Chelsi Nakano
August 25, 2017
As children, we were encouraged to ask questions. Many of us even challenged the answers to those questions until we asked “why?” so many times our parents basically tuned us out.
As adults, we learn to do almost the exact opposite. We sit quietly in meetings and are talked at until we’re told it’s a good time to ask questions (but just a couple because we have to be mindful of everyone else’s time). In other words, the way we conduct business interactions goes against how were taught to behave in our formative years. Is it any wonder that it’s so hard to hold an audience’s attention?
To make matters even more challenging, everyday communication methods are wildly different than they used to be: Facebook, Snapchat, text messages– they all allow two-way, interactive discussions, making the one-way seem even more unreasonable and dull.
As presentation design expert Russell Anderson-Williams points out, “In this busy world of countless communication channels, having the opportunity to interact with people in person should be something we relish, not squander. We should welcome and seek to build in the opportunity for them to interact with us constantly. We should allow them to guide the flow of our presentation based on what their interests are. And we should not be afraid to have ‘conversations’ rather than traditional presentations.”
We can’t help but wholeheartedly agree.
In his latest guide, Russell explores how exactly to let your audience members interact and guide the flow of the presentation by reviewing a few key topics:
- Why the conversational approach beats slides
- The art of a conversation
- A practical step-by-step process for building your own conversational presentations
Don’t wait! Get his guide for yourself here.
