Making a presentation: tips for maintaining interest
Making a presentation is one thing, what is most important is what your audience takes away or remembers from your presentation. That's why this blog gives you tips to think about while making your presentation
Too much information is hard to retain
If you give a lot of information, people drop out after just a few minutes. Especially if you've given information before. If you deliver it in a way that is entertaining, that entertains, your audience will stay with you.
And if it's not too much info and you repeat it occasionally, it will come in.
If it's something your audience can relate to, you have everyone. So not too much information, but make a few points clear in a fun way and relay it in such a way that people can get something out of it. Then you've made your point.
You'll also notice this when you start creating slides for your presentation. Research shows that it is best to have 1 sentence per slide that then makes the point of what you want to say at that moment. This helps the audience remember the information[1]. So don't chalk your whole slide full of text. Just use a sentence instead of a headline.
Suppose you want to make one point clear
Something you care about. Now what do you want people to take away, for example, about hypnosis. Then I want them to think at the end:
"Hypnosis is super cool to do and you can achieve a lot with it," says Dr. K. K., who is a member of the company.
That's what I want them to take away. That after an hour they have this thought and may even want to do something with hypnosis.
If I say to you "hypnosis is super cool to do, really super cool what you can achieve with it, really really cool stuff etc. etc. etc." Then you might faint because I'm repeating myself.
The public may not feel taken seriously then. You are not a toddler. If I repeat something four times, you'll know it.
Just because your audience knows it doesn't mean it has come in. For example, how many times have you heard something before you acted on it? Or that you thought, "And now I've remembered it."
This may have been a hundred or a thousand times. Sometimes it takes years for the penny to drop. Maybe you already knew it somewhere, but not quite yet.
Restrooms are full of useful facts and good truths. Yet many people don't do these things, such as:
Yes you know that, but do you do it? To this you often get very different answers.
But when I say "love yourself" three times, you've heard that too.
Bringing variations of your point into your presentation
So you want people to take something away from this—my point is about hypnosis. I could say it a few times, but then you’d lose interest. I have a whole hour to fill—or even a whole day—to make sure you enjoy hypnosis.
So how many ways can you think of to say, "Hypnosis is cool?" (or whatever your point is then)
- You can just tell.
- You can wrap it up in a story.
- You can give a metaphor.
- You can ask for experiences. Then someone says something and then maybe I can talk back to my point: "Actually, that experience was like hypnosis." You link the experience to your point.
- You can tell stories from your work, or from your life.
- You can do exercises that demonstrate your point.
- You can get excited about it.
In these ways, you can transfer the same point, without becoming tedious.
After all, no one wants to feel like their intelligence is being doubted.
If you keep getting your point across in different ways, in ways that make people think about it and come to the conclusion themselves that your point is true (hypnosis is actually pretty cool), then you've accomplished that your point of your presentation has gotten across.
You can apply it in presentations, as well as with your children, or when having a talk, or during a meeting.
Each time you want to make your point you can grab something from the list. What is most important and keep your presentation around that.
Scientific research also shows that variations while giving oral presentations is important to convince people of a particular point[2]. However, audiences can vary during presentations, so consider carefully which technique best suits your audience.
Also listen to this podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/195236/1586407-hoe-houd-je-mensen-geboeid?play=true
Importance of enthusiasm
In addition, enthusiasm is incredibly important for getting people on board. When you present something without passion, it’s also difficult to inspire people. By being enthusiastic about what you’re saying, you help your audience feel that enthusiasm too.
Sometimes it can be helpful to build up your enthusiasm gradually during the presentation, so that the difference in energy—between you and your audience—isn’t immediately too great for your audience to bridge.
Motivation for the presentation
It’s also helpful to be able to motivate yourself to give the presentation. It works best when you’re giving a presentation that you’re intrinsically motivated to deliver—for example, a topic that’s close to your heart and about which you really have something to say.
Don't have the freedom for presentation to create something like this? Then extrinsic motivation is also always something that can come in handy[3]. For example, agree with yourself that when you get a certain response from your audience you then reward yourself with something, no matter what.
Take advantage of hypnosis and NLP
There are also a number of hypnosis and NLP (neuro linguistic programming) techniques that can help you improve your presentation.
For example, your body posture is important to exude enthusiasm, even if you don't actually feel it. Standing straight, shoulders back, chest forward, for example, already makes you radiate more.
In the process, it also stimulates your brain to feel just a little bit better. So ideal to do for a while when you suffer from presentation anxiety.
With hypnosis, as a hypnotherapist, you create rapport with your client. Someone giving a presentation needs to make rapport with their audience. Some kind of connection must be felt between you and the audience. This can be done by looking at people (yes that is exciting) and asking questions.
In addition, you can also use NLP techniques to improve your presentation. This is particularly helpful when you suffer from presentation anxiety[4].
So in addition, you can also use NLP to captivate audiences. You can then use metaphors, fantasy and visualizations[5] in certain ways to hold your audience's attention and get them excited about the topic of your presentation.
Self-hypnosis for presentation
Creating a presentation is one thing, giving a presentation is quite another. Once you have created your slides, figured out how to connect with your audience and what techniques you will use to make a point to them, it is important that you yourself believe in your presentation.
Of course you already do.
But you can enhance or generate this feeling even further. You can do this, for example, with self-hypnosis. You can use self-hypnosis before the presentation to calm down and boost your ego, which will automatically make you walk into the room like a rooster (chest forward) and give the presentation.
You first relax and put yourself into a kind of hypnotic state. Then you repeat a number of affirmations, such as:
"I'm good at giving presentations."
"I give the best presentations ever."
"I am excited about my presentation."
"The public likes me."
These are just examples. You can also go to a hypnotherapist and get specific affirmations that will help you make and give a presentation with confidence.
Would you like to learn more about how hypnosis and NLP work? Then join the free online hypnosis masterclass. There, you’ll at least learn how hypnosis works (and there’s often an overlap with NLP as well).
Do you want to help yourself or others with hypnosis? Then sign up for one of the courses—ideal if you work with people to help them become better versions of themselves. Click here to find all courses and start dates.
Sources:
[1] https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/2006/00000053/00000002/art00007
[2] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ijal.12284
[3] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10936-017-9551-6
[4] https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA277756
[5] http://repository.bilkent.edu.tr/bitstream/handle/11693/15421/0006160.pdf?sequence=1