Six Ways to Make Your Presentations Dynamic, Spellbinding, and Memorable

All of you who own a wellness business will at some time offer a presentation of some type. Others of you are striving to make presentations part of what you offer in your business. Personally, I LOVE giving presentations! To me, it’s a high, standing up in front of the audience and challenging them with ideas and ways to think differently. Don’t you want YOUR audience to be at the edge of their seats, following your every word with anticipation and excitement? Then you want to at least include these six ways to make YOUR next presentatio DYNAMIC and one they’ll remember: #1– Kick it off with a FANTASTIC opening! First impressions are invaluable, and in a presentation this is priceless. It sets the stage (no pun intended) for how well you’re received and catches your audience’s attention. My last speech in Toastmasters opened with a powerful description to the audience of the visual of them standing in front of THOUSANDS of people in the audience, enthralled with their every word. And I did it with a great deal of energy to catch their attention! Did it work! Oh yea. #2 – Create order. I see this all the time, where someone gets up to present and there’s just no order! When you give a presentation, you start by telling your audience what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then summarize what you’ve just said. Just as you should have a memorable opening, your ending should be memorable, too. In my speech, which was on this very topic I’m writing about today, I ended with something they will all remember. (I’ll share what that was, below.) #3 – Do the unexpected! In my last speech, before I gave this third step, I dropped down below the podium. When I popped up, I said… “do the unexpected.” Why? People will REMEMBER what they don’t expect! You want to make an impact. You want it to be DYNAMIC, remember. You want them to REMEMBER your presentation! #4 – Tell stories. I’m working on this one, so that my presentations are more DYNAMIC. In fact, I just told a story about World Champion public speaker Jim Key and his story about how he keeps a file of stories, so as he creates new presentations, he can look at his file to see what stories will fit his talk. Stories help people relate to what you’re talking about and makes your points more memorable. #5 – Be prepared. This is HUGE! You can never, ever, ever practice enough. And just when you think you have, practice more! And once you feel you have it down really well, practice on someone. Any family member or friend will work. You’ll be amazed at how different the words come out when you have another person listening. You also want to practice so your timing is ideal. In Toastmasters we are always timed, and it’s an excellent way to help speakers discipline themselves. There’s nothing worse for a speaker than to have someone speaking before you and go over in time, resulting in you having to cut YOUR speech down! And it’s just inconsiderate to go over your planned time in a presentation. People stop listening and start fidgeting to leave. Then you’ve lost them and their impression of you has just dropped to the floor. #6 – Be fearless! Never mind if you think you’ll look silly yelling, screaming, running or jumping. Your audience will love it! Well, provided it fits with your talk, of course. In my last presentation, when I came to this part, I literally ran around the room! People were talking about it as we left the meeting. Think about it: what do you REALLY have to lose? You don’t want this happening in your presentation: I was at a professional meeting one year and in a session, I started to hear this sound. It took me awhile, as with those around me, to realize it was a woman sitting in the front row, with her head back, SNORING! Don’t put your audience to sleep, keep them at the edge of their seats, following every word, wanting more. Let me know when you do YOUR next presentation and if you use any of these tips.