The 11 Keys to Presentation Mastery to improve presentation skills: Key #04 – Fun

If you’re not having fun presenting, odds are that your audience ain’t having fun listening to you either.As with the others, there are different levels to this key.

If the idea of having fun presenting is foreign to you (as it is for most people) then you and your audience is missing out for sure. I’m not saying that when you have fun your audience will have fun by default, just that you having fun is a pre-requisite for them having fun.

[There are reasons why presenters don’t have fun presenting. Either they are too nervous or too serious, they don’t know how to have fun, the idea of having fun while presenting simply has never come up for them, or all of the above. Either way, there is hope.]

It’s all about vibration and if you think that’s a bit wishy-washy, have you ever walked into a place and liked (or didn’t like) the ‘vibe’? Of course you have.

That’s what we’re talking about, and as you already know, the more the fun, the higher the vibe. And, the higher the vibe, the more energy your audience has access to, the more they contribute their energy to the event (you), the more fun you have – and so on; it becomes an upwards spiral.

Also, the higher the energy, the higher the creativity (let’s face it, creativity don’t live in doldrums) and of course, the more creativity you have access to, well, go figure!

If you’re unable to simply have fun presenting, i.e. if you’re not in love with presenting yet, then the easiest way to have fun is to engage with your audience in fun ways. The more fun they have, the more it’ll rub of on your, raise your confidence, and the more fun you’ll have.

O, and before you ask; yes, this key apply equally well even to those (typically) boring corporate presentations.

Next time you present, do something fun. Hand out balloons, tell a good joke (only if you’re good at jokes), play lively music as they come in and let them jive – do anything, as long as you have fun!