Presentation skills

Some useful goodies here:

http://www.presentersuniversity.com/delivery_Memorable5.php

5 Methods to Becoming Memorable

Jim Endicott

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Participation.
It’s the difference between us watching a football game and being handed the football and sent off to the field to run the next play. Audiences are perfectly willing to be spectators if we allow them to be but deep down in their hearts they really want to be participants. They desperately want presenters to take a breath and ask them what they think. They want to be enticed to share their collective experiences with the group – to become a part of the presentation experience, not be simply an observer. But it entails giving up something most presenters are reluctant to relinquish, even for a moment. Control.

Participation can be as simple as asking the audience to share their personal stories on a theme. It can also take the form of props. In one seminar, I wanted to get the point across of how hard it was for audiences to juggle all the points presenters want to throw at them. To illustrate, I began to hit beach balls into the audience and asked them to keep them up in the air. Frankly, I didn’t count on the chaos created as water glasses got knocked over but the point seemed to stick. Two years later, I had someone tell me that he remembered the exercise but more importantly, remembered the point I was making. What are you willing to risk to get your audiences involved? How creative can you be to make a point stick?

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