Interested in engaging and motivating your audiences? An effective route to that destination is to start out by captivating them.
It's easier than you might imagine--especially once you remove yourself from your thinking and start focusing on your listeners instead.
Here are four simple techniques to make your presentation enjoyable for audiences.
Equally important, you as the speaker will shine in their eyes: 1.
Make eye contact.
Simply put, no behavior is as fundamental to persuasion as looking at the person you're talking to.
When was the last time you trusted somebody who wouldn't look you in the eye? So actively look at and relate to your audience when you speak.
(When I say "actively," I mean let your gaze linger for a half-a-second to a second.
Don't "flick" your eyes at your listeners.
) They'll like you more; they'll decide that you're basically honest; and most important, they'll be more willing to be influenced by you.
Avoid their gaze just because you're nervous--or weakest of excuses, because you're busy reading your manuscript out loud--and you'll have virtually no chance of changing their thinking or behavior.
2.
Enjoy yourself when you speak.
Now there's a novel concept! Western culture has imbued public speaking with an aura of inconvenience, horror, and even torture--as if the entire experience belongs in an Edgar Allan Poe story.
But think about your own experiences as an audience member.
Are you comfortable listening to a presenter who is clearly embarrassed or fearful? A speaker who presents with verve, on the other hand, broadcasts a completely different message.
We instinctively feel that this is a person who has something valuable to say.
It must be good stuff--look at how much he or she is enjoying talking about it! Pretty soon, we're enjoying ourselves as well.
3.
Smile.
As public speakers, we don't smile enough, period.
Smiling is another prerequisite to establishing trust with audiences (though it's not as critical as eye contact).
At the very least, it's visual evidence of the speaker's enjoyment that I just talked about above.
In speaking situations where you feel a smile is inappropriate, take one of two alternate paths: (a) "open" your countenance by assuming a pleasant expression; or (b) raise your cheekbones.
As an illustration of what I mean by this, look at the famous painting American Gothic--that's the one of the farmer with his pitchfork, standing next to his wife.
Now compare it to the Mona Lisa.
There's a lady with some raised cheekbones (and look how successful she's been)! 4.
Energize your voice.
Have you ever had to strain to hear what a speaker is saying? Soft-talkers and under-energized presenters make us do more work than we should have to just to hear them.
Worse, the speaker seems distant, and we feel left out of the loop.
When you speak, generate enough vocal power and energy to reach every listener in the room--especially people in the back and those who are hard of hearing.
(And always assume there will be some of them in your audience.
) Remember also that your vocal energy must change in different spaces: the larger the speaking venue, the more you must project your voice.
In auditoriums and lecture halls that echo, you'll also have to speak slowly enough for the echo to reach your listeners before you go on.
When you project sufficient energy in a presentation, you make everything easier for your listeners.
Now they feel they can relax, instead of working overtime to do part of your job for you.