Many of us have learned that a great presentation is very much like a well-crafted story. Such a presentation has a strong beginning, fully-realized characters, selective and vivid imagery, a dramatic climax, and a lesson-teaching resolution or moral at the end for the audience. However, is there more to the story of engaging presentations than storytelling alone tells?
Today, while sitting in front of my laptop reviewing the comings and goings of Facebook friends, this brief piece 'Anatomy Of A Dance Hit' from NPR.org appeared in my feed. Given my penchant for 'the dance' I was intrigued enough to listen to the piece, and then driven to the songs noted by Ray Charles and Pharrell Williams. As predicted by the story, my body began to almost involuntarily move to each. Is there some neuroscience-based reason for what makes a song 'danceable'? Researchers in Denmark say yes. (Listen to the NPR piece 'Anatomy Of A Dance Hit' for more on that research.) The net: predictable beat with gaps that the brain wants to fill in leading the body to...dance like no one is watching.
My brain (coupled with the double espresso I had just downed) linked to the topic of presentations. You see, in the research neither the sparse beat structures nor the complex beat structures induced dancing. Could the same be true about presentations? Those that are too simple...sparse...empty lead to disengagement. Those that are too complex...bullet-laden...rushed lead to disengagement. Yet, in my experience, those presentations that fall somewhere in the middle with a solid cadence and strategic pauses throughout heighten audience engagement. So, when next creating a presentation, think 'Story' and 'Beat' should you want to move your audience to their feet.