How you begin your research presentation matters a great deal. The beginning is when your audience is paying attention. Studies have shown that people lose attention gradually if the speaker starts poorly. Getting your audience’s attention from the beginning is the most important thing one can do in starting a presentation. Yes, you want to introduce yourself and complete the formalities as quickly as possible, but without grabbing their attention, you’ve already lost them. Remembering the importance of capturing the attention of who you’re speaking to will set you up for the many other strategies we convey. So don’t lose people with a dull start!. You will have to gain the audience’s confidence and attention within the first 10-20 seconds of your session.
Here are few tried and tested methods that will help you to make a great presentations. You need not have to try all these tips in a single presentation but at least a few can be of great help.
1. Start confidently
Begin with a quick introduction about yourself as this will help establish your credibility. Introduce yourself briefly. In this part you can talk about what is your name, your co-authors, your affiliation and where you are from and what is your topic for discussion.
2. Eye To Eye Contact With Audience
For those who tend to get nervous in larger audiences, picking different people in the audience to speak to can ease those nerves. Start this at the beginning of your presentation speaking to them directly. When you occupy the stage for presentation the first thing you need to do is to gaze around the room, establish one to one eye contact with your audience and give a confident smile. Eyes that gaze around the room will make the audience feel connected. Make the audience to feel that you are engaged with them personally for this topic which makes them to invest fully for your topic. Pick different people to speak to in the room and everyone will think you are talking directly to them.
3. Welcome Your Audience