Tips and advice on how to stop your audience switching off
Written by Dan Parry • 27 January, 2022
Presenting Article
In delivering a presentation, how can you be sure of holding your audience’s attention? In the absence of a Jedi mind trick, the next best thing is empathy. In holding the room, the thing that matters most isn’t your material, it’s your audience. When you’re learning your material, it’s simply content. When you’re delivering it however, it’s a message to be communicated so that people understand it. Understanding that people are the essential part of the equation is the key to holding their attention.
Empathy as a presenter
How can you connect with people in the room, whether virtually or in the real world? The answer is, by thinking of them first. They’re listening because they want to know something. You’re not in the room simply to present your material – you can do that alone at home. You’re in the room specifically to give something to your audience, think of it as a transaction. You’re giving them a sense of connection, through your material. More than anything, you’re giving them empathy.
Think of a moment when you needed to say something important to someone close to you. You wanted to ‘get it right’. That didn’t mean memorising words, it meant picking the right tone. This is empathy, it’s the glue that binds your audience to your words. In a presentation, eye-contact, off-the-cuff remarks, and a relaxed sense of warmth help you connect to your audience.
Nick Smallman, Working Voices founder and CEO, explains more.
“Talk to them, not at them” – tips on holding your audience’s attention, from Nick Smallman
Preparation is absolutely critical to delivering a good presentation. Plan a structure where you organise your presentation into a logical narrative. If the subject is new to you, make sure you know more than you need for your presentation. Understanding your subject in depth will lend you and your presentation a sense of expertise. Know what comes next, understand the purpose of saying a particular point, and ask yourself what feeling you should be trying to create. Remember, people don’t want a lecture from memory, they want an emotive presentation.
Make it clear how your topic affects the audience, and why it is important – not just in general terms – but important to them. Try to connect with your target audience, or whoever you’re trying to reach, on an emotional level. Should your topic make them feel good, or scared, or concerned? What is the wider context of your subject?
Sounds obvious, but talking about something people want to hear about isn’t the same as saying what they want to hear. You don’t have to dress things up and pander to their expectations, but addressing something that concerns people in some way is a sure way of getting their attention
Sometimes you can’t talk about things people are interested in, but that doesn’t mean what you’re saying isn’t relevant, or really important. People didn’t want to talk much about the theory of evolution when Darwin first developed the idea, but he kept talking about it because he believed in it himself. You might have to give a presentation to people who couldn’t care less, but you have to care. If you don’t, your audience certainly won’t. In caring about your content, your enthusiasm might make your audience sit up and listen after all.
One of the biggest reasons people are apathetic, towards speakers or in presentations, is because they believe people are talking at them, not to them. Like in a job interview, you should treat presenting as engagement – talk and share if appropriate, and address the audience in a human way. Jargon is fine but only when everyone knows what it means and it’s relevant. Formal language enables precision, but avoid hiding behind it. Think of ways you can engage the audience – ask them questions, or refer to them, or offer them something pertinently relevant to them.
Practice your delivery and think about what you’re going to say, and streamline it too; you don’t have to give bullet points, but people appreciate concise analysis. Keep on topic, and don’t burden yourself with the worry of slipping up or saying the wrong thing; you can always correct yourself. Your audience are looking for human connection far more than perfection. Take your time, and don’t forget to breathe.
It’s easy to miss out a chunk of your presentation, just as it’s easy for an actor to miss out a page of dialogue in a play, and you might never realise or only realise at a point where it’s just too late. I’ve seen people become muddled in their own presentation because they’ve said the wrong word. That shouldn’t matter. The structure of your content is what needs to be memorised, not each word.
The temptation to memorise is seductive, but having a good memory is not part of presentation skills. The urge to remember a script comes from a need to feel in control of the message, but in truth memory actually controls us. It locks us into moments from the past (when we learned the material), preventing us freely engaging with the audience in the here and now.
When addressing your audience, remember your body language should remain open, arms and legs shouldn’t be crossed. Develop a clear, open voice with clearly articulated consonants. Remember: we’re not talking about OVERarticulation here – hitting ev-er-y sin-gle syll-a-ble— but rather a way of speaking that emphasizes important words and sounds. By understanding what you’re saying, and believing in it, you’ll enjoy it. Your ideas won’t simply be heard out loud, they will land with your audience.
Being a great public speaker isn’t about whether or not you have charisma. These skills can be learned by anyone and developed over time. Practice is essential, you’re not looking to be a perfect version of you, you’re just aiming to properly understand your material so that you can connect with the people you’re delivering it to. As part of your career development goals for 2023, presentation skills are a great place to start. At Working Voices, our training course on becoming a confident presenter workshop will give you all the basic skills you need. Or, take things a step further with our workshop on becoming a persuasive presenter. Ultimately, audiences simply want a speaker who is true to themselves. Stick to that thought, and everything else will fall into place.
Get our latest insights by subscribing to our newsletter. Each week you'll receive updates helping you to understand and respond to the challenges facing your organisation. We won't share your details with anyone and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Learn to tackle the day-to-day challenges faced by women in the workplace with confidence, control and conviction.
This fast-paced interactive talk delivered by our motivational keynote speakers provides insight on how women can communicate with more impact and how they can develop within a leadership role by enhancing their personal presence. Our women’s speakers aim to help you build the confidence to be included in meetings, and raise your visibility as an authentic and influential leader. This talk can be tailored to your business and any specific requirements you might have.
