questions related to your presentation that will keep listeners active. Take listeners questions throughout your presentations, which means they can interrupt you throughout the presentation. This has at least two benefits; people won't have to remember their questions till later, and if they are uncertain about something, they can get clarification at the time. For more information about encouraging questions in your presentations, visit this website.

 Please feel free to express your opinion regarding this topic.

Seventh Technique: Samples

If you are promoting a product, one of the best ways for audiences to like your presentation is to give away free samples. This should be done in a very careful way and make sure it doesn't get out of control. It is best to give samples after you're finished presenting, or to award as prizes to volunteer participants. The rules to follow when giving samples include:

• Make sure samples are clean and in good condition, and never give away used samples.
• Never give away too many samples, two at the most. More than two can be overwhelming and confusing.  
• Maintain control of the presentation and handling of samples. Do not hand out the samples during the presentation, it distract them from the actual presentation.

For more information regarding the use of samples during a presentation, visit this website.

Have you ever given away free samples after a presentation? How else do you think you can make the best use of samples as part of your presentation improvement? Please feel free to express your opinion regarding this topic.

Sixth technique: Demonstrations

Steve Jobs demonstrating Ipod Nano

One of the best ways to engage audiences and give them a better way of understanding a presentation is through demonstration. Demonstration can be done in many ways. For example, you can say that you need a volunteer to demonstrate something. This engages audiences and makes them excited. This video is a perfect example with regard to the use of demonstration, where three co-founders of their company approached investors to raise money in exchange for equity. Their  demonstration convinced all five investors to invest in their company because it gave them a better understanding of their business model.


What are other ways you can demonstrate while presenting? Do you use any form of demonstration while presenting? If the answer is yes, then what kind of demonstration? Please feel free to express your opinion regarding this topic.

FifthTechnique: Visuals

One of the best ways to stand out and grab audience attention is the use of visual aids. There are many visual aids you can use to create an interesting presentation. Use a flip chart to capture key points, and effective PowerPoint to create an interesting presentation. You can also use video and images in your presentation.



This entertaining PDF file will explain in seven steps how you can create visual presentations, which include short sentences, proper images and more.  This video will also explain keys to effective visual aids that will help to create attractive visual presentations.


What are other creative ways of adding visual aids? How can one further improve their visual aids to appeal more effectively? Please feel free to express your opinion regarding this topic.

Nine Technique: Self Interest

It is important to remember that people are interested in things that will benefit them the most, and not something that is irrelevant which will waste their time. It is important to review your presentation several times, and make sure that all the materials are relevant to what audiences want to hear it. For more information in regard to making your presentation more relevant, visit this website.

What are some ways to make presentation more relevant? Please feel free to express your opinion regarding this topic.

Fourth Technique: Movement

The fourth most important technique for gaining and keeping audience attention is movement. Good movement shows that you're not nervous and very excited about what you're presenting. Instead of staying at one place, move around the conference table or between the aisles of your audience. Just walk and move in a proper and normal way. Make your move purposeful, don't wander, and avoid rocking back and fourth.



This video will explain in detail about movement, and how you can grab audience attention. This website will also tell you nine ways to use space in your presentation with images.

What kind of movement do you make when presenting? How can one make better use of space during your presentation? Please feel free to express your opinion regarding this topic.

Third Technique: Eye Contact

The third technique for gaining and keeping audience attention is good eye contact. This is where many students are having difficulty. Lack of good eye contact indicates that one is lacking confidence and conviction, which causes the audience to believe that you are not interested in engaging with them. Good eye contact demonstrates sincerity and honesty in your message, it will make your audience believe that your message is important and  relevant. This short video further explains the importance of good eye contact.






The best way to keep good eye contact is to look at one person for a few milliseconds and then move to the next person. Do this in a random but inclusive pattern around the room. In a big audience, if you look at one person, the ten people sitting directly around that person will think that you are looking at them.

Here are some common eye contact errors that you want to avoid:

• Looking at back of the room
• Looking at floor or ceiling while presenting 
• Gazing around the room randomly and not actually looking at an individual 

This website explains in detail, the importance of good eye contact and provides tips for successful eye contact. 

What are some other ways you think that will improve your eye contact skill? How can one increase their confidence and improve their eye contact skill? Please feel to express your opinion regarding this topic.

Second Technique: Drama

Have you ever had to sit in the class or elsewhere and listen to someone who's presentation is boring and sound the same throughout the whole presentation? Have you ever start daydreaming or start doing something else when someone is presenting? We all have and you want to make sure that your presentation is exciting and grab people's attention.

One of the way to make your presentation exciting and interesting is by the use of drama. Adding drama to presentation is like telling a moving story or describing serious problem from audience's point of view. Don't talk in one way, rather talk in a different way to make your presentation more exciting. This can be done by adding dramatic elements, such as, a long pause after a key statement and changing your vocal tone or pitch. Also, use emotions, such as, anger, joy, excitement and sadness.

Martin Luther King is able to grab people attention by using strong emotion.

Please watch this video, its almost 9 minutes but worth it! It will demonstrate, how Tony Robbins who is one of the greatest success coach, changes his tone of voice and uses different emotion.

After watching the video, answer three questions:

1. How did Tony Robbins change the tone of his voice throughout the presentation?
2. What emotions did he used throughout the presentation?
3. How was he able to make people excited, especially at the end?

Answering these questions will help you in terms of how you can change your tone and use different emotions throughout the presentation.

What techniques do you use to make a presentation more interesting? Please feel free to express your opinion regarding this topic. 

First Technique: First impression and promise

First impression and astonishing introduction is extremely important because it will grab the attention of your audience. Secret to first impression is proper body language which includes good posture and appropriate movement. This video will demonstrate the proper body language and what to avoid during presentation to create an effective first impression. 

This image summarizes good outward  appearance for first impression.


First impression should be integrated with astonishing introduction and the key to successful introduction is to begin with a promise. Begin with a promise that creates a suspense feeling among the audience. For example if your major is marketing, you might want to begin your presentation by saying, " By the end of this presentation, I will show you how you can increase your sales by 50% in 13 months". Make your promises realistic that would make your audience to believe in you. My promise for this blog is that it will provide you useful implementation knowledge that will grab the audience attention during presentation.

What kind of promises can you make in regard to your major? What are some other way you can make an astonishing introduction?





 

Gaining and Keeping Audience Attention-Introduction

Hello class!

Since, we are business students, whether we are hoping to work in corporate world in marketing, human resource, accounting, or finance department or want to start our own business, we will all eventually have to do presentations. Effective presentation is crucial for successful leadership. Many great figures regardless of their fields were great presenter. For example, one of the best presenter in business world would be Steve Job, and activist, Martin Luther King was known for his great speech, "I have a dream", which grabs the attention of millions of people. One of the amazing speaker today is Barack Obama, his unique style of speaking grabs the attention of millions of people whether on T.V or live. You can watch Obama amazing speech here. Many of us don't know how to capture and maintain audience attention during a presentation and this is the reason why I decided to write about this topic, break it down into nine techniques and each post will be dedicated to one technique.

What are you majoring and how you think presentation will be relevant to your field? Please comment below and feel free to share anything regarding this topic.