WAYS TO OVERCOME BOREDOM FACTORS: 1. Break the ice to attract - - PDF document

BOREDOM FACTORS IN A PRESENTATION

WAYS TO OVERCOME BOREDOM FACTORS:

• 1. Break the ice to attract attention

An icebreaker is a great way to start your presentation, because it introduces interactivity in low-energy environments. Icebreakers are often used to help people get to know each other without direct interaction. In this case, they facilitate the introduction of a subject through personal reflection Audience members use the tools (smartphones, tablets, computers) at their disposal to answer inquiries, and those answers are displayed in real time to give everyone, including you, a good idea of the opinions shared throughout the audience.

• 2. Adapt the pace of the presentation to your audience

Ask your questions and answer theirs, find out where their interests lie and identify problems, all of this in real time. By testing their knowledge, you can instantly evaluate their competences and adapt the structure of that presentation to their strengths and weaknesses.

• 3. Incorporate audience feedback via open questions into your presentation

Open questions open up a dialogue between the speaker and his/her audience. Because people answer through their phones — and not in person — they are free to leave honest feedback without public scrutiny. In addition,

• 4. Use quizzes to build anticipation

Quizzing the audience before or after a key point in your presentation is a great way to capture their attention and focus and gauge their understanding. It also helps transform spontaneous ideas into long term knowledge. Results can be displayed or hidden — the choice is up to you. Wait until the opportune moment to reveal everyone’s answers and draw their attention to your explanations. This delay keeps participants focused on your message, and the increased suspense counteracts any short attention spans. So, invite your audience to take a seat, but they will only need the edge.

• 5. Videos give you a chance to catch your breath

Add Youtube, Vimeo, and other videos to your presentation, to give yourself, as well as the audience, a break. Including a video in your presentation changes its flow and allows people to relax before focusing again. In addition, visual stimuli are a great way to relay information and increase retention.

• 6. Find something funny about your subject matter. Jokes keep a presentation flowing and

they help keep the audience engaged. Find at least a few jokes that can be made, even if they are at the expense of the presentation and sprinkle them throughout. In fact, making fun of your own presentation or the subject matter can be endearing to an audience, and helps them stay more focused on what you have to say.

• 7. Improve your presentation with interesting graphics. Having interesting graphics to

look at can help people get through a presentation, particularly when it is a mind-numbing

• topic. Once again, go for the humorous side to keep your audience engaged.
• 8. Keep your presentation as short as possible. The only thing worse than a boring

presentation is a long and boring presentation. Cut to the chase, present what you need to and close it on a funny or up-note. This will help the time go by quicker for your audience and they won't leave feeling bored. "Forbes Magazine" suggests a presentation time of around six minutes.

• 9. Tell a story. Humans take naturally to stories. Narratives are an evolutionary social tool

we use to convey experiences, so we find it far easier to listen and relate to a story than we do

a list of facts or statements. Transform anything you can in your presentation into a story

• format. Use real-life and invented examples, and use illustrative metaphors to prove your
• points. The more narratives you can weave into your overarching presentation, the more

people will want to pay attention.

• 10. Go off script. It's a good idea to prepare your presentation in advance, and even practice

it a few times so you can iron out all the kinks. But once you're on stage, you should probably abandon the cue cards altogether. At this point, you should be so familiar with your subject matter and so engrossed in your presentation that you can talk about it naturally in your sleep. Veer off course. People will be able to tell which lines you've rehearsed and which ones you haven't.

• 11. Use emotional inflections in your voice. If you aren't emotionally invested in whatever

it is you're presenting, you probably shouldn't be the one presenting it. Be sure to show that emotion to the people listening to you. Get angry if the statistics call for it. Get excited about the solutions you propose. Get animated on the stage, and use emotional vocal inflections to put some real texture behind your words. Without that emotional inflection, you might as well hand your presentation to a robot to read.

• 12. Use the power of louds and softs. Speaking in one constant tone will bore your readers,

even if you somehow manage to put some emotion behind it. Certainly, some sections or your presentation are more compelling or more important than others. Use the power of louds and softs to accentuate those differences. Speak softly when you can afford your users to trail

• ff, and rise back up to a higher volume when you drive home an important point.
• 13. Alternate your pacing. Similarly, it's a good idea to vary your pacing. Talk fast when it

comes to background information that most people already know, or when you recap sections from earlier, then slow way down when it comes time to hammer in an important piece of

• information. Use the power of silence, but don't become trapped in a predictable pattern of

speech.

• 14. Call out individuals in the audience. This one demands a degree of improvisation, since

you may not be able to predict the makeup or participation willingness of your audience until the day of your presentation. Try to get individual people involved in your presentation however you can. This may include taking them onstage for a demonstration or something far more innocuous like pointing to them when making a point.

• 15. Skip the data. If you can, avoid mentioning statistics and facts at all. Put them on a

background slide for people to visualize independently of your presentation. People don't attend presentations to be read information they could read themselves. They want new insights and personally related beliefs.

• 16. Never read a slide. Last, but certainly not least, you should never read from a slide

directly during the course of your presentation (assuming you have some kind of slideshow in the background). Your audience can see the slides for themselves. Reading those slides aloud insults their intelligence and makes your presentation flat-out boring. Say something different, and let your slides speak for themselves.