Engaging Tone in Presentations

As a Data guy, I had certain beliefs about presenting. I feel icky admitting this, but I used to think... "Can I impress them with my charts and graphs?" If you've ever seen a data analyst present, you've seen this. Data Analysts love their charts and graphs. But the truth is... Pretty graphics don't win people over, especially Senior Leaders. My problem was... my ego. And it actually made me a ball of nerves. So why does this matter to you? Because when presenting is about YOU, it's all wrong. Being impressive isn't about great slides... being extra funny or sarcastic... or having a one line zinger... Business leaders aren't impressed by this. Here's the key that changed everything… Your Leaders want Team Members who know this: Great business presentations are about being RELEVANT for your audience. Here are 5 ways to be more RELEVANT when speaking... so you can engage your audience and win them over. (See if you see the common thread.) 1️⃣ Start with their priorities Don’t open with your outline. Start with what they care about. 2️⃣ Use their language and examples Skip buzzwords. Speak in terms they already use day-to-day. 3️⃣ Answer: what does this mean for them? After every key point, tie it to... what and why it matters to them. 4️⃣ Prioritize what impacts their world Cut anything that’s irrelevant... Oh, and don't think emotions don't matter Every leader makes decisions with some emotion. 5️⃣ Tailor your visuals and data to your audience Your examples and slides should reflect... their world, not yours. Did you see the common thread? Notice how being engaging & impressive is about THEM! Yes, great communicators know it's about the audience! Focus on SERVING them and you'll engage (and impress) them. Why? Because... Serving others reduces nerves (and your ego). Relevance to your audience earns attention. Speaking in their language builds credibility. Was there one of the 5 that stood out to you? - - - - - If we haven't met, I'm Cooper, and I help business professionals grow their confidence & credibility when speaking and presenting. +Follow me for more actionable tips.

I wanted to share an innovative presentation technique I developed that helps me deliver deeply personal talks with consistency and emotional precision. I create memory anchors using color-coded emotional acronyms for each slide. Here's how it works: For each slide, I first write out my narrative verbatim. I then feed this text to an AI, asking it to create an acronym where each letter corresponds to a key sentence while capturing the slide's emotional essence. The order of letters is crucial - for example, in 'RISE', the 'R' corresponds to my opening sentence, and the 'E' maps to my closing point. These acronyms become visual anchors, appearing as colored circles in the corners of my slides. The circle's color represents the emotional tone I need to convey. For instance, in a recent talk about my life journey: - A green 'RISE' circle reminds me to convey ambitious optimism when discussing my path to earning a Ph.D - A pink 'LOVE' circle signals warmth and tenderness when sharing memories of my grandmother - A black 'DEPTH' circle guides me to express profound gravity when discussing my decade-long battle with bipolar depression This system helps me maintain emotional authenticity while ensuring I don't miss crucial narrative points. It's especially valuable for talks dealing with sensitive personal experiences where both content and emotional delivery need to be precisely calibrated. Would love to hear if others have developed similar techniques for managing emotional delivery in presentations. #PresentationTechniques #PublicSpeaking " PyData NYC

