The Creative Process: 4 Steps to Presentation Success

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Rick E

We like to think of creativity as something elusive. It’s either you have it or you don’t. But as we discussed in the past, creativity is not a special trait reserved for artists, musicians, and writers. Creativity is a vital for endeavors that involve communicating and connecting with others. Whether you’re working on a novel or pitching to investors, creativity is crucial for capturing the imagination. The creative process is considered elusive only because we don’t know how to navigate through it.

The science of creativity

The idea that creativity is black and white comes from the notion that the left and right sides of the brain are distinct. Those who use the left side of their brains are more logical, practical, organized, and analytical. On the other hand, “right-brained” thinkers are understood to be more creative, artistic, and emotional.

That means an entrepreneur who carefully plans his next step is left-brained, right? And a pianist practicing a sonata is obviously using the right side of her brain. Recent research prove that this is just a myth:

Creativity does not involve a single brain region or single side of the brain.

Instead, the entire creative process– from preparation to incubation to illumination to verification– consists of many interacting cognitive processes (both conscious and unconscious) and emotions. Depending on the stage of the creative process, and what you’re actually attempting to create, different brain regions are recruited to handle the task.

Importantly, many of these brain regions work as a team to get the job done, and many recruit structures from both the left and right side of the brain. In recent years, evidence has accumulated suggesting that “cognition results from the dynamic interactions of distributed brain areas operating in large-scale networks.”

In truth, the creative process involves several steps that happen in different regions of the brain. As indicated in the quoted passage, the brain is actually a complicated network that operates as a whole. There is no divide between the creative and logical. While some are more inclined to either one of these traits, both can be true for a lot of people as well. The creative process doesn’t involve magic. It can happen for an artist, as well as an entrepreneur preparing for a presentation.

The creative process in four stages

The social psychologist Graham Wallas described the creative process as a series of steps. According to Wallas, the creative process has four stages that involve both conscious and unconscious thinking. If you feel like your presentations can use a bit more imagination, you don’t need to wait for the muse to come. Just take note of the following steps to help you get started:

Stage One: Preparation

The first stage involves laying down the ground work of your project. To prepare, you consult prior knowledge and experiences, as well as seek out other resources. In presentations, this is when you define the main purpose of your presentation. Upon figuring out your goals, do some research and seek out inspiration.

Stage Two: Incubation

After gathering inspiration comes a period of “unconscious processing.” Here, you let your brain piece together what you were able to gather. Wallas describes it as “voluntary abstention” from consciously thinking of the problem at hand. Instead of trying to find a specific solution, you take a step back and consider different possibilities. If you remember our previous discussion on creativity, this is similar to creating “psychological distance” between yourself and your work. At this point, instead of letting yourself be boxed inside a specific line of thinking, try to explore other solutions through brainstorming and mind mapping.

Stage Three: Illumination

As the name suggests, the third step of the creative process involves the moment when everything finally comes together. According to Wallas, this stage can’t be forced. It happens unconsciously, only after you were able to step back and consider different solutions. He describes illumination as the following:

[The] final “flash,” or “click” … is the culmination of a successful train of association, which may have lasted for an appreciable time, and which has probably been preceded by a series of tentative and unsuccessful trains. The series of unsuccessful trains of association may last for periods varying from a few seconds to several hours.

Stage Four: Verification

The last stage of the creative process involves carrying out your idea into the real thing. To ensure success, consult the goals and parameters you’ve determined in the preparation stage. For presentations, this involves finally building your PowerPoint deck, as well as the act of presenting in front of an audience.

Creativity doesn’t need to be magical and elusive. It can be accessible to those of who aren’t particularly inclined to artistic endeavors. Familiarize yourself with the different stages of the creative process and ensure that your presentations end successfully.

References

Kaufman, Scott Barry. “The Real Neuroscience of Creativity.” Scientific American. August 19, 2013. Accessed October 15, 2014.
Popova, Maria. “The Art of Thought: A Pioneering 1926 Model of the Four Stages of Creativity.” Brain Pickings. 2013. Accessed October 15, 2014.

