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For most people, the thought of delivering a formal presentation; be it in a work or study situation, will strike dread, fear and general foreboding. All too often the perception is that a formal presentation will be boring. This doesn’t need to be the case, especially if the presentation you are delivering forms part of an interview assessment or assignment. It is important to remember that a presentation is given to a audience (that is evident from the mere meaning of the task), and so audience engagement is paramount to the success of the presentation delivery.

So how do you successfully engage an audience? Well, it is a case of balancing content with the need to captivate! As Constance Lamb from Zenon Consulting has suggested; “You may have the most scintillating content but the presentation can fall flat if the audience is forgotten”. To manage this balance, consider three key things when preparing your content:

Number one – What do you want your audience to remember?
Number two – How can you motivate, persuade and influence them to take action?
Number three – How will they remember your message?

When planning your presentation try to remember that the first 30 seconds are crucial to hooking your audience’s attention. If you don’t get the opening right your might end up losing them and it can take a lot of effort to get them back again! So in the preparation for your presentation, really focus on your opening comments and slides; spend time crafting bold opening statements and aim to create a punchy style of writing and speech whilst keeping your language simple.

Some handy tips to help you deliver a punchy opening presentation statement include;

- Go straight to the heart of the presentation or subject issue
- Open with your thoughts; tell the audience what you believe
- Ask them a question to get them engaged from the very beginning
- Use opening slides with sentences so punchy, that they only contain three words
- Think about colour, design and pattern in your slides and handouts

Once you have caught your audience’s attention you need to maintain and retain it! Repeat your content regularly, ask them to participate periodically and go back to key points from earlier on in your presentation. This should keep them engaged. It also aids recall- don’t forget that most people will remember five key points from a 40 minute presentation (if you are lucky!).

If you want to avoid making your presentation tedious, never read from the slides. Put the key words up and expand on them during the presentation. The audience can then make their own notes and what you say can be backed up in the pack that you hand out at the end.

As your presentation draws to a close, don’t rush through your conclusion. The beginning and end of a presentation are the most important sections, and the most memorable. If your presentation forms part of an assignment, assignment or job interview, you need to concentrate on getting the close to be just as punchy as the opening. Use unusual metaphors, imagery and visuals to stimulate an exciting and captivating close. Then breathe a sigh of relief and smile!

When it comes to different kinds of debt relief options available in the market, bankruptcy and debt settlement appear as two main methods through which the people are trying to get rid of massive debts. Even though some people have a misconception that both of these methods are carrying the same results, in reality, it is completely different.

In fact, if you are trying to eliminating massive unsecured debts through one of these methods, it is essential to know what the best method in the present market is. As a matter of fact, if we take bankruptcy, it is evident that many people are trying to eliminate debts through it as they think that it is one of the easiest methods they can use to get away from debts. But, in practical situations, bankruptcy is creating a lot of problems.

Even though a person could reduce his/ her liabilities through bankruptcy, it will have bad outcomes on his/ her future. For instance, a person who files bankruptcy might get rejected from future bank loans, face difficulties in finding new jobs, apartments, etc. So, filing bankruptcy should be the last option of a person who tries to get away from credit.

But, in the present, debt settlement has become much safer than filing bankruptcy. Especially, with the introduction of new laws by the Federal Trade Commission, there is no space for fraudulent settlement companies anymore. In fact, only the most legitimate companies will be able to survive in the financial field. Moreover, as people can eliminate their debts even up to 60% through settlement, it has become very popular among citizens.

In addition, the people who use settlement as their credit elimination method will not face bad outcomes like in bankruptcy. Actually, when bankruptcy and debt settlement are considered, settlement undoubtedly becomes the best option in the present market especially due to the attractive way it guides its consumers.

The average attention span of a literate adult is 20 minutes.

Good, you think to yourself. 20 minutes is plenty of time.

But how many speeches have you sat through where you fell asleep within the first two minutes?

And how afraid are you that people are going to do the same for yours?

It seems terribly obvious: unless you’re interesting, no one is going to pay attention. When you watch an episode of the O.C. or Gray’s Anatomy, you’re there to be entertained. You watch because the plot twists and the developing relationships on-screen are interesting. Not interesting? You switch the channel.

People may not have the luxury of turning off a speaker. But they can certainly turn off their own brains, and if you’re not careful, you’ll find most people snoozing in their chairs.

Find out your audience’s expectations, and do your best to break them. Does your audience expect you to be very formal? Take off your jacket and walk out from behind your podium. Does your audience expect you to be very serious? Be irreverent. Be self-deprecating.

One simple way to do this is to ask unexpected questions. It makes people think and also keeps them awake because it’s embarrassing to be singled out for sleeping.

5) Laugh! Never underestimate the power of humour. It’s been said to the death, but somehow people still don’t seem to get it. And they end up with dead audiences.

And I don’t mean just a humorous beginning or ending. Make sure you keep it up! It’s a pity if your audience doesn’t pay attention to the body of your speech.

6) Be visual. Okay, the above blog post advises that you ‘show a (half) naked woman’. But take that with a pinch of salt. It might not be appropriate, and you never know when you might have a dedicated, stone-throwing feminist in your audience.

Instead, you can be visual. It’s pretty much an undisputed fact that we remember images better than words. If you have a powerpoint presentation, make it visually striking. At the most basic level, it’s as simple as bolding words to make them stand out. At higher levels, you can add images or even videos.

7) If you’re stuck with words only, then use what fiction writers and poets have been using throughout the ages: metaphor, simile, and analogy. All these techniques are meant to call up images in the mind of the reader – or in your case, the listener – and help them retain your message better.

Tell stories [http://blog.ericfeng.com/getting-your-audience-engaged-excited-at-the-edge-of-their-seats-at-all-times]. It may sound difficult but it’s not, because we do it all the time.

When you tell your friends about the time you were stuck in a traffic jam or about dealing with your horrible boss or about the time you tried so hard to get tickets to a concert, you’re essentially portraying the essence of life: conflict.

Tell your audience about a particular conflict you resolved. It endears you to them and also helps them empathize with you. Besides that, stories are simply far more memorable and interesting than a series of unconnected facts.

9) Start writing your speech early. A lot of people wait till the very last minute to start working on their presentation, which results in them being unconfident and boring. If you don’t craft your jokes and stories carefully first, you’ll end up telling them badly or not telling them at all.

10) Keep your role as a public speaker in mind, all the time. You can start keeping a folder of notes or materials to use in any speech.

If something interesting happens to you, write it down. If a friend tells you a good joke or if you happen to read a nice anecdote from a book or the Internet, write it down. You never know when it’ll come in handy.