You might not believe it until you try it out. Much of the annoyance and boredom in PowerPoint is created by the body language of the presenter.

Why standing side-on can make your presentation more engaging

When the presenter directly faces the audience his/her body is saying look at me.

So where is the audience supposed to look? At screen or presenter? That’s visual ambiguity and eyes glaze over immediately.

We’ve tried this out in scores of workshops… your PowerPoint will have much more impact when you stand side on, a subtle but powerful signal to the audience that they should look at the screen. End of ambiguity.

Want to get the move exactly right?

When you’ve got something on that screen, point your feet half way between the screen and the centre of the audience. That refinement takes care of any audience and screen arrangement.

When there’s nothing on the screen, point your feet back at the audience.

Michael