Make your presentations interesting
Have you sat through a presentation that’s as interesting as chewing on cardboard?
These as the wasa crackers of presentations.
These crackers serve a purpose. They provide a durable delivery system to get cheese from your plate to your mouth.
But they’re a bit dry and utilitarian. Their best quality is flat, much like a lot of presentations.
If the only thing your presentation has going for it is moving words from your head to someone else’s ears, you’re leaving a lot of potential on the table.
S.H.A.P.E.S. are how you engage your audience. The 6 components bring life and personality to a presentation:
S- Stories
H- Humor
A- Analogies, Ask questions
P- Pictures & Props
E- Engage the senses
S- Suspense & Surprise
This is a tool we implement in the SpeakEasy Intensive. It’s the difference between a presentation that falls flat and a presentation that jumps off the page.
You don’t need to include all 6 in every presentation, but make sure you’re incorporating at least one. If your content is feeling stale, go through the S.H.A.P.E.S. tool and think about what else you can include. I work with a lot of creative clients and I’m always surprised how few people apply their creativity to how they present their work.
Yes, they can create beautiful imagery and a gorgeous slide deck, but your verbal presentation and visuals should complement each other.
These are 3 creative examples of S.H.A.P.E.S. in action.
My clients at Fancy LLC started a talk about taboos in women’s advertising: “I’m Katie and I have my period. I’m Erika and I don’t have a period anymore.” This opening line immediately hooked the audience and set the tone for their talk.
My client Fuchsia Lin, a costume designer and filmmaker spoke about the threads connecting her work at Creative Mornings. She walked onto the stage with an oversize needle and thread. It was eye catching and funny and related to multiple themes in her talk.
Another client, an attorney in tech, was giving a presentation on legal contracts to sales and marketing. She made a potentially dry and boring topic interesting by appealing to emotions. This helped get stakeholder buy in. When she compared legal contracts to prenups, suddenly everyone understood why they were important.
For help transforming your next work presentation into a more engaging experience, let’s talk.
I’m Madeline and I turn introverts who are overlooked at work into confident communicators.
