5 Ways To Surprise Your Audience (and keep their attention)

waystosurprise
youraudience
andcatchtheirattention

34% of adults think Santa Claus is real
Facebook is dead!
This presentation will change your life
Cigarettes are more healthy than candy

We get intrigued by bold
statements, surprising facts,
and shocking stats. It gives the
brain a kick and makes us
curious to know more.
Wakethe
audienceup!

Imagine you are a startup that is
gonna pitch your new payment
app for a group of investors
Make this your
opening slide
Now you definitely have the attention of the investors.
All you need to do is to back up your statement.
(Important: only give statements you can back up)
HOW TO DO IT
1
2
3

We tend to pay attention to people who
makes us feel good and relaxed – which
is exactly what humor does. Make your
audience laugh and it will be more likely
that they remember what you say.
Makethemlaugh
andtheywilllisten.

If you are not funny, you should
consider my four other tips in
this deck instead.
Or practice a lot.
Don’tforceit.

1
2
3
Keep it personal - don’t tell jokes for the sake of being funny.
The whole point is to be natural and connect with your audience.
Study your audience and get on their
level. A funny story to the wrong
audience will only make you cry.
HOW TO DO IT
Get the audience to laugh early on in the
speech to let them know that they can relax.
Then you keep their interest by throwing in
some humor throughout your speech.

We are so used to traditional
PowerPoint slides that a
simple, clean and visual slide
will instantly get our attention.
Keepit clean.

MakeyourslidesPOP
withcolors,images,
iconsandfonts.
Your audience will get positively
surprised each time you click forward
your slides, and their attention will be
kept throughout the speech.

1
2
3
Get inspired on SlideShare and go rock your own slides like no one
else! Dare to be creative and go against the traditional.
HOW TO DO IT
Pay a presentation designer to do it for you
4
Buy a nice template online
Use alternative tools like Canva that make it easy to
be creative and look good

LikeIalwayssay…
A good story catch people’s attention,
but a great story open their wallets.

Just kidding, that is the first time I say that.

While bullet-points only can engage part of
our brain, stories can activate the whole
brain. Turn your message into a great story
and your audience will never forget you.
Storiesare
really powerful.

1
2
3
Educating students?
Show practical applications and let the students
be part of the story.
Doing an investor pitch?
Tell them how your idea came about.
Pitching a potential client?
Show them a client success story.
HOW TO DO IT

This is expected. This is unexpected.
Hi, my topic
today is about…
Hi, did you know that
chewing gum boosts
your brain power?

This is expected. This is unexpected.

Smashtheir
expectations
The audience have expectations about
your slides, your voice, your body language,
your topic, and so on. The only way to
really excite your audience is by breaking
their expectations – in a good way.

HOW TO DO IT
These are all
unexpected elements
you can use for your
next presentation

Master these five tips and you will be a great presenter.

This guy uses almost all of these tips, and his speech
is probably the best one you will see in a while.

Sources of inspiration:
The Power of Storytelling
http://www.ceros.com/blog/the-power-of-storytelling/
The Science of Storytelling
https://blog.bufferapp.com/science-of-storytelling-why-telling-a-story-is-
the-most-powerful-way-to-activate-our-brains

Made by Damon Nofar
damon.nofar@gmail.com
@damonify
http://damonnofar.me

5 Ways To Surprise Your Audience (and keep their attention)

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5 Ways To Surprise Your Audience (and keep their attention)