What makes a presentation stick in the minds of audience members? I’m obsessed with uncovering answers to that question.
If you’re a regular reader of my content on the Ethos3 blog, you’ve probably already picked up on my enthusiasm for this topic. And if you’re a public speaker, I strongly encourage you to also obsess over this topic and seek out solutions to this challenge for all of your presentations.
If your presentation is forgettable, you need to ask yourself: why am I even wasting my time preparing and delivering the presentation? You’re missing out on most of the benefits of your time in the spotlight if people are going to need to reference your handouts to remember your message. First of all, let’s be honest – most people are going to throw your handout in the trash as soon as possible. And if they don’t remember your message and they toss your handout, you can abandon any hopes that they will tell other people about your presentation, visit your website, or seek you out for opportunities in the future. They will simply move onto the next exciting thing since they’ve forgotten who you and what you said.
You need your message to resonate so intensely with your audience that your presentation remains at the forefront of their minds and consequently they remember to act upon the call-to-action of your talk.
Being memorable is one of the secrets to successful presentations, so what are the secrets to being memorable?
As a result of my longstanding curiosity about how to make presentations that are memorable, I have covered this topic a few times before on the Ethos3 blog post. In order to practice what I preach, I am revisiting this topic because repetition is an important part of sticking in people’s minds.
Another key to being memorable is presenting your material in more than one way. Some people remember what they read, others remember what they see. Some people will connect with one type of explanation, while others will need different wording to embrace your ideas. Some people remember videos, and others remember images. You get the point.
In order to be memorable to everyone, or at least most people in the audience, you need to cover your core ideas more than once, and in more than one way.
To help you remember the secrets to memorable presentations, I am sharing some of the best tips and tricks below, in a few different formats.
The Science of Memorable Presentations
What Makes A Data Visualization Memorable?
The 5 Secrets of Memorable Presentations
To dig into the research that supports these visuals, check out these blog posts:
The Science of Memorable Presentations
The Science of Memorable Data Visualizations
The TED staff answers: What Makes A Great TED Talk?
How-To Conquer Short Attention Spans
The Ace Up Your Sleeve: 6 Proven Methods of Persuasion
The Shocking Secret To Awesome Presentations
Conclusion:
To use your time in the spotlight wisely, make a lasting impression on your audience. Develop an obsession for answering the question: What makes a presentation stick in the minds of audience members? Since there is more than one answer to that question, you will need to select the tactics that fit your style and message the best. No matter how you approach the challenge, you should embrace at least some of the techniques shared above. I’ve done the hard work of uncovering some of the secrets to successful presentations, now you just need to put those secrets to work for you.
