When you give a presentation, do you ask enough questions?
Even if they’re rhetorical questions, many people don’t have enough questions in their presentations. It’s simply a series of statements.
And the higher level thinking or the more familiar the topic, the more involved we are, the less easier it is to remember that sometimes we need to flip and turn a statement into a rhetorical question.
For example, I was working with a client in sustainability who had some incredible stats, that she simply clicked through to on the slides and… there they were. And that was a perfect moment, which we then discussed, to say:
“Okay, have a guess how many days it takes.”
or
“Have a guess about heating water versus heating air.”
By doing so, the engagement factor goes up hugely when we do this, because questions are an open loop for our brain.
So even if you can’t directly engage with an audience, it’s great if you can, rhetorical questions are a great way to go.