Brilliant presentation. How to win an audience Jerry Weissman

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Title: Brilliant presentation. How to win an audience

About the book by Jerry Weissman “Brilliant Presentation. How to win an audience"

There are a huge number of presentations taking place around the world every day. Most of them cause nothing more than yawning in the audience, and only a few lead to mutual understanding and interest between the presenter and the listeners. In this book, presentation genius Jerry Weissman talks about how to connect with your most difficult audiences and get them to take action. He teaches you to get rid of templates and talk about what interests your listeners most. Recommendations for creating a presentation concept are provided; technical, graphic and semantic aspects of presentation material; capturing the attention of the audience; technique of behavior and speech. Advice on the psychology of perception is given. Material on working in PowerPoint is offered.

The publication will be useful to everyone who has to prepare, conduct presentations and speak publicly: managers, politicians, teachers, students, journalists and businessmen.

On our website about books you can download the site for free without registration or read online the book by Jerry Weissman “Brilliant Presentation. How to win an audience" in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.

Quotes from Jerry Weissman's book “The Brilliant Presentation.” How to win an audience"

The art of persuasion must be balanced with audience buy-in: you need to reassure the audience that you want to benefit them.

Persuasion is the art of moving your audience from point A—ignorance, indifference, and even hostility—to point B, where they act as investors, customers, partners, or supporters ready to march to the beat of your drum.
The only way you can take your audience down this path is by following the principle of supporting the audience by putting their needs at the center of your presentation. This principle is most fully expressed by the following rule: translate properties into benefits.

What do you care?
The basis of audience support and the best way to focus not on features, but on benefits, is the question “What do you care?” (AWTCH), which you must constantly ask yourself. It is a derivative of the more common formula “What do I care?”, but we deliberately changed the word “me” to “you” to shift the focus from the speaker to the audience. This phrase emphasizes the underlying need for all speakers to focus on the needs of the audience (“you”) rather than their own needs (“me”). This is the essence of audience support.

AVCH are benefits for a specific audience in a specific persuasion situation. As a rule, in each presentation there is one common large AVCH, which unites the entire presentation around itself and serves as the core of your speech.

The Duchess of Windsor once said: “You can never be too thin or too rich.” And I would add: “...or offer too many AVCHs.”

Here's the secret: "data dumping" should be part of your presentation preparation, not the presentation itself.

But to begin with, the main thing is not to arrange the facts in a logical sequence, but simply dump them on the table in order to then consider, evaluate and sort. First distillation, then organization—first focus, then flow.
First distillation, then organization—first focus, then flow.

Let the right hemisphere complete the stream of consciousness cycle first, and then the left hemisphere begins to structure.

For people to take action, they need a reason for this, and their own reason, not yours.

Lecture tests: Public speaking

1. How can you win and retain the attention of your audience?

Visual contact.

Contrast stimuli.

Change the volume and pace of speech.

Questions for the audience.

Controversial videos.

2. Which channel of perception is characterized by verbal means: “it is clear that”, “look at this problem”, “put two facts side by side”, “you can draw a circle”:

auditory,

visual,

kinesthetic,

non-modal.

3. Which channel of perception is characterized by verbal means: “feel the difference”, “get the essence”, “grope for the solution”:

auditory,

visual,

kinesthetic,

non-modal.

4. Which channel of perception is characterized by verbal means: “listen”, “listen”, “the fact speaks about”:

auditory,

visual,

kinesthetic,

non-modal.

5. Which channel of perception is characterized by verbal means: “understand”, “analyze”, “realize”:

auditory,

visual,

kinesthetic,

non-modal.

Tasks:

1. Write a short introduction to the topic “How does a person think?”

Just as a plant grows from a seed, every human action comes into being from the hidden seeds of thoughts. Without thinking, action is impossible. This applies equally to “spontaneous” and “unintentional” actions, as well as to conscious behavior.

