Small Business Presentaions
Tone, Delivery: How to Engage the Audience

Tone, Delivery: How to Engage the Audience

How well you are able to reach your audience with a presentation is directly related to two basic elements:

o What you have to say
o The way you deliver what you have to say

Here, we'll look at ways to build rapport with your audience and effectively deliver your message using humor, drama, gestures, facial expression, and vocal variety. We'll also address the issue of stage fright and offer a few techniques for minimizing its impact.

Build Rapport
To build rapport means to develop a relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity. This sounds like a daunting task. We spend our lives working on our relationships with family, friends, and associates. Is it possible to establish a relationship with an audience, especially one filled with strangers, in the course of a half-hour talk or a half-day workshop? The answer is, of course, yes.

Naturally, the relationship you develop with a roomful of people won't be the same as it would be with a small group sitting around a restaurant table or with a one-on-one session with a prospective client. But it is possible to establish the kind of accord that leads to trust and affinity.

There's been significant interest recently in the concept of EQ--emotional intelligence. Individuals with a significant EQ are empathetic, intuitive, and perceptive, with a highly developed ability to put themselves in other people's shoes. Research on the subject shows that among people of equal intelligence, those with a well-established EQ are more likely to be high achievers because of their ability to predict other people's behavior and to understand their motivations.

While we are usually unable to increase our IQ, emotional intelligence can be learned. Daniel Goleman explores this fascinating subject in his book aptly titled Emotional Intelligence, and it's worthwhile reading.

By attempting to stand in another person's shoes, to see things through another person's eyes, any presenter can come closer to establishing rapport with another individual. Understanding the WIIFM (What's in it for me?) factor, is a part of the larger task of building rapport.