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The Science of Effective Storytelling in Presentations

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Rick E

We often talk about the advantages of storytelling as a presentation technique.

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A presentation that’s filled with facts and figures can easily stray into a monotonous lecture that slowly lulls the audience to sleep. But if you choose to tell a story, you can give your audience something personal, concrete, and relatable to listen to. You can elicit very strong emotions that allow them to participate and engage with what you’re sharing.

As Dr. Paul Zak of the Center for Neuroeconomic Studies found, narratives can trigger powerful responses when told the right way.

The science of effective storytelling

In this short film made for the Future of Storytelling Summit, Dr. Zak carefully explains how the human brain responds to effective storytelling:

After observing the neural activity of respondents who viewed the story of a terminally-ill two-year-old boy, Dr. Zak found that effective storytelling can evoke powerful feelings of empathy that come from the release of particular neurochemicals, including oxytocin and cortisol. Furthermore, these powerful responses often turn into concrete and positive action.

This, however, doesn’t happen by telling just any other story. In order to be effective, the narrative has to follow the dramatic arc outlined by German playwright Gustav Freytag: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Otherwise, as Dr. Zak concluded, listeners will have “little if any emotional or chemical response.”

What does this mean for presentations?

To elicit the same powerful emotions from your audience, craft a story that follows the solid structure Gustav Freytag first envisioned 150 years ago:

Exposition

In a literary story, this is where the author lays out some “ground work” by presenting the characters, setting, and basic conflict.

For your presentations, this is where you establish some context. Introduce the point of view you’re presenting, and share some background information. If the story focuses on an experience you had with a client, set the scene and introduce important details.

Rising Action

After presenting the context of your story, it’s time to build tension and increase conflict. This is where you identify obstacles that prevent your character from feeling fully satisfied or happy. If your story is from a target customer’s POV, tell your audience about the challenges they face.

Climax

As the turning point of your story, the climax is the part where your character comes face-to-face with their problem. This is where the conflict becomes fully-realized and a solution is seen on the horizon. For your presentation, the climax marks where you start driving home your core message.

Falling Action

Slowly, as a solution becomes clearer and clearer, your character takes a course of action towards the identified goal. In the traditional sense, this is where the protagonist battles the antagonist. For your presentation, this is where you continue explaining your core message, focusing on how it helps resolve the problems you introduced early on.

Conclusion/Resolution

Finally, describe how your character meets their goals. This is where you explain how you and a difficult client came to an agreement. In another example, the conclusion is the part that details how your target customer finally achieves full satisfaction.

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Powerful storytelling can change the outcome of your presentations. Share stories that engage your audience by following an age-old technique that has always been universally effective.

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Featured Image: Screen shot from Future of StoryTelling: Paul Zak

How to Create a STAR Moment for Your Presentations

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Rick E

Are your presentations falling flat? In her book Resonate, Nancy Duarte shares a few methods for a dramatic and memorable presentation delivery.

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A successful presentation creates a connection with the audience. In other words, it has to have “Something They’ll Always Remember.” The STAR moment doesn’t have to be particularly big or flashy, but it needs to be awe-inspiring. According to Duarte, it’s all about creating a “significant, sincere, and enlightening moment…that helps magnify your big idea.”

A huge spectacle doesn’t automatically equal to a STAR moment, particularly if it distracts the audience from your core message.

So how does it work? Duarte named five different types of STAR Moments in her book. Here’s a short review and some tips on how you can use them to make your presentations stand out:

1.) Memorable Dramatization

You can create a memorable impression with small dramatizations throughout your presentation. These dramatizations don’t have to be complicated. You can simply make use of props to help illustrate your points, or perform a demonstration of your product. What’s important is that you take your key points and turn them into something that your audience can watch play, which will help them understand the information you’re sharing with them.

As an example, Duarte cites how Richard Feynman explained the likely cause of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. As one of the investigators on the case, Feynman demonstrated what went wrong using a few props during a televised hearing. According to the physicist, the O-rings in the shuttle became less resilient due to the cold weather. To explain his point, he compressed a similar O-ring using a clamp and immersed it in ice-cold water.