2. Make an expected portrait of the audience to whom you would like to speak with the topic: “Profession - manager.”

An audience portrait is a comprehensive compilation of characteristics of the intended audience. The portrait of the audience, as a rule, consists of the following parameters:

socio-demographic (gender is not important, age is 18 and older, nationality is not important);

intellectual (level of education - secondary / higher / incomplete higher education, specialists);

quantitative (group, communication through the media);

status-role (subordinate, colleague, students);

emotional and psychological (interested).

Tests for the lecture: Business conversation

1. From the following, which two mistakes are often made in the process of preparing a conversation:

Unpreparedness for a meeting

Strict adherence to previously established dialogue plans

Strives to make the conversation friendly

Partners do not know the subject of the upcoming conversation

2. Is it possible to include the following among the features of business conversations:

treating partners,

exchange of souvenirs, business cards

handshake, kissing

3. Is it possible to give preference to one of the following three methods of starting a conversation:

Tension Relief Method

Hook method

Direct approach method

4. From the list below, exclude prohibited techniques during a business conversation:

Under no circumstances should you:

Interrupt your partner;

Negatively assess his personality;

Emphasize the difference between yourself and your partner;

Rapidly speed up the pace of conversation

Avoid spatial proximity and do not look at your partner

Try to discuss the issue rationally, not paying attention to the fact that the partner is excited

Not understanding or not wanting to understand his mental state

Smile

Give compliments

Empathize for your partner

Look him in the eyes

Call by name

Laugh

Offer tea, coffee

TASKS: give a short answer (2-3 sentences) to the questions asked:

1. How does phatic communication differ from business conversation?

Phatic communication.

It can take place between both acquaintances and strangers.

Contact making. The purpose of establishing contact prevails over the purpose of transmitting information.

Business conversation.

Business interlocutors may not be personally acquainted before the meeting.

Business communication proceeds in accordance with ethics and etiquette.

2. What would you classify as the specifics of conducting a business conversation in modern conditions?

Telephone conversations

Skype - negotiations

It is known that any, even the most wonderful idea, can be spoiled by execution. And, on the contrary: you can approach the execution of any idea creatively and choose a form that will strengthen the idea and turn the performance into a masterpiece. We will talk further about the form in which you can present your speech, namely: the ability to hold the attention of the public and attract it.

The husband returns home under the influence. There is a bicycle in the hallway. The bicycle falls and hits his pelvis. Rumble, noise. The wife and children run out of their rooms. “What, you can’t sleep without a folder?”

Let's say that you have carefully prepared to compose your speech, it has an interesting, exciting beginning, all the ideas are presented simply and clearly, an inspiring conclusion that encourages action... Is success guaranteed? Yes and no. There is another important point - the form of information provided. It is known that any, even the most wonderful idea, can be spoiled by execution. And, on the contrary: you can approach the execution of any idea creatively and choose a form that will strengthen the idea and turn the performance into a masterpiece. We will talk further about the form in which you can present your speech, namely: the ability to hold the attention of the public, how to interact with the audience and ways to attract attention.

Part 1. How to attract attention

The average person’s attention span remains on one topic for about 20 minutes, that is, it is advisable to change the topic of conversation every 15-20 minutes, make lyrical digressions, tell jokes, and temporarily switch attention. At the same time, the audience gets the impression of relaxation. As you know, the best rest is a change of activity. By changing the topics of the message, it is possible to maintain the impression of novelty and ease of presentation of information. Therefore, when working on a speech, it is advisable to think in advance about the means of interaction with the audience, how to hold the audience’s attention in order to control the attention of the audience.

Sometimes our performance takes a significant amount of time. What if we are now giving a very important piece of information and we need every listener to perceive it and hear it? To do this you need to attract attention.

Before we start talking...

Before you start speaking... you need to pause for 5-7 seconds and look carefully at the listeners (example from the movie “The Great Debaters”, final scene). The pause allows them to tune in to their perception. At the same time, an element of curiosity arises: how will the speaker standing in front of us begin his speech?

Personal rapprochement

The speaker begins his speech by pointing out what he has in common with his audience. So, speaking to the teachers, the lecturer said that he had worked at the school for many years and was glad to have the opportunity to speak to his former colleagues. This brought him closer to the audience, arousing their interest and attention to the performance.

