Engaging With Presentation and Webinar Audiences -

Excerpt from the highly acclaimed new business start-up book "The Ultimate Guide to Consulting in the Networked Age" described by Amazon Hall of Fame Top Book Reviewer as "A REAL GEM"

"In giving presentations, use the 10/20/30 rule - use only 10 slides, take 20 minutes maximum, and use at least 30-point fonts." Guy Kawasaki

What is your presentation style? Do you even like presenting?

Be aware that when you are presenting you typically have less than 1 minute to establish your credibility and gain your audience‘s attention and respect. Therefore; how you start your presentation is paramount.

Here are 5 presentation starters that I personally have had success with over the years:

1. Stories: everyone relates to stories and this technique enables you to build an emotional connection with your audience from the outset. Just ensure that your story is relevant and points to a key theme of your presentation.

2. Data: use a surprising statistic to arouse interest. For example, ―did you know that there are 183Billion emails sent every day? How will you make your email campaign stand out in the inbox and avoid the delete button?

3. Questions: if you want audience participation and engagement what could be better than asking a question? This can be as simple as ―how is everyone this evening? You might ask your audience to visualize a scenario or the outcomes that they want as a result of attending your presentation.

4. Quotes: gain credibility and pique interest with a famous quote or try two contrasting quotes and throw in a question like: "Which of the following quotes or statements apply to your work-site: a) ―That‘s not my job b) ―Marketing is everyone‘s job?

5. Humor or jokes: if you have a flare for humor this can be an effective attention-grabber technique. When speaking to audiences of retirees at investment seminars, I would sometimes tell a humorous story that goes something like this:

"A tip for concentrating was given to me by an air force pilot who said that his powers of concentration on bombing missions improved when he closed his eyes, leaned forward in the cockpit and opened his mouth. In this position he said that he could tell with pin point precision from which direction enemy anti-aircraft fire was coming from."

I then go on to say to my presentation audience;

"So, if I see anyone leaning forward in their seat, eyes closed and mouth open, I will know that you are listening and concentrating intently on my message."

To make your presentations more engaging and interactive there are a few strategies that you can use.

Firstly, prepare your audience, whether online or physically present, to participate. Ask questions of your audience and ask for a show of hands response – this is a simple, yet highly effective technique for getting your audience involved in your presentation. Also ask your audience to visualize a scenario or circumstance rather than just describing a situation to the audience. Again you will find that your audience is more engaged than if they were passively listening to you. A common teaching technique that I use in business classes that also translates well into presentations is the think, pair, share activities. Ask your audience to spend a couple of minutes thinking of their own answer to a question that you pose, and then ask the members of the audience to spend a couple of minutes sharing their response with someone sitting beside them and then ask for a few pairs to share their outcomes or comments with the entire audience via a microphone. Try using these audience connecting techniques throughout presentations so that your audience becomes more engaged and comes to see themselves working as partners with you. As you become more adept at eliciting audience participation your role transforms from presenter to facilitator.

As a facilitator you can organize audience brainstorming and Q&A sessions. Experienced presenters often prefer to take questions throughout their presentations rather than taking them at the end. Taking questions on the fly is a habit that you should try to develop, so act as if this is a natural part of your seminar or webinar format. When answering questions, paraphrase the questions asked to confirm that you have correctly understood the question. Paraphrasing also validates and rewards the asker and encourages more participation. Just don‘t respond with I am glad you asked that question to every query. When answering questions give practical examples and focus on client benefits and outcomes.

Do you have a favourite attention-grabber? If so please share by leaving a comment and if you liked this excerpt please share with your network and check-out the book available at:

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-...

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