Thanks for stopping by and offering your insights, Olivia.

Share a little of yourself and make yourself vulnerable. Don;t tell me how many kids you have or what you did on the weekend, tell me how you used to stuff your presentations up and what you learned. Be vulnerable and your audience will take you of the pedestal they have put you on (simply because you are standing in the front of the room) and they will start being interested in you. Then you have their attention.

Cheers

darren Fleming
Australia’s Corporate Speech Coach

Olivia

I just now started following your blog. Thanks for the tips with this post. The macro-micro changes suggestions were particularly helpful.

Going through your speech and marking when you are making changes and telling stories ensures the best flow possible.

Mark

For those of you who’ve lost the passion or interest in the topic you have to present on, do try and rekindle your passion. What got you into the issue to being with?

If you never had any interest in it, or simply can’t rekindle any passion, try and find passion in explaining this “boring” topic in the most engaging way. There’s a great post by Geni Whitehouse (@evenanerd on Twitter) on how to do this http://www.evenanerd.com/1/post/2009/11/the-presentation-that-almost-made-a-liar-out-of-me.html. Geni has also written a free eBook called “How to make a boring subject interesting”. I haven’t read it yet but it looks like it’s packed with ideas.

Olivia

Great post, as usual.

I would amend your first rule slightly: “Talk about something your audience AND YOU are interested in.”

Nothing bores and disengages me faster than speakers who themselves seem bored and disengaged. The trick is to find why and how my audience might be interested in something that interests me.

Chris