2.) Repeatable Sound Bites

You can also repeat short and memorable phrases throughout your presentation—”sound bites,” as Duarte calls these. To be effective, they should be easily recalled and communicated to others. Take note of all the critical messages in your presentation and constantly repeat them verbatim throughout your presentation. This will help your audience remember your main arguments, and echo your points to their colleagues and social media followers.

3.) Evocative Visuals

Visuals wields a different power over words. It’s one thing to read or hear something. It’s a completely different experience to see it represented by a picture or video. They are even more powerful if you want to portray abstract concepts. You can use images to add impact to the data you’re presenting. Instead of using a graph or a chart, add some illustrations that will properly present the point you’re making.

Another thing that Duarte suggests is the use of contrasting images. She provides a few slides from Conservation International as an example. In their campaign, scenic pictures of the ocean are juxtaposed with images of polluted beaches.

4.) Emotive Storytelling

Of course, the best way to connect with your audience is by showing them something they can relate to. Another way to create a STAR moment in your presentation is through storytelling. As we’ve mentioned in the past, sharing stories is part of our nature as social beings. Don’t be afraid to tell a story that reveals the emotions driving your presentation. If you’re pitching to investors, go ahead and share your business story. Show them how passionate you are about your venture.

5.) Shocking Statistics

The last way to create a STAR moment is by integrating statistics and data to your presentation. Things become more concrete if there’s a specific number attached to it. But don’t just hand out a large figure. Contextualize your statistics in a way that your audience can easily relate to.

In Resonate, Duarte cites how Steve Jobs framed the 5 million songs sold every day in the iTunes store: “We are selling over five million songs a day now. Isn’t that unbelievable? Five million songs a day! That’s 58 songs every second of every minute of every hour of every day.”

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Try adding a STAR moment to your next presentation. Create an experience that will allow your audience to take your message to heart.

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Reference

Duarte, Nancy. “Resonate.” Duarte. Accessed September 26, 2014.

Featured Image: Screen shot of the Resonate Multimedia Version

What to Watch Out for During Your Presentation’s Q&A

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Rick E

Preparation is crucial to any successful presentation. But even as you plan and rehearse as much as you can, there will come unscripted moments you never thought to prepare for. This is particularly true when the Q&A rolls in.

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Sure, you can prepare for questions that people will likely ask. But what about questions that come out of left field? How do you handle difficult questions or hostile comments? Morry Morgan of the School of Hard Knocks came up with a list of 5 different types of people you’ll encounter at a presentation Q&A. However, since these 5 types could end up overlapping in specific scenarios, we’ll list down the types of questions and comments that will leave you stumped instead.

To help you avoid a stressful Q&A, here are the types of difficult questions you’ll likely encounter:

1. The Backhanded Compliment

The Backhanded Compliment can be a question or a comment. On the surface, it might sound sincere and innocuous. But anyone who pays close attention will notice a certain edge to how it’s phrased. Most of the time, the backhanded compliment undermines all the effort you’ve put into preparing your presentation. While some constructive criticism can be helpful to broaden your discussion, these types of comments will always feel unwarranted and hostile.

How to Handle It: Your natural response is to be defensive. This will make you feel better, but it will only fuel the fire. The Backhanded Compliment will derail your Q&A into a fruitless argument. The best thing you can do is to ignore the hostility. You can say, “Thank you for your comments. I’ll keep them in mind for next time. Does anyone else have a question?”

2. The Non-Question Question

This type of question never seems to have a point. Either it repeats something you’ve already covered, or it states something particularly obvious. Based on Morgan’s list, the Non-Question is usually raised by people who are trying to show off in front of the crowd.

How to Handle It: As you should when faced with difficult questions in your Q&A, be polite and try not to lose your patience. Have the audience member elaborate their question further. You can say something like, “I’ve covered that point earlier. What do you specifically want to know about it?”

3. The Curve Ball Question

This question is raised to serve a single purpose: to leave you fumbling through your notes looking for the answer. It’s a question that catches you off guard because it was never part of the scope of your presentation. Sometimes, it’s asked by people who are genuinely curious about something tangential to your discussion. But it can also come from those looking to see you mumble a thoughtless answer.

