Do you know how to create a presentation that grabs your audience and keeps them hooked althroughout?
No matter who you are, whether a student or a worker, you need to deliver speeches from time to time in order to communicate messages, inform an audience, and share your thoughts.
It goes without saying that delivering a speech requires the ability to develop and present ideas. However, if you have to give a speech in public, it can cause speech anxiety which affects the quality of your presentation. Thus, you’d better have a card up your sleeve, and I’m talking about a well-organized presentation.
You need to do your best while preparing slides and providing information. Never forget about the way you do it as the presentation is a visual addition to a good speech.
It’s scientifically proven that people perceive visual content better, and it can capture and hold their attention. As the main goal of any speech is to deliver a message, you need to keep your audience interested. Thus, create a killer presentation in an easy way!
Take the following 6 steps to create an outstanding eye-catching presentation:
1. Find How to Hook Your Audience
“During the first few minutes of your presentation, your job is to assure the audience members that you are not going to waste their time and attention.” – Dale Ludwig
Starting your presentation, you need to get your audience’s attention. If the audience members are interested from the start, it’s more likely they will be focused on your presentation.
A good hook provokes curiosity which means engaging the audience.
- Tell people what they can learn from your presentation
- Use a buzz example
- Promise your audience something interesting
The main task all speakers have is to hook their audience, and if you know how to interest people in your topic, it can give you a lot.
See Also: 7 Killer Ways to Connect with your Audience During a Speech
2. Choose the Right Design and Colors
It’s not a secret that the psychology of color plays an important role when it comes to influencing your audience. Believe it or not, you can positively affect your audience if you know what colors to use as they can persuade, motivate, and highlight.
Pay attention to the colors you choose as you prepare your presentation. After all, a good presentation should be made wisely – from picking out the right visual theme to choosing fonts.
Here are some tips for creating a presentation:
- use the same fonts (San-serif fonts are generally the best for PowerPoint presentations)
- make sure that the font size is visible to the whole audience
- check the readability (it should be easy to make out what is written)
- pick 3-4 colors as maximum to use in your presentation
Your presentation design matters.
3. Include Personal Examples
To establish good contact with your audience, make them feel close to you. And if you share your story with the audience, it helps to build trust.
Many people face the same obstacles but they might be too shy to share this experience with others. And it’s more likely people can find something similar to their situation if they hear your story.
Don’t be afraid of including personal examples!
4. Add Visual Content
Believe it or not, our memory is predominantly visual. People remember 65% of the information if you give it with the visual. For instance, if you need to include important data to your presentation, create an infographic to show it visually.
After all, if you add too much textual information to the slide, your audience can lose an interest. Thus, you’d better include visuals (images, photos, videos, charts, etc.) to keep people focused on the topic of your speech.
5. Write Rhetorical Questions
If you want to grab your audience’s attention, ask them a rhetorical question as it can add variety and interest to a speech. Although people don’t have to ask the question, it makes them participate in your speech actively. To make up a good question, you need to analyze your audience and think about their worries and expectations.
What can you get with rhetorical questions?
- Make your audience think about one particular topic
- Gain an agreement from your audience
- Trigger the visualization process
Rhetorical questions keep the audience interested and focused on the theme.
See Also: 5 Steps to Planning an Effective Presentation
7. Make Your Speech Interactive
If you know how to make your speech interactive, it’s a win-win situation without doubt. A speech is a process of delivering information as a monologue, but it can’t keep your audience engaged if you don’t interact with them. Thus, you’d better think about actionable ways on how to engage them.
All the above-mentioned techniques can help you, but you need to keep in the mind that the main idea is not to make your audience feel bored: poll the audience, remind them about their experience, and so on.
Presentation plays an important role when it comes to delivering a speech. It’s a great way to capture your audience and keep them following your flow of thoughts. So, spend time on creating a well-organized presentation if you want to be heard.