Never underestimate the importance of giving your audience a reason to listen to you.
Your presentation starts in a few moments.
What do you think your audience is thinking about?
As speakers, we like to believe they are thinking about our presentation.
They reviewed the memo or the briefing paper.
They studied our speaker CV.
They are super keen to hear our words of wisdom.
This can happen…but not very often!
In the majority of cases, they are thinking about lots of different things.
A call they just finished.
Lunch.
A tough meeting they have later.
A report that is due tomorrow.
An ad they saw.
The weekend.
Their next holiday.
Lunch again!
Pretty much anything and everything.
Except…
The subject you will be talking about.
So, your first (and most urgent) task is to get them on the same page as you.
Get their attention early – it is your job to bring them into the presentation zone.
At Speak With Impact, we focus on this a lot when working with our clients.
Here is one way to do it.
Give them a reason to listen.
Think carefully about what is in it for them – what will they gain if they listen closely?
Write it down in a few sentences.
Try it out on a few colleagues.
What do they think?
Then go back to it and re-write it to sharpen it.
Say it out loud a few more times.
Get used to articulating this as cleanly and clearly as possible.
Then hit them with it…with all you have got.
For more tips and guidance on capturing and keeping your audience’s attention when presenting – check out the following article…