How to Handle It: When you’re suddenly faced with a Curve Ball during your Q&A, remind the audience of your scope and limitations. Tell them you only set out to answer specific aspects of a broader topic. Offer them an alternative channel where they can reach out to you after the presentation. You can say something along the lines of, “Given our limited time, I can’t cover every aspect of today’s topic. Email me your questions and I’ll try to address them more specifically.”

4. The Pop Quiz

The Pop Quiz isn’t just one question—it’s a series of very specific questions that will soon make you feel like you’re back in school again. They’re not necessarily hostile in nature. Most of the time, the Pop Quiz is addressed by someone very eager to hear what you have to say. In fact, the reason why they’re asking you so much is because your presentation caught their interest.

How to Handle It: To avoid feeling lost, prepare a notepad which you can use throughout the Q&A. When you’re faced with a Pop Quiz, take down the questions asked of you and repeat everyone before beginning to answer. “Thank you for your questions. Let me repeat each one and tell me if I got anything wrong.” This will give you more time to think about what you want to say.

5. The Close Up Question

Anyone asking this type of question has scrutinized every detail of your presentation. Morgan calls them “Critics”. For some reason, they can remember every typo or mispronunciation you made. A Close Up isn’t so much a question, but a comment made to magnify your small mistakes.

How to Handle It: To avoid this scenario completely, check your slides and content before you have to face the audience. If there are errors you missed, own up to it. Thank the audience member for pointing it out and move on to the next question. Respond with something like, “Thank you for pointing out what I missed. You’ve been very observant and I appreciate that.” A quick answer should be enough.

6. The Long and Winding Question

As its name suggests, these queries take forever to be asked. Before you hear the actual question, it will recount points you’ve already made in your presentation.

How to Handle It: You’ll have limited time for Q&A, so try to interject as soon as you can. Politely interrupt and ask them to skip directly to their point. Wait for a slight pause and say something like, “I think I see where you’re getting at. What other details can I give you?”

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The Q&A of any presentation can be quite challenging. Be prepared for whatever comes your way. With these tips, you can safely navigate through any difficult scenario.

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How to Prepare Your Talking Points for a Press Conference

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Rick E

A press conference is a perfect venue for anyone looking to leverage their brand. Since you’ll be addressing the media, you have the opportunity to reach an audience far wider than before. If you want to drum up anticipation over a new product or encourage people to attend an event you’re organizing, a press conference is the best way to promote your plans.

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To get the best mileage, your press conference should be led by a speaker who knows their material well and remains unfazed by a difficult question. As public speaking expert Lisa B. Marshall puts it, “if you get it wrong, you’ll end up with negative coverage or no coverage at all.” Follow these tips to make sure your talking points are clear, effective, and memorable:

1. Figure out your core message

What do you want people to remember? What message do you ultimately want to be covered and delivered by the press? As you would in any presentation, prepare your talking points by identifying your goals first. Figure out the core message you want publicized and promoted, then use it as a guide to outline the rest of your speech. Marshall suggests that you stick with something that’s “newsworthy and consistent with your brand.”

For a press conference announcing an upcoming lecture, your goal may be to introduce the topic of the lecture and the recognized speakers who will participate. For a company announcement, stick to one topic that will grab your target audience’s attention. If you’re announcing a new product or web application, focus on what’s new and why your audience will want it rather than re-hashing old products or past mistakes.

Everything you bring up during the press conference should contribute to the core message you’re trying to deliver. If that’s “we have an exciting new product coming out in the market soon,” make sure everything you say will allow the audience to see why that’s true and important for them. Following our example, you could give them an overview of the product, including a short discussion of its features.

2. Turn your message into a story

With your points laid out, it’s time to turn your speech into an engaging narrative. You won’t go far it all you have planned is to read out a list of, say, the technology used in your web app. No matter how innovative your new product is, you’ll have to create a connection using a technique known to work for any type of audience. As Marshall puts it,

Create the story you want to tell. It may be a customer story that explains the need for the product or service you offer. It may be a story of someone whose life has changed as a result of your work. Make it personal and relatable.

