How to fix boring business presentations

Your business presentations won't be boring if you are deliberate about engaging people's brains with the right content. Here's what you need to know.

Have you ever been bored by business presentations?

I bet all of us have, at one time or another.

Content that’s boring tends to be “familiar, artificial, concrete and decontextualized,” according to cognitive neuroscientist Carmen Simon, who spoke on content, brain engagement and memory at the 2020 International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) World Conference.

Simon went on to explain what’s not boring in business presentations: content that’s “novel, authentic, abstract, open-ended experiences, high-level thinking and questioning, and rich/messy content.” 

Bored brains disengage. But, Simon says, you can “fix boredom” in business presentations by providing more engagement for the brain, which gets people to pay attention, so that ultimately they can remember and act upon what you've said.

Variety is one way to achieve engagement. If the brain cannot predict what happens next, the longer the audience will stay with you. To get attention, you have to “vary the stimulus,” keep an important point constant and switch from familiarity to surprise, she says.

In her IABC World Conference talk, Simon challenged all of us – as leaders, speakers and communicators – with hard questions to help us become more deliberate about the content we choose for our business presentations. For example:

• What has your audience been habituated to?
• Do you ask too little of your audiences? In other words, are you babying them instead of challenging them?
• Are you developing extremely obvious content?

I was reminded of Simon’s talk a few weeks ago when I was listening to a recorded virtual presentation from a business executive – and soon found myself bored (and confused).

My brain had disengaged.

But why? 

To find out, read my blog post about business presentations: "Speeches gone wrong: Here’s why your audience can’t remember what you said."

Worried about delivering boring business presentations? I can help you create and deliver speeches and executive communications that resonate. Reach out here.