Dig Deep
Get personal, be vulnerable, share.
Tell a personal story that reveals who you are – and not just the glowing parts.
Open up. Be real. Dig deep.
You will be rewarded with your audience’s attention and admiration.
The Eyes Have It!
“Vision trumps all other senses.”
Those are the words of Dr. John Medina, a renowned molecular biologist. I have become fascinated by his book, “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.”
According to Medina’s work, we remember pictures. He claims that if we hear a piece of information without a picture as visual support, then three days later we’ll remember only 10% of it. However, if we hear a piece of information with a picture to support it, then three days later we’ll remember 65%.
Medina also asserts that we remember pictures much better than we remember text, because our brains see words as lots of little pictures, making the reading part less efficient than simply looking at a picture.
The implication for business presentations? Images beat words. Those dense text slides you’re using or seeing might not be providing the “visual support” benefit you were hoping they would have.
Try images – pictures, simple graphics, or even one-word slides. It takes some forethought and advance planning, but your audience will better remember what you were trying to impart to them. And if you spare them the multi-bullet-pointed slides that have become ubiquitous, they are likely thank you!
Slow it Down!
Slow it down, folks.
Take time to look at your audience, really see them (and gauge their engagement).
Take time to ask questions of your audience (and build rapport, gain understanding).
Talk to them, not at them.
Breathe, pause, relax. Seriously, breathe. Inhale. Exhale.
Be careful not to be so anxious to motor through your presentation and “just get through it” that you forget to connect with your audience and be yourself.
Just slow it down a little.
Attention & Retention Made Simple
I have two simple tips for you that are not brain surgery, but they do come from a doctor whose research focuses on the brain.
For my upcoming book, I have been digging into attention spans – how they work and how long they last. After all, if we’re talking to people, we want to make sure we’re grabbing and holding onto their attention. One of the more interesting books I took a look at was “Brain Rules” by Dr. John Medina. Medina distills his research down to 12 “brain rules” and two of them caught my eye.
The first was that people don’t pay attention to boring things. We pay attention to things like emotions and threats. Hmmm, that’s probably why storytelling is so effective and also why being able to identify your audience’s “pain” works well to grab their attention!
The second was that people need repetition to remember. People need to be exposed and re-exposed to material you want them to retain. This is not at all surprising to those of us who can remember almost every advertising jingle from our childhood!
So, you see? These tips are not brain surgery. You know both of these little fun facts. But the question for you to ask yourself is, do you consider these facts when you speak and present? Do you check yourself for how boring/interesting your material is and ask yourself what you can do and how you can package it, to make it more compelling? Do you build in some repetition of the important tidbits you need your audience to remember?
I’ll leave the rest to you, but I just wanted to share some fun summertime food for thought!
Smile
Smile.
Yep. That’s the tip of the month. Smile.
Smiling changes your delivery. It will put you at ease, and your audience will have more confidence in you – as well as a more favorable impression. Of all the body language tips I could give you, this one is quite possibly the best one. And the easiest.
So yep, just remember to smile. That’s all.