3. Integrate brand identity

To take your story further, it’s also important to include elements of your brand identity. Particularly, Marshall suggests making use of adjectives that you often use to describe your brand.

For an example, she cites how Apple commonly uses words like “innovative” and “next generation” whenever they announce or launch a new product. As you work on your talking points, think back to your brand story and make it a prominent point throughout the press conference.

4. Anticipate questions that might be asked

After you’ve perfected your speech, there’s one more thing you have to prepare for—answering the questions thrown at you by the press. Think of the questions they’ll likely ask and start practicing how to answer them. As always, make sure all your answers drive home your main message.

Keep referring back to your main point and your brand identity. If you can, try to have someone else from your team come up with their own set of questions. This will give you an opportunity to expound on points you might not have thought were particularly relevant.

5. Brace yourself for difficult questions

Regardless of all your preparation, there are things you won’t be able to control or predict. It won’t be unlikely that you’ll get a few questions that are difficult to handle. They could simply be about a topic you weren’t prepared to discuss, or they might even be hostile. Regardless of the situation, you have to maintain your composure throughout. Marshall suggests learning “bridging”:

You never want to evade questions, but you do have the flexibility to rephrase or modify questions and to answer them in a positive, confident manner. Your responses may, or may not, briefly address the question asked before bridging to your prepared message.

A press conference can easily be a success after some preparation. Craft your talking points carefully to ensure your message is delivered to the audience you want to reach.

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Reference

Marshall, Lisa. “10 Tips for Dynamic Press Conferences.” Quick and Dirty Tips. Accessed September 18, 2014.

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Why Storytelling is an Effective Presentation Technique

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Rick E

Can you go a day without sharing a story? For 24 hours, you won’t be able to talk to your friends or tell your family how your day went. On Facebook, you can’t comment about the weather nor will you be able to share viral challenges you’re trying out.

Sounds impossible? That’s because it probably is. People are hardwired to be social beings, and part of that is our need to communicate with one another.

Presentation Storytelling — (Image Source)

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If storytelling is integrated into our everyday routine, why do we leave it out of our presentations? When we address an audience, we tend to focus on the important points we need to convey. We talk about data or explain a business model.

Sometimes, we turn back to our slides to display a graph. We concentrate on information that’s crucial to the outcome we’re hoping for. Despite all this, we tend to leave out something that seems just as vital. We forget to answer why everyone in the room needs to hear what we have to say.

This is where storytelling comes in handy. A presentation with a story has something more than a list of numbers that prove your business plan is viable. Take this scenario narrated by Dennis Nishi in an article for the Wall Street Journal:

Paul Smith had 20 minutes to sell the CEO of Procter & Gamble, and his team of managers, on new market-research techniques for which Mr. Smith’s department wanted funding. As associate director of P&G’s market research, Mr. Smith had spent three weeks assembling a concise pitch with more than 30 PowerPoint slides.

… “I felt like maybe I hadn’t done a very good job because he wasn’t looking at my slides like everyone else,” says Mr. Smith, who also noticed that the other managers didn’t seem very engaged. “It didn’t occur to me until later that he did that because he was more interested in what I had to say than in what my slides looked like.”

Like most people, Paul worked hard to hone his pitch into a PowerPoint deck. Despite his effort, he noticed that the people he was trying to convince seemed disengaged to what he presenting. As he later realized, a successful presentation goes beyond what your slides look like. What really matters is the heart of what you’re trying to say.

Storytelling in Presentations: A Tale as Old as TED

The reason storytelling is an effective presentation technique lies on how your audience reacts to it. As social beings, we’re all naturally attuned to our emotions.

Time for another challenge. This time, take a minute to list down 10 of your favorite movies. Looking at your list, think about why these movies made an impact on you. I’ll wager it’s because they were able to connect with you on an emotional level.

It doesn’t matter whether it makes you sad, happy, angry, or nostalgic. Our brains love a good story that makes us feel something. This is something successful TED presenters have capitalized on. If you review the list of the most viewed TED Talks, you’ll see each of them has a story integrated into the discussion.