What would you do if your audience couldn't see you or your slides? This past weekend, I had the honor to work with the Florida Business Enterprise Program (BEP), The mission of the BEP is to provide people who are legally blind with rewarding and profitable entrepreneurial ventures, broaden their economic opportunities, and invigorate all blind people to be self-supporting, while dispelling misconceptions about blind people by showcasing their abilities. The BEP administers one of the largest vending and food service programs operated by people who are legally blind in the United States. The BEP prides itself in allowing visually impaired entrepreneurs independence in their day-to-day operations, while at the same time providing continual support through professional business consultants and educational workshops. I was invited to speak because one of their members heard me speak at their National Conference. As a professional speaker I pride myself in making all of my programs an engaging interactive learning experience. Here are few ways I work to make my programs impactful for people with a visual impairment: 1. Paint pictures with your words. Slow down and be very descriptive during your presentation. Let people hear the images you want them to "see." Let people know where you are in the room or where people are who ask questions. Describe in detail what you look like or how you are moving. The people you work with appreciate when you make time to "set the table" before you "serve the meal." 2. Make content accessible before you step on stage. Provide notes or slides in screen-reader friendly formats so everyone can fully participate. 3. Prioritize clarity over flash. Meet with the organization ahead of time to understand participants wants and needs. This will help you establish clear structure, strong pacing, and intentional pauses. 4. Connect through voice and presence. Your tone, energy, and authenticity become your “visuals.” People feel your passion before they see your slides. This experience reminded me: when you strip away distractions, the heart of speaking is human connection. And that’s something everyone can see. 5. Let them participate. Your program can't be engaging if you don't allow the audience to engage. I made time for attendees to share their experiences with me, so I could understand what it was like to be a visually impaired or blind business owner. Participation leads to understanding and as attendees shared with me...a program that isn't boring. Bonus - Be sure to add alt text to all images you post on social media and your website. This allows for people who lack vision to "see" your photograph or image because you can describe the image to them. Thank you Deia Starr Rank and Speaker Exchange for making my experience possible. #keynotespeaker #speakingtips #publicspeakingadvice #workingwiththeblind #mindset

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 ❤️ 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴? 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗹. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗽. Speaking to a group, big or small, can be daunting. But here's how to tackle it head-on and turn nerves into a powerful presentation. 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝗹𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗸 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀. → Fear of judgment is often in our heads. Most audiences are rooting for you. They want to see you succeed. → Perfection isn't the goal. Authenticity is. Mistakes make you relatable. 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱: →Visualize success. Imagine your audience engaged and responding positively. → Breathe deeply. It calms nerves and steadies your voice. → Know your material inside out. Confidence comes from preparation. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱, 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: → Arrive or dial-in early. Familiarize yourself with the space. → Warm up your voice. It’s a muscle that needs stretching. → Make idle conversation with participants. You will be surprised by how relaxing it will be for you. 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵, 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆, 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱: → Start with a story or anecdote. It breaks the ice and draws your audience in. → Maintain eye contact. It builds connection and trust. → Use pauses effectively. They emphasize key points and allow your audience to digest information. Fifth, e𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹: → Ask questions. It invites interaction and keeps them attentive. → Use humor appropriately. Laughter relaxes both you and your audience. 𝗦𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗵, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: → Be yourself. Authenticity shines through and puts everyone at ease. → Acknowledge your nerves if they surface. It humanizes you and makes the audience empathetic. Remember, stage fright signals that you care about your message. Embrace it, and you'll turn your fear into fuel. 💪 How can I help?

I have a confession to make. I have been guilty of putting people to sleep during my presentations. Unfortunately, not once, but many times. I could blame it on the complexities of tech topics or the dryness of the subject. I could always console myself by saying that at least it's not as sleep-inducing as financial presentations (sorry, my friends in Finance). Deep down, though, I knew that even the most complicated and dry topics could come alive. As with anything, it's a skill and can be improved upon. Thus, I turned to my friend Christopher Chin, Communication Coach for Tech Professionals, for some much-needed advice. He shared these 5 presentation tips guaranteed to leave a lasting impression: 1/ Speak to Their Needs, Not Your Wants Don’t just say what you like talking about or what your audience wants to hear. Say what your audience needs to hear based on their current priorities and pain points: that sets your presentation up to be maximally engaging 2/ Slides Support, You Lead Slides are not the presentation. You are the presentation. Your slides should support your story and act as visual reinforcement rather than as the main star of the show.  Consider holding off on making slides until you have your story clear. That way, you don’t end up making more slides than you need or making slides more verbose than you need 3/ Start with a Bang, Not a Whisper The beginning of a presentation is one of the most nerve-wracking parts for you as the speaker and one of the most attention-critical parts for your audience. If you don’t nail the beginning, there’s a good chance you lose the majority of people. Consider starting with something that intrigues your audience, surprises them, concerns them, or makes them want to learn more. 4/ Think Conversation, Not Presentation One-way presentations where the speaker just talks “at” the audience lead to dips in attention and poorer reception of the material. Consider integrating interactive elements like polls and Q&A throughout a presentation (rather than just at the very end) to make it feel more like a conversation. 5/ Finish Strong with a Clear CTA We go through all the effort of preparing, creating, and delivering a presentation to cause some change in behavior. End with a powerful call to action that reminds your audience why they were in attendance and what they should do as soon as they leave the room. By integrating these, you won't just present; you'll captivate. Say goodbye to snoozing attendees and hello to a gripped audience. 😴 Repost if you've ever accidentally put someone to sleep with a presentation. We've all been there!

