How to win over your presentation audience

 

The Pitch Avatar team offers tips to help you engage your audience and leave a positive impression during your presentation.

We hope you understand that it’s impossible to cover all the nuances of presenter-audience interactions in a short text. However, we’ve highlighted the main mistakes and successful strategies. The overarching motto for presenters and speakers should be: Behave professionally. Now, let’s delve into the details:

1. Put yourself on the same level as your audience

A common mistake presenters make is incorrect positioning of themselves and their audience. Some speakers adopt a condescending tone: “I am the authority, the master, and the expert! Listen to me and immortalize my words in gold on granite!” Others, conversely, come across as almost begging: “You’re so cool and wealthy! Why not spend a small fraction of your riches on our product/idea?” Then there are those who act as if the audience isn’t even there.

Obviously, all of these approaches are mistakes. The right approach is to always communicate with your audience as equals, avoiding arrogance or ingratiation, regardless of whether your audience is less experienced or more knowledgeable than you.

How can you achieve this? It’s simple – practice with recordings and in front of an audience. Surely, you have critically-minded colleagues, friends, and family members who can act as your test audience. Their reactions and reviewing the rehearsal recordings will help you make the necessary adjustments.

2. Choose your words carefully

In an attempt to showcase their professionalism, many presenters overload their text with complex terms and professional jargon. However, potential clients might not be as deeply immersed in the topic. What reaction will they have to words and phrases they don’t understand? Of course, frustration. Nobody likes feeling ignorant. Conversely, some presenters try to “dumb down” everything to a near school-level explanation, which also results in negative reactions. 

So, what’s the right approach? Most people attending your presentation have some understanding of the topic. You don’t need to explain every nuance and detail. Those who need clarification will ask. Keep in mind that the depth of knowledge varies among attendees. Therefore, use special and slang terms only when absolutely necessary.

3. Create a recognizable and memorable style

Your audience should remember you, and creating your unique presentation style helps achieve this. Think of how the character in the movie “Bruce Almighty” searched for his signature phrase for his reports. You need something similar for your presentations. How exactly you do this is up to you—it’s your unique style. 

But we won’t leave you without advice on this topic. Finding your unique presentation style is closely linked to creating your distinct image. Today, this process is greatly enhanced by artificial intelligence. Naturally, we recommend using our specialized presenter AI assistant, Pitch Avatar. With its help, you can easily create a virtual host image, whether based on a real person or entirely fictional. This virtual host can conduct online presentations anytime, in any language, and in any style, leaving you with the pleasant task of counting leads and closing deals.

Good luck, successful presentations and high incomes to everyone!

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Source: Pitch Avatar Blog