Influence and Persuasion Skills
© Persuasive Presentations, March 2013
How you look and sound is certainly important.
While it’s not always necessary to be smartly dressed, being well turned out,
looking fresh and relaxed and carrying an air of confidence will create instant
appeal.
After all
your audience is looking to you for insight and to a certain extent
leadership
. If you lack confidence or if there’s a sense that you’re not absolutely
sure of what you’re saying, your audience’s will struggle to take you seriously.
That said, no matter how well presented you are or how confidently you present,
you still have to pull your audience into your talk immediately or you risk losing
them.
To get their undivided attention you have to make an entrance
. That means
immediately hitting them with something that will capture their imagination and
have them eager to know what’s coming next.
Tell a Joke
Jokes are a classic tactic speakers use to quickly grab their audiences’ attention.
We like people who make us laugh. We are drawn to them because they make us
feel good.
Not that any old joke will do. It should be relevant to either your subject matter or
even better to your audience.
The best jokes are relevant to both. A good joke not only gets a laugh but
positions you as someone that understands who your audience is and has insight
into what they’re dealing with.