How energetic are your presentations? On a scale from 1 to 10? In my CEO coachings, I always ask this question. The answer is usually 7-8. Then we record a presentation and review. The reaction? “OMG, there’s no energy.” What feels like a high-octane 8 is often a meh 5. The problem: If the presenter doesn’t bring the energy, the audience won’t feel it either. As a result, they lose interest. “If you aren’t passionate about this, why should I be?” they wonder. Rightly so. Here are 7 strategies you can use to energize your next presentation: 🔋 Flip Your Energy Switch ⤷ Before you start, move, jump around, drink coffee - whatever works for you. (Unless you are nervous. In that case: breathe and relax.) 🔊 Ensure it Feels “Over the Top” ⤷ Your delivery must feel over the top. If the energy level feels right, it is usually too low.  🪝 Start Strong with a Hook ⤷ First impressions! Grab your audience’s attention from the start. Avoid low-energy introductions like “thank you, my name is, today we talk about …” 🤸 Move Your Body ⤷ Don’t be a statue. Use purposeful movements and gestures to emphasize key points.   🎶 Vary Your Tone and Pace ⤷ Energy isn’t about speed alone; it’s about contrast. Change your tone, volume, and pace to keep your audience tuned in. 👂 Use Attention Hooks Throughout  ⤷ Use stories or unanswered questions every 2 minutes to keep the audience engaged.  👥 Involve the Audience ⤷ Ask questions, encourage responses, and create a dialogue. Engagement isn’t just about you—make it a two-way street! ♻️ Please share with your network and follow Oliver Aust for more practical tips on leadership communication.

The Power of Your Voice: How Tone Impacts Trust and Influence 🎙️ Did you know the pitch, tone, and dynamics of your voice can significantly influence how people perceive you? Research shows that the way we use our voice affects trust, engagement, and even how memorable we are to others. Here’s what the research says: Higher-Pitched Voices and Trust A slightly higher-pitched voice can convey animation and enthusiasm, which helps build trust and emotional connection. People tend to respond positively to voices that sound energetic and engaged because they signal authenticity and approachability. But beware—too high of a pitch can have the opposite effect, making you seem nervous or lacking in confidence. It’s all about finding that balanced level of animation without going over the top. Lower-Pitched Voices and Authority On the flip side, lower-pitched voices tend to project authority, competence, and calmness. This is why leaders, speakers, and negotiators often intentionally lower their pitch to convey control and gravitas. However, being too monotone or overly polished can backfire, making you seem robotic or unapproachable. The Key: Dynamic and Enthusiastic The secret lies in being dynamic. Your tone should shift naturally, emphasizing key points with enthusiasm and softening for emotional moments. This unpredictability keeps listeners engaged while showing them you care about the message you’re delivering. How to Master Your Tone 1. Be Intentional: Match your tone to the emotional context of your message. Are you building excitement or creating a moment of calm? 2. Practice Animation: Slightly raise your pitch when sharing enthusiasm or delivering uplifting points. 3. Add Authority: Use a lower pitch for moments that require seriousness or to drive home critical ideas. 4. Avoid Over-Polish: A perfect delivery can sometimes feel inauthentic. Allow for natural pauses and a conversational rhythm. Your Voice Sets the Stage Your tone has the power to create trust or break it. When you’re speaking to an audience, on a call, or in a one-on-one conversation, your voice isn’t just a tool—it’s part of the story you’re telling. By staying dynamic and intentional with your tone, you can capture attention, build trust, and leave a lasting impact. How have you seen tone affect communication in your life? Let’s talk about it in the comments! 👇 #CommunicationSkills #LeadershipPresence #AmplifyYourInfluence #PublicSpeaking #ToneMatters #VoicePower

