Tidbits which Connect with the Audience

In my June 11 post titled 'Early bird catches the worm' I talked about the benefits of reaching early to the venue before a presentation. There I talked about collecting interesting tidbits of information and using it in your presentation.

In this post I will write more about what are these 'tidbits of information' and how collecting them will help you connect with the audience better.

Around a month back I went to a MBA college to recruit some summer interns. While the projector was being set up by the staff of the college I kept looking around the place, the students, the classroom, the play ground outside the window and I made a note of one thing I saw. It was the motto of the college; "Why What How." Written in large fonts on the play ground.

During my presentation I was discussing the summer project and I was telling them about the projects' objectives. I wanted to know 'why something was happening, what should we do about it and how.' To say this, I used their motto and said "We want to know three things... Why What How..." and then went on to explain about the summer project.

Immediately I got their attention and the next moment they were all smiles. This small tweak in my presentation (I could have said it without using the three words of the motto) made a difference and reached out to the audience.

It pays to put that extra effort in knowing more about the audience, in being aware of your surroundings and picking up tidbits of information to show that you care. To show that you are interested. Remember, someone rightly said 'the way to be interesting is to be interested.'