Surprise

We unexpectedly announce something during a speech. This attracts attention in the same way as when we are walking down the street and suddenly we hear either the squeaking of brakes, or someone screaming, or something else unexpected. We talked about how to become a successful speaker, but March 9 is Yuri Gagarin’s birthday. “What does Gagarin have to do with it?” you ask. And he is the first person to fly into space. Everyone does something for the first time at some point. For some people, the first performance is like Gagarin's first flight into space. Therefore, I will now tell you about the secrets that will help you prepare a successful speech.

I once conducted a training in public speaking in Stary Oskol. In the middle of the training, one participant speaks and says something that gave me goosebumps from surprise. " I really like your training. Everything is so fun, interesting, so many practical games and exercises. But there is one significant flaw in your training...” At this point he pauses. I immediately think, what’s wrong? Usually everyone likes the training. But here they say the exact opposite. There is surprise on the faces of the participants. And then this speaker states: “After so many practical tasks and exercises, the business for diapers and pampers will be significantly reduced, since we already feel much more confident!” After that, I breathed a sigh of relief, and all the participants laughed. Their attention at that moment was completely riveted on the speaker, who managed to attract them so unexpectedly.

Provocation

You can create disagreement with the information presented for a short time and use this period to prepare the audience for constructive conclusions. Working in a network business has no prospects. It is becoming increasingly difficult to sell the products of network companies. People don't have money... How many times have we heard similar phrases. Let's check the facts. Is it so?

In this example, we first made a provocative message that there was no prospect of work in our business. Those who have been involved in network marketing for a long time know very well that this is not so. And naturally, this causes a reaction - this cannot be! Listeners become extremely attentive. And then we begin to constructively present our material. It is good to use provocation when the speaker has excellent command of the topic. He first states something that causes disagreement among the audience, and therefore attracts their attention, and then, together with them, he comes to constructive conclusions.

Hyperbola

Hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration. Remember the classics? A rare bird will fly to the middle of the Dnieper. Although anyone who can swim can cross the Dnieper. In a network business, every person can easily become a millionaire in a month. True, if you work 200 hours a day. We will talk to you about more real things.

Litotes

Litotes is the opposite of hyperbole, a deliberate understatement. When we downplay the significance of a fact and then show how things really were, the real picture seems more attractive. Would you be happy if you received one dollar in addition to your income? Network business provides just such an opportunity... Only the amount of income is, as a rule, much higher than you expected at first.

Comparison

Weigh the pros and cons, and then make what you think is the right decision. Everything is learned by comparison, therefore, when people hear that somewhere someone has begun to compare something with something, their attention instinctively sharpens. I propose to consider all the pros and cons of my proposal, let's see together what you gain and what you lose by accepting it.

Not a formality

For example, tell about your own misconceptions, prejudices, your mistakes and their consequences. At my trainings, I often talk about my mistakes, either in public speaking, or in achieving my goals, or in handling money. This builds trust, increases the self-confidence of everyone present and shows that anything is possible in this business.

Humor

Funny examples, jokes, funny stories from life give listeners the opportunity to think and relax. If you have a couple of anecdotes that illustrate the theme of your speech, you will always win. It is especially important when the anecdote is on topic, when it illustrates the topic of the speech. And people will remember the content of your speech for a long time. By remembering the content of the joke, the audience remembers the content of your lecture. For example, some speakers, when talking about the ethics of network business, cite the following anecdote as an example: “ Osya Abromovich entered into an agreement with the Odessa Shipping Company for the repair of the ship. Some time passes. The commission comes and admires how beautiful everything is, how the railings are polished, what a miracle it is. They come to look at the other side of the ship, and priests! Everything there is rusty, nothing has been done, they say: “Osya! Abromovich! How so?" “Why so? I don't understand. That’s how it’s written – Osya Abromovich on the one hand and the Odessa Shipping Company on the other.”

