Well, you are likely to have realized that when you get nervous while presenting in front of a crowd, this would induce you to go on and on with your presentation without inserting pauses in between. This may be because you have a fear of silence.

 

A fear of silence comes about because we view silence during a presentation as a hesitation, and this implies inexperience. And none of us want to appear incompetent while presenting! So you think the best solution is to avoid silence.

 

But really, silence is the best medicine for your audience when they are trying to digest information. When information is digested well, it is retained well!

 

The school lecturer

I’m sure you can still remember the lecturer in school that gave you little time to think when conducting lectures. This experience can be likened to a person piling food in his mouth, and giving himself no time to swallow.

 

You do not want your audience to feel similarly overwhelmed during your presentation. So pause, just for a few seconds, and give them time to swallow, and digest your information.

 

You may realize that instead of thinking of you negatively, your audience would be inclined to increase their trust in you when you are able to retain their attention during those few instances when you pause.

 

To do this, question whether they are keeping up with your presentation through the use of eye contact. This makes sure that your presentation is inclusive, as your audience is obliged to respond. Forming this connection with the audience also makes your presentation more effective.

 

Besides, when you pause, you are giving yourself a moment to go through your next point in your head as well. Your audience will appreciate and respect that you can keep them attentive and devote energy to meeting their needs at the same time.

 

PowerPoint Presentations

To make the most of this technique, apply it to your PowerPoint

 

Presentations in this way:

Before moving from one slide to the next, pause in between to give the audience time to digest the information presented. If more information has been given on the slide, a greater pause should follow.

 

However, your audience may still have trouble in following your presentation if display all the points on your slide the moment you come to the slide. As the audience struggles with the new information displayed on the screen, they are distracted from what you are saying.

 

To prevent such a situation where you have to put in extra effort to get your audience back on track, always make use of the “On-Click” feature in PowerPoint’s animation section. This enables you to bring your audience through each point. They can then better understand your presentation.

 

It’s that simple. Insert those pauses into your presentation and your audience can then have time to make sense of your material. To get a better idea of how this is done, click here to view a demonstration.

 

Kelvin

Lee

Kelvinis a dynamic and eloquent communicator and an experienced trainer of Power Presentations workshops. He is a certified Microsoft PowerPoint specialist and also specializes in giving corporate slides makeovers. To receive free tips and techniques on PowerPoint Presentations, visit http://figtree.com.sg/ppt_tips

 

Source: http://www.callcentercafe.com/2009/03/26/powerpoint-presentation-tips-give-your-audience-a-break/