How to Kill Your Presentation

by Frank L. Williams

Leaders often shoulder the responsibility of serving as the official face and voice of their business, association, non-profit, or governmental body. This responsibility frequently involves public speaking. 

For better or worse, a leader’s tone words, tone, and non-verbal communication impact how the audience views the organization. All too often, it’s for worse.

Here are ways I’ve seen speakers sabotage their presentations:

• Not knowing your audience: I’ve been in meetings where presenters presented tons of minute details of highly technical topics to audiences composed of non-technical people. Those in the audience didn’t need to know where to order the parts to build a new watch; they needed to know how to tell what time it was. Take the time to understand your audience’s background, interests, and needs. 
• Lack of purpose: Have you ever had the misfortune of sitting through a presentation, then asking yourself “what was the point of that?” When planning a presentation, know exactly what you want to achieve and why. If your goal is to inform, develop a presentation that informs. If your goal is to persuade, create your presentation with that in mind. Identify a clear purpose, then build your presentation around that purpose. 
• No clear message: If you bombard your audience with fifty different messages, they may not remember any of them. Rather than cramming too many things into a presentation, determine what your primary theme and key supporting messages need to be, then construct a presentation that clearly and concisely delivers your messages in a way that your audience can understand.
• Trapped in the weeds: I’ve sat through meetings that were unnecessarily drawn out because presenters dived far too deep into the weeds, putting their audiences to sleep in the process. Spend some time thinking about which key points your audience needs to hear and understand. Focus on those key points rather than attempting to cover every minute detail related to your topic. This goes back to knowing your audience.
• Wearing out your welcome: Some of the best public speaking advice I’ve ever heard was “be clear, be brief, and then be seated.” If you are given a time limit, honor it. If you aren’t given one, ask the event organizer what their expectations are. If you are the event organizer, respect your attendees’ time. 
• Spreadsheets on slides: This should be an obvious one: don’t try to fit an entire, detailed spreadsheet onto a single slide. Unfortunately, it may not be that obvious, as I’ve seen it done on many occasions (often by engineers). When it happened, the print was too small to read, and I seriously doubt that those in the audience would’ve read it even if they could have. 
• Text overload: For the same reasons outlined in the prior bullet, you shouldn’t try to squeeze too much text onto a slide. 
• Using slides as a teleprompter: We’ve all sat through presentations where the speaker essentially read their slides to us – in their entirety. If you’re using a slide presentation, it should be a guide with highlights and visuals that complement what you say. It should not be a crutch. Don’t use your slides as a teleprompter.

Mark Twain once said, “If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.” If you have the leadership responsibility of making a presentation on behalf of your organization, you owe it to those you serve and those who will be in the audience to spend time properly preparing.

Need help preparing yourself or someone on your team to be a more effective spokesperson? Let’s have a conversation!