Respect your audience

February 26, 2020

Respect your audience, have a conversation, not a presentation

Do you have a presentation to prepare for an audience? Well, you are not the only one in this situation, but what’s your plan for it? You definitely have something important to communicate, and a presentation is the best way to offer information to an audience in an easy-to-digest and comprehensive manner. Of course, just putting together a PowerPoint presentation will not guarantee that you will actually get this information to your audience. If you're not creative then chances are that some of your audience may fall asleep during your presentation, if not, they may be bored stiff. If you really respect your audience, then transform your presentation into a conversation with them.

The back of a man addressing an audience of university level students.

Use your presentation slides to demonstrate the main ideas, but use your conversational skills to engage the audience and make the process more interesting. This is even more important when talking about having a presentation in front of students. As a teacher, digital presentations can be extremely helpful in the learning process. However, just giving your students information in the form of bullet points and reading each slide to them instead of having a conversation will not just bore them, but will also make your class a waste of time. If the mind and attention of the students is not stimulated in any way by active learning, the received information will not settle. The student will walk away from your class not having actually learnt anything at all. It doesn’t matter if you have to address a group of students, co-workers, or employees, the best way to make a presentation useful is to have a conversation with your audience, not just read the slides. The presentation itself is only there to underline your main ideas, to help you to guide your speech during the presentation. This energy and involvement is the best way to make sure your audience pays attention to what you have to say, retains the provided information, and has a heightened level of interest. If you feel that the atmosphere is dropping during your presentation, it's a good idea to throw in a joke or a fun fact to grab the attention of those listening to you.

A middle age man standing on a stage and addressing his audience.

If you care about your success and reputation, and if you want to show your audience that you care about and respect them, do show them that you want to talk to them and engage them. Make sure they don't have to go through the ordeal of a boring presentation. Ask questions, encourage them to share their ideas, opinions and experiences based on the ideas and information presented by your slides. Make the process interesting and interactive and the results will exceed your expectations. The reason people use presentations is to make classes, meetings, and public events more interesting. Show everybody that you have mastered this ability by communicating with your audience and getting the very best from your presentation.


A group of young professionals having a discussion in a classroom.

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