Have you ever delivered a technical presentation to an engineering audience, and your audience members’ faces were like “deer in the headlights”

Audiences who aren’t engaged by the speaker are bored and don’t retain or implement what you say.

Below are three methods you can use to engage your engineering audience:

Make Your Content Relevant to Your Audience’s Work

As an engineer, you are naturally interested in solving problems. You become engaged when your presentation clearly demonstrates how the information will help your audience improve performance, reduce risk, save time, or solve a technical challenge.

The main point to get across to your audience is how the technology you are presenting affects the business impact.

It’s not about you; it’s about them. Your engagement with your audience will increase significantly if you demonstrate how your presentation content directly affects them.

Start by defining the problem before presenting the solution. When engineers understand the purpose of the information, they are more likely to remain attentive and actively participate in the discussion.

Be ready to “call a lateral” (When the quarterback on a football team changes the play in real time) if you see the audience is interested in a topic not in your presentation.

Use real-world examples, case studies, and practical applications. Connecting theory to actual engineering situations helps the audience see immediate value and keeps their interest throughout the presentation.

It is human nature for your audience to compare what they hear, see, and feel in your presentation to what they have experienced before.

Use widely familiar analogies to explain your technical information.

One way to engage your engineering audience is to make your content relevant to your audience’s work.

Another is to balance technical depth with clarity.

Balance Technical Depth with Clarity

Engineering audiences appreciate technical accuracy, but they can quickly disengage when overwhelmed with excessive detail.

Present information in logical layers, beginning with the big picture and then moving into supporting details.

The reason this works is that it gets the audience to a common level of understanding. Your audience will guide you with their questions as to whether you need to delve deeper into your subject.

If more detailed information is needed during your presentation, hyperlink to more detailed slides.

Use diagrams, charts, process flows, and visual explanations whenever possible. Many engineers process visual information more efficiently than lengthy verbal descriptions.

A picture really is worth a thousand words. However, there is a danger here. Ensure the diagrams, charts, process flows, and visual explanations directly connect to your presentation narrative when the specific slide is presented. Use my mantra: When in doubt, take it out.

Avoid unnecessary jargon and explain complex concepts in plain language first. Once your audience understands the foundation, introduce more advanced technical details as needed. The operative words here are “as needed.”

Two ways to engage your engineering audience are to make your content relevant to your audience’s work and balance technical depth with clarity.

A third way is to encourage interaction and intellectual participation.

Encourage Interaction and Intellectual Participation

Engineers often prefer analytical engagement rather than passive listening.

Ask thought-provoking questions that encourage them to evaluate assumptions, alternatives, or potential solutions.

In the unlikely case where you don’t know the answer to a question, there are two options:

• Ask the question of the audience. There is a good chance someone in the audience may know the answer.

• Tell the questioner to please give you their e-mail address. You will get back to them in under 24 hours. The key to the second option is that you need to get back to them within 24 hours, whether or not you have found the answer.

Invite discussion through short exercises, polls, demonstrations, or scenario-based questions. This transforms the audience from observers into active participants in the learning process.

Discussion also fosters interaction amongst audience members. When you can foster this kind of discussion, your audience engagement increases.

Allow time for questions throughout the presentation rather than only at the end. Engineers frequently generate questions as they process information, and addressing them promptly helps maintain engagement and credibility.

The following happens when you restrict questions until the end of your presentation:

• There may not be time to get to all the questions from the audience.

• Since the Q&A period is at the end of your presentation, people will want to leave rather than ask their questions.

• You will have to re-establish the context of the audience question, as you have covered more subtopics since it entered the audience member’s mind.

In a nutshell, answer audience questions throughout your presentation. The audience will love you for it, and you will too.

The most engaging presentations for engineers are relevant, clear, and interactive.

When presenters connect information to real engineering challenges, communicate complex ideas logically, and encourage participation, audiences become more attentive, involved, and receptive to the message.

Three ways to engage your engineering audience are to (1) make your content relevant to your audience’s work, (2) balance technical depth with clarity, and (3) encourage interaction and intellectual participation.

A teacher’s (you) only reward is if their students (your audience) internalize what they are teaching. A great way to do this is for the teacher to engage their students.

If you don’t use these methods to engage your audience, I can almost guarantee their evaluation of your efforts will be mediocre at best.

Do you want to be mediocre?

Call to Action

• The first thing to do in your presentation is to show you understand the problem. Only after you demonstrate you understand the problem should you offer solutions

• Present information in logical layers, beginning with the big picture and then moving into supporting details.

• Ask thought-provoking questions that encourage them to evaluate assumptions, alternatives, or potential solutions.

References

• Nancy Duarte (2012). HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

• Garr Reynolds (2020). Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (3rd ed.). Berkeley, CA: New Riders Publishing.

• Scott Berkun (2009). Confessions of a Public Speaker. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.

• Richard E. Mayer (2021). Multimedia Learning (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

• John Medina (2014). Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Updated ed.). Seattle, WA: Pear Press.

• Edward R. Tufte (2006). Beautiful Evidence. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

• Karl T. Ulrich & Steven D. Eppinger (2015). Product Design and Development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. These authors emphasize the importance of clear technical communication and stakeholder engagement in engineering environments.

Being a confident, engaging, and effective STEM speaker is a vital personal and professional asset. With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.

Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent STEM speeches and presentations. Let’s connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be. Please reach out to me at [email protected] or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation. Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks