text: what do students want from a good lecturer in the university?   when my college hosts lecturers, i'm bound to stay interested if the lecturer is able to engage the student audience by being knowledgeable about the topic, asking the group questions, and relating it to other things (especially if the concept is more abstract or you are talking on one particular subject to a diverse group).    personally, if a lecturer doesn't grab my interest within the first 10 minutes, i'm likely to note my escape routes and enact one of them in a relatively quick fashion.  the best lecturers i've seen grab students' interest nearly immediately, usually with humor.  don't use a cheesy joke and definitely be sure to test the joke out on an honest coworker first.    if you've succeeded in obtaining my interest, tell me what you going to talk to me about in a general sense.  i don't like to be lost.  i will start looking for those escape routes again so that i can find myself located in a nice lobby, that i call "freedom."  once you've explained the general, go into detail on some of the specifics. judge your group before you get give the lecture.  how much information can they process?  also, remember time constraints.  in a student's mind, a two hour lecture starting at 6 means "i had dinner right before i came and will need to use the bathroom at some point. if i leave, and find the lobby of freedom, i will not return."  use some sort of multimedia unless you are an incredibly engaging orator.  i have seen several successful non-multimedia presentation.  i have seen some...well, no, i haven't. i left at the 40 minute mark when i decided that i had counted the ceiling tiles too many times and even my professor was asleep.  don't read off of powerpoint slides or have cheesy animations on them.  if you have all the words on your powerpoint and are simply reading off of it, i know a fifth grader who could give a better presentation...using your slides.  don't hesitate to ask questions if you think the audience can handle them (and will answer them). remember, in order to have them answer them, you need to have already engaged the group.  wrap up with going back to a general sense.  tie up loose ends.  ask for questions or ask them yourself. when you answer questions, repeat the question to the whole audience. sometimes the back row couldn't hear it.  it also helps so that you actually answer the question.  nothing upsets an audience member more than you neglecting to give a real answer to a question and going off on some other tangent.   when you leave, be open to meet people in the lobby afterward. it makes a great impression.  most important to remember, don't be cheesy.  cheese smells bad.