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Tough Love: How Not to Bore an Audience
Ditch the Slides
Or at least don't make them the star of the show.
You are the star. Your slides are your aides--your backup singers. Use them intermittently.
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Key Ideas
Pack For The Climate Of Your Destination
Keep the nature of the occasion in mind as you prepare your message. Every situation and audience is different.
Don't be tone-deaf. Your antennae must be sensitive to the need for formality or informality, seriousness or humor, words that work and words that won't.
Begin, Be Brief, Be Seated
There's no correlation between the length of a talk and its impact.
Have a good beginning, a strong ending, and put the two as close together as possible.
Begin With The Pitch
Any communication that you are willing to pay for begins effectively.
Your job at the beginning of a talk is to capture attention and convince your audience that it's in their interest to listen. All's well that begins well.
Ride the Cycle
Listeners cycle in and out of attentiveness--mostly out. Twenty percent of your audience will be spaced out at any given time.
So when you begin, establish your themes, and as you move through each section remind them where they are on the journey. When you get to the end, repeat your key points.
Make It Stick
Attention-getting messages are simple, unexpected, and concrete.
The mention of an object creates a visualized idea in our minds--we form an image of the thing, and retain it in our memory. This doesn't happen at the mention of abstractions, like "value" or "memory."
Get Ready for Prime Time
Rehearse. An audience doesn't want to see you struggling to say what's on your mind.
They've come for a show, an organized presentation of thought. Know your lines: your opening line, headlines, bottom line, and story lines. Being prepared will help you come across in a conversational manner, too.
You Are The Most Important Visual
Know how to stand (either behind the lectern, where you're half-hidden but feel safer, or out on the open stage) and move in such a way that you communicate the intangibles that motivate others to believe in you. Body language was the first language.
Also, know how to project your voice effectively.
Inform Your Face
When you're speaking, if you're having a good time, inform your face. Your face is the most valuable real estate in any meeting room.
The audience wants to hear, see, and sense your face enjoying your belief in your clear and simple message. When they do, you and your ideas will be more convincing.
Frame Your Content
Good content may be necessary for a successful presentation, but it isn't sufficient: it doesn't guarantee success.
You must frame your good content so it holds attention and show up on time, dressed to say what you have to say in a lively, engaging manner.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
Engage your Audience
- Ask questions.
- Ask to introduce themselves.
- Do a paper or online survey.
- Ask them during the presentation.
- Create a "Round ...
Improve your Presentation
- Welcome humor that happens.
- Enliven your slides with pictures you have taken of people, product, or locations.
- Insert short video clips to hear from significant people.
- Tell a story to illustrate your points.
- Format your presentation like a story with a problem and solution.
- Use slides only as a backup; the audience and you come before the slides.
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You don’t care enough about the audience
Most people think they are the most important player in a presentation. They are wrong. The audience, the listeners, the people watching the presenter are the most important players.
The Words and the Design
The work on the presentation slides should be clear, crisp, concise, with fewer words and more visually striking simple imagery.
Long sentences and tiny words going through the whole slide are not advisable.
Lack of Practice
Invest your time practicing thoughtfully and getting in a zone where you are a natural.
An effortless-looking presentation makes the audience love it, even though you have toiled hard to make it look effortless.
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Key Ideas
A TED Talk is 18 minutes long
TED curator Chris Anderson explains:
“The 18-minute length works much like the way Twitter forces people to be disciplined in what they write. By forcing speakers who are u...
Give a TED-style talk that gets a lot of views
- Arrange your message onto the 9-up format: same size as sticky notes, until you are happy with the flow.
- Solicit feedback from effective presenters that you trust to give honest, unfiltered feedback on your narrative and slides.
- Rehearse with a great (honest) communicator that is not afraid to speak up.
- Articulate each point clearly.
- Practice with a clock counting up the minutes, to know how much you're over. Then trim it down.
- Once you're within the timeframe, practice with a clock counting down. Know where you should be at 6, 12 and 18 minutes.
- Let your coach jot down what you say well and what you don’t.
- Don’t be camera shy. Practice by videotaping yourself.
- Do one more full timed rehearsal right before you walk on stage.
- Pick two natural places you could stop in your talk, then demarcate those as possible endings.