6 Reasons Your Audience Is Ignoring Your Presentation

SIX REASONS YOUR AUDIENCE IS IGNORING YOU (and how to avoid it)Jeanne Trojan @jmtcz

#1 READING YOUR SLIDES

What are all those words doing on your slidesanyway?Your audience wants to listen to you – not beread to!If the words are really important, take them offyour slides and put them on a document foryour audience to take home afterwards.* I would eliminate this slide in a live presentation – these are the words Iwould say!

#2 THINKING THIS IS ALL ABOUT YOU

Instead of talking about what is important to you,focus on your audience’s needs.Ask yourself:What does my audience expect to learnfrom me?Why are they here?What information do they need to know in orderto make a decision?

#3 NO CORE MESSAGE

One of your first steps needs to be core messagedefinition.Ask yourself:If my audience can remember only one thingabout my presentation, what should it be?Make your message simple, concrete and easy toremember.

#4 TOO MUCH INFORMATION

Less is definitely more in presentations.Decide what information is absolutely necessaryto support your core message and eliminateeverything else.If your audience gets overloaded with uselessinformation, you lose them.

#5 QUESTIONS ONLY AT THE END

Yes, allowing the audience to ask questionsthroughout your presentation can be risky.But making them wait until the end is even moredangerous. What if you don’t know the answer tothe last question? What if it’s hostile? That’s abad final impression.Plus, asking and encouraging questions keepsthem awake!

#6 NOT PREPARED

If you don’t know your material well enough, youwill be forced to constantly look at your notes.This causes people to lose interest in what you’resaying and you to lose credibility.Know your stuff and rehearse it until you don’tneed notes (but, never memorize it).

WHAT ARE THELESSONS HERE?

#1 EYE-CATCHING SLIDES WITH FEW WORDS

#2 FOCUS ON AUDIENCE NEEDS

#3 DEFINE YOUR CORE MESSAGE

#4 ELIMINATE UNNECESSARY INFORMATION

#5 ENCOURAGE AUDIENCE INTERACTION

#6 REHEARSE UNTIL YOU’RE CONFIDENT

DON’T BE IGNORED!

BE OUTSTANDING! @jmtcz www.jmtcz.cz

PHOTO CREDITS• Flickr/Audience/Erik Starck• Flickr/OF Conference/Samuel Huron• Flickr/Jeff Clavier’s Boring Speech/Christiano Betta• Flickr/42-16057839/Melanieheartsgreens• Flickr/ASUG Missouri/MS & T Center• Flickr/Any questions?/Yodel Anecdotal• Flickr/ DSC_0070.JPG /Andrew Feinberg• Flickr/Robotic Procedures/Erik Charlton• Flickr/Monday Keynote Warren Spector/Official GDC• Flickr/DSC 0081/ashley adcox• Flickr/Collective IQ Brainstorming/Jeanbaptisteparis• Flickr/Gordon Cain Conference/Chemical Heritage Foundation• Flickr/Perkins Miller/D. Begley

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6 Reasons Your Audience Is Ignoring Your Presentation

by Jeanne Trojan on Sep 11, 2010

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