How are your presentation skills? You know, that's when you have to get
up in front of a group of people and speak. If you're like most
Americans, you fear public speaking more than death.
Just about everyone has to make a presentation at some time. It could be in front of a Board of Directors, to a volunteer group or even co-workers. In my 28 years in the speaking business, I have seen many mistakes.
Just about everyone has to make a presentation at some time. It could be in front of a Board of Directors, to a volunteer group or even co-workers. In my 28 years in the speaking business, I have seen many mistakes.
Here are three of my favorite presentation "bloopers". Avoid them in your next presentation.
1. A weak opening. No, you don't have to have a joke as an opening, but it must be something that catches people's attention. It can be a thought-provoking quote, a story or question, statistic or a simple statement of fact. "For every complaining customer you have, there are 26 others who are also dissatisfied but are not complaining," would be an attention-grabbing opening to a talk on dealing with complaining customers.
A joke is fine, too, but you must tell it extremely well and it must be related to the topic of the presentation. It can't be just a funny joke. And remember what George Jessel said about speeches: "If you haven't struck oil in three minutes, stop boring!" In general, you have less than a minute to convince business audiences that you've got something interesting to say.
2. Killer fillers are another way we sabotage our presentations. Fillers are what we say when we're thinking of what we will say next. It's called a vocal pause and usually comes out sounding like "um," "ahh," "okay," "well" and other meaningless words. It will totally distract your audience from your presentation. I remember seeing a very educated professor on television. His credentials were quite impressive, but he linked every sentence together with "ahh". It was so distracting that I started counting his vocal pauses instead of listening to what he had to say. After I got to 100, I shut the TV off - I couldn't take any more.
3. Negative body language. The way we present ourselves when speaking is critical. After all, over half of our communication is non-verbal. So if you wring your hands, jiggle the change in your pockets, keep your arms totally to the side or use your hands too much, the audience will soon get a negative impression of your whole presentation. Body language can either add or distract.
Use your hands to make natural gestures just as you do in normal conversation, only make them broader. Small gestures appear tentative and uncertain when you're in front of a group. Keep your arms above the waist and avoid the "figleaf" position where you clasp your hands in front of you. It looks defensive and gives the impression that you lack confidence. And don't point your finger at the audience. Instead, use an open palm held up to the ceiling.