As Forbes contributor Nick Morgan points out, “no matter how interesting the information, you’ll run up against the limitation of the brain and quickly overtax your audience…If instead you tell your audience a story, you get to jump right into the deeper parts of their brain, where emotion and memory work together, the hippocampus and amygdala.”

Integrating Storytelling in Business

Now, the only question that remains is how. It’s pretty easy to create a heart-warming story for an inspirational presentation. The real challenge is turning data into a narrative that packs an emotional punch. How do you do it? According to presentation expert Bruce Gabrielle, you’ll need to follow a simple but effective structure: Beginning, Middle, End.

Beginning

Start your presentation by identifying a hero that your audience can relate to. Instead of leading with numbers or graphs, introduce a human element into your presentation. There is always a face behind all the abstract concepts and issues you’re taking on. To identify it, tackle your presentation using a different angle.

Substitute “what” with “who do I really want to talk about?” For example, if you’re trying to discuss a marketing strategy, your hero could be a potential client. Describe the person you want to engage with your services. Talk about their demographics, traits, and values.

Middle

What would your favorite movie be like without conflict? Like any good story, business presentations also need a bit of tension. Apart from his or her goals, you also have to identify the challenges and risks faced by your hero.

What are the things that bother your potential clients? What’s preventing them from engaging with your services?

End

After building conflict, offer your audience some reprieve by giving them a satisfying resolution. At this point, you can put everything together and focus on data necessary to your discussion. While explaining the graph on your slides, keep referring back to your hero. What do these numbers have to do with the hero of your story? How does it solve the problems you identified earlier?

To give your stories more impact, try to make use of captivating visuals as well. While your narrative is certainly the most important part of your presentation, visuals remain to be an effective way to enhance audience immersion.

Conclusion

Apart from working on a short PowerPoint deck, try to make use of words that generate mental images. Make use of vivid descriptions and action words to allow some room for imagination.

Not only is storytelling an integral part of our daily lives, it can also be a powerful presentation technique. Turn dull data and information into a feast for the imagination by learning to craft your own presentation story.

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References

Gabrielle, Bruce. “Storytelling in the Boardroom: Part 3 – Three Secrets for Better Stories.” Office Blogs. Accessed September 9, 2014.
Morgan, Nick. “Three Secrets To Delivering A Powerful Speech.” Forbes. Accessed September 4, 2014.
Myers, Courtney Boyd. “Why the Human Is a Social Animal [Report from the 99% Conference].” TNW Network. May 05, 2011. Accessed September 9, 2014.

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Presentation Expert Tip: The 10-Minute Rule

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Rick E

Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter these days. While most of the bored audience members won’t literally leave their seats to walk out of the room, they can easily check their phones under the table. What would a presentation expert do to get the show back on track? Brand communication expert Carmine Gallo says it’s as simple as re-engaging your audience every 10 minutes.

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During presentations, audiences mentally tune out because they’re not given chances to fully digest what they’re learning. Gallo suggests creating soft breaks in your presentation after every 10 minutes. Give the audience a bit of a mental break with something fun and engaging.

To put this presentation expert tip into practice, consider these things to reel in your audience back:

Demonstrations

Show off what you can do before anyone’s attention starts wander off. Yours might be the best product in a specific market, but the audience won’t care if you’ve already lost their attention. Do your demo during the main part of the presentation. This will make it more relevant and impressive.

michael pollan - demonstration — Michael Pollan drives home his point with a demonstration.

Demonstrations also work for other types of presentations, not just pitches. Michael Pollan’s presentation at Pop!Tech is a great example. His goal was to make people more critical of their food choices. In order to drive home his point, he used a few props to demonstrate just how much crude oil goes into making a double cheeseburger. View his presentation here.

Videos

As Carmine Gallo puts it, today’s world is a “multimedia environment.” Powerful visuals dominate our lives, from the videos we watch on YouTube to the billboards we come across during our commute. But for some reason, few presenters think of incorporating this multimedia frenzy to their PowerPoint presentations.

