How to Actively Engage Your Audience During a Presentation
Identify your audience., Research your audience., Look for the connections/WIIFT., Build these connections into your presentation., Review the presentation's content with a member of the expected audience., Make an effort to make a good first...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Identify your audience.
Identifying an audience is the first step in engaging them, so take initiative to locate the details.
Consider the following questions:
How many participants will there be? This will help in accurate planning later on.
What do these participants do? In other words
- are they students, if so at what level? Employees? What are their job functions? Why will the audience be attending? Is their attendance required or is it optional? If optional, what is their motivation for being there? -
Step 2: Research your audience.
Go a bit further, take the initiative to meet with or research your audience.
Some suggestions of information to uncover includes:
What are these individuals' responsibilities? What is important to these individuals? What isn't important to these individuals? What are current trends in their roles or industries? What are common problems they may want to resolve? , WIIFT stands for "What's in it for them?" and understanding and appealing to this is important part of the engagement process.
To be successful, learn to look for the connections:
How can the presentation's content be adjusted to address the answers the questions in step 2? How can the presentation's content be phrased to appeal to the audience's desires or interests? In what ways is the presentation's content relevant to these individuals? , Now that connections have been identified, build a case for why your presentation content is relevant to your audience, the next step is to build it in.
Use the research process to build rapport with the audience.
Be vocal about your experience
- audiences always appreciate the fact that an instructor/presenter has taken the time to consider their point of view.
What are their job functions? Change examples to reflect situations that would actually occur in the audience's day-to-day experiences.
Look for opportunities to be less general and more specific to the audience's experiences and desires. , Thinking the presentation is a relevant presentation and creating a relevant presentation are two different concepts.
Ask a representative to review the presentation and give feedback on what could be improved and/or modified.
Be sure to integrate these changes, and practice running through the presentation. , It is important to make a good first impression while delivering presentations or communicating.
Be sure to open in a captivating manner.
Use an exclamatory statement, ask the audience to envision something or ask them a thought-provoking question.
Be confident in the opening statement or introduction in order to establish credibility for the duration of time with the audience. , Going off on tangents can dilute the poignancy of communication.
After having spent so much time preparing points, ensure to stick to the plan and execute on a prepared agenda.
Doing so will help the meeting/session end on time and ensure that all prepared points can be covered.
Allowing attendees to control the presentation's direction can deteriorate your credibility and poignancy, also negatively impacting engagement. , As a reality exercise, try asking someone to shout the first word that comes to mind when the word "lecture" is said.
It is equated with the word "boring" in most cases, so make sure delivery is interesting and not a lecture! Maintain consistent eye contact with all audience members.
Use body language.
Control and use the room throughout.
Avoid rigid stances, folding hands or hands in the pockets.
Ask questions when the answer is already known.
It will generate a consistent response that allows the audience to be included in the facilitation process.
This will also help create smooth transitions from topic to topic.
Use technology, media, games or other interaction generating tools to help. , Primacy and recency effects mean that learners are more likely to remember the first and last parts of a presentation than they are the content that falls in the middle.
Therefore, it's important to develop an excellent closing.
An excellent closing may consist of:
A summary of the concepts covered.
Additional reminders of why this information is relevant to the learner.
A "call to action"
meaning an invitation to take action and apply this information versus just forgetting it as soon as they leave the room. -
Step 3: Look for the connections/WIIFT.
-
Step 4: Build these connections into your presentation.
-
Step 5: Review the presentation's content with a member of the expected audience.
-
Step 6: Make an effort to make a good first impression.
-
Step 7: Stay on point.
-
Step 8: Interact with the audience.
-
Step 9: Call them to action.
Detailed Guide
Identifying an audience is the first step in engaging them, so take initiative to locate the details.
Consider the following questions:
How many participants will there be? This will help in accurate planning later on.
What do these participants do? In other words
- are they students, if so at what level? Employees? What are their job functions? Why will the audience be attending? Is their attendance required or is it optional? If optional, what is their motivation for being there?
Go a bit further, take the initiative to meet with or research your audience.
Some suggestions of information to uncover includes:
What are these individuals' responsibilities? What is important to these individuals? What isn't important to these individuals? What are current trends in their roles or industries? What are common problems they may want to resolve? , WIIFT stands for "What's in it for them?" and understanding and appealing to this is important part of the engagement process.
To be successful, learn to look for the connections:
How can the presentation's content be adjusted to address the answers the questions in step 2? How can the presentation's content be phrased to appeal to the audience's desires or interests? In what ways is the presentation's content relevant to these individuals? , Now that connections have been identified, build a case for why your presentation content is relevant to your audience, the next step is to build it in.
Use the research process to build rapport with the audience.
Be vocal about your experience
- audiences always appreciate the fact that an instructor/presenter has taken the time to consider their point of view.
What are their job functions? Change examples to reflect situations that would actually occur in the audience's day-to-day experiences.
Look for opportunities to be less general and more specific to the audience's experiences and desires. , Thinking the presentation is a relevant presentation and creating a relevant presentation are two different concepts.
Ask a representative to review the presentation and give feedback on what could be improved and/or modified.
Be sure to integrate these changes, and practice running through the presentation. , It is important to make a good first impression while delivering presentations or communicating.
Be sure to open in a captivating manner.
Use an exclamatory statement, ask the audience to envision something or ask them a thought-provoking question.
Be confident in the opening statement or introduction in order to establish credibility for the duration of time with the audience. , Going off on tangents can dilute the poignancy of communication.
After having spent so much time preparing points, ensure to stick to the plan and execute on a prepared agenda.
Doing so will help the meeting/session end on time and ensure that all prepared points can be covered.
Allowing attendees to control the presentation's direction can deteriorate your credibility and poignancy, also negatively impacting engagement. , As a reality exercise, try asking someone to shout the first word that comes to mind when the word "lecture" is said.
It is equated with the word "boring" in most cases, so make sure delivery is interesting and not a lecture! Maintain consistent eye contact with all audience members.
Use body language.
Control and use the room throughout.
Avoid rigid stances, folding hands or hands in the pockets.
Ask questions when the answer is already known.
It will generate a consistent response that allows the audience to be included in the facilitation process.
This will also help create smooth transitions from topic to topic.
Use technology, media, games or other interaction generating tools to help. , Primacy and recency effects mean that learners are more likely to remember the first and last parts of a presentation than they are the content that falls in the middle.
Therefore, it's important to develop an excellent closing.
An excellent closing may consist of:
A summary of the concepts covered.
Additional reminders of why this information is relevant to the learner.
A "call to action"
meaning an invitation to take action and apply this information versus just forgetting it as soon as they leave the room.
About the Author
Patricia Edwards
Committed to making cooking accessible and understandable for everyone.
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