What kind of impact do your presentations make and are your talks remembered by your audience?
Last month I had the opportunity to attend the Global Speakers Summit in Bali, Indonesia, where over 300 professional speakers from 35 countries gathered to connect and learn from each other. There were inspiring keynotes, thought-provoking panel discussions and valuable breakout sessions in addition to many wonderful and insightful conversations over 4 days of the Summit.
In this post, I’m sharing a few of my observations of what some speakers did to elevate their delivery and ensure they were remembered as highlights of the convention.
Be Different Or Be Gone
David Gomez is an energetic and inspiring speaker from Columbia who completely embodies his ‘be different’ message. His keynote was an entire performance including props, music, sound effects, video footage and a dramatic outfit change into a warrior costume which made quite an impact and reinforced his points.
He also reminded us of the power of leaving something physical with your audience so that they remember you well after your presentation.
Whilst you might not want to go to such extremes in your next business presentation, what could you do that is different, unexpected and leaves a lasting impression?
Learning With Laughter
Do you have to be funny as a professional speaker? Only if you want to get paid! This is a saying often shared in the world of professional speaking and it’s true that those who can entertain audiences with some relevant humour are certainly more memorable and more bookable.
This was expertly demonstrated by one of my favourite speakers, Tim Gard from the USA, who delivered the closing keynote. Even though I've heard his stories several times I still laughed pretty much non-stop throughout his talk. He uses carefully selected props to enhance the delivery and he doesn’t just tell the funny stories, he uses ‘story-showing’, reliving them on stage so that the audience can really feel his experience.
Even when you’re delivering a presentation in a business context, adding some humorous stories can help to build rapport, bring your message to life and make it more memorable. How could you bring a smile to your audience during your next presentation?
Power Up Your PowerPoint
Some of the speakers took their visuals to the next level to give the audience far more than a standard PowerPoint presentation. For example, in his keynote ‘From Clutter to Clarity’, Rainer Petek from Germany captivated us with his storytelling and metaphors, and used spectacular images of his mountain climbing experiences to really capture the mood. He used PowerPoint animation in an interesting way and incorporated subtle sound effects throughout such as the howling wind and rocks falling down the mountain to create the atmosphere.
Using visual aids to enhance your audience’s understanding of your message can really elevate your presentation, but it needs to be done with thought and care to ensure it enhances rather than detracts from your message. If you’re using PowerPoint in your next presentation, rather than starting with a template or a set of slides you’ve used before, think about ways in which you could take it to the next level to evoke the senses with imagery, animation, video or sound effects.
Rainer Petek on stage at GSS 2024
Elevating audience engagement
With attention spans reducing and audiences who are used to multitasking and using several different devices at once, presenters now have to work extra hard to keep people interested and engaged.
Anneli Blundell from Australia delivered a short and sharp breakout room session during which she shared 20 engagement techniques and expertly demonstrated them throughout the session. The various methods included using music, clapping, movement, laughter, questions, creating curiosity and mystery, interactive activities in pairs, bold gestures and vocal variety to draw us in and keep our attention. She also demonstrated the power of storytelling using different characters to make them more interesting and relatable.
Rather than designing and delivering your next presentation the way you’ve always done it, what new technique could you try that would help to energise, enthuse and engage your audience?
The Art of Authenticity
In her keynote, ‘From Skills to Superpowers’ Julia Grace from New Zealand shared that in a world filled with AI, filters and photoshop, the greatest skill we have is our authenticity. And she demonstrated it beautifully. She suggested identifying the key elements we would like our personal brand to be known for and consistently including that in every presentation we deliver; for example, with Julia you will always get Science, Humour, Honesty and Story and/or Song. She finished her talk by singing and playing a beautiful song she had written that reinforced her core message.
Consider what you’d like to be known for, what parts of you would you like to consistently share in your messaging. If one of the best ways to differentiate yourself is to lean into who you are, how could you incorporate more of ‘you’ in your future presentations?
Julia Grace on stage at GSS 2024
Mel Sherwood is a Presentation Skills and Personal Impact Speaker, Founder of The RED Effect™ and Author of ‘The Authority Guide to Pitching Your Business: How to make an impact and be remembered - in under a minute!’ She works with ambitious business leaders, teams and individuals who want to express themselves with confidence, credibility and charisma. An Australian based in Scotland, Mel is an award-winning speaker, author and coach and combines over 25 years’ experience in business with a background as an actor, presenter and singer.