I’m often asked by people who know I’ve seen their presentation if I might offer a few tips for how to make their presentation come to life.
Here are 3 tips from my article, “20 Tips on Turning a Boring Presentation into A Slam-Dunk Performance.”
ENJOY!
V
Re-Experience Your Stories:
Every
time you tell a story, re-experience it, making it come alive for both
yourself and for the audience. Act from within. Relive the key moments.
If you’re talking about being stuck in a dark alley in a strange city at
night, re-create that scene. This does not mean be melodramatic or
ridiculous. But,if you tell the story as its happening and describe the
moment as if you’re narrating it while you’re in it, you will make a
significant impact on your audience. If the moment is real for you, it
will be real for them. There is a profound difference between simply
telling/talking about an event and re-experiencing/re-enacting/re-living
it. This is also how Broadway actors can do 8 shows a week and keep it
fresh. Be in the moment.
Match Your Voice To The Experience:
Let your tone, pacing, rhythm and volume match and enhance your content. If you are telling the audience about being in the desert at night and your phrase includes the words, “It was so quiet,” consider making your voice almost a whisper on the word “quiet” and slow the pacing down, so you give the sense of the experience. If you’ve physically & psychically placed yourself in the moment, this type of delivery will come naturally as you relive the scene.
Act Out Your Characters:
Adjust both your voice and body for the personalities
or characters in your speech – the receptionist, daughter, husband, mother,
ticket agent, co-worker, boss, etc. Occasionally, presenters will make a slight
adjustment to their voice to add some entertainment value to their material,
but few speakers actually also change their physicality. When both voice
and physicality are engaged together, a 3rd synergistic element kicks
in, and you start to become a whole new character. Commit and go all the way.
Take risks. Inhabit your characters. It’s why they pay actors the big bucks.
Audiences and company members love this and appreciate the small performance,
and they’ll love it whether you’re the CEO or the new hire.
(c) Victoria Labalme Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.