4 Ways To Make Your Presentation More Interesting
Summary
TLDRIn this 'English for Professionals' lesson, Derek shares four techniques to make presentations more engaging from the outset. He advises starting with a 'why' narrative using personal anecdotes to explain the relevance of the topic. Derek also suggests posing rhetorical questions to provoke thought, presenting surprising facts or statistics for impact, and using 'imagine' statements to stimulate the audience's emotions. He emphasizes connecting these elements to the presentation's objective and encourages viewers to apply these methods and share their experiences.
Takeaways
- π― Start presentations with a focus on 'why' rather than 'what' to engage your audience.
- π Use personal anecdotes to connect with your audience and explain the relevance of your topic.
- π€ Incorporate rhetorical questions to provoke thought and align with your presentation's objective.
- π Share surprising facts or statistics that are relevant and unknown to your audience to capture their interest.
- π΅οΈββοΈ Make your audience imagine scenarios to create an emotional connection and maintain their attention.
- βΈ After asking rhetorical questions or presenting facts, pause briefly to enhance the impact.
- π Always relate back to your initial anecdote, fact, or question throughout the presentation for continuity.
- π£οΈ Keep your anecdotes short, interesting, and directly connected to your presentation's goal.
- π Choose rhetorical questions that are directly linked to your presentation's aim to effectively engage your audience.
- π Use shocking or surprising facts to highlight issues or changes that are central to your presentation's message.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the lesson presented by Derek?
-The main focus of the lesson is to show four different ways to make presentations more interesting right from the start.
What is the first technique Derek suggests to engage the audience?
-The first technique Derek suggests is to focus more on the 'why' than the 'what', by telling a personal anecdote related to the presentation's objective.
What should a personal anecdote in a presentation be like?
-A personal anecdote should be short, interesting, and connected to the reason for the presentation. It should lead to the main point and be used to persuade, convince, inform, encourage, help, show, or illustrate a point to the audience.
How can rhetorical questions be used effectively in a presentation?
-Rhetorical questions can capture the audience's interest by making them think about the topic. They should be relevant to the presentation's objective and followed by a pause to create impact.
What is the purpose of using rhetorical questions in a presentation?
-The purpose of using rhetorical questions is to make a point and engage the audience's thought process, ensuring the questions are connected to the presentation's aim.
What is an example of a rhetorical question Derek provides in the script?
-Examples of rhetorical questions Derek provides include: 'What's the biggest problem that family-run businesses face today?' and 'Why do we have to improve the quality of our products?'
How can sharing surprising facts or statistics make a presentation more interesting?
-Sharing surprising facts or statistics can make a presentation more interesting by capturing the audience's attention with new and unexpected information that is relevant to the presentation's objective.
What is the advice Derek gives for choosing a fact or statistic to share in a presentation?
-Derek advises that the fact or statistic should be something the audience doesn't already know, should be connected to the presentation's aim, and should be amazing, surprising, or shocking enough to capture their interest.
What is the final technique Derek suggests to engage the audience in a presentation?
-The final technique Derek suggests is to tell the audience to imagine something, using the word 'imagine' to help the audience visualize the scene and experience certain feelings and emotions.
Why is it important to refer back to the initial technique used in the presentation?
-Referring back to the initial technique, such as an anecdote, surprising fact, rhetorical question, or imagined situation, helps maintain audience interest and provides a common thread throughout the presentation.
What does Derek encourage viewers to do after trying the presentation techniques?
-Derek encourages viewers to return and share their experiences in the comments, and also to suggest other areas of business English he can help with.
Outlines
π Engaging Presentations with Personal Anecdotes and Rhetorical Questions
In this segment, Derek introduces four techniques to make presentations more captivating from the outset. The first method is to emphasize the 'why' behind the presentation topic rather than the 'what.' This involves sharing a personal anecdote that is brief, engaging, and relevant to the presentation's goal. Anecdotes should be connected to the presentation's objective and can include experiences from work, personal life, or even a book read during a holiday. The second technique is the use of rhetorical questions, which are posed to provoke thought or highlight a point without expecting an answer. These questions should be linked to the presentation's aim and can pique the audience's interest. Derek suggests pausing after asking a rhetorical question to enhance its impact.
