Engaging the Audience: Presentation Skills

By Ann Garniss 

Rich Maggiani

When you are at a session about presentation skills, you know it's going to be great. Rich Maggiani's session was no exception - both educational and engaging. In fact, engaging was the key word of the day.

Rich made it clear with his clever images and storytelling that it isn't your PowerPoint skills that make your point - it's your ability to engage with the audience. How do you engage with the audience? While Rich had lots of tips and tricks for us, like using your vocal modulation to keep your audience on the edge of the seat, or moving around the room to keep them focused, it really boils down to knowing what your audience wants to get out of the presentation.

Rich was a fantastic speaker himself, keeping us involved and participating in the session, then going back to explain what he'd done to put us in the mindset where we were active participants instead of just passive viewers.

I left with lots of ideas I want to try out in my next presentation. I may not be a JFK (unless JFK was in software), but hopefully I can leave my audiences with the information they need in a way they remember.

Check out Rich's presentations on Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/RichMaggiani