Here are five timely tips that are often overlooked. Yet these can make all the difference between a just average speech and a top-notch presentation.
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Do you spend too much time preparing your presentation because otherwise, you would have to postpone the more important work? Never mind, the best presentations are those delivered spontaneously. This way you will appear authentic – for sure! No one will notice in case you skip important items anyway. If this is not your cup of tea, then of course you can also learn your speech by heart. You will never forget what you actually wanted to say.
Do you lose your audience once you speak up? Or do you carry them along so they keep a high attention level throughout your presentation? A catchy structure is one of the important aspects you should consider. A strong introduction, an interesting main part and a meaningful conclusion are equally important. Guide your audience by transitions such as emphasized pauses and changing your position on stage. Also add interactions using polls, quizzes, and short discussions. Sometimes surprising twists and turns help.
Presentations are nowadays different from those of the past. To convince and inspire your audience, you have to meet completely different expectations today than 20 years ago. Nowadays, personality is key, as is combining numbers, data and facts with short stories and anecdotes that provide new context for the audience. By the way: Instead of frontal lectures in which information is hammered into our audience, the focus today is on infotainment. Information comes along with entertainment. This is what makes presentations much more effective. The use of new media adds to this. We should never underestimate one thing: The personality of the speaker decides whether his message actually reaches the audience. Read more
Do you have the impression that your audience is following your moderation? Can you build tension with short stories and anecdotes so that the group listens to you with enthusiasm? How do you as a presenter manage to provide special added value? And what can you do while moderating workshops or debates, leading a project […]
A source of good and often inspiring lectures are certainly the TED Talks and their independent TEDx Talks. One of the speeches that has inspired me in recent years is the talk “How great leaders inspire action” by Simon Sinek. Of course, we can discuss whether his performance could be further optimized: There are only a few laughs in the audience, the eye contact between speaker and audience is not optimal and the speaker often takes his glasses (exactly 22 times) – to name just three examples.
Nevertheless, why is his 2009 TEDx talk the third most seen of about 3 000 TED talks worldwide? Why has his presentation, which he held live in front of just 50 listeners, been clicked more than 42 million times on ted.com and a good 15 million times on YouTube to date? So what did Simon Sinek do right?
Simon is a PhD student and is currently preparing his conference presentation. He has already improved his start after a meeting with his mentor Sarah. Now he asks himself: How can I present the results of my study concisely? What details are my audience interested in and what new insights do they gain? How does the transition between the individual sections work?
Sarah’s presentation was easily understandable and entertaining. In the discussion she gained new ideas and insights. At the coffee break she is approached by other people who want to learn more about her project. Simon is a PhD student at the symposium and listened to the presentation with interest. He wants to know how Sarah prepared her successful speech.
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Dr. Stephen Wagner
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53129 Bonn, Germany
Mobile +49 (0)1577 1918067
Events
24.04. Live: Elevator Pitch in Bewerbungsinterviews
03.05. Live: Presenting to International Audiences
06.-07.05. Live: The International Presentation
16.-17.05. Online: Science Pitch
10.-11.06. Inhouse Online: Innovative International Presentations
18.-19.06. Live: Science Pitch: Present your Project
03. + 10.09. Live & Online: Excellent International Presentations in Science
05.-06.09. Inhouse Online: Innovative International Presentations
20.9. Wissenschaftskommunikation: Science Pitch Präsentationstraining
26.-27.09. Live: Presenting at International Conferences
19.-20.11. Inhouse Online: Innovative International Presentations
