7 Tricks to Avoid the Presentation Hangover

Most everyone knows what happens after you’ve had too much of a good thing, or too much of a bad thing for that matter – the hangover.  In theory, presentations are good things, but these days audiences tend to get over-served as more and more information is conveyed through them.  Aside from handing out a greasy grilled cheese to every audience member, how do you ensure that you won’t give your audience the presentation cocktail flu?  Let’s take a few quotation cues from The Hangover to find out.

1.    “Do you know if the hotel is pager friendly?”

Before your presentation date, confirm that your technological needs are in order so that you’ll have everything ready when the audience is seated.  Nothing makes people so immediately disinterested as watching a presenter struggle to make his Mac work with a PC-only system.

2.    “Tigers love pepper . . . . They hate cinnamon.”   

Know what your audience likes and how they think.  Format your presentation in a way that speaks most effectively to your audience.  For example, if you are presenting to creative people, don’t flood your presentation with numbers.

3.    “I’m not supposed to be within two hundred feet of a school . . . or a Chuck E. Cheese.”

Make sure your audience understands your presentation’s limits.  Briefly explain your goal in the beginning so that your audience can view your presentation as a roadmap that ends with your main point.  If they know what to expect, they will be less likely to let their minds drunkenly wander off topic.

4.    “Look, let’s go hook up with Doug, and we’ll deal with the baby later.”

Prioritize your goals and keep your presentation short.  Some presenters like to share all of their knowledge, which usually makes their audience long for a stiff Scotch.  Regardless of your presentation’s brilliance, anything longer than 15 minutes will most likely give your audience a headache.

5.    “Ew! Alan, did you just eat sofa pizza?”

Drinking too many martinis usually leads to the munchies.  In the same vein, too many straight facts will cause your audience to reach for brain refreshment in the form of checking BlackBerries, Twittering or tuning out.  Make every third drink a water by serving your audience a good dose of storytelling between hard data delivery moments.

6.    “Would you please put some pants on? I feel weird having to ask you twice.”

Keep audience comments and questions appropriate.  If something is off-topic, offer to discuss it after the presentation.  Sitting through a rambling Q&A session is akin to mixing tequila and Coke.  Despite what Cuervo Black says, the result isn’t good.

7.    “But Doc, none of us remember anything from last night. Remember?”

Retrace your steps at the end of your presentation so that the audience clearly understands where they have been and why it was important.  Helping your audience connect the dots will make them more likely to remember what actually happened in Vegas . . . and where the rooster came from.

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