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You can go at your own pace
You can re-read things that you found confusing
You can skip sections that don't interest you
You can see when a new topic begins (because of section titles or white space)
You can make notes
You can file it away for future reference.
None of these options are available to your listeners. To
audience, your ideas are just sounds in ether, so to make up for lack of these advantages, you need to provide signposts to let us know where you are. Visual aids can help, but remember to include phrases like "Now, let's move on to point #2", "That's all for background, now let's move on to current status," or "Let me just wrap up." These little phrases take very little time but do wonders for helping your audience stay with you.
4) Having complex, hard-to-read visual aids.
Your visual aids should be just that--aids. They should HELP you get your message across. Complicated, crowded, hard-to-read visual aids compete with you for your audience's attention. Keep them simple enough that listeners have a reason to stick around and listen to YOU.
3) Not having an obvious, logical structure.
Meandering from point to point can be very frustrating to a listener. Have your information laid out in a logical structure and share that structure with listeners up front so they know where you're headed.
2) Not making POINT clear up front.
There's nothing more frustrating to a listener than to sit there thinking, "OK, so what's your point?!" Remember, you know your material cold. The listeners don't. Sometimes you have to smack them between eyes with point, as in, "If you only remember one thing from my presentation, I want it to be __________________." Don't wait until end to present your point with a dramatic flourish. Make your point right up front and spend rest of time supporting that point.
And #1 content management mistake. . .
1) Including too much information.
It's tempting to want to cram all information possible into heads of your listeners, but ironically, it's possible that more information you include, less they learn. Think of a rainstorm. When rain is pouring down, much of it runs off before it can soak into soil. The water is wasted because there was simply too much of it to take in. Whereas, a slow, steady rain has a chance to soak in thoroughly. It's far better to include half as much information and have them retain most of it, than to squeeze in every imaginable tidbit and have 90% of information wind up as runoff.
All of these problems are common. Luckily, with awareness and a few simple adjustments, they are easily overcome.
Melissa Lewis turns traditional thinking about public speaking upside down to give people more comfort, confidence and charisma in front of groups. She is a former comic actress, a certified facilitator of SPEAKING CIRCLES(R), president-elect of the National Speakers Association Kansas City Chapter and author of the soon-to-be-released book, Upside Down Speaking. For more information call (913) 341-1241 or visit www.upsidedownspeaking.com.