When leaders of network companies talk about sales secrets, you can often hear the following anecdote: “ Two new Russians meet. “I bought an elephant. You will not believe! In the morning he wakes up the whole family, prepares breakfast, takes the children to school, cleans everything in the garden, protects the house. It’s simply a miracle!” The second one says: “Sell!” - "Are you crazy?" - “300 thousand!” - “No” - “800!” - "Come on…". The next day the buyer comes running and says: “Your elephant screamed all night, tore down the entire fence, scared the children, the neighbors called the police!” - “Uh-uh... you’re scolding an elephant in vain, so you won’t sell it to anyone.” After this, you can talk about something important in sales, about some secret, a special method. And people will definitely remember him.

Collect and collect jokes for your speeches. You just need to make sure that the joke does not offend anyone present; inept humor gives the opposite result. An ironic remark or joke related to the content of the speech is effective when the audience does not feel well about the speaker or the ideas he is presenting, or the speaker wants to defuse the tense atmosphere of the meeting. However, it is necessary to remember that it is best to joke about yourself or the audience’s attitude towards you, but in no case hurt what is dear to the listeners.

Stories

Examples and everyday stories are very important. They help bring speech closer to reality, instill trust in listeners in the speaker and the information presented. If after each block of information you tell a story illustrating this information, the effect of the speech will be maximum.

Metaphors, parables, legends

Metaphors, parables, legends - some kind of story on a topic that has a moral. They are interesting to listen to. This is at the level of a fairy tale, it is absolutely safe, and a person learns something.

Novelty

Listeners follow with intense attention a performance in which the material being presented constantly reveals new content, information unknown to the listeners or an original interpretation of known facts, fresh ideas; the speaker promises the audience to provide the latest information on the essence of the topic that has not yet been published anywhere. Immediately capturing the attention of the listeners, the leader announced to them that he would share his impressions of his three-year stay in Paris.

Taking into account interests

In this case, the lecturer touches on the issues that most concern the audience. This incident occurred when a rule was in force: young people who applied to the registry office were required to listen to a series of lectures on family and marriage issues. The classes were held in the evenings, they were boring, and the people, tired after work, “served” them as a duty. They didn’t listen to lecturers, read newspapers, did crossword puzzles, played “battleship”, etc. And so, another teacher entered the audience of future husbands. The public pays zero attention to him. After waiting a little, calming the most noisy ones with his gaze, he began: “Impotence... (the listeners instantly quieted down) threatens men at any age.” Everything that followed was listened to with great attention. After all, no one wanted to be disabled in this regard the next day.

Problem situation

The method is that the speech begins with a request to the audience to recommend ways to solve a briefly stated problem. Thus, the doctor at the beginning of his speech said that some diseases do not appear immediately, but only over time. Then he turned to the audience: how to fight them? The listeners became thoughtful - their attention was attracted. A question to the audience helps create a problematic situation. Dear friends! Please tell me why more and more people are starting to work for themselves and become individual entrepreneurs? And what caused this?

Personal complicity

The speaker invites listeners to mentally become a participant in a specific event, appeals to the listeners’ imagination. “Imagine that you are in Paris...”, “Each of you has been in a situation where he was told “no”..., etc. This technique evokes figurative ideas and makes the message better perceived.

Personal empathy

Occurs when a speaker enthusiastically describes events that affect the feelings and interests of the audience. The speech begins with a story about a tragic episode in the life of one or more people, evoking a feeling of personal empathy in the audience. At the same time, an interested silence arises in the hall.

Improvisation

An impromptu deviation from a pre-planned performance plan significantly enlivens it. The reason for improvisation may be something that happened during or before the performance. “When I was on my way to meet you, an interesting incident happened to me...” or “Some people sit further away in hopes of getting a good night's sleep. It’s better to sleep in front, because I often ask those sitting behind me what they think about what they heard!” It is important to observe the measure: the retreat should be quite short.

Go to dialogue

Questions to the audience stimulate the thoughts of the listeners, and force the especially lazy ones to listen to the speaker. After all, it’s inconvenient to helplessly gawk when he turns to you with a question. Another way: “Who among those present probably had the thought: why doesn’t the lecturer say anything about...? I answer..."

Proposing hypotheses and assumptions

This is done, for example, with the words: “What if we assume that you earned $1,000...”, « But what happens if you become the president of the company...", "Let's imagine that..." and so on.

