Struggling to captivate your audience during presentations?

One of the most common reasons why speakers are unsuccessful at connecting with their audience is perhaps they try too hard to prove how smart they are. Feeling "talked at" turns most audiences off.

drop the slides and just talk to people. walk around, dont hide behind the podium. Get in the mindet that you are not a college professor, be like an elementary teacher.

??Keep it conversational ??Keep it simple ??It’s not about you and all about them. Make sure your voice and body are in sync with three points above. Repeat And look for opportunities to practice this. It will become second nature, I promise ????

I teach my students to use Design thinking and empathy maps to research your audience. It give you a road map of where they are before your speech and where you predict they want to be after your speech. Once you have that you have your north star and being intentional

In some events, you may not know your audience. However, if they're there to listen to you speak you both already have something in common; a similar purpose if you will. It is with this as a jumping off point that it is understood that the intention to listen is there; to engage with the audience is to also direct the conversation. This could be to capitalize on the existing topic (why you're all there) and tie that to another humanly-relatable topic. This should be done periodically rather than every other statement

Whether you rehearse your overall presentation, it pays to have a written, memorized, and well-rehearsed open and close. Open with a story that sets the tone. Recap the story with key points you plan to cover in your presentation. Have non-verbals to drive home key points. If you nail the first five minutes and the last two minutes, it takes a lot of pressure off the stuff in the middle.

Your opening sets the tone for the entire presentation. I learned this lesson the hard way when I started a talk with a dry recitation of my credentials. The audience was disengaged from the start, and I struggled to win them back. Now, I always aim to grab attention right away. For a recent talk on innovation, I opened with a surprising statistic about how many "revolutionary" products fail, then posed the question: "So how do we create innovations that actually succeed?" This immediately grabbed interest and set up the rest of my presentation. Some effective opening techniques: A powerful statement or provocative question A compelling personal story An interesting demonstration or visual A relevant quote or surprising fact

One thing I've found helpful in my public speaking journey is having a string opening. I vary the techniques I use from storytelling to rhetorics or even professional jokes.

I would suggest practicing different openings and gathering feedback to see which one resonates most. Watching other speakers for inspiration has helped me a lot. ? Common Mistake: Starting with routine introductions or dry facts is a common mistake that doesn’t engage the audience’s curiosity from the get-go.

If you can make them laugh or cry then they will be engaged. I normally focus on making them laugh. You can also tell them something shocking or intriguing to keep their attention. I have used all of these techniques in keynotes & my TEDx Talks. When I teach my Successful Storytelling class I share not just stories but how I craft them to be sticky. Chip & Dan Heath wrote ’Made to Stick,’ it walks you through how to make stories sticky & easy to remember by making stories engaging. It’s also important what stories you tell, there are 6 stories you need to craft & tell about yourself to get & keep people’s attention. Start with ‘Who am I,’ I’m an aspiring astronaut who was too tall and became an engineer to build taller spaceships.

People remember how you made them feel more than the specific facts you presented. I've found that weaving in stories, anecdotes, and even appropriate humor creates a human connection that keeps the audience invested. In a presentation about teamwork, I shared a personal story about a disastrous group project in college and the lessons I learned from it. This not only illustrated my points but also made me more relatable to the audience. I could see heads nodding as people connected it to their own experiences. Balance facts and data with narrative elements. And don't be afraid to show your own passion for the subject - enthusiasm really is contagious!

Visual aids can significantly enhance your presentation when used effectively. I've found that simple, high-impact visuals work best - think powerful images, clear charts, or brief key points rather than text-heavy slides. In one talk, I used a series of before-and-after photos to dramatically illustrate the impact of a new process. This visual storytelling was far more compelling than if I had simply described the changes.

Delivery is the best way to make sure you have your audience by the hook. Some of the effective ways include taking pauses, lowering and raising your voice, pitch and tone, moving while speaking in a predetermined direction based on the topic & last but not the least using body language to exude confidence and authority. For example, take pauses just before & after a point of critical thought or emotional response, raise your voice while speaking about points of criticism and authority and lower when eliciting an empathetic reaction, moving from left to right while speaking about time periods going backwards & move from right to left while speaking about stages going upwards, use your hands and head movements effectively to convey emotions.

As you would with written text, vary your tempo and sentence length. Underscore key transitions with pauses (you‘ll need to practice this, because a dramatic pause needs to be a little longer than you’ll naturally find comfortable). If you have the liberty to move around as you speak, use the whole stage/platform/room to transition from one idea to the next. Statement…pause/walk to the opposite side of the stage…plant…make eye contact with someone…begin your next point. In order. At an intentional pace.

Sometimes NO DELIVERY shall be the best style of delivery to bring back the attention of the audience. While observing teens performing on stage for an oratory challenge, I was stunned by one child who showed 'out of the box' variety in her delivery. All of a sudden, she stopped talking and was literally gazing at her audience, for complete one minute. After a minute she exclaimed -- ''In this one minute, you all would have been flooded with multiple thoughts about me, my background, my abilities, my confidence, etc. Many of you would have even declared in your mind that I am losing this competition. For all those people, I am here to talk about the 'stereotype prejudice' that fools you with the fake perspective of others''

Public speaking can be exhilarating and unnerving for me. So I channel the energy of two vocalists who have influenced my expression approach: Jill Scott and Bette Midler. They are polar opposites in their styles— unapologetically sultry, and vivacious and determined. These personas reflect aspects of my self, and I find unique ways to incorporate their energy when I speak.

I believe that the effectiveness of presenting to an audience is closely tied to your confidence, which is built through practice. The more confident you are, the better you'll be able to deliver your presentation. I've observed that even with the best AI tools available for creating presentations, some people still struggle to effectively sell their products or satisfy clients. ?????? ?????????????? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ??????????????: ?Failure to Practice ?Lack of Preparation ?Reading from Slides ?Ignoring Body Language

Open with the ending. If your presentation has a climatic ending then you should give a sneak peek to that first. This will keep the audience on the edge of their seats as you build back up to it again.

Build and Maintain Eye Contact. The most quintessential skill of public speaking is addressing the audience. Many public speakers fail to captivate and maintain the attention of the audience because they fail to maintain eye contact with the audience. Public speaking is grounded upon addressing the audience, not reading on stage. Ensure that the content is articulated by you in such a manner that you don't need to look at the paper and read. Not all will maintain eye contact with you but all will respect your skills of understanding, articulation and confidence.

I love adding a surprise element to my presentations to excite the audience. I've found that through engaging the audience's senses it helps to create an immersive experience. Recently, I presented on CRM and marketing. Instead of boring' or 'confusing' a room full of creatives with data talk, I created a short, live experience for the attendees. This approach was incredibly successful, transforming abstract concepts into relatable experiences.

Show up naked! Not really, but here's an acronym of mine to consider! N: Notice the people and setting - they're not your audience. A: Avoid Expertise - don't talk at them converse with them. K: Kinship in Pain. Speak to their pain. Do you identify with it or can you help them fix it. E: Extraordinary Highlights - season your talk with some shiny objects. D: Distribute Delight - They should leave with a sense of delight to have been with you up to and after the last word uttered.