Are you interesting?

I guess your answer is “yes” or “I hope so!”

And, when you’re making a presentation? Are you interesting then?

What’s your answer now?

To be an interesting presenter – and it is much nicer for both you and your audiences if you are – you only need to…

1. Know the things people find interesting; and
2. Use them

Everyone could come up with a good list in answer to point 1 – interactivity, stories, humour, good visuals, relevance, variety etc.

But – and this is weird, when you think about it – even though people know what audiences find interesting, they don’t always use them.

Logically, if you do not use any “interesting things”, you won’t be interesting. Just using one makes you more interesting. Use a few, and you’re probably one of the best presenters in your team.

Every time I present, after I’ve prepared my content, I use a highlighter pen to highlight the “interesting things” – the interactive bits, stories, humour etc.

Any sections which aren’t highlighted are therefore not interesting, so I can…

• Insert something interesting (this could be as simple as stimulating interactivity by asking “before I go on, are there any questions?”); and/or
• Remove some of the boring content
• Change the order of my presentation, to break up the boring block etc

Action point

For your next presentation, whether it be an informal team briefing or a formal conference keynote, highlight the interesting bits in your content, ensuring you have some at the start, end and sprinkled throughout. Reduce any un-highlighted sections, by using some of the techniques above.

Your audience – and you – will be grateful you did…

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