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Fearless PresentationsAuthor: Doug Staneart
Want to eliminate public speaking fear and become a more poised and confident presenter and speaker? Fearless Presentations is the answer. This podcast is based on our famous two-day presentation skills class offered in cities all over the world. Each week, we offer free public speaking tips that help you develop the skill to present with poise when you deliver presentations. This is the fastest, easiest way to eliminate public speaking fear. Language: en Genres: Business, Careers, Entrepreneurship Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Make Your Presentations More Interesting to Your Audiences
Monday, 9 February, 2026
If you want to be a fantastic speaker, you have to be able to make any topic really interesting -- even if you aren't that excited about it. So on this episode, I'm going to give you nine things that I call "Impact Ideas". They are different types of evidence that you can use to make your point more compelling or interesting.This is a continuation of the series we started a few weeks called the Presentation Skills Checklist. And over the last couple of weeks, we covered the first three items on that checklist, (1) how to know your audience better, (2) how to design a catchy title, and (3) how to create a presentation outline focused on what the audience wants. Last week, we started covering the fourth step in the checklist -- offer compelling evidence to prove each point. And, on that episode, we focused entirely on examples and stories, because they are, by far, your most credible piece of evidence.So, if you haven't listened to that episode yet, make sure to. I cover a few secrets about how to be a better storyteller and how to use stories to reduce nervousness and make your audience want to really listen to you.Today, I'm going to give you nine other types of evidence. By the way, the reason why there are nine is that every presentation and every audience is different. I covered stories last week because it doesn't matter what you are speaking about or who is in your audience, a compelling real-life example of what you are talking about can add clarity. These other nine things, though, can be hit or miss. It really depends on the topic and the audience.Let me give you the nine things quickly1) Audience Participation: Get feedback from your audience, ask them questions, or get them to talk to each other.2) Analogies: Compare something complicated to something more common place to make it easier to understand.3) Anecdotes: A funny story or a story that makes a point is often more memorable than just a bullet point.4) Demonstration: When you show your audience what you are trying to tell them, they will often have more clarity.5) Quote: A testimonial from an expert or client at the right time can add credibility.6) Sample: Something that your audience can see, touch, and feel has more impact than just a description of the item.7) Name Drop: If you don’t have a quote, you can name drop others who agree with you.8) Non-PowerPoint Visual Aid: A spontaneous flip-chart drawing, a poster, or board will often have a greater impact on the audience than an image on a slideshow that is more temporary.9) Showmanship: Never underestimate the entertainment value of your presentation.So, now that we know the different items, let's explore how they could do very well in one type of audience and backfire i another. Let's take Audience Participation for instance. If you are in an intimate 10 person room, getting the audience to respond is much easier. But, if you are speaking to 100 people, now you have to deal with extra microphones, and your audience will be more self-conscious. So, they may not respond.Or, if you insert a funny anecdote into a training session, it will likely get people to laugh. If you do the same thing in a finance report, it could really backfire.So, on this episode, I'll walk through each of these items, and show you ways that you can easily insert one or more of them into your presentation to really elevate that presentation and how to choose the best impact idea for the best topic and audience.Show Notes: How to Make a Speech More Interesting: 7 Presentation Ideas(https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/7-stellar-presentation-enhancers-that-add-impac
