Insight on Chapter 4

After  reading Chapter 4 in the book They Snooze, You Lose by Lynell Burmark, I learned that we must try to engage our audience within the first sixty seconds of our presentations.  The challenge is to keep them engaged for the duration of our presentation.  In reading, Dr. Burmark mentions that in order to effective we must do two things:

1.   Get their attentions.

2.   Make the presentations stick.

        She mentions in the book, how the inventor of Velcro, scientist George de Mestral, got the idea after a hunting trip with his dog.  Upon his return, he noticed that both were covered in burrs of burdock.  After looking under a microscope, he realized that the burrs of burdock were “hooked” at the end to anything that had a “loop,” thus the birth of Velcro.  She relates this story, to how we must “hook” our audience members.  Some ideas, as mentioned in the book, to hook your audience is to:

·         Connections

·         Humor

·         Images

·         Music

·         Emotion

·         Story

·         Senses

        The hooks do not need to be used all at once in a single presentation but using at least a couple will enhance the presentation.

Work Cited:

Burmark, L. (2011). They snooze, you lose: the educator’s guide to successful presentations.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Boss