π Captivating Audiences with Surprising Facts and Imaginative Scenarios
The third technique Derek discusses is sharing surprising or shocking facts or statistics that are new to the audience and relevant to the presentation's purpose. These facts should be astonishing enough to hold the audience's attention and should be followed by a pause to maximize their impact. The final technique involves asking the audience to imagine a scenario, which helps them visualize and feel certain emotions, thereby maintaining their interest. Derek provides examples of imagining a negative customer service experience or a positive work environment to illustrate this point. He concludes with a tip to refer back to the anecdote, fact, question, or imagined scenario at key points in the presentation to sustain audience engagement and provide a cohesive thread throughout.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Presentation
π‘Anecdote
π‘Rhetorical Question
π‘Statistic
π‘Imagination
π‘Interest
π‘Objective
π‘Engagement
π‘Relevance
π‘Subscribe
π‘Imagined Situation
Highlights
Four different ways to make presentations more interesting from the start
Subscribe to the channel and click the bell for new lesson notifications
Focus on the 'why' rather than the 'what' to engage your audience
Use personal anecdotes to explain the relevance and importance of the topic
Keep anecdotes short, interesting, and connected to the presentation goal
Use phrases like 'persuade', 'convince', 'inform', 'encourage', 'help', 'show' after anecdotes
Examples of personal anecdotes to start a presentation
Capture interest with rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions should be connected to the presentation objective
Pause after rhetorical questions to increase impact
Share amazing, surprising, or shocking facts or statistics
Facts and statistics must be new, relevant, and impactful
Pause after sharing facts or statistics for emphasis
Use the word 'imagine' to engage the audience's imagination
Imagination techniques help the audience experience feelings and emotions
Examples of using 'imagine' to create vivid scenarios
Refer back to anecdotes, facts, or imagined situations throughout the presentation
Encouragement to try out the techniques and share feedback
Invitation to subscribe, like, and share the lesson for more business English help
Mention of the free vocabulary email list for additional learning resources
Transcripts
hi everybody in this lesson i'm going to
show you
four different ways to make your
presentations
more interesting right from the start
welcome back to english for
professionals i'm derek and i'm here
with another short lesson for you
busy people before we get started just a
quick reminder to subscribe to my
channel
hit the red button and don't forget to
click on the little bell
that way you'll be notified every time i
upload a new lesson
and now let's start the lesson four
different ways
to make your presentations more
interesting right from the start
the first technique you might want to
try is to focus more on the why
than the what most of the time your
audience will already know what the
topic of your presentation is
so don't start with the usual today i'm
going
to talk about instead focus more on the
why
tell your audience why this topic is
relevant
and important by telling them a personal
anecdote
a personal anecdote is a short story
about something interesting
you experience it could be about a
conversation you had in work
something that happened when you were on
holiday a problem you discovered
or an idea you came up with remember to
keep it short
interesting and make sure it's connected
to the reason you're talking to your
audience
the goal of your presentation and when
you've come to the main point of your
anecdote you can say something like this
so why am i telling you this story well
the goal or objective of my presentation
is to and then you can use words like
this
persuade you to convince you to
inform you about encourage you to
help you show you and so on
a personal anecdote could start like
this
three months ago i had a meeting with my
boss and
about a year ago i discovered a major
problem in our marketing strategy
and last summer i was on my way to work
one day when
on my last holiday i was lying on the
beach reading a book by
and then include the author's name when
i started to think about
i remember when i started my first job i
was very nervous
and didn't know anybody
another technique which can capture the
interest of your audience
right from the start is to use
rhetorical questions
so what is a rhetorical question it's a
question we ask without expecting an
answer sometimes the answer is totally
obvious
and other times we just want to get the
audience thinking about the question
the whole idea of using this technique
is to make a point
and as with the personal anecdote it
must be connected to the objective of
your presentation
if you choose the right question or
questions it can really capture the
interest of your audience
and that's what you want isn't it here
are some examples
of rhetorical questions what's the
biggest problem that family-run
businesses face today
how often has your business tried to
find a more efficient way of doing
things
why do we have to improve the quality of
our products
why is this important why did we have
such a dramatic increase in sales in the
last quarter
a quick tip here when you've asked a
rhetorical question
pause for a couple of seconds before
continuing
that way your question has a greater
impact
the next technique i want to talk about
is to give an amazing
surprising or shocking fact or statistic
if you want to try this technique think
carefully about the fact or statistic
you want to share
it can't be something your audience
already know
it must be connected to the aim of your
presentation
and it should be amazing surprising or
shocking enough
to capture their interest here are some
examples
in the last 12 months employee turnover
has increased by 22
we've found that more than 30 percent of
our customers
are not satisfied with our product range
there are 14 million jobs directly
related to the mobile phone industry
as with rhetorical questions pause for a
second or two
after giving your factor statistic to
create a bigger
impact the final technique i want to
share is to tell your audience to
imagine something by using the word
imagine
you help the audience to use their
imagination
and start visualizing the scene
this technique can help your audience to
experience
certain feelings and emotions and should
capture their interest
here are two examples imagine you're in
a shop
and you ask a shop assistant for some
advice
the shop assistant looks bored and
miserable
and doesn't even make eye contact
imagine you arrive at work one day and
there's a buzz
in the air the offices seem brighter
everyone is in a positive mood and the
boss gives you a friendly smile when she
sees you
a final tip for you whichever of these
techniques you try
always refer back to the anecdote
surprising fact rhetorical question or
the
imagined situation always refer back to
it
at important points during your
presentation
that should keep your audience
interested and you'll have a common
thread
running through the whole presentation
that brings us to the end of this lesson
i hope you found it useful and i hope
you get the chance to try out some of
those techniques
in your next presentations in fact if
you do
come back and let me know in the
comments how it went
and also let me know in the comments if
there are any other areas of business
english
i can help you with if you like the
lesson
hit the like button and share with your
friends and colleagues don't forget to
subscribe to my channel if you haven't
done that already
and join my email list every two weeks i
send out my free vocabulary email
with additional business english words
from the news and
everyday english for you to learn the
link is in the description below
thanks a lot for watching and see you
soon
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