Even in the midst of these economic hard times, people are still finding the extra cash to check out a movie now and then. Recent films like Avatar and The Book of Eli show that the public is still hungry for blockbusters, and when it comes to blockbusters, one name stands above the others – Steven Spielberg.
Love him or hate him, no one walks the line between innovative, artistic film making, and popular success like Steven Spielberg. In fact there was no such thing as a blockbuster film until Spielberg made Jaws. There had been very successful films of course, but Jaws remade film distribution – and profitability – into the model we still have until this day.
What does this have to do with your next presentation?
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It’s great to find yourself at the front of the room, speaking clearly, shuffling confidently through your perfectly-chosen slides, seeing looks on the faces of your audience members that seem to say “Yes, I am listening. No, I cannot turn away.”
If only it was always that easy…
It can be helpful to think about attention in terms of presentations in three ways: First, we need to grab the audience’s attention. We need to find some way to capture them quickly and make sure that they are invested in our message right from the start. Secondly, we need to hold their attention. It serves little purpose to shock our audience into a state of alertness if we quickly lull them back into a stupor of boredom and complacency. Once we have our audience’s attention, we need to pace our presentation in such a way that can keep them coming along for the ride by creating various, dynamic “highs” and “lows” as we build toward our conclusion. The third way to think about attention in regards to our presentations involves what happens after the presentation is over. Did all of our hard work go in one ear and out the other – or did we make it memorable?
Making your presentation memorable can be tricky. Some of the things we do to create excitement in the moment when we are speaking won’t necessarily resonate beyond that afternoon. However, some of the fundamentals of a good presentation will make you compelling on stage and for many water-cooler discussions to come.
Here are a few ways to create a buzz the next time you present.
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Everyone knows that productive brainstorming sessions are imperative to creating stellar presentations. Everyone also knows that the practice of brainstorming has become a little weary. Our brains are over-stimulated and tired. Even after cups and cups of coffee, sometimes we just can’t WAKE UP! Jumping into a brainstorming session these days seems a lot like jumping into an ice cold swimming pool in early Spring. With that in mind, below are five warm-up exercises that will help ease your team into the brainstorming pool.
Opposite Day
To help jump-start your team’s brains, try an exercise in words. Choose five random words and ask your team to come up with their opposites. Bright; Dark. Once they have completed that task, ask them to go one step further and come up with three more words that could be considered opposites of the originals. Bright: Night, Dull, Lackluster. Hopefully, your team will come up with less lackluster words. Regardless, you’ll have them thinking about something other than the memos they need to get out by 5:00.
Improvisational Tools
Set up a brief improv performance to encourage your team to put their tin foil thinking caps on. Bring a bunch of ordinary objects to the office and ask people to demonstrate alternative uses for them. You could find out that a grocery bag could double as a papoose or that your sunglasses are really some super x-ray vision goggles meant for use on Neptune. Once your team starts thinking about how to present their ideas, they’ll already be thinking in an inventive way.
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After you sweat every detail of every slide, once you’ve double-checked to make sure you have those extra batteries, as soon as you are certain that your projector and your presentation are going to get along just fine, you’re ready to give your knockout presentation, right?
Not quite.
You may not be a marathon runner, a power lifter or a kick boxing champion, but warming up can be just as important for a presenter as it is for a champion athlete. Although stretching – or even mild calisthenics – can be a good idea before taking the stage, another kind of warming-up is vital.
You need to give your throat a work out!
Just like an opera singer about to solo at The Met, you need to prepare your voice before your big moment. It may seem like a bit of a stretch to compare your presentation to singing La Boheme, but there are a lot of similarities. Just like an Italian diva, you are about to project you voice, in a dynamic manner, for an extended period of time, in an effort to move your audience in a persuasive manner. See! You have a lot in common. It’s actually OK to feel like a rock star when you deliver a great presentation. You sort of are one.
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