I took a wonderful course in April of this year – Train the Trainer with Harv Eker (if you ever open your mouth in front of an audience TAKE THIS COURSE! yes, i do recommend it that highly and i dont do that often. go to www.PeakPotentials.com for details)
Harv recommends that you start each presentation by asking 2 compelling questions to your audience. The key here is to pick 2 questions that will engage EVERYONE in the audience. So each person in the audience must answer yes to at least one of your questions (if not both).
One easy way to do this is to ask 2 opposite questions – ask something and then ask the opposite of it. A very simple example:
“Who loves the color black?” (some people raise their hands/say yes)
“Who doesnt love the color black?” (the rest of the room should raise their hands/say yes…)
People either love black or they don’t. So you’ve engaged everyone in the room by having them say yes to at least one thing.
Another example that my husband Dan uses when he gives his Nutrition for Runners presentations.
“How many people in the room have ever been on a diet?”
“How many people know someone who has ever been on a diet?”
Unless someone has been living under a rock, they’ve either been on a diet or know someone who has. So Dan has already engaged everyone in his audience with at least one yes.
Plus, this is assuming that your audience is there for a common reason. In Dan’s case everyone is there to see a presentation on nutrition, so they are ready to be asked a nutrition related question. Know your audience, what brought them there and craft your questions accordingly.
The same thing can apply online… the first part of my simple website template is to ask 2 or 3 compelling questions at the top of your homepage. So as you consider your questions make sure that as many people as possible can say “yes” to at least one of them – so that they will be engaged and read on.
Have an example to share? Post a comment below…