General Presentation Tips & Tricks
- Start with the basics. Before introducing audience response into your presentation, create a slideshow that is truly dynamic. Don’t clutter slides with too much data or imagery. Keep it simple, structured and significant. Make sure that your point is clear and supported by reasoning. Don’t plan on rattling off statistics to make your argument – get to the heart of the matter with fewer slides.
- Do your research. While audience response systems are an innovative way to increase interaction and engagement, ask someone who has used them before. Perhaps you will discover some practical techniques or reduce some of your concerns. Our training teams provide free online training sessions to make sure you are familiar with our technology ahead of time. Sign up for free online training.
- Plan ahead. Keep in mind the goal of your presentation and model content and questions in order to meet your desired objectives in the given amount of time. To assess and compare understanding throughout the presentation, ask the same questions at the beginning and end of your presentations. However, if you do not know what to expect during your session, TurningPoint allows you to insert interactive slides on-the-fly in case other topics and questions arise.
- Practice. If you’ve never used a response system before, or even if you have, practice your presentation. While TurningPoint is the industry’s leading response system due to its ease of use, operate your response system at least once so you become familiar with it and feel secure using it during your actual presentation. Run through the content so that you will be able to fully address questions or concerns from participants.
- Introduce your audience to the response system. Although response systems are becoming common place, your participants may not know how the system works. Walk your audience through the process and explain the benefits of using a response system for both presenters and participants. Make your audience feel comfortable responding.
- Be aware of participant attention span. Know your audience – most participants find it difficult to sit through a 60 minute lecture without becoming distracted. In fact, expect your participants to start zoning out around the seven minute mark. In order to keep your audience engaged, break up your content. Using TurningPoint, you can easily insert question slides throughout your presentation. Including short bursts of questions mixed in with other, more traditional material will help keep your students or participants engaged and focused.
- Involve your audience. Participants want to be part of the experience – not just passive observers. The success of such shows as “American Idol®” and “Dancing with the Stars” where millions of viewers vote for their favorite contestant have confirmed the popularity of audience polling. Make your next class or seminar an interactive experience. Ask, insightful engaging questions that could lead to further discussion or spark impromptu conversations. Or run a fun individual or team competition that would test knowledge learned from the presentation.
- Gather data. While TurningPoint provides an interactive presentation, it also functions as a valuable data collection tool. Traditionally presenters ask for a show of hands, which may or may not inspire honest feedback. Gather anonymous data and run reports to pull out demographic or personal information. Ask review questions to affirm that the class can move on or needs to re-examine the session. The possibilities are endless.
