Perhaps the biggest challenge for a presenter is trying to hold the audience’s attention for the duration of the presentation. Polls suggest that nearly half of all presentation attendees admit to doing something other than listening during a presentation. One of the best ways to get your audience to stay focused is by making them feel like part of the presentation. There are several things you can do to make your presentation more interactive so it will engage your audience.
1.Warm Up the Audience with an Icebreaker
Let the audience know right from the start that your presentation is going to be interactive with an easy icebreaker. Icebreakers come in many different styles and variations and can include games, photos, word clouds, polls, and fun facts. Icebreakers are a fun way to capture audience attention and set the tone for your presentation.
2.Tell a Story
People love to hear stories and storytelling has always been a universal way to captivate audience attention. People automatically listen when you begin telling a story because they want to know what will happen next. If you tell a compelling story, you will have audiences on their edge of their seats waiting to see how your story ends.
3.Ask Questions
You don’t have to save your Q&A for the end of your presentation. Encourage your audience to ask questions during the presentation and stop every so often and ask them questions. Take advantage of every opportunity to interact with your audience throughout the presentation.
4.Host a Panel of Experts
Traditional Q&A’s can get boring so spice things up with an experts panel. Instead of directing all of the questions to one speaker, an expert panel makes it possible for audience members to address multiple people who are well-equipped to answer their questions.
5.Poll the Audience
Have you ever wanted to know what your audience is thinking during your presentation? Thanks to technology at our fingertips, you can! There are a variety of polling apps that allow audience members to supply feedback and responses in real time.
6. Tweet Questions
Just about everyone in your audience will have a cell phone in their pocket so embrace it by encouraging them to use it. Create a unique hashtag for your presentation and ask audience members to tweet questions throughout the presentation. This is a great way to interact with everyone in your audience, including those people who might not otherwise speak up.
7.Break Into Groups
Most people associate presentations with sitting for a lengthy period of time, but that’s just the reason why movement is so important. Invite your audience to break into small groups for a quick discussion or to complete a short activity. The action of moving around helps to break up the monotony and keeps people engaged.
8.Show Video Clips
Find a short video clip that reinforces your points and use it as a visual during your presentation. Visuals are not only more interesting, but they help people remember the information.
9.Perform a Demonstration
Demonstrations are a great way to show people how something works or to reinforce a concept. Invite an audience member on stage and use them during your demonstration. You will immediately capture your audience’s attention.
10. Live Quizzes
Live quizzes are a great way to interact with your audience and get them engaged with the material. You can ask questions pertaining to your topic and display the answers through a digital platform or simply invite audience members to raise their hands to answer. You can also offer prizes for participating.
11. Use a Physical Prop
Props aren’t limited to product demos. Props are a great way to help the audience visualize what you are saying. While talking through your presentation, you can refer to the prop to highlight your key points.