Since 2015, I have spoken to more than 15,000 people in 10+ countries including Singapore, The United States, Lithuania, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Turkey, Sweden and so on. Here are 5 tips that helped me deliver engaging presentations and these tips can help you too. Come closer to the screen: 1. Master Storytelling: Always, always and always start with a story. Storytelling is the most important skill you may need to have. Regular presentations are boring. The stories are memorable. 2. Get the Audiences Involved: Meet and greet, and get the audiences involved from the second or third sentence. Ask a question or invite them to share some thoughts. Once they are involved, now you all are in the same wavelength. 3. Seeing is Believing: Colorful and easy to view slides are your friend but you gotta be ready to go. Seeing is believing which means people love to see good visuals but nobody wants to read too long texts. Keep that in mind for your next presentation. 4. Stay Hungry, Stay Humble: A presenter who is authentic and comes with humility, open-mind and with an intention to give and take is the best combination. Audiences love authentic presenters and this is the formula for a successful presentation and interaction. 5. LAST Method and Never Argue: Listen, Ask, Speak, and Thank but never argue with audience members. Arguing with someone from the audience is the worst way for any presenter to "prove a point." Also, never turn your back to the audiences to read from your slides. And, keep your hands out of your pocket. No matter who you are, learn to respect the audiences. That's the best way to deliver engaging presentations and be a memorable speaker.

90% of presenters don't use voice modulation effectively. And it's killing their presentations. Your voice is your most powerful tool, but most people: 1. Keep the same monotone pitch. 2. Sound like robots reading a script. 3. Never change their volume. Here's how to fix this RIGHT NOW: ✅ Start with volume variations: 1. Speak louder for key points 2. Whisper to create suspense 3. Lower your voice for intimate moments ✅ Master pitch control: 1. Go higher when expressing excitement 2. Change pitch between main points 3. Use lower tones for authority Remember timing: 1. Pause before important statements 2. Speed up during engaging stories 3. Slow down for complex information The winning formula? Practice these techniques while recording yourself. Listen back. Adjust. Repeat. Your voice should dance with your content, not drag it down. Don't just stand there → Make your voice work for you. Good luck, speakers. P.S. Ever noticed how the best speakers make it seem effortless? Yeah, they practiced. A lot. #speaker #public speaking #communication #presentation

Want to sound more interesting when you speak? Here’s one simple tip: Vary your tone. Speaking in monotone voice is the quickest way to lose your audience. Research backs this up: variation in pitch, speed, and volume significantly boosts listener attention and retention. In fact, a study by the University of Southern California found that speakers who varied their tone were 80% more likely to hold their audience's attention compared to those who spoke in a flat, monotonous tone. Here’s how you can do it: 1️⃣ Emphasize key points – Stretch out important words for extra impact. 2️⃣ Play with volume – Raise your voice slightly to highlight key ideas and slow down for dramatic effect. 3️⃣ Adjust your pace – Alternate between faster and slower moments to keep things dynamic. These techniques will not only make your speech more engaging but also help your message resonate on a deeper level. So, if you want to sound more captivating, focus on how you say it—not just what you say. 🎤 I share tips like this regularly to help introverted leaders speak with impact. If that’s your goal, hit Follow for more! #publicspeaking #communication #leader