It does not feel good when you start looking at the people listening to your presentation and see them feeling sleepy or bored. Their facial expression might make you lose your motivation to keep going. Instead of feeling bad about seeing that the audience feels bored, you need to find a way to prevent it from happening.
Start with something shocking
You need to start your presentation with something that will shock a lot of people. It can be a controversial statement or a profoundly philosophical question. It can also be a sound effect that catches attention. You can use any strategy that appeals to the listeners so that they will feel awake.
Tell a story
People don’t want to listen to speeches if it seems like they already heard the information somewhere. It is worse if the information is readily available online; people would rather stay home and search for it. However, if you tell a personal story, it is something unique. They will find it interesting, and they won’t bat an eyelid until you finish it. The story does not even have to be yours if you have nothing unusual to share. You can find a story of someone you know, and see if the point of the story relates to what you are going to present.
Give a chance to go off script
When you are presenting for several minutes, it could get boring at some point. You might even get bored yourself. As you plan your presentation, you need to give yourself space to go off script. During this part of the presentation, you can even say something irrelevant to your presentation. You will then sound authentic, and it makes people feel engaged.
Use vocal dynamics
The worst thing that a presenter could do is be monotonous. It will make people feel sleepy and bored. You need to change your voice depending on what you are saying. You can raise your voice when you are presenting something that angers or excites you. Presenting in public also involves a little bit of acting, and you need to use your acting skills to your advantage.
Vary your pacing
You can go fast at some points of your presentation, and you can go slow again later. You can try moving quickly if you are presenting something boring and factual. However, if you are trying to hammer critical lessons and values home, you should slow down. You will also appear dramatic when you try to slow your pace down.
Be interactive
You can have games and activities involving the people. Let them know that you might call on someone randomly in the middle of your speech. People don’t want to feel humiliated, so they will listen with intent to what you are saying.
Use presentation folders
Some listeners feel tired of listening to you, but they still want to know what you are saying. To help them, you can choose folder printing. When you present the information using the said folder, it is okay even if they did not catch everything you said. They will also not get off track when they decide to listen to you again.
No one wants their listeners to feel sleepy, and if you want them to feel engaged, you need to plan your presentation thoroughly.
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