What captivates an audience?

Over the years, I’ve received thousands of emails from people asking, “Mr. Dude, your animations have inspired, motivated and excited me. I can’t seem to make my own animations half as interesting. How do you do it?”

Here are a few tips on how to turn a drab presentation into something that’ll knock your audience’s socks off!

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1. Timing is everything!

Somewhere between the realm of “There’s way too much going on” and “Holy cow, this is boring” lies the peaceful land of “That was quick, fun and informative!”

It’s your job to find that place.

An overwhelmed viewer is a confused viewer, but one that might still stick around until the end. It’s clear that you know a thing or two about what you’re presenting and if you can wrap things up quickly and end with a compelling call to action, they’ll probably contact you.

On the other hand, if your visitor ever gets to the point where they’re waiting for something to happen, you’re in trouble! A bored visitor is much more likely to move on to the next website, change the channel, or go do housework.

In a nutshell, a properly-paced presentation:

• gives the viewer time to process the information presented
• gives them ONE thing to focus on at a time
• presents readable words at a “spoken” pace
• matches the speed of movement to the music.

2. Make it a learning experience.

A wise man once told me, “People always remember where they get information from.” If your viewer comes away from your presentation with more knowledge than they had going in, they’ll be far more likely to respond to your offer. If they learn something useful, they’ll also tell their friends about you!

3.  Have it narrated by a professional.

If you decide against presenting your information in text format, consider hiring a professional to do a voice-over. Amateur mistakes such as lip smacks, breathing noises, blowing on the microphone, stutters and improper inflection are a great way to kill whatever you’re presenting. Make sure the information is being presented confidently – someone who appears to be “waffling” is not going to gain the trust of the viewer.

4. Always, always end with a call to action.

Now that you’ve gone through all the pain of making something that captures your viewer’s attention, educates them and keeps them interested, capitalize! Get them to call you, go to your website, or join your newsletter list. At this point, few things would make it all a waste of time than your viewer saying, “Well that was interesting. Next!”