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Michaela Ryan

Here's how to get your audience enthusing, not snoozing

HOLDING an audience's attention is difficult at the best of times. When you are delivering highly technical information, the challenge is all the greater. It is vital to express your content in a way that is engaging and memorable. To achieve this requires forethought and preparation.

Step one — structure it

For starters, create an introduction that is clear and engaging. Signpost the items you will be talking about during the speech so that the audience can easily follow the material. Your introduction should also give the audience some context. Explain why the content is important and relevant to them. For example: "Today I will be explaining the deductions you can no longer claim in company tax returns. This information is going to be implemented by all of us in the coming months in our compliance work."

The body: Think carefully about the order in which you will deliver your ideas. Studies have shown that an audience's attention peaks at the start and the end of a speech. So these are the times to make your most important points. Immediately after your introduction is a good time to make the point you most want your audience to remember.

For example: "Of all the accounting standards I will be talking about today, this one is the most important. It's the standard we most commonly come across in our everyday practice... "

As you structure your speech, try to order the material in a logical way. Similar points should be grouped together. And repetition should be avoided. It is annoying if you often say, "I will be talking about that in more detail later."

Also think about how you will link each topic. For example: "So, as you can see, CGT is a wide-ranging tax. But there is some good news for taxpayers. Rollover relief is granted in a number of situations. I will now take you through the four most common rollover events."

The finale: When you eventually make your conclusion, remember that, again, you have peak audience attention. It is a good time to sum up your most important points, or to leave the audience with a final, pressing thought to take away from your presentation.

Step two — make it relevant

When audience members think your speech is not relevant to them, they very easily switch off. For each point you make, it is vital to provide the audience with context. Explain why the issue is important.

Alternatively, explain, using a relevant example, the situation(s) in which the information is likely to be useful to them. For example: "This exception is relevant for those of you who work with clients in the financial services industry."

Anecdotes: Another way to make your speech interesting is to provide anecdotes. If you are talking about the Australian Securities and Investments Commission cracking down on corporate fraud, remind the audience about a couple of infamous fraud cases that have been in the media of late.

If you are talking about the tax implications of a marriage breakdown, talk about the costly mistake you saw one of your clients make in the process of their divorce. These anecdotes will make your information come to life, and the content will be much more memorable.

Step three — command attention

At any stage during your speech, there will be a number of audience members who are not concentrating on what you are saying. Anticipate this problem.

Visual aids: For starters, do not prepare a PowerPoint presentation that will act as your cue cards. Presentations that rely heavily on a PowerPoint presentation, or overhead transparencies, tend to be mundane. Having said that, many audience members do like to be presented with something visual to help them digest the information you are delivering. The key is to prepare a limited number of visual aids and to make them short and punchy.

Audience interaction: Another way of keeping your audience attentive is to include them in an activity of some kind.

A role-play always grabs everyone's attention. Or in a speech about the current state of the economy, you might like to ask people to turn to the person beside them and share an example they have come across in their work that illustrates the current economic trough.

Timing issues: If you know you will be talking for a long period of time, allow for breaks. It is invaluable to give people the chance to stretch, go to the bathroom, grab a drink or just chat for a while. It will refresh their concentration levels.

And do not be afraid to end your speech early. If your material takes only a half an hour to deliver, do not waste the audience's time by dragging it out. No audience member will ever complain that your speech was too short.

Posture: Finally, make sure you do not stand rigidly behind a podium for the entire duration of the speech. At least use the occasional hand gesture for emphasis. If you are feeling more daring, try walking around every now and then, making eye contact with various sections of the audience.

Step four — practice

Many of life's worst speeches could have been avoided if the presenter had spent time rehearsing. You must practise your speech, aloud. This is the only way to properly familiarise yourself with the material. When speech time comes, you need to be saying the material rather than reading it. There is nothing more boring than watching someone read his/her speech.

Your speech will improve immeasurably if you watch yourself on video or listen to yourself on tape, or even just rehearse in front of the mirror. It is remarkable how many idiosyncrasies you will notice. It will suddenly be obvious to you, for example, that you are rushing your words.

You might notice that you never pause to give the audience time to digest the information. Perhaps you are constantly swaying from side to side or twirling your hair. The audience will be distracted by these habits.

In order to deliver a confident, engaging speech, uncover your bad habits and try to rid yourself of them. And do not assume you do not have any bad habits — everyone does.

Finally, as you are practising, make sure you do not adopt a presentation persona. It is important to be yourself, as it is far more engaging and genuine.

(Edited extracts from Finance Management, a journal of CIMA, London. www.cimaglobal.com)

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