Videos, slides, posters, graphics

Perception is also activated by the demonstration of materials on the topic of the speech. Another focus of excitation appears in the cerebral cortex - the area responsible for processing visual information.

Logical organization of speech

It also helps maintain attention - consistency, consistency, validity will make your speech more easily perceived by listeners.

Expressiveness of speech

The expressiveness of the speaker’s speech – changing intonations, colorful verbal images, original comparisons, apt expressions. You can also use dramatization of speech: an emotional and visual depiction of events related to the topic. This technique was used by the ancient Greek orator Aeschylus in his speech against Demosthenes in the famous dispute about the Golden Crown: “Imagine: walls are collapsing, hail is falling, houses are in flames, elders and wives, forgetting forever that they were once free, and rightly indignant not so much at the tools as at the perpetrators of their troubles, they cry out to you, begging you with tears: give a wreath to the destroyer of Greece..."

Conviction and emotionality of the speaker

If he is sincere, these qualities not only keep the listeners' attention on the problem, but allow him to infect those gathered with his attitude towards it. Eastern wisdom says: “You are a speaker, you cannot convince anyone if you don’t have in your heart what comes off your tongue.”

Moderate speech rate

Such that the listeners have time to follow the speaker’s train of thought, assimilate what is said, and write down, if necessary. It's good to use pauses for this.

It is important to note that after each technique of attracting the audience’s attention there should be a block of important information. Otherwise, very soon these techniques will no longer work.

The speaker does not work in an ideal environment, when nothing prevents him from realizing his plan. One can hardly hope for ideal circumstances, if only because people get tired and distracted, even if they are interested in the topic and the speaker. Therefore, when working on speech, it is advisable to think in advance about means of controlling attention. It is advisable to outline in advance the places where one or another method of activating attention will be used. Hint: it would be appropriate and expedient to use a means of attracting attention at each junction of speech construction, that is, when moving from part to part, from topic to topic, from one thought to another. For example, after a speech, you should ask a question, the answer to which should be the thesis, that is, the entire future speech; or formulate a problem that the speech will be devoted to solving.

When arranging the material, especially if the speech is significant in volume, it is necessary to evenly alternate logical reasoning with emotional components, which, according to M.V. Lomonosov, “most of all they serve both the movement and the arousal of passions,” and there is enough of them in stock.

Part 2. How to maintain constant audience interest

To maintain constant audience interest, there are several methods:

Inductive method

The inductive method is a presentation of material from the particular to the general. The speaker begins his speech with a particular case, and then leads the audience to generalizations and conclusions. A good example is D. Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends...”...

Deductive method

The deductive method is a presentation of material from the general to the specific. At the beginning of the speech, the speaker puts forward some provisions, and then explains their meaning using specific examples and facts. Used to clarify complex problems. For example, in order to work successfully in our company, you need: this, this and this. And then open each point separately. In public speaking training, I conduct one exercise in which I show the entire course of public speaking, and then break it down into elements, which allows you to quickly master the skills of successful speaking.

Step method

The step-by-step method is a sequential presentation of one issue after another. Having considered a problem, the speaker never returns to it.

Historical method

Historical method - presentation of material in chronological order, description and analysis of changes that have occurred over time; used in speeches where it is necessary to indicate exact dates, use formulas and numbers, show the dynamics of an event or the sequence of processes.

The use of different methods of presenting material in the same speech allows you to make the structure of the main part of the speech more original and non-standard.

Part 3. How to work with an audience in the hall

If your speech is designed for 10-15 minutes, you simply will not physically have time to demonstrate the entire arsenal of interaction with the audience. But if you are performing for a long time, then it is good to think through some techniques.

Dialogue with the audience

Dialogue with the audience - asking questions to the audience during the speech. This allows people to be involved in a discussion, a conversation, a conversation. Thus, it turns out that the listeners are “here and now”, and your speech does not turn into a simple reading of the text. Using dialogue with the audience turns the performance into a conversation with everyone, and this increases the sense of importance of each listener - he feels like the creator of today's performance. When addressing a specific person, do not forget that at the moment when you listen to the opinion of one person, you need to pay attention to everyone. Let your body be turned towards the speaker, this shows attention to him, and your eyes monitor others. For what? So that other participants do not feel disadvantaged. This way you control the process.

