Involve Your Audience

The dictionary defines the word “communication” as “the exchange of ideas, information or opinions between two or more people”. You cannot communicate effectively unless you realize that you should be receiving messages as well as sending them. You cannot receive or send messages if your back is turned, or if your head is down. Look at the audience when you speak.

The most effective presenters know how to have a dialogue with an audience while they are presenting to them. Great presenters are also good “listeners”. Audiences communicate with body language, facial language and attitude. You can’t be aware of these things unless you learn to “listen” while you present. Watch the audience. Speak with your audience, not at them.

If you turn your back on the audience, you give them permission to disengage from you. Good communicators are always focused on the audience.

The Best That You Can Be.

You can’t do better than the best that you can do.

You also can’t be anyone but you. The object here is to find out how far you can progress. What is your best? You will be very pleasantly surprised to learn that you can perform at a very high level if you just “let go of yourself” and become a performer.

Do you dare to try to be the best that you can be? I think that most people have it in them to make a story come to life when they let their guard down and act like themselves. You know how relaxed and uninhibited you are when telling a story to friends and family. That is the way you need to “act” when presenting in a business setting. Your guard is down because you are focusing on the audience’s reaction to your story, rather than being focused on yourself.

You will find that you have what it takes to be a much more interesting and memorable speaker. You just have to be willing to let that talent emerge in front of a business audience. Interesting people have interested audiences.

People Only Listen When Their Minds Have Been “Captured”.

Take No Prisoners!

We have all been in the audience when a powerful speaker totally controls the room because he or she “captured” the audience.

Think of the success you can enjoy when you learn to get over your self-consciousness and become that speaker. Almost everyone can remember some speaker who captured his/her attention. Someone easily remembered because of how well they spoke. It might have been a teacher or someone we heard at a meeting. We remember them because they captured our minds for a few minutes through the power of their performance. They were able to control their nerves long enough to focus on their audience and “capture” them. You too have the ability to be that kind of speaker. You only need to let it out. Dare to do it just once and you will never want to hide your talent again.

You are the performing artist.

People who make presentations should understand that they truly are the “performing artists” of the business world.

Most great presenters and speakers understand this, and that is one of the reasons they are so successful. If you are willing to dare to be different you can be among the elite in the “presentation world”. And, you will make a lot more money than your peers who are not willing to “perform” at the highest level.

Are you willing to try it? Will you try it in a real life situation? The ideas contained in the following pages are designed to help you understand some of the psychology at work during a presentation. In addition, there are ideas that will help you to calm your nerves and to break down some of the “barriers” that might be preventing you from making great presentations. You cannot be a great performing artist until you overcome “stage fright”.

In today’s “communication saturated” world, how you say it is as important as what you say.

When you are getting ready to present an idea or concept to a prospect you often say “Let me set the scene for you”. You are really saying that you want to create a little theater of the mind. The presentation should be viewed as theater. It is a performance, an opportunity to make the audience “see” what you want them to “see”. Years ago our entertainment came from radio, not television. The audience had to use imagination in order to envision the scenes created by the actors. The actors had to use inflection, pauses, and voice level changes in order to set the scene. That is your job as a presenter.Use every tool you have to help the audience understand what you are trying to say.

Use the environment, the material, your body language, and anything else that will help you make your ideas stand out from the clutter of communications that a prospect sees and hears everyday. Use meaningful analogies, shared experiences, and other devices to add value to what you are trying to say.

Remember, a great idea that isn’t sold well may never be executed. The “how” is as important as the “what”.

The Top Performers Perform

Have you ever wondered why they call your annual review a “performance review”? What you do every day of your business life is to perform the task given to you. When you make a presentation or a sales call you are really performing for a client or prospect. The type of business that you are in does not matter; you are in show business whether you like it or not. My theory is quite simple: If you are giving a performance, make it a great performance. It is certainly not any harder than putting on a mediocre “show”, and it is more fun for you as a presenter.

The top performers really do know how to put on a show when they present. The concept is very logical when you think about it. When we are entertained as well as informed we retain the information more easily and completely. Your presentation doesn’t have to be funny or phony. Drama and sincerity are part of show business too.