Can Presentations Be Fun?

Can Making Presentations Be Fun?

In the past, my presentations included the standard PowerPoint deck.  I found the number of slides and content just was not the right fit for most audiences.  There were too many!  It felt right to skim some slides quickly and to skip others altogether.  In the last couple of years, I have almost abandoned the script and might glance at it to find a topic.

Theses presentations have been a lot more fun and the attendees are more interactive.  They ask questions and share their stories.  This makes the presentation livelier in the sense it is light, educational and not so dull.  Reading from your slides and scripts does not help make presentations fun.

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 find the audience enjoys this personal touch and they tend to open up a bit more.

The Risk Of Going Live

Going live on the Internet is the most fun part of the presentations!  It makes you vulnerable sharing your personal social media channels. 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 takeaways or nuggets as I like to call them.

As I prepare a presentation with a social media guru, Gail Robertson, it has been a pleasure planning the material.   When we met to go over our game plan, we both agreed a large PowerPoint deck was not necessary.  We added an ice-breaker activity and our story of how we kept crossing paths as competitors at networking events.

I do not have all the answers, so I would love to hear from you! How are you making your presentation fun?

(Originally published on 01.30.19)