Brainstorm

One type of dialogue with the audience is brainstorming. You give some task and write down all the answers on the board. When all the answers are written down, everyone feels important - their opinion was not missed, but noted.

Built-in questions

Embedded questions are questions that do not require an answer. Questions that the speaker himself answers immediately. When you ask a question during a speech, the audience also begins to think about the answer, this is how human thinking works. As soon as a person hears a question, his consciousness automatically begins to search for an answer.

Hands

Hands are your instrument. If you want the audience to do something, you should not only talk about it, but, if possible, show it with your hands. For example, if you want listeners to stop making noise or talking over each other, you say: “Quiet!” and show the “Quiet!” sign with your index finger at your lips. If you say: “Quiet! Hush!” without showing it with a gesture, it will take 2 times longer than saying “Hush!” and confirm it with your hands. Speak and show with your hands at the same time. If you want questions to be asked, you ask, “Who has questions?” and show your hand raised up. You tell them to ask questions and demonstrate how to show that there is a question.

Demonstration

You tell and show. Not only with your hands, but with your whole body. You portray something during your performance. You create images and pictures using your body. People not only listen to your speech, but also see it.

"Aquarium"

“Aquarium” is when you invite one or more people onto the stage to demonstrate some idea or observation to the audience in the audience. This really enlivens the audience. And most importantly, they are better aware of the material you present. For example, some speakers create such a “fishbowl”, which is intended to demonstrate that there is no need to persuade people. The more you persuade people, the more resistance you teach. One person is called onto the stage. They are asked to place their feet shoulder-width apart and maintain balance when they are pulled towards them and pushed away from them. When you pull a person towards you (physically), in order to maintain balance, he needs to deviate in the opposite direction. And the harder you pull, the more he resists. But if you push a person away from you, then he, on the contrary, is attracted to you. This clearly conveys the message to everyone present: there is no need to persuade people. The more we persuade them, the more they resist.

Paired tasks

If you want the audience to actively participate in your speech, come up with tasks for them. Let them consult with their neighbor to the right or left about what they would do in a given situation - this will enliven the audience. If you are talking about compliments in your speech, then you can give the task: turn to your neighbor on the left and tell him a compliment, turn to your neighbor on the right and tell him a compliment too, turn to your neighbor behind and say a compliment. If you are giving a speech on the topic of money, you can give the task to consult with your neighbor to the right and left, what to do in a situation if you are asked to borrow 100 USD? The tasks can be different, the main thing is that they are thought out, relate to the topic of the speech, or physically entertain the audience.

Physical education minute

Physical education lessons have been known to us since school, when the teacher interrupted the lesson, raised all the students and offered to stretch their arms: “We wrote, we wrote, our fingers are tired, now we’ll stretch them and start writing again" You can use similar tasks for the audience in your speeches. This greatly enlivens the audience and increases the energy in the room. For example, the “Chips, ketchup, Coca-Cola” technique, known to many participants in my trainings and seminars on public speaking. When everyone does it, there is a lot of laughter, joy, and fun in the hall.

In one company, at a grandiose seminar, the organizers of the holiday came up with a motivational dance for all listeners. Groovy music turns on. The presenters lift up all the spectators in the hall, begin to dance and say: “Now we are distributing tickets to the company’s next seminar,” and dancing show how they are distributing tickets. Then they dance and show how they invite people to a company seminar. Those who come to the company's seminar achieve success in business - hands up and jumping on the spot. And then the sponsor arrived and gave everyone motivation (slapping their hands on their buttocks). When you do such warm-ups in the hall, it greatly energizes the listeners, all participants receive maximum pleasure and enjoyment.

Summary

So, it’s not enough to prepare an interesting, exciting speech. It is also important to consider the form of information provided. Since it is known that any, even the most wonderful idea, can be spoiled by execution. And, on the contrary: you can approach the execution of any idea creatively and choose a form that will strengthen the idea and turn the performance into a masterpiece. We talked about the form in which you can present your speech, namely: the ability to hold the attention of the public, how to interact with the audience and ways to attract attention.

