Nine Techniques for Gaining and Keeping Audience Attention
Monday, 28 March 2011
Visuals
For a better presentation, give your audience something to look at beside yourself..It is the way to make presentation intersting and the listener do not get bored by watching all these visuals. Moreover one may get bored by constantly hearing the same voice for a long time, so visuals give a break to the listeners. The visuals may bea flipchart or a board. The best visual now a days is the slides. The presenter can add images and the visuals to the slides. The presenter also present the information in a beautiful manner and can use bullets to show the important information.
Samples
If you are promoting a product, use samples of the product to attarct audience so that the audience would also show the interest in the product. Consider using items to toss out to the audience and to give prizes to the participants. People would show interest in your product if they feel it useful for them. The presenter should distribute the product as samples to the people for free so that the people would try them and find out it the product is useful for them or not.In distributing one should be careful in order to control the audience.
Demonstrations
Demonstration is the method of teaching by example rather than simple explanation.It is the method of including the listeners in order to clarify the topic in detail. In teaching, it is the nicest way to convue the message by using demonstartion. It makes the learning interesting and also included the member of the audience. For eg. I am going to show you how to keep audience attention but for that i need a volunteer from the audience to help me.
Questions
Questions in presenation is the best way to keep the listeners involved and active. The presentor also comes to know how much the listeners are understanding and listeners also get a chance to clarify all the misconceptions of the presentation. Allowing the audience to ask the questions after the presenation is an excellent way to reinforce your message.It is the presenattion after the presenation.
Movement
To gain audience attention,vary your position and do not stand in one spot during the entire presentation.
The movement keeps the listeners alert but never pace from side to side in the room during the presentation. Also, too much movement would have a negative effect on your presentation as this would make your listener tired. During the presentation, walk around the conference table or between the aisles of your audience. Do not afraid to go into the audience, especially at the beginning and end of your talk as this is the powerful technique that helps the audience to understand what you are saying and they also stay interestad in the presentation.
Eye contact
Eye contact is, indeed, a powerful communication tool. If someone avoids eye contact with us, we may find them untrustworthy. On the other hand, if they stare at us unrelentingly, we begin to feel uncomfortable. The eye contact is the important aspect of every presentation. If the person is not able to make an eye contact either he is not prepared or nervous. while presenting, give yourself two to five seconds to linger on individuals to avoid fleeting, unconvincing eye contact. Don't just sweep the room and the crowd. After the first few seconds, perhaps when you start your second sentence, shift your glance to another person. Now, throughout the rest of the speech, move from one person to another with your eyes. This would increase the interest of the listeners in the presentation and would feel like getting person attention from the presentor.
Drama
Drama is the greek word meaning "action". It is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance.In order to keep audience attention the presenter should use drama to express his thoughts. The presentor should open the presentation by telling stories or the problems that relate to the lives of the audience. Throughout the talk the presentor should include the dramatic elements, such as long pause after the key statement and the change of the vocal tone or pitch in order to express the emotions of joy, sadness, nad excitement.
A promise
A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. A presentation begins with the promise to the listeners that the presenter would conclude the following at the end of the presentation.This results in bringing the interest of the listener. For eg. By the end of this presentation, I will show you how you bcan increase your sales by 50 percent. This promise of the presenter would bring the interest of the listener in the presentation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)