Why does nobody care about your presentation?

The goal of any presentation is to attract the audience's attention. However, it remains a sad truth that audiences are simply bored by many presentations. They soon lose interest and instead of following the speaker, they look only at their mobile phones. Why is this so?

When preparing their presentations, speakers often ignore the ways in which the human brain processes information. Let's look at the most common mistakes you should avoid.

Illustration

Your pictures lack a story

The human brain processes most information visually. That means we think and remember things best via pictures. When preparing a presentation, you should not only choose appropriate pictures, but also stories the pictures will tell.

You force the audience to read and listen at once

It is simply not possible for people to read your slides and interpret their content while listening to the other things you are talking about. In such cases, our brain captures only part of the whole message.

A good presentation directs the attention of the audience to just one main idea. Try replacing slides full of text by pictures which aptly illustrate what you are saying. Only then will the audience keep listening.

You can't tell stories

A presentation given as a story is much more attractive because the audience can connect with it on an emotional level. Then the presentation is more memorable for them and they are also more likely to take action based on your words. Metaphors and other figurative expressions accompanied by pictures will add to the effect.

You talk to the audience rather than with them

Simply put, your presentations are just monologues nobody can listen to for long. A dialogue, on the other hand, creates a neural connection between speaker and listener. That inspires mutual trust and interest.

Stop talking only about individual points from your slides. Ask questions, discuss your listeners' responses and if a topic of interest arises, focus on it for a while even if your presentation script does not include it.

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Article source Fast Company - leading U.S. magazine and website for managers
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