The above techniques for maintaining attention are, of course, best used when your presentation is long. There simply isn’t enough time for them in a short speech. It will be better if your speech includes different interaction techniques. This alternation further attracts and holds the attention of listeners.

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Well, if you want to practice the skills of holding and attracting attention, then follow this link: https://goo.gl/oHSDxr

Founder of the business community “New Generation of Speakers”

P.S. Remember, speakers are not born, speakers are made!

and we are faced with an important task: how to capture and hold the attention of the audience? How can you convey the essence to others and arouse their interest? We have all been to long and monotonous performances many times, when the attention of others was focused only on the hand of the clock. So, to make sure your performance is memorable and dynamic, you can use the following methods.

Techniques to keep the audience's attention

1. Correct position in space

Do not try to stand at the lectern to hide from everyone, do not stand far from the audience, and do not sit at the table if you have the opportunity to take a more comfortable position. Try to stand in the most visible place in front of the audience and stay as close to the audience as possible. This position is practically more comfortable (since you are clearly visible to everyone), and also signals your self-confidence.

Also, move around occasionally to keep your performance interesting. If some of the participants are distracted, simply move a little closer to them in order to attract their attention.

2. Eye contact

Remember how we were taught as children to look at the opposite wall while reciting a poem? Or choose one person and look at him? So, forget these tips. They create the feeling that you do not notice others and they have a feeling of your detachment. In addition, you may not notice what is happening in the room, for example, that someone is bored or wants to ask a question. To create a feeling of live communication, look periodically at one listener, then at another. Periodically move your gaze from the front rows to the more distant ones, from the right side of the audience to the left. There is no need to shift your gaze often; do it slowly and in logical pauses. This way, you will control your audience and listeners will feel your attention.

3. Gesticulation

In public speaking, it is simply necessary to use gestures to improve the perception of what is being said. In this case, gestures should be broader and more active than in everyday life. If you are not used to actively gesturing in everyday life, or you are not sure that you will be able to do it naturally, it is better to rehearse them in advance. Also, choose a comfortable position for your performance in advance. It must be open: legs and arms are not crossed, palms are facing the viewer when gesturing.

4. Work with your voice

If during your presentation you notice that interest is falling and participants are distracted, there are 3 ways to attract attention: speak louder, speak softer, take an expressive pause. Interestingly, they are usually used in this order: first, when the participants are a little noisy, the speakers speak louder. If the noise continues, the speaker lowers his voice and the listeners, realizing that they cannot hear you well, fall silent themselves and ask others for silence. And, if the previous methods did not help, an expressive pause is used.

5. Questions

To keep your listeners from getting tired, ask them questions more often. This way you force them to join in the flow of the speech, give them the opportunity to express their thoughts and simply add variety to the environment. Questions in the audience need to be thought out in advance: they should be simple and at the same time relevant. Questions are also a neat way to get the attention of individual distracted participants.

6. Visualization

Colorful presentations, handouts, simple and visual graphics make information easier for listeners to perceive and remember more clearly. An important point: the presentation should not be overloaded: it only complements and illustrates your words, and does not duplicate your text.

7. Casual speech

Simplify your text as much as possible, do not overload your listeners with complex terms. Try to find vivid examples and quotes that will be remembered by your listeners. Be welcoming and friendly. Even before the speech begins, you must feel sympathy for your listeners and demonstrate it throughout the entire communication.

8. Coffee breaks and air conditioning

No matter how interesting your presentation is, if your audience is tired or hungry, their attention will drop. The same thing happens if the room is very stuffy or cold. Therefore, keep an eye on the comfortable temperature and time. If you see that your audience is tired, take a coffee break. After this, in order to “turn on” the participants, you can start communication with a warm-up for attention or with questions to review what has been covered. These measures will help you activate your listeners and normalize the dynamics of your speech.

In general, in order to be interesting for the audience, it is worth following the main principles: the speaker must be confident in himself and his words, and also interested in providing the most comfortable conditions for assimilating information.

How can we help?

