You’ve been asked to present at that upcoming conference, summit, forum, or whatever your industry/organization calls an important meeting.
Quick: as you prepare for this speaking opportunity, what should be your obsession?
If you said:
- When and where cocktails will be served, you get a moment to reconsider
- What to wear, you get a smiley face sticker
- Your slide deck, you have to skip recess all week
- Who will be in your audience, you get a gold star
- How to involve that audience, you get a freaking life-sized trophy
So many presenters obsess about their slides—brand-approved colors and fonts, endless bullet lists, fancy animations—only to deliver a message that might as well have been pre-recorded and played on a loop over the breakfast buffet.
Hear me: your slides are not the star of the show. YOU are.
No. Scratch that. Your AUDIENCE is.
A great presentation isn’t about a flawless deck. It’s about sparking curiosity, inspiring action (and interaction), and creating a conversation people will actually remember.
So, if you want to stand out at that upcoming event, ditch the deck (or at least loosen your grip on it), and start planning ways to fire up your audience.
Involve your audience within the first 5 minutes.
Your opening sets the tone. Within moments, the audience will decide whether they’re with you, or not.
So, pull them in. Get their attention. Then, as quickly as possible, make it clear that they will be active participants in a conversation. Ask a question and insist on vocal responses. Coax people to call out an answer. Reveal a surprising stat and ask for gut reactions. At a minimum, ask for a show of hands.
Are you scared to relinquish control because you have no idea what people will do or say? Gasp! Get over it!
When starting a conversation, your goal is connection, not perfection.
Keep the room buzzing with unexpected interactions.
Polling tools have become the PowerPoint of interaction. They’re safe, predictable, and utterly forgettable. To stand out, shake things up.
Here are just a few ways to turn passive listeners into active participants:
- Ask one or more people for advice. “What would you do in this situation?”
- Invite someone into a real-time interview. “Come on up and talk with me about this example.”
- Randomize your talking points with a coin flip. “Heads, we do X. Tails, we do Y. Ready?”
- Shuffle the seating arrangement. “Move to the corner or side of the room that matches your opinion.”
- Spark connection. “High five your neighbor if you’ve ever experienced a tech issue when presenting.”
Last week, I witnessed a trio of presenters who spontaneously drew a roomful of colleagues into a conga line. The invitation was ridiculous but irresistible. We had no soundtrack, just our own voices, smiles, and plenty of “why not” attitude. After dancing a full circuit around the room, we reclaimed our seats, a little breathless but wholly energized and bonded by a sense of “did we really just do that?!”
I’ll never forget that conga line.
What’s more, we spent the rest of our time together tackling seriously strategic topics. From a business standpoint, the meeting was a success. (And so was the dance break.)
Stop obsessing over slides.
How many hours have you lost tweaking slides? Changing one word here and another there. Snapping shapes to an invisible grid. Agonizing over Smart Art designs (which are actually quite stupid).
Now ask yourself: how many minutes did you spend planning ways to engage and involve your audience?
Mhm.
What will make your message memorable? Not slides. Experiences!
Active conversations stick with people far longer than any bullet point ever will. So stop spending so much time styling your deck and invest more energy into planning those meaningful moments.
You don’t need fancy slides. You need fiery energy.
Your job as a speaker isn’t just to talk; it’s to light a fire of interest and action in your audience. So stop hiding behind your deck. Invite people to be part of the conversation. Get them involved.
Obsess over connection.
Obsess over momentum.
Obsess over surprise.
Dull, dry presenters deliver monologues and click through slide decks. Bold, brilliant ones light fires with interaction and conversation.
