The Wisdom of Smiling

These days if you have a presentation to make there are some pretty cool technological gadgets that can make your presentation come alive. There are all kinds of computer generated slide presentation programs that are far more exotic than plain old PowerPoint. Audio and video can now be easily embedded. There are audience response mechanisms so you can quickly learn what tracks with your audience.

None of these things can be optimized if your presentation doesn’t have certain essentials.  It needs a great opening to glue the audience’s eyes and ears to the whole presentation.  It needs a focused takeaway so the audience can remember and take action against the key point you wanted to make. And, the speaker must connect with the audience if she wants her message to resonate.

There are two techniques that resonate well with an audience. One is eye contact.  If you think that it is easy to do, start watching presenters more closely. Many of them just never really look into the eyes of the audience.  And because they don’t make that eye connection, their presentation never seems quite as believable as it could.

The second technique that draws your audience in is a smile.  Often times when people are presenting they are so focused on their material, and so anxious about doing a good job that they never let a smile come across their face. Yet, it is the simple act of smiling that connects with the audience better than anything else.  It’s also a human nature trick. When you smile at someone they feel compelled to smile back.  A smile warms up the room. The audience will like you better if you smile.

How important is it?

There’s an employer who has an unusual practice for determining whether potential candidates have the right personality to work for her.  At some point during the interview, the candidate is left alone in the conference room.  A passerby walks into the room by mistake. If the candidate looks up and smiles then he/she has passed a crucial test. No smile. No job.

When you present, remember to smile. It’s that important.