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© by Bonnie Budzowski, President of InCredible Messages, LP. 
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Keep Your Audience Engaged:
Add Variety to Your Presentation

By Bonnie Budzowski
President, InCredible Messages, LP

It has happened to you. You have sat in an audience, listening to a monotone presentation, after lunch, with a bloated stomach. This is an experience to be endured rather than enjoyed, even if you are interested in the speaker and the topic.

Our culture dictates that we must politely sit through boring presentations. It doesn’t dictate that we have to generate such presentations. Try these tips to make sure you are NOT the one subjecting others to a boring experience.

Put Limits on the Best You Have to Offer

Speech coach Ron Arden says, “Sameness is the enemy of the speaker.” To understand this truth is to revolutionize the way you present. I’m learning to look for “sameness” in my presentations at the points where I least expect it.

For example, we all know that the monotone of an inexperienced speaker is an enemy. We may not realize that the strengths of a good speaker can become an enemy too. I saw a dramatic demonstration of this recently.

A highly energetic speaker gave a luncheon presentation at a local hotel. The speaker moved quite a bit, weaving his way around tables, behind and in front of his PC and projection equipment.

Generally speaking, movement is positive because it provides variety and allows a person to engage the audience. Movement is usually a strength.

After the presentation, I asked a few people what they thought of the moving presenter. Each responded, without prompting, that the movement had bothered them. The speaker’s strength became a weakness when it was overdone. One woman told me it was “too much.” Watching the speaker had made this listener feel exhausted. Another woman told me that the constant movement made her feel dizzy.

Any presentation strength can be overdone. Without variety, your excellent voice is too loud, or too soft. Your strong gestures are repetitive. You are too close or too far away from the audience.

Identify your presentation strengths and put limits on them. That way, your strengths remain strengths. Sameness is the enemy of the speaker.

Sprint and Drag

In an audio series called Storytime Theater Live, speech coach Doug Stevenson demonstrates how to tell a story using theatrical techniques. Two techniques anyone can adopt are identified as “sprint” and “drag.”

Use a sprint when you identify a portion of your presentation to be exciting or dramatic. Put your delivery on fast forward for this section. Your sprint will serve as a punctuation point, drawing the audience into the excitement of what you say.

The opposite of a verbal sprint, of course, is a verbal drag. Some short portions of a speech can be verbally dragged out, put on slow speed. This technique can work in a story, but it can also work when describing a “stuck point” in the life of a project or the slow response of a customer. Experiment. Delivering a drag is fun, and your audience will appreciate the change.

Emulate Your Teenager

Teenagers are adept at punctuating their conversations with nonverbal signals. This is especially annoying to parents. A classic example involves a teenager at dinner. The parent asks, “What happened at school today day?” The teenager shrugs and grunts, “Nothing.”

That one shrug suggests plethora of meaning. It suggests apathy, lack of engagement, distrust of the parent, a drawing into self…. A shrug suggests.

Comedians are adept at suggestive gestures, but so are professional speakers. Add suggestive gestures to your presentation in the way you might add spices to your soup.

Experiment with shrug, followed by a pause in your next presentation. Try lifting your eyebrows or scratching your head to suggest meaning. Tilt your head quizzically for effect.

The key to using suggestive gestures is to do what you’d do naturally in a conversation, just a bit exaggerated so the audience can catch it. You have to rehearse to figure out just what “naturally” means to you.

Our culture dictates that we must politely sit through boring presentations. It doesn’t dictate that we have to generate such presentations. Let’s make a commitment to change the world, one presentation at a time.
 

Permission is granted to reprint this article when the following contact information is included: © 2008 by Bonnie Budzowski, President of InCredible Messages, LP. For more free articles, go to www.IncredibleMessages.com or contact Bonnie at info@IncredibleMessages.com.

Imagine yourself in a situation in which one professional shows you how to incorporate the insights of three perspectives into your business communication:  marketing, persuasion, and visual design. 

Imagine an interactive session with an entertaining and inspiring speaker.  Do you like what you see?  You’ve just envisioned working with Bonnie Budzowski, President of inCredible Messages, LP.

Contact Bonnie to learn more about how she can guide you and your team to create compelling business messages or call 412-828-1629 . 

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