KLM: Engage your audience from the start. Involve your audience during your presentation.

For learning and involvement

No matter how interesting your story is, after a certain amount of time your audience will begin to lose focus. Engage your audience right from the start by asking a question and then keep the questions coming. The result is two-fold: you keep your audience’s energy up and you receive concrete input that allows you to alter your presentation to suit your audience’s interests.

KLM
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KLM CFO discusses the annual figures with the audience.

During an annual KLM meeting of financial controllers, the CFO discussed the annual figures. Before he started his presentation, he asked his audience to answer a multiple-choice question via mobile phone.

During his presentation he also asked them questions about company culture. By asking both substantial and practical questions, a fairly long presentation remained engaging to listen to.

Effect

By asking the controllers questions about their own work, their attention was instantly peaked. And since questions were asked throughout the presentation, they remained engaged. Both the speaker and the controllers benefited: The speaker gained insight into the thoughts of his team, which helped him during the afternoon discussions. The controllers became more aware of how their fellow team members experience actual topics within the team.