At symposia, continuing-education events and other events the presentation takes center stage. To keep employees and potential customers in good spirits, however, it’s not only the content that counts but also the form. With the following five tips you can be sure of capturing attention.
1. Package Serious Topics in a Relaxed Way
If you want to deliver a successful presentation, you should meet your audience where they are. Before the speaker takes their place at the lectern, it should therefore be clear who the target audience is and how best to address them. If the goal is to bring specialised products to sales, you should compress the most important information about the offering into language a layperson can understand. At the same time, don’t underchallenge your audience. Nothing is worse than patronising the listeners. Vivid anecdotes and suitable graphics liven up the presentation and can amaze your audience and perhaps even make them smile before it’s time to move on.
2. Create a Relaxed Atmosphere
Even a seemingly dry lecture can have entertainment value. Pointed remarks will certainly loosen up your presentation. But even the best speaker cannot keep the audience’s attention for hours. Breathing and meal breaks between individual conference appearances are therefore important. Non-alcoholic drinks should always be available to guests at an open bar. A structured agenda gives guests planning security about when longer meal breaks are scheduled. It becomes even less stressful if the organiser takes care of the guests’ physical needs. A hearty breakfast or an elegant dinner also provides an ideal platform for informal exchange.
3. Info and Entertainment – Make Room for Entertainment
To easily skirt the notorious afternoon slump, you can move the entertaining supporting programme forward and, for example, have a cabaret artist appear as a guest speaker in disguise.kabarettist-fuer-unternehmen.de also offers the service for international audiencesin the guests’ native language. With tailor-made gags tied to your conference theme, a good mood will instantly kick in. After this witty intermezzo to exercise the laughing muscles, you can continue with renewed focus.
4. Stay Current – Use Technology
Of course you can stick to the script when presenting your products or the latest research findings to the audience. It is more elegant, however, to speak freely. Cue cards with keywords help you keep the red thread. Don’t hesitate to use modern information technologies to illustrate your message multimedia-style. In addition to the classics from projector to beamer, interactive touchscreens and whiteboards are recommended to sketch your ideas live. Which technical possibilities are available should be clarified well in advance with the venue provider.
5. For Next Time: Gather Feedback
Congresses and symposia as well as training sessions serve the exchange of information. But not only the guests, you as the organiser will also learn with every event. Use feedback loops to continuously improve your presentations. Whether you ask guests for feedback informally at the closing dinner, set up an anonymous box for comments, or create an online questionnaire afterwards is up to you. As with the presentation, the rule for collecting guests’ opinions is: find a relaxed format that’s fun.