Adding videos to your slide is an easy way to create soft breaks. Make use of testimonials, expert interviews, or your company’s ad campaigns to give your slides an engaging dimension. You can also make use of videos to tell your company story.

Just think of Tokyo’s pitch to host the 2020 Olympics. The team made use of several videos to enhance their presentation. The videos they chose gave their pitch a more human element, as well. The entire presentation had four different videos showcasing Japan’s young athletes.

Audience Participation

Another way to incorporate soft breaks into your presentation is by encouraging audience participation. Sometimes, presenters tend to focus too much on their slides that they forget about the people they’re addressing. Step away from your deck once in a while to pose a question or ask for opinions. As we’ve mentioned earlier, it’s all about being creative. Come up with questions that will make your audience pause and think.

In her TEDx talk, linguist Anne Curzan discussed how new words make it to the dictionary. Her topic was already interesting in itself, but she made it more engaging by involving the audience. Not only were her questions relevant to the points she made, they also made the audience laugh.

Other speakers

There are some things you can’t do on your own. From time to time, that includes presentations. For presentations that are particularly long, try to get the other people in your team involved. That way, your audience can hear from a set of different voices and perspectives.

Take a look at Apple’s product launches. Both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook would easily hand off the mic to other players in their team, giving the audience a chance to learn more about the new products from those who played an active role in developing it. Here’s a quick clip of Tim Cook and Craig Federighi introducing iOS 8.

Activities

Activities might not work for all presentations, but they’re perfect for seminars and workshops. Break up your training sessions into small, 10-minute segments by incorporating some creative activities. Try to come up with things they can do that will also test their comprehension.

This is good for you in two ways. Not only will you keep your audience from getting bored, you can also test the effectively of your presentation and adjust accordingly.

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These are just some suggestions presentation expert Carmine Gallo enumerates to help you with the 10-minute rule. All of these tips serve as a way to re-engage your audience with elements that some presentations lack.

The most important thing you need to remember is that people tend to drift off quite easily. If you want your presentation to succeed, you have to work hard to keep everyone’s attention on you.

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Maintain Audience Attention With This One Technique

Posted on January 7, 2014December 16, 2019 by Rick E

Catching someone’s attention is one thing. Keeping them interested is another.

So here’s your challenge: What can you do to maintain audience attention? It’s almost an unmanageable task due to different factors. For one, every audience member analyzes and processes information differently. This makes appealing to all types of thinkers quite a daunting task.

Another issue is that people have this aversion to sales talks, even if you are simply selling them a particular idea, not a product. So above everything, it’s imperative that your audience learns something interesting about your message instead. There is one rule of thumb that can help you make sure your presentation is above all, understandable….

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

When drafting up a presentation ask yourself this very simple question throughout the preparation of your PowerPoint. Will my points and train of thought be able to hold audience attention and keep them interested? Is this information useful to them? Is there too much content on this slide? Will they comprehend my message?

But placing yourself in the role of your audience will help guide you to think outside the box. Putting everything in their perspective, when you are outlining and creating your presentation, will not only help you cut down excess (and useless) information but also allow you to design a better PowerPoint.

Selfishness Hinders Audience Connections

While most of us subconsciously create our work in the mindset of thinking about us – think about them instead. Take this theory and apply this to your next presentation, you can practice it by going over your finished presentation and jot down notes at places you may think could use some editing and re-designing.

See if you are wholly interested throughout your PowerPoint presentation, and if your mind seems to wander at moments where information isn’t digestible or understandable. Take that into account because it is likely that your audience’s mind would wander at those exact same moments.

Conclusion

To maintain audience attention for a designated period of time does seem almost impossible. With breakthrough statistics categorizing the average adult attention span at a mere 5-12 minutes long, it makes sense for any professional presenter to panic. Sure, there are a few steps that you can take to enhance your professional PowerPoint presentations. However, they don’t offer a real guarantee that you will be able to capture audience attention or make them comprehend your ideas completely.

Being able to communicate effectively is the single most important factor in presentation science, regardless of your topic or message, your audience needs to be on the same page as you.