You are not entitled to your audience’s attention. Here’s why your presentation needs more.

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One of the unpleasant realities about presentations is that many of our listeners probably don’t care about what we’re saying as much as we do. As a presenter, there are few things worse than passionately sharing your expertise, only to look around the room and notice your audience members disinterested (and perhaps even bored). You may think, “How could they be?!” You’ve taken time out of your schedule to be at this meeting or event. You’ve worked your butt off trying to prepare an interesting topic. You’ve set up a PowerPoint that lists important points and graphs key data so audience members can easily follow along. You’ve even made your tone of voice extra enthusiastic so your listeners can be intrigued by your passion.

The audience should be grateful, shouldn’t they? How could they focus their attention on anything other than you?

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Well, here’s another question, one we probably don’t ask ourselves enough: Why do we automatically assume our audience should be interested in what we’re saying? What have we done to earn that privilege?

While we may think we know the answer, our audience members do not have to listen to us. No matter how high your attendee rate is, the physical presence of an audience member does not equate to their mental presence. That means, for example, the investor you’re pitching your business to may have already zoned out 30 seconds into your presentation, even though, physically, they might still be there, staring at you as though they are hanging off of your every word.

No matter how high your attendee rate is, the physical presence of an audience member does not equate to their mental presence.

Unfortunately, our preparation in memorizing dialogue and creating information-filled slides does not directly translate into active listening. And the reason for that is simple: When we create a presentation based solely on our understanding of a topic, we are creating something that revolves around our interests and knowledge, rather than those of our audience members. We need to start taking into account not only what our listeners want to hear and see, but how they would like to hear and see it.

Think of it like this: If an actor doesn’t sound and look convincing, their effectiveness as an entertainer is pretty much nonexistent, right? The same could be said for a presentation. If a presentation doesn’t educate and engage it’s audience, then it’s effectiveness as a tool to convey important ideas is lost.

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In order for your next presentation to achieve audience engagement and understanding, two key realizations need to be made.

It is important to understand that the purpose of a presentation is about more than the transfer of information from one individual to another. Presentations are also about sharing important ideas and convincing audience members of the message(s) you are trying to deliver. That means that talking about facts and figures is only one element of your presentation. One. Unfortunately, many presentations today still focus mostly on the information. Now, you might argue, “Isn’t that what the audience is there for?” Well, yes and no. There’s no doubt that they are there to hear and learn about the topic you are discussing, but they also want to be entertained. That doesn’t mean you’re expected to do a bunch of cartwheels on stage, but rather, you’re expected not to bore the audience to death. “Interesting insights” displayed in bulleted text are no longer engaging enough to stand on their own. They need to be presented in a way that is not only visually appealing, but also fun! If they aren’t presented this way, you may lose the opportunity to embolden any real change… You may even risk losing your audience altogether.

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Seems pretty intuitive, right? Everyone knows presentation slides are there as a visual guide for the audience. Yet, it seems as though we as presenters don’t always fully grasp what this means. You may have heard this a thousand times, but your slides are not suppose to be your cue cards, and they should not be used as a tool to organize your thoughts. Instead, they should be created strictly as a visual aid to help tell a story to your audience. In other words, the goal when putting anything on your slides should be to engage, interest, and compel your listeners in a way that is meaningful for them. Do they want to see large paragraphs of text on your slides? Will they like the colours you’ve used? Do they want to see a stuffy corporate template for the 100th time? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves when we create our presentations. In other words, what we want in our slides must reflect what our audience wants.

Do they want to see large paragraphs of text on your slides? Will they like the colours you’ve used? Do they want to see a stuffy corporate template for the 100th time?

How we present ourselves is crucial to how our ideas are perceived. If we want to be seen as convincing, our presentations should look the part. You wouldn’t show up to a corporate job interview wearing a t-shirt and flood-pants, would you? Bullet-point sentences and standard templates can be thought of as the t-shirt and flood-pants of modern presentations — they are no longer enough in a world where good design is at the forefront of most major creations and many Fortune 500 companies (see: Paradigm Shift: Report on the New Role of Design in Business and Society or What Is Behind The Rise Of The Chief Design Officer?).

No matter how enthusiastic or passionate we may be as presenters, we need to realize that our slides will either add or detract from our presentations. How will you ensure your slides are an effective contribution?

No matter how enthusiastic or passionate we may be as presenters, we need to realize that our slides will either add or detract from our presentations.

A presentation will always be more than just the regurgitating of information. It’s true value lies in its ability to effectively communicate important ideas in a way that’s easy to understand and interesting — thus driving understanding and buy-in. In our previous article, we found that a good presentation has the elements of both a compelling storyline and visually appealing images. By incorporating those two strategies, as well as the two key realizations listed above, we can better tailor our presentations to our audience’s liking. Once we begin to do that — once we really put ourselves in the shoes of our audience — we’ll begin to see the true impact our presentations can have in our lives and the lives of others. After all, that’s every presenter’s goal, isn’t it?

Bright Story Design creates outstanding presentations quickly and simply. Escape PowerPoint hell and start your next project at www.brightstory.ca.

Bright Story Design

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We help people communicate awesome new ideas simply and effectively. See more at www.brightstory.ca

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