Keeping Your Audience Involved During Powerpoint Presentations

Writen by Thomson Chemmanoor

Giving a good PowerPoint presentation is a tough job, but getting the audience involved in it is even harder! It is only through some tactics and methods, can you get the audience to get involved in your PowerPoint presentation. So try them out and see the effects!

The first and foremost thing to remember when making a presentation is to make the audience engaged and listen to you by asking them good questions. Make it a point to ask the audience a challenging question in the middle of the presentation, and wait for the response. If someone calls out an answer, repeat it for other's benefits

Try getting more than one response, as this really wakes up an audience, and makes them more focused on your presentation. If at all you come into a speaking situation wherein the audience has been lulled into a passive state by some previous presentation, you can create an immediate impact by starting some interesting question. You could ask them a question like how many people drive more than ten miles to work everyday, if you are starting a presentation on telecommuting.

If you ask a question, always make sure to raise your own hand to encourage a response of a show of hands. Another thing to remember to get the audience involved in the presentation is to make sure you give your presentation in their language. Meaning, it is better to use simple words as if you use words with five or more syllables, you will only end up in making the audience walk away with a completely different message from what you were trying to communicate. If the audience cannot understand what you are presenting, how will they get involved in the presentation?

You could also start your PowerPoint presentation by getting the audience to think right away. Make them think about, or perhaps enact something related to the presentation you are about to make. To keep your audience with you throughout the presentation, organize the presentation in an easy to understand format. Limit the main points to three or four, as most people do not remember more than four points at a time. Most of the times, the PowerPoint presentation you give will be related to selling some product to the audience. As most of us tend to become uncomfortable with the selling process, the presentation tends to dwindle off at the end, when they should instead, close with a clear and bold call to action slide.

A call for action is a term used in advertising wherein it tells the audience what you would like them to do. Therefore, in case you are making a fundraising presentation, the call-to-action slide should ask the audience for financial commitment. If it is a new project you are presenting, then the slide should tell the managers the exact steps they need to take to help you start the wheels rolling. A well-designed and simple PowerPoint slide takes the burden off you as the audience gets involved reading whatever is on the slide.

Thomson Chemmanoor a powerpoint background template designer who runs the following websites. http://www.articlenetworks.com a article submission site and Web design company http://www.digitallabz.com