4 Ways To Optimize Your Presentations with Curiosity and Suspense

Our attention span has shrunk to seconds.

Our inner voice is a continual source of distraction for us. One of the most challenging problems for speakers is maintaining an audience's attention.

The situation with online presentations has not improved, particularly in home-office setups.

Whether offline or online, we need to use strategies that will help us raise the degree of engagement with our audience. One such method, the Kinder Egg effect approach, is described in this blog.

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What Do You Mean By Kinder Egg Effect?

Ferrero, an Italian firm, has sold almost 30 billion Kinder Eggs since 1974. Aside from the chocolate and toys within, the popularity of Kinder Eggs may be explained by the three major feelings they elicit. They arouse interest, suspense, and surprise, resulting in the Kinder Egg effect.

As a presenter, you should use these emotional triggers in your delivery. Tyng, Amin, Saad, and Malik conclude in "The Influences of Emotion on Learning and Memory" (2017) that emotion significantly impacts human cognitive functions such as perception, attention, learning, memory, reasoning, and problem-solving.

In addition, emotion substantially affects attention, modifying attention selectivity and inspiring action and behavior.

When you capitalize on the Kinder Egg effect, you raise your emotional impact, increasing or maintaining your audience's attention level.

How To Drive The Element of Surprise in Your Presentations?

According to Brewer and Lichtenstein's (1982) structural effect theory, the presenter can elicit varied emotive reactions by altering the sequence in which the story's events are narrated.

For example, the presenter can induce Suspense by deferring the story's conclusion. "Don't tell them anything. Don't tell anyone. Nonetheless, don't tell them. Then inform them."

Curiosity is piqued by placing the conclusion ahead of the previous actions. That is something that movies and TV shows are fond of doing! Consider the program Breaking Bad if you've seen it.

Finally, surprise the audience by presenting an unexpected incident. The six slide patterns that follow are based on these three emotional and attentive drivers. When you use them in your presentations, you will capitalize on the Kinder Egg effect.

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1. Introduction Slide

What is the opening slide of any presentation, internal or external, at any event? The title slide contains the title of the lecture, occasionally a subtitle, the presenter's name, the date, the location, the logo, and perhaps a corporate stock photo for decoration.

Is a title slide likely to arouse interest, suspense, or surprise?

Does a title slide elicit anything other than a sense of standard in your audience?

Is its too much of a stretch to say that your initial impression as a presenter is critical?

You can pique your audience's interest with a first slide that only shows a preview of your conclusion. As an example, consider the number 83,000,000. "This figure will revolutionize our business strategy," you may say in your first phrase.

Then, without commenting on the figure, you continue to evolve your company strategy. The number reappears later in your presentation, and you resolve the hook. Use hook slides to capture your audience right away.

2. Infographic Slide

Consider a typical corporate presentation slide. How does it appear? Content, content, content, with a fancy picture or symbol thrown in for good measure.

The issue with these slides is what scientists refer to as "inattentional deafness." When we are focused on a visual job, we become temporarily deaf to our surroundings, which means we cannot view slides while listening to the presentation.

As a result, while presenting with a screen, always ensure that your slides do not replace but rather supplement your voice (screen slides).

Infographic slides are designed for use on a computer screen. They typically strengthen your argument. They also provide a substantial second benefit.

We all have a rational and emotional brain, and the audience cannot distinguish between fact and emotion. Some in the audience are poets, some are accountants, and yet others are more graphic-oriented.

Infographics appeal to both segments of your target audience. To pique your audience's interest, incorporate a sense of mystery and suspense into your infographic presentations.

3. Humour Slide

Humor is a pattern that causes your audience to laugh, which is excellent news for speakers who believe they are not humorous.

Do we want our audience to laugh? It is dependent on the speech, yet it is a wise resource for changing context and reaching emotions. Is there such a thing as a terrible laugh? Laughter is a pleasant force that breaks the ice. You appear more charming when you make people laugh. Humor is a proven winner.

You may make your audience laugh by using the following eight patterns: hyperbole, understatement, irony, fall of the alpha dog, self-deprecation, calling the room, calling back, and stating the unexpected.

The latter is a common trend in almost every joke in the world. First, the audience develops an expectation as a result of joke tellers. Then they divert and say something unexpected, which serves as the punch line.

4. Questionnaire Slide

Are you capable of not responding to a question? You demonstrated that you could. Every question you pose to your audience captures their full attention. You may use both open and closed questions in your presentations.

Open inquiries are risky. William Ernest Henley, the poet, was the ruler of his fate, the captain of his spirit. However, as a speaker, you will never be in command of the audience's reactions to your open questions.

Consider the strong personalities in your audience. They seem to like providing hard responses, don't they?

A quiz question is a kind of closed question. When you pose a question like the one in the slide above, your audience can choose 100 different answers ranging from 1% to 100%. However, everyone can only respond with a single word or a brief sentence, which is a closed inquiry.

Wrapping It Up

Use hooks, (nearly) nude infographics, equations with initials, punch slides, and quizzes to pique their interest, generate tension, and surprise them.

Your emotional effect will increase your audience's attention dramatically. Make the most of the Kinder Egg effect by turning your slide presentations into a spectacle.

Explaining the points in the form of a good visual story, will surely help to maintain the interest factor among the audience. So, whether your audience consists of your coworkers or it belongs to the business sector and you are making a business proposal, Pitch.com is offering different proposal templates, by which you can present your concept for a cooperation, product, or service to prospective partners and clients. Always get inspired by these designer proposals in practically no time.