Quit Putting People to Sleep! 10 Presentation Killers That are Sedating America (part One)
John Stewart’s “The Daily Show” is considered one of the top cable news programs today. Our local news not only tells us what the weather is, but they show us the poor sap standing out in the blizzard with their umbrella being blown inside out, all while more news scrolls along the bottom of the screen. Audiences want more than information—they want to be entertained as they are informed.
The average corporate employee sits through approximately 700-1,000 hours a year enduring long meetings and boring presentations. Our media delivery has changed over time, but our corporate presentation styles have somehow been frozen in the dark ages—which could explain why most presentations begin with someone darkening the room and warning their audiences that they have 87 slides to get through in the next 15 minutes!
Here’s the first half of my list of the Top 10 WORST Things Presenter Do:
1. Read directly from the slides—If you are going to do a “read-along” be sure to have music and a bouncing ball for the audience to follow! Save everyone some time and just email them the book without having to gather together and do a group reading. Put fewer bullets on your slides to force you to turn and speak to your audience.
2. Speak in a monotone voice—If you don’t sound excited about your own presentation, why should anyone else be excited? This is usually caused by reading your information directly off of a slide. Ask yourself what your point is, and then speak from your heart…or at least your brain!
3. Put too much (tiny) information on slides. Be sure your audience can read the info from the furthest point in your room. Remember, your slides are FREE—break a busy slide into two and edit, edit, edit! I want to scream when I hear a presenter say “I know you can’t read this from back there, so let me tell you…” If you know they can’t see it, DON’T PUT IT ON A SLIDE!
4. Bore the audience with too much detail. A common mistake that presenters make is assuming one presentation can be dumped on any audience from the executive management team to the software architects to the customer support personnel. It is safer to provide less detail and allow questions than to cram every bit of data that has ever been written on the subject into your presentation and force your audience into a data-induced coma! If you truly need that safety net of having everything documented on slides to cover yourself put them at the end of your slide deck or hide slides and only reveal them if needed.
5. Go over allotted time. If you are asked to speak for 20 minutes, prepare for 20 and then ask yourself, “What would I cut out if I get there and I only have 15 minutes? How about 10 minutes?” Unless you have had professional training as an auctioneer it is not wise to just increase your speed to cram your 20 minutes of material into 10! Remember, LESS IS MORE! They will mentally leave whether you are done or not, so don’t go over your time limit!
(c) 2007 Gina Schreck is the president of Pinnacle Achievement and she is on a mission to rid the world of BORING presentations. If you would like more information or coaching for yourself or your teams on making Presentations That Sizzle, contact Gina Schreck at Gina@AchieveWithPinnacle.com or call 1-877-978-0887. But please, please, QUIT PUTTING PEOPLE TO SLEEP!
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