Perhaps the best book ever written on giving presentations first took breath back in 1935.

It was written by Richard C Borden, Administrative Chairman of the Department of Public Speaking at New York University and a highly successful public speaker in his own right.

“Public Speaking As Listeners Like It” pre-dates Powerpoint, Overhead Projectors – even the venerable old flipchart.

Here's one of the gems from inside – it's the Borden Formula for structuring a powerful presentation…

What you have to do is imagine your audience shouting out the following four phrases to you in order:

>> “Ho Hum!”

>> “Why Bring That Up?”

>> “For Instance?”

and

>> “So What?”

Here's how to use it in practice…

Imagine you're about to present, you stand up, legs quivering, and the audience shouts out “Ho Hum!”. In other words, they're expecting yet another dull talk.

So you have to break through the Ho Hum barrier. Open with something interesting that grabs their attention.

Instead of saying “I'm going to give you an overview of the impacts of work-related stress and how to reduce it in your business”, say “10.4 million working days were lost in the UK last year due to stress. It's now the biggest single cause of work related illness”.

Shock them. Surprise them. Intrigue them. Interest them somehow. Or they just won't listen to the rest.

So you've grabbed their attention. Now they shout out “Why Bring That Up?”. In other words, why is this topic relevant for them? They're not going to pay attention for much longer unless they can see how the topic impacts them in their business or lives.

So in our example, if the speaker was talking to small businesses she could go on to talk about how work related stress impacts small businesses in particular – and the things a small business can do to avoid it.

Next question: “For Instance?”.

Human beings understand things best with concrete examples rather than abstract concepts. So find a way of making the concept real for your audience with examples. Our heroine could talk about a specific business and the measures it took to reduce work related stress.

Finally, “So What?”. What do you recommend they do? Our speaker could list the steps the audience should take to reduce stress in their workplace.

And, of course, make sure your call to action includes some way of you keeping in touch with them. Speaking to you after the talk. Signing up for your free report and emails that go into more detail.

Despite changes in technology (and attention span), Borden's tips from 1935 are just as valid today as then. Make sure you're using them!