How to arrange a stage performance where the impact is large - and still allowing the audience to be in charge

Dear blogreaders,

Independently if it is about presentations, speeches, seminars or conversations, we are all challenged with how to get the message across and the same time to build confidence and trust to continue the dialogue. I have been especially puzzled about how I can come across as listening while I speak. But now I am closer to having a clue .

The past week I had the opportunity to be part of a two new stage performance concepts that were designed to increase the level of the interactivity during a seminar. Interactivity and presentation could be perceived to be mutually exclusive but here are some hints on how you can spice up the show a bit.

I have found the concept of creating and delivering a seminar to build on a few simple things:

• Select speakers that delivers, that delivers under pressure and that do what it takes to not make fools of themselves on stage.
• Select a scripter that find the messages, find the flow, add twists to the words, litsten to ideas but always see them from an audience angle
• Select a slide maker that can get the messages into the visual material and improve it all the way up to stage time. Paying atten to details pays-off.
• Stick to the same team throughout the process to gradually build confidence in the team

This week we tested a few new ideas. The first one was about enhancing interactivity by providing choices in the seminar were the auidence could select which option that should be presented. Meaning that all sections were prepared but not presented: So what is the value of adopting this approach:

• The audience get more engaged since they feel that they run the show
• The auidence get keen on wanting a follow-up session since they know they did not get the whole story.
• You get feedback on what the audience find most interesting as you speak, even if it is an extensive seminar set-up, as an alternative to getting lost in presentation mania.
• Time flies by and a 40 minute session feels like 15 minutes, and the audience stay alert

The second idea was about how you could summarize your main points in a different way than the obvious "These are my key points". We were inspired by the TV shows "Jeopardy" and the "Letterman show". I found the summary method of listing things in reverse order and gradually building it up to the top to provide the following benefits

• Allowed you to summarize more than three points that is the regular
• Sharpen up the message by actually forcing the speaksers to put a weight to their message
• Keep the interest in the auidence to listen to all of your points in summary, and doing it in a way that actually build up attention as you approach #1

I was fortunate to be part of two great teams that took me down the avnue of picking up these new experiences. And from the staging of the seminar location there is a tweak to the old saying, "It is not over until the speakers sit on the FatBoy sack"