If you have an important speech coming up, and you understand that preparing for it is difficult, sign up for. We will help you prepare, work through all the difficult questions, prepare the text and structure of your speech, and look at ways to keep the audience’s attention.

When people prepare for a performance, they are most often concerned about two things: how to interest your audience and how to stop being afraid. Both can be solved.

You will be able to captivate the audience from the first minutes if you are ready to speak and... talk about what you are an expert in. It is always very clear when a speaker “floats” in a topic and is not sure of what he is talking about. Therefore, only say what you know and what has already brought success to you or your clients. Again, preparing for the presentation will become much easier, because you are very familiar with the topic.

At the same time, it is important to follow some requirements and rules so that your presentation has a logical composition. So that people in the audience perceive it normally without resistance or confrontation. So that the presentation goes well and people have a good impression after your public speaking.

Therefore, work out the main points before the speech. After all, the most important thing happens before the speech; if you have prepared correctly, then you are guaranteed to interest people.

• Determine the topic and purpose of the speech. What do you want to convey with your performance? Why are you performing? What do you want to achieve? What do you want to happen at the end of the performance? What should happen to the audience or what should they do?

If the goal is set correctly, then by the actions of the audience you will understand whether the goal has been achieved. For example, if you are going to make a presentation of a product or idea, your goal is to sell the product or idea so that they want it, buy it, implement it, allocate money for implementation, etc.

• Consider the audience. Look at who will be in the audience, to whom you will speak - men, women, age category. These will be professionals who will have to confirm their professionalism. Or novice specialists who need to be told everything in detail. Based on this, you can decide what you will fill your presentation with, what it should look like and what elements must be present.

• Consider presentation time. Divide the entire performance time into several parts. At the beginning - an introduction and presentation, when you stipulate the rules and come to an agreement with the audience, tell what will happen, set the goal of the event. Then the main part, and at the end you will need time to answer questions, make connections to future contacts, call for action, leave your contact details and collect feedback.

• Make a plan for your speech. Divide the main part in 3 stages.

1. Opening allows you to gather the attention of the audience. Therefore, do not start talking right away, but first take a pause, look at everyone and only then start talking. Everyone must understand that it is you who will be performing now. After that, introduce yourself why you are here, why you (your credentials, advantages) are giving the presentation and why this is important. Then give the people in the audience a task, i.e. tell me why they have gathered here today. For example, " In order for you to decide to buy this product, I will now give you a presentation". "In order for you to decide to implement this project, to implement this idea, I..."This part is directly related to the purpose of the speech.
2. Main part should contain no more than 3-5 blocks. These are the main key points - the moments around which the entire speech, speech, presentation will be built. It is convenient to put such blocks on a flip chart during the performance so that you can return to them periodically. They will also form the basis of a slide show, if you are going to use one. To identify these blocks, answer yourself a few questions. What should happen during the performance? What can you never forget? What do you need to focus on? What are the main objections and questions that are important to answer, even those that won’t be asked? What absolutely needs to be said? What exactly is it about? Not must speak? After all, there are moments that it is better not to cover, so that this does not interfere with achieving the goal of your speech.
3. Closing- this is an overview of the material covered, when it is convenient to answer the questions that were collected during the presentation. Arrange in advance to ask questions in writing. This will allow you to avoid interruptions and answer questions at the end, or avoid answering ones you don't want to answer.

This is also where adjustments to future contacts occur, when you tell people where to go, i.e. give the phone number, full name of the person, address - so that people can implement what you talked about today.

Preparation gives you a lot - self-confidence, support and opportunities. And yet this is only the theoretical part of the speech.

To interest and then retain this interest among the audience It is very important to pay attention to the body, or rather how it will behave during the performance. Eyes, arms, legs - erratic body movements often interfere with the speaker, but could guarantee success. You also need to be able to work with the voice, create a certain dynamics of the performance, supplementing it with stories, movements and examples.

Therefore, if you want to move from theory and learn how to speak in practice, find out what words and movements arouse interest among different groups of people and master the algorithm for constructing a win-win presentation, then take the training "Presentation and Public Speaking Mastery".