The founder and CEO of Working Voices, Nick Smallman has been at the top of his profession for 25 years. Advising global blue-chip clients on engagement, productivity, and retention, he counsels leaders on increasing revenue via simple cultural adjustments.
Overseeing the successful expansion of Working Voices across the UK, the US, Asia, and the Middle East, Nick supports the leadership and communication capabilities of clients in a wide range of sectors. In particular, he has advised companies such as JP Morgan, Barclays, Sony, Nomura, M&S, and Blackrock for more than 15 years.
Developing his reputation for thought leadership, in recent years Nick has been leading work on The Sustainable Human, the subject of his forthcoming book. A concept unique to Working Voices, The Sustainable Human offers a package of solutions focusing on leadership enablement, future skills, and cultural harmony.
Working closely with HR specialist Mercer, Nick has developed solutions to four key modern workplace challenges:
“I’m excited to share the conclusions of three years of research that, if implemented, can make an immediate practical difference to leaders and their organisations.”
All articles by Nick Smallman
Our motivating keynote speakers will help you to gain an understanding of how you present yourself to others and how they identify with you. You’ll also gain an understanding of how influence and the development of a personal brand can enhance your impact. In this enthusing talk our expert business speakers will explore the practicalities and techniques involved in developing a suitable personal brand and creating a strong personal impact.
Networking skills are important for achieving success in business. This talk delivered by our engaging keynote speakers will provide you with an insight into good networking etiquette. Our business speakers will focus on understanding the importance of networking, how to plan and prep before an event. You’ll learn some good tips for reading group body language and some essential icebreakers to get you started.
Parents all over the world are becoming increasingly worried about the effect of screen use on their children’s mental health. In addition to a lack of understanding as to what they are looking at there is the deeper issue of how online behaviour is shaping the way that children think and form relationships. We unpack the neuroscience behind the addictive nature of screen time and offer a blueprint to help parents coach their children towards a more fruitful relationship with the internet.
The internet is lauded as a giant leap for communication and a vehicle for mass connection in a busy world. What is also becoming clear is the opportunity for bad actors to manipulate important social, cultural and political conversations through the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation. We lay bare the methods that are used to inject confusion and grievance into the conversation and how we as consumers are not naturally wired to combat this. We will offer a framework to help protect you from fake news, distraction and getting sucked in to destructive communication
70% of people will experience a genuine fear of being exposed as not good enough, of being a fraud in their working lives; this talk will help you combat such feelings and deliver practical guidance that will help you feel confident and comfortable when taking on the next big challenge.
In a world dominated by showmen, charismatics and influencers it is becoming more and more difficult to find leaders that are intellectually credible as well as influential. The ability to think critically is being downgraded while the ability to attract attention is lauded. It is possible to do both and we will show how strong mental models can underpin a long-term leadership persona.
The self-help industry is an ever expanding and hugely popular vehicle for personal development. Humans have an innate desire to improve themselves and raise their status – what’s not to love? However, some of the ideas and tropes used in many of the self-help products available rely on flawed thinking to be successful. We explore 6 major themes, deconstruct their effectiveness and relevance in the modern world and provide an alternatives that are more effective.
“Your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Jeff Bezos (Founder and Chairman of Amazon) that’s why it matters so much. It’s all about creating the right external impression, ensuring it is authentic and makes you stand out from the crowd. This inspirational talk by our expert keynote speakers will explore the methods, techniques and practises of developing an authentic personal brand that gets you noticed.
Presenting can be a daunting ordeal at the best of times but this highly interactive and fast paced talk will help build your confidence and improve your delivery with any audience. Our keynote speaker will take you through how best to prepare for your big moment, along with helping you look and sound the part as well.
TED Talks can be both informative and inspiring, but how do the best speakers deliver their message with such impact? In this talk, one of our inspiring keynote speakers will walk you through the TED method and help you deliver your very own idea with confidence and precision.
Emotional intelligence is about the ability to identify, assess and manage the emotions of yourself, of others and of groups. Having a high EQ will improve your ability to maintain good working relationships and communicate successfully. This highly interactive talk will give you a practical insight into how emotional intelligence works. Our expert keynote speakers will give you a concise overview of the emotional intelligence know-how and stratagems you need to interact commendably with clients and colleagues.
Making a good impression and having a strong personal presence is an important part of being successful in business and in life. Personal impact is about having presence and charisma. In this engaging talk our motivational keynote speakers will explore what both of these actually mean, what they look like and feel like. We will look at the practicalities of each and punctuate both topics with brief exercises to help you to become more aware of the way you interact with others. This is an exciting and interactive talk which our expert business speakers deliver in an inspirational style.
Successful people are super communicators – they think clearly and are expert at interacting with others. They understand themselves, other people and know that superior relationships are the cornerstone to a fulfilling life These characteristics are learned attributes. Now you can master these skills and behaviours and work towards becoming a super communicator yourself.
Improving your influencing skills is important in helping you to build better rapport and have positive relationships with your clients and colleagues. This fast-paced talk delivered by our expert business speakers helps you to explore and develop your existing influencing skills. Our inspiring keynote speakers will focus on maintaining mental and linguistic flexibility when interpreting and presenting information helping you to become an effective influential leader. Our keynote speakers can adapt this talk to your business needs and requirements if requested.
Our sentiments and feelings towards people are created by our own experiences but we’re not always aware of how those sentiments affect the way we act towards people and make decisions about them. Our engaging keynote speakers will bring to light your unconscious bias in this thought provoking talk: how it works, the affect this has on decision making and most importantly, what you can do about it; making sure you are the inclusive leader you wish to be.