Top 10 Ways to Capture an Audience’s Attention When Presenting

Do You Know How to Capture an Audience’s Attention When Presenting?
While the context varies, we typically present at work to shift an audience’s perspective. We want to influence. We want to educate. We want to motivate.

None of this can happen until you awaken your audience and get their attention. Attention is all about relevance, timing, and interest. Your audience will pay attention when they are more interested in what you are saying than other things that can grab their attention.

10 Ways to Capture an Audience’s Attention When Presenting
If you want to capture an audience’s attention for your next business presentation at work, make sure that you surprise them, do something unusual, and do SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

When the audience knows what you are about to say, or how you are about to say it, they’re ahead of you. Gradually their minds move on to something else.  Here are 10 simple tips to awaken your audience by deviating from the norm:

1. Catch the audience off guard by sweeping them into active participation.
   
2. Employ a dramatic gesture at an unexpected moment.
   
3. Reveal an interesting prop, or use an object in the room in an unusual way.
   
4. Tell a story about an experience you had that reveals something personal about you.
   
5. Move with a sudden dynamic burst.
   
6. Release a sound from your voice heretofore unheard.
   
7. Make a percussive sound by clapping, stomping a foot or hitting your hand on a table.
   
8. Use an unusual facial gesture.
   
9. Share something different or provocative.
   
10. Stop and be silent.

The Bottom Line
When your audience knows what to expect, they pay less attention because less effort is required to follow along. Are you putting your audience in different situations that make them pay attention?

To learn more about being a better presenter at work, download How to Present to Senior Executives Like a Rock Star