When striving to make a more significant impact on your audience, whether you’re speaking in front of a large audience or simply speaking up in a meeting, either virtually or in person, having a solid grasp of presentation skills is extremely important.
Who is the audience?
Understanding your audience is critical to if you’re going to have the maximum impact and master your presentation skills. The first thing you determine is who you audience is —
Awkward encounters come in many forms, but the two that can cause the most discomfort are those when you are greeted by someone who treats you like an old friend when you have no idea who they are or how they know you and, conversely, when you clearly remember that you have been introduced to someone several times, and they look at you blankly when you greet them.
“I hate going to holiday parties,” my friend Miri complained.
“What don’t you like?” I asked.
“I’m not great at mingling, and I don’t like making small talk.”
“Anything else?”
“I get tired of telling people my life history and what I do for a living,” Miri replied.
Do you ever feel like this?
Talking about first impressions. Have you ever watched two young children meet each other for the first time? They are usually introduced, look each other warily up and down for a few seconds and then one says something like, “Do you want to go and play on the trampoline?” Sometimes, prompted or not, it is off they go. Give them exactly three minutes and they are chatting and playing away,
Our times have been dubbed the “Age of Distraction,” and I was recently reminded of how potentially perilous distraction can be, especially for pedestrians! I was driving to CNN and I was on the phone talking to a potential client about presentation topics. I was so engrossed that I literally didn’t notice the police officer at the crosswalk, telling me to stop.
He pulled me over and gave me a very stern warning.
“A successful branding program creates the perception that there is no product on the market like yours.” ~Al and Laura Ries
We hear so much about the importance of personal branding, but what does that really mean for you? As Jeff Bezos of Amazon explains, “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person.”
Put simply, your brand is what comes to mind when people think about you;
Take a moment and think back to the last time you did or said something out of anger or frustration. Something that, on reflection, you wish you hadn’t done.
It’s in those moments that each and every one of us needs to become acutely aware of our internal monitoring system. Think of it as your own personal feedback system, an internal gauge that signals it’s time to pause, breathe and think about what you are about to say or do.
I thought this title would get your attention! And that’s exactly what a hook is supposed to do – immediately pique the audience’s interest.
You’ve probably heard that one of the most important elements of a successful presentation is the ability to reel the audience in from the outset and make them want to listen. But how exactly do you do that? Here are a few tips.
