Presentation Pointers

An understanding of how people learn and retain information can help you tailor your presentations to your learners’ needs. Our presentation pointers can help you do just that. We’ll be publishing a new one each month.

December 2006

Want your listeners to remember what you've said long after the presentation is over? When you're giving a presentation, don't plow through it nonstop. Your listeners will remember it immediately after you're done, but it will be gone shortly thereafter. Pause to ask if there are any questions. Check for clarity. Give them an opportunity to process the new information as you go along. Apply these techniques to help ensure that your message lives on long after the presentation is over.

November 2006

Here are some statistics for you. William Glasser, well-known author and psychiatrist, determined that people retain 20 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see, and just 50 percent of what they both hear and see. BUT, he also discovered that people retain 70 percent of what they discuss with others, 80 percent of what they experience personally and 95 percent of what they teach to someone else. Keep this in mind as you create your presentations. The further along the continuum you go, the more your audience will retain - and ultimately use.

October 2006

Adults have an attention span of approximately seven or eight minutes. If a group of adults is listening to your presentation, regardless of how entertaining you may be, after about seven or eight minutes, their minds will begin to drift. Try to chunk the information in your presentation to coordinate with those intervals. Ask a question; tell a story; plan an activity; interrupt the flow in some way. Working with the brain’s natural inclinations rather than against them always works in your favor.