Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024
Part 3: How to Make it Engaging!
Ali (Nussbaum) Murphy, MHHSA, MLS(ASCP)CM, caPM, ASCLS Director
We have all been to presentations that were not engaging, given by incredibly smart people who were unable to make the content capture the audience’s attention. From the lecturer’s perspective, it can be hard to stay motivated if the audience is falling asleep or playing on their phones. Every presenter wants to see an audience filled with people listening intently and nodding along to their presentation. Now that you’ve conceptualized and prepared your materials, we’re going to talk about how to give a successful presentation.
My first presentation was rough, to say the least. I was shaking. I gripped the podium and sweated through my shirt. But I did it. There were several helpful tools that helped me limp through my first lecture and gain the confidence to do more. The most helpful was the feedback from supportive audience members, who reassured me that it was not as bad as I perceived. Keep in mind that you will be your own harshest critic, so the best way to improve is to ask for feedback from others. The following strategies will help you prepare and reduce your anxiety in front of an audience.
Now that you’ve submitted your proposal and created your slide deck, it is time to work on making your presentation engaging. The first thing to consider is the length. For it to count for continuing education (CE), your lecture must meet two criteria. It has to reach the time requirement of 25 minutes for 0.5 CE credits or 50 minutes of content for 1.0 CE credit. Practicing and timing your presentation will help to determine whether you need to add or cut content.
The second criterion for meeting CE requirements is to achieve the learning objectives that you set out. If you’re concerned, ask a friend to review or watch your practice presentation and have them tell you if you met the objectives. If you find that you have not, modify the presentation to meet those goals. When structuring the presentation, you should hit all the objective points that were in the proposal. If the proposal was written for P.A.C.E.® accreditation, the objectives are already written out in detail because they were used to determine the academic rigor of the content, making it eligible to be used for recertification. Any changes to the objectives must be approved by the program creators.
Next, we are going to practice, practice, practice. Practice lets you learn the material in and out, cementing yourself as a subject matter expert. It helps you avoid forgetting content and resorting to reading directly from the slides or notes. Use this time to work though and adjust any talking points or transitions that make you stumble. Practicing helps you identify areas of weakness and gives you time to do further research and refinement.
While practicing, feel free to add in personal anecdotes about your topic. Perhaps your introduction could speak to its importance to you personally. This is a great way to draw in your audience. It helps them feel the level of passion you have for the topic. As you present, remind yourself why the topic is exciting for you; this will help the audience stay engaged. Your audience will pick up on your positive energy and will want to learn from you. As the subject matter expert, let your enthusiasm guide your audience. An energetic and entertaining presentation will be better received than a dull lecture.
After giving the lecture, reflect on what went well and what did not. Adjusting your presentation is normal, and your critiques are going to be freshest in your mind in the first day or two following the lecture. You may find that your content was not in the best order, making for awkward or abrupt transitions. Smooth transitions from topic to topic guide the audience on a tranquil journey through the presentation, giving them key points to focus on. Plus, if you get the opportunity to present again on the same subject, it will be ready to go because you addressed these needed changes.
Go ahead and celebrate! You took an idea, created a proposal, spun it all into a slide show, and successfully presented it to an audience. This is no small feat. It’s intimidating, but if you break it into pieces, you can make tangible progress with each step. Additionally, it takes a lot of bravery to stand in front of an audience, but you can overcome your fear by picking a topic that has personal relevance. Hopefully, you will have the confidence to continue creating quality presentations in the future.
Ali (Nussbaum) Murphy is an LIS Technical Specialist at HealthPartners in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Read Part 1: Idea Time!
Read Part 2: Work Time!