Following on from last week’s post, I thought it might be useful to review some of the things presenters do that make life difficult for them. Avoid doing any of the stuff below and you’ll be less likely to be nervous when it comes to your presentation or screw things up! It’s a short, sharp list – please feel free to contact me if you want to delve deeper!
- Not prepared
- Over prepared
- Read overheads
- Small fonts on overheads
- Cutsey clip art
- Cover too many subjects
- Not knowledgeable on subject
- Irrelevant material (little or no useful information)
- Go over the head of the audience
- Don’t tailor material to the audience
- No theme
- No objective
- No fun
- Don’t get to know the audience (before and during)
- Don’t develop trust and respect
- Don’t check the room
- Don’t check the equipment
- Don’t have back-up
- No visuals/confusing visuals
- Speaking in a monotone
- No movement
- Insufficient interactivity
- Tell irrelevant, unfunny or politically incorrect jokes
- Discuss sex, religion, politics
- No eye contact with audience
- Don’t smile
- Mumbling
- Don’t provide enough breaks
- No flip chart paper and pens (that work)
- Insufficient hand-outs
Don’t let this list scare you off making a presentation – it’s all common-sense and every mistake is easy to avoid. Better forewarned than forearmed.