Tip 62: Entertain your audience
Sometimes we make a presentation that communicates the arguments and evidence, and then persuades your audience that they are true, and we naturally assume that because of this, it will be interesting and entertaining and will therefore hold the audience’s attention. Sometimes we even scoff at the idea of giving an interesting and entertaining presentation – we seem to think that if a talk is entertaining, it’s probably not very "deep".
This is not necessarily the case. In fact, it is impossible to communicate and persuade effectively without entertaining at the same time. If people are entertained, you can slip in a few nuggets of information. But if your speech is dull and boring, no amount of information will make it a great speech.
Keeping your audience interested and involved is essential because in order to communicate your work and its value, you need their full attention.
Listening is hard work. Especially at conferences, where audiences listen to many talks over many hours, people need the speaker's help to maintain their focus.
Entertainment isn't about making your audience laugh or distracting them from their troubles, but simply about keeping them focused on and interested in what you have to say.
Surprise, delight, challenge, and engage your audience. People are busy – if they can get the same info from a book or an email, why bring them in to listen to a presentation?
« Previous: Tip 61: Respect your audience
Next: Tip 63: Be different »
Import citation into 
