m62 visualcommunications, the global leader in presentation effectiveness, has today urged presenters to ensure that they interact with the audience in presentations, so that they are fully engaged with the presentation.

It is important in a marketing or sales presentation to make sure that the audience is fully engaged with the presentation. An audience not fully paying attention will miss or forget integral points of the message. This becomes particularly important when considering the fact that most decisions are made outside the boardroom. In order for a favourable decision to be made, the audience must remember the right ideas sufficiently to either discuss them, or report them accurately to colleagues.

One of the practices m62 teaches in its PowerPoint training is how to ensure that the audience is fully engaged with the presentation. In order to do this, it is good practice to make them feel involved and included. Methods for doing this include adapting figures in your presentation to the pitch audience; using ‘you’ to make sure that everything said is targeted specifically at them; and inviting them to help solve a problem, or answer a question.

Nicholas Oulton, Founder of m62, commented: “Presenters sometimes just learn a presentation off by heart and recite it at will. Talking at your audience rather than to them is particularly detrimental to a presentation. The audience need to be engaged with the presentation, and a good way of doing this is to directly involve them.

“My favourite example of this is the ‘solve a puzzle’ technique. Present the audience with a problem and ask them to solve it. One presenter put a twenty pound note on the table and promised it to the first person who could come up with the correct answer. It definitely attracts the audience’s attention, and ensures that they are fully concentrating on both presenter and presentation – as long as every method chosen is relevant.”

m62 visualcommunications has offices in the UK, US and Singapore, and works for clients around the world. Among its services to clients, m62 offers advice, a PowerPoint clinic, and free PowerPoint templates on its website.

For more information about visual communications, please call +44 (0)151 259 6262 or visit m62.net.