How To Instantly Capture Attention In Your Next Presentation

I was flipping through the channels and a newsreader said ‘An elephant managed to slip away and took a walk through the streets of Butte Montana, startling drivers and pedestrians’.

Unimaginable that something as large as an elephant could slip out unnoticed!

Presenters can do that too – pretend not to notice the biggest elephants in the room. Those large unspoken truths that distract your audience or what your audience is thinking about.

A few years ago, I was at my daughter’s school for an information evening. Midway through the evening a parenting expert took the stage. Seeing the eye rolls, she quipped, ‘Another expert, huh?’. The room cracked up laughing, feeling guilty but understood. She went further, admitting, ‘Parenting’s no cakewalk. Let’s talk practical tips for when patience runs thin—especially with teens’.

By acknowledging the elephants in the room (instead of pretending they didn’t exist), she gained respect and credibility.

Oh, and Viola (yep, the elephant) safely returned to her circus home. Elephant crisis averted!