The science of presenting (Part 1)

 Jan 21, 2015

Burn this information into your presentation practice

Why do people attend your presentations and your training courses? And how can you make them more appealing, more impactful, more engaging, and more memorable?

People attend presentations and training programs for any number of reasons. That is, they want to buy, learn, experience, participate be entertained or because their boss made them.

So I wanted to share with you a piece from one of our presentation skills training courses. This is part one of three and this post will examine the area of adult learning principles in the context of your audience members. The following learning principles are important to keep in mind when planning and conducting training, presenting or facilitating activities for adults.

Motivation

Audience members must be motivated before they will learn. Learning requires your audience to take action. Often, this action is internal and is initiated by the audience members themselves. They freely choose to act or not to act – to do something to acquire the knowledge, attitude, or skill you are presenting. You cannot motivate your audience members, maybe temporarily, keeping it real; your audience members have to motivate themselves.

If I can’t motivate my audience members, then what can I do?

A motive is a desire in response to a need, which causes a person to act. A study by the American Productivity Centre says,

Since motivation comes from within, a worker (student) is more motivated to perform well if he or she understands what is going on. The more I understand what is going on, why it is going on, how it affects me, and what’s in it for me, the more I will tend to support…its goals.

How do I help my audience members become motivated?

Show your audience members, ‘what’s it in for me?’ Don’t assume they feel your presentation, class or subject is useful and valuable to them. Show them the value or use. Also, remember that what’s valuable for one person may not be valuable for another. It then becomes your job to show the whole class how every experience can be beneficial.

  • Use the learning itself as the motivator. When your presentation sessions are rich and rewarding, when audience members feel they have enlarged the limits of their minds, when they can see useful application for the things they’ve just heard, then they’ll be motivated to act. Motivation is internal, but you have the responsibility to provide a positive learning climate.
  • Make presentations objectives clear when setting expectations. Then challenge audience members to achieve them. For some, having a goal to attain is the motivation to attain it.

This is not a complete listing of motivators and motivating techniques. Such a list does not, and cannot, exist- because each person is different, with unique qualities, experience levels, needs and desires, and so each will be motivated differently. Some will be motivated entirely by knowing “what’s in it for me?” while others need a complex array of motivators.

Utilisation

The audience must see a use for the material being presented. Often you present material which is ‘background’ or ‘foundation’ material. Well and good, but do make certain they realise the material is relevant and that you intend to build on it. Audience members must see the connection between your ‘background’ material and the solid, usable applications of it in their world.

Show your audience how the material can be used.

  • First, paint the ‘big picture’. They need to see how the material you are presenting relates to them. Show how all the material has application to them. Let them know that it’s not just interesting but useful.
  • Watch out for too many ‘war stories’. These may be interesting to you and fun to tell, but are they practical for the audience members? You need to find the balance of using just the right number of war stories. If the story brings perspective, then go for it, but don’t use it just because it’s your favourite.
  • Much of the material in your presentation will fall into two categories - ‘need-to-know’ and nice-to-know’. Many times your audience members won’t be able to discriminate between the two. You will have to understand what material is background and what’s critical to them. This will enable you to cut information if time is running short.
  • The ‘how can I use this?’ type of questions are going to be in the minds of your audience throughout the class. The answers should be on your mind and part of your presentation.

Stimulus

Learning is stimulated through the five senses. Your mind, like your muscles, becomes active when the bodily senses are stimulated. The audience members who come to your presentations are no different. Their sensory equipment must be activated before their minds will realise and accept the facts, concepts and skills you wish them to learn.

There are few stimuli that will activate all five senses simultaneously. Since you’ll have to select among these senses, it will be useful to know that some are much more vital to the learning process than others. Here’s a breakdown of the influences of the senses of the general population.

| Sight = 75% | Hearing = 13% | Touch = 6% | Smell = 3% | Taste = 3% |

Clearly, visual stimuli should have a large part in the learning process, but you must also realise that the more senses students use while learning, the faster and more efficiently they will learn. When a presenter uses words alone, audience members retain some of the facts. They retain 3-1/4 times more information if the presenter uses pictures alone, but they retain 6-1/2 times if the presenter uses both words and pictures.

To stimulate learning through senses:

  • Use visual stimuli whenever possible to get your point across. Audience members remember more of what they see.
  • Appeal to several senses simultaneously for the most efficient learning.
  • Use strong stimuli for greater response: vivid pictures, loud noises and bright colours.
  • Vary the stimuli. Repetition of even a strong stimulus becomes monotonous and weakens the desired response.

A stimulating presentation or an effective training session requires more preparation. If the subject is worth remembering and worth teaching, then it's worth presenting it in a way that it will be remembered long after its conclusion, long after the boardroom or training room is empty.

Click here to read Part 2.

How do your Excel skills stack up?   

Test Now  

About the Author:

Stan Thomas  

Stan has been working in a professional training capacity for over 15 years and possesses a wealth of knowledge in the areas of adult education gained through both formal study and practical training delivery both nationally and internationally. As the Professional Development Manager for New Horizons Melbourne, Stan is responsible for the delivery, quality control and enhancement of existing and new programs at New Horizons.

Read full bio
top
Back to top