Use PRESENTING tips to stop your audience from falling asleep

Thirty-two per cent of people fall asleep during a presentation. Some poor idiot stands at the front with slides they have sweated blood perfecting… only to kill the whole thing by reading them out.

People read seven times quicker than said idiot can speak. By the time he has read bullet point one, the audience has read all seven bullet points and is now just waiting. Snooze time!

Let’s use the mnemonic ‘PRESENTING’ to help us make presentations more rock & roll.

P is for Procrastination: If you start a presentation early, you will keep changing it, adding new images, etc. Don’t! Start, create the presentation until it is good enough. Then stop.

R is for Rewarding stories: Think of a time when someone has told a story while presenting. You remembered it more than the graphs. Tell stories. They are 22 times more memorable.

E is for End in mind: Muhammad Ali said in an interview that opponent Joe Frazier would go down in round five and Frazier heard. Then it happened. Share your end in mind with your audience at the start of your presentation.

S is for Sir Aristotle: ‘Sir’ Aristotle’s technique for presenting was tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you have told them. Also known as the Army Technique.

E is for Engaging headlines: You read a magazine and the thing that draws your attention is the headline. Why? Because they are not boring. Use engaging headlines as titles.

N is for Nerves: If you’re nervous, tell yourself, I am excited! This works because you can stay in a high-energy state, but just move from a negative to a positive high-energy state.

T is for Targets: Setting a SMART target will clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, and make you use your time and resources productively.

I is for Individual: If we only present in our preferred communicating style, we will only engage 25% of our audience. There are four people types: Future, Form, Feeling and Fact. Are you covering the four Fs?

N is for No to PowerPoint: Don’t. Use anything else. Boards, A3 pages, the product… anything.

G is for Grabbing our audience: The first few minutes are crucial to grabbing your audience’s attention. If you start by thanking everyone for coming it’s not an attention grabber. Don’t.