It is very difficult to speak in front of an audience and at the same time be interesting, professional, grammatically correct, have a great intonation and perfect body gestures. Don’t be THAT GUY who bores his audience to sleep! Here’s how you can avoid the top 10 bad habits that can ruin your next presentation.
2. Starting with an
Apology
Even You're late, your equipment
malfunctions, you don't have your
materials, or whatever. You apologize
in advance for how this might affect
your presentation. Because An apology
sets a negative tone that may affect the
entire meeting and makes you seem
like a victim. Nobody wants to do
business with a victim.
3. What to do instead?
Start on an upbeat note, as if nothing
is wrong. This communicates that
you're cool under pressure--the
opposite of being a victim.
4. Asking for Extra
Time
You feel you don't have sufficient
time to communicate your important
information, so you request extra
time.
5. What to do instead?
Adapt your presentation down so
that it fits the allotted time. If you're
late, end your presentation when
it's scheduled to end.
6. Shooting Slide
Barrages
This usually happens when initial
slides spark discussion so you lay a
"guilt trip" on your audience
members to keep them quiet while
you finish up.
"I have 15 minutes left, and I'm
through only 20 of my 58 PowerPoint
slides, so I'm going to be going
through this last bit a little fast."
For Example :
7. What to do instead?
Adapt the remainder of your
presentation so that it addresses
what was discussed, because
that's clearly what's important to
your audience.
8. Making Personal
Excuses
You downgrade the audience's
expectations by offering an excuse in
advance for your poor performance.
(E.g., "I'm so tired"; "I got in late last
night.").
You're giving yourself an excuse so
you won't feel so bad if you fail. Plus,
nobody wants to hear you whine
about your problems.
9. What to do instead?
Regardless of how you're feeling,
show enthusiasm for being there
and make your best effort.
10. Killing Audience With
Bullets and Bad Slides
People who are experts in design say that
bullet points are the worst way to learn and
impart information. Yet what is the standard
template in PowerPoint? Title and bullets. The
standard template makes it easy to be boring.
11. What to do instead?
Don't bash the software; bash the person
using the software. Second: Don't make
every slide look the same (i.e., Title, Bullets;
Title, Bullets). Use images with little or no
text on slides to discuss ideas or concepts,
which is also a great way to engage the
audience.
12. Reading from Your
Slides
Your slides reflect your thinking on a
subject, so you read your slides aloud to
the audience in order to replicate your
thought process. Presumably everyone
in your audience can read, so you're not
just being boring, you're insulting them.
13. What to do instead?
Use slides as visual signposts for
the points you're making rather than
a written version or summary of
those points.
14. Turning Your Back
You keep turning around to read
from your slides or staring down to
read from your notes. You're
compounding the mistake of reading
by being rude and unprofessional.
15. What to do instead?
Face your audience members and
look at them while you're presenting.
If necessary, take a quick glance, but
keep your focus on where it belongs:
them.
16. Talking Too Fast
You've got a lot of material to cover,
so you talk fast to get through all of it.
If you need to talk fast, your
presentation is too long. Plus, fast
talk makes you sound either nervous
or like a stereotypical "fast talking'"
salesperson.
17. What to do instead?
Cut your presentation down so fast
talk isn't necessary. If you're talking
fast because you're nervous, write
"SLOW DOWN!" on each page of
your notes.
18. Talking Too Long
"Nobody is as interested in you as
you think they are,“. Most people
listening to presentations tend to tune
out after about 10 minutes. Based on
expert opinion and research in
cognitive functions. So keep the
presentation to less than 20 minutes.
19. What to do instead?
If your presentation has to be long,
break it into 10-minute chunks. "At
every 10 minutes or so, try to
reengage the audience with
something different
20. Ignore Your
Body Language
You keep fiddling with your papers,
fingering your jewelry, scratching
yourself, etc. Anything that distracts
your audience from your message
is making that message less
effective.
21. What to do instead?
As you rehearse your presentation,
rehearse how you'll stand and
where you'll put your hands.
Rehearse enough, and your tics
will disappear.