What do you find makes a presentation fun?
The last several presentations I did included the standard PowerPoint deck and I found the number of slides and content just was not the right fit for the audience. It felt right to skim some slides quickly and to skip other slides altogether. During the last two presentations, I abandoned the script and the slide deck and just went with the flow.
The reaction from the audience was positive, they were more interactive and more interested. They asked questions and shared their stories. This made the presentation more fun in the sense it was light, educational and not so dull.
With small audiences, I like to ask everyone to introduce themselves, share what they do and what they are looking for in the presentation. This really helps to understand your audience to determine the areas of your presentation to spend more time on. It also allows you to personalize it to the group. You can call on some in the crowd when you reach an area that a specific person mentioned and listen to them share their experience. I found the audience enjoys this personal touch and they tend to open up a bit more.
Going live on the Internet is the most fun part of the presentations I give. It makes you really vulnerable sharing your personal social media channels with the audience. When you go live you never know what will happen or what you will find which adds to the excitement! This also provides real experiences and valuable take-aways for the audience.
What do you do to make your presentation fun?
Connecting business people to share stories of making new business relationships and creating opportunities.
Excellent article Frank. I agree completely. A skillfully produced presentation should deliver a dynamic interactive experience for the audience and presenter alike. Powerpoint should be used sparingly and skillfully to guide the presentation not to completely deliver it. I haven't had to deliver a presentation in a while but I attend quite a few. I have sat through too many presentations where the presenter is just reading off the screen. Good Grief! Dosen't the presenter know I can read for myself! ... And when that happens I just want to know two things. 1. Where's the coffee (make mine a double) and 2. When is this thing over. Congratulations Frank, you knocked this one out of the park. Joe M
ReplyDeleteThanks Joe for sharing your thoughts and the kind words!
ReplyDelete