What can I do to grab the attention of my audience right away?

There are several ways you can gain interest and buy-in from your audience before you go on to deliver the main points in your presentation. Here are a few ideas for grabbing your audience’s attention when you open.

What are some ways to introduce humor into a presentation?

Using humor is a great way to create rapport with your audience by lightening the mood. Try turning your own life experiences into humorous stories. We've all had problems, and telling funny stories about yourself creates an impression that you're secure, confident, and likable.

Here are four great books we recommend which are packed full of ideas for adding more humor to your next presentation.

"Laugh and Get Rich" by Rick Segal and Darren LaCroix
"Start with a Laugh" by Liz Carpenter
"Humor – The Magic of Genie" by Jeanne Robertson
"Using Stories and Humor" by Joanna Slan

What's the most effective way to use handouts when giving a presentation?

First of all, remember that you're in charge of how to convey your information. Think about how your audience will use it. For example, if you're sharing research, you could highlight the key points on a slide and include the rest of the research in a handout. If your audience needs to follow along and take notes during the presentation, give them the handout as you talk through it. Otherwise, you can give them the handout at the end of your presentation.

How do you remember key messages during a Q & A?

I just came back from an industry conference where I was asked a lot of questions by the press regarding our company and new products. I found myself feeling flustered and forgot a lot of what I was planning to say. Do you have any suggestions?

When we are stressed, abstract concepts are difficult to recall, so I recommend you create an acronym that will help you remember the key concepts. For example, if your key message is “We are the industry leader” your three supporting points might be:

1. Technical expertise
2. First to market with new products
3. Twice as much market share as our closest competitor

In this example, you could use "LEFT" as your reminder. This acronym stands for Leader, Expertise, First and Twice.

How much should I rehearse before a presentation?

You should always plan rehearsal time into your timeline so that you have enough time to run through your entire presentation with your visual aids and without.

There's no set number of times you need to rehearse, but the more you do, the more smoothly your presentation will go. A good rule of thumb is to rehearse enough so that your talk is second nature.

Here are some tips for planning your rehearsal time:

• Find someone to listen and give you feedback.
• Rehearse your timing and write down how long each section takes you.
• Practice at least once with your visual aids so you know when you'll use them and what you'll say.
• Prepare for the Q&A by thinking about the questions you might be asked and then rehearsing brief, clear answers.

How should you conclude a speech?

A strong finish is as important as a strong start. Never skip your closing, even if your speech is cut short. This is the time to remind your audience what you want them to do and to get agreement on next steps. Aim for a final  crescendo  and leave your audience in a heightened emotional state and sense of closure. Here are fourteen ideas for an effective close.

1. Summarize major points
2. Tell a story
3. Appeal to a nobler motive
4. Challenge to act or be committed
5. Restate key benefits to audience
6. Give motivating statement
7. Quote
8. Dramatization of big idea
9. Make a direct appeal
10. Look ahead – visualize
11. Ask rhetorical question
12. Refer back to opener
13. Qualities needed to achieve purpose
14. Bonds between
• you and audience
• audience members to each other
• audience to larger entity

How do you create a speech on short notice?

If you have very little time to prepare a speech, spend your time zeroing in on your purpose and your audience. Ask yourself, "What do I want to accomplish? How do I want my audience to be different after they have heard what I have to say?"

Instead of focusing on all the things you could say about your topic, focus on what your audience needs to know for you to get your point across. One helpful way to do this is to write down the questions they are likely to have about your topic and then jot down brief answers. You'll find that you've just generated most of the content you'll need for your speech.

What is the ideal length for a presentation?

If by presentation, you mean a speech (not training or workshop) then the ideal length is between 15 and 20 minutes. In the 1970s the U.S. Navy conducted a study to find out how long people can listen to other people talk.

The Navy wanted to find out how to better use the time of instructors and students in the Navy's education system. What they discovered about the ideal length for a presentation surprised a lot of people. It wasn't an hour -- or even a half hour.

The Navy found an audience's ability to focus on what the speaker is saying and then remember what was said drops off significantly at 18 minutes. They found this to be true across the board -- in classroom, presentation, or lecture environments.