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How can I keep my audience interested and involved?
Home » Training » Business Presentations » How can I keep my audience interested and involved?State your purpose up front. People like to know why you’re making them listen to you. Give them the point first, then fill in the details. If you take an hour to make your point, they’ll probably give up after 10 or 15 minutes.
Capture their attention. Use an anecdote, quote, quip, facts and figures, a question, or a call to action to get your audience hooked. Humor sometime works, but only when you’re positive that it’s appropriate, funny, and that you can deliver it correctly.
Give them the info. Don’t beat around the bush, just deliver it straight. You might define the problem, offer solutions, and identify the best solution or make a proposal, build supporting arguments, create acceptance, and ask for action. Or maybe you’ll give a chronological progression of an event or problem. Or list the pros of an idea, followed by the how the pros outweigh the cons. Even define symptoms of a problem, list causes, and suggest a solution. Whatever it is, make it clear, concise, and in an orderly fashion to keep your audience from tuning out.
Swiftly close the talk. Once you’ve said what you came to say, wrap it up. No one likes long endings. Summarize, quickly, your message, ask for action, if appropriate, and close. You can repeat the beginning anecdote with a twist, list a few more statistics that will drive the point home, or offer a message of hope after a difficult topic. Just make it clear that you’re through, without, of course, saying, “That’s all folks.”
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