Why Is Everyone Texting During My Presentation?

Presentation strategies for audience engagement.

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With only six seconds to keep a person’s attention, how are you keeping your audience engaged during an hour (or multiple hour) long presentation? In the workplace our audiences are comprised of a wide variety of generations that all value personalized content and in person communication. Although Gen Z and Millennials are our most technologically advanced population yet, 51% of Generation Z value in person communication most (Schawbell 2014). Further adult learning theory tells us that adults want their workshops and education to apply to them directly (Merriam, Caffarella, Baumgartner 2007). How can we tailor our presentations, workshops and information sessions to individuals when it is possible to get similar information online? This presentation will provide best practices, strategies, and tips on how to enhance our interactive engagement in public speaking. Whether it be a training session, classroom, or small group workshop, this presentation will allow opportunities for clear “takeaway’s” that can be utilized immediately, hands-on experience with activities in the session and large group sharing session of best practices for interactive public speaking. In addition, the presentation itself will model best practices for presentation strategies and audience engagement.

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Learning Objectives

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Attendees will engage in and practice new strategies and activities to utilize in public speaking engagements.

Attendees will learn best practices for interactive presentations.

Attendees will learn how to adapt their own presentation style to fit the needs of today’s audience.

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About Our Facilitators

Samantha Martin is Assistant Director for Career Curriculum at the Ball State Career Center. She has her undergraduate and graduate degree in Communication Studies and is pursuing her doctorate in Adult Education. Additionally, she teaches as adjunct faculty at Ball State for the course Communication and Pop Culture. With a passion and talent in developing interactive workshops, Samantha has led the transformation of the Career Center’s campus-wide workshops resulting in an activity toolkit, gamified workshops such as an escape room, and training of graduate students on presentation techniques. She has experience teaching the basic public speaking course at Ball State, implementing training and development for the regional food bank staff and agency partners, and is currently the liaison to the Communication, Media, Fine Arts, and Design students at Ball State.