A motivation presentation is a presentation that attempts to change people's attitudes and behavior, rather than solely communicating specific information. It requires the speaker to show his or her own motivation and engage the audience. Techniques that can achieve this goal include a conversational style, interacting with the audience, and relating the topic to the listener's own situation and experiences.
Given the subject, it is important to make a good impression when giving a motivation presentation. The speaker should be alert, energetic, confident and enthusiastic. If he stumbles over words due to lack of preparation, doesn't convey enthusiasm about the presentation, the audience will not be engaged. One tip for presenters is to be wary about going over the top though: it's best sound natural rather than being so hyped-up that it distracts from the message.
The speaker should try to make a motivation presentation as relevant to the audience as possible. When talking to an interest group or employees at a business, the speaker should tailor examples to his line of work. For example, there's no point talking about the importance of smart decision-making to assembly line workers who are told what to do all day. The people staging the event may have different motivations to the audience. Junior staff likely won't respond too well if the whole focus is on how they can help the company make bigger profits. Instead, the speaker may need to concentrate on emotions, for example explaining how working smarter can reduce stress or wasted effort.
The presenter shouldn't be afraid to engage with the audience so that it feels more like an event than a lecture. Asking for examples and ideas during the speech will get people thinking more about the presentation and how it relates to their own lives and work. If somebody raises a point or asks a question that is completely off-subject, it should be addressed briefly or held to the end of the speech.
The audience will have a range of attitudes to the motivation presentation. Some may be enthusiastic while others will be more cynical. This is often because of the mindset people have when they approach the situation of being in an audience listening to a formal presentation. The speaker can try combat this by being more conversational, using humor and otherwise engaging the audience in a comfortable, more casual way.
