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4 Pitfalls To Avoid When Presenting
To be able to start to do the right things it is important for us to acknowledge and quit doing incorrect things. Below are four of the most common mistakes individuals make when speaking in public: 1. Failing to capture the audience’s undivided attention. Did you know that people listening to you subconsciously make a decision within the first fifteen seconds whether you are worth listening to? Just like on a first date, creating a good first impression is everything when presenting. But often we see professionals get up, automatically go right to their PowerPoint, and jump head-first into the information they need to get across. A bad introduction to a presentation is much like coming to a blind date in your jammies - pretty much everything is going to be down-hill from there on. So what should you do to get the crowd's undivided attention? I personally love to use humor. Humor sets people at ease and gives them a moment of enjoyment and fun. The other day I started a presentation with a SuperBowl commercial. It had almost nothing to do with the theme of my presentation (and I told the audience that), but it got me the audience's full, rapt attention. 2. Distracting PowerPoint presentations. Microsoft intended for PowerPoint to help people to be more effective presenters, but sadly it has made a large percentage of people worse at presenting. Rather than complementing the information, when used incorrectly, PowerPoint in reality takes away from it. Generally people put too much content in each slide. If your audience members are going to basically read your content word for word, why not just send them an email and forget about the presentation all together? PowerPoint should really be utilized for main points only, not every piece of information you wish to convey. Also, images are worth a thousand words and video clips 10,000. I’ve seen so many presentations that are all text - no graphics. That is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard for an audience. Many of us lack the graphic design expertise to make visually attractive presentations. If that’s your issue, PowerPoint outsourcing. There are companies that will actually make your presentation for you and can certainly make it look tons better than you or I can. 3. Lack of Organization Not giving your listeners a basic preview of what you will be talking about keeps them disoriented and wanting to know where you are going and when you will be done. It’s helpful as a listener to have a map of what is about to happen. Make sure your listeners know the main ideas you are going to go over before you talk about them. It will provide for them context for the specifics and put them at ease because they'll have an idea where they are at. You might want to think of your presentation kind of like a city tour. You'll need to give the passengers a map with the major sites they will see as you go along. 4. A Failure to Finish Strong Next to your introduction, your conclusion is the most important part of your presentation. It is the final impression you leave with your audience. Too often presenters will just kind of stop their presentation when they are done covering their information and facts. They will say something like, “that’s it.” What their listeners are thinking on the other hand is something like, “that’s it???” You have to wrap up with a bang. Finish with a story or an illustration. Do something that leaves people with a nice impression. You can actually get by with delivering a bad presentation if you merely start off and finish effectively. Of course you'll want to do a whole lot more than just that, but you get the point. Steer clear of these 4 pitfalls in your next presentation and you'll be well on your way! Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com If you need help designing and creating your next PowerPoint presentation, you might consider using the PowerPoint presentation design services of Presentation Elevation. |
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