We've all been victims of unbearably long and incredibly dull PowerPoint presentations on many occasions. I'm often perplexed as to why so many capable and intelligent professionals present such bad presentations. Planning and delivering a compelling presentation is not a difficult thing to do. It just calls for some thoughtful consideration. To be able to begin to do the right things it is necessary for us to acknowledge and stop doing incorrect things. To help you out, here are 4 of the most widespread mistakes individuals make when presenting:
1. A failure to capture the audience's attention. Did you know that people in your audience subconsciously ascertain within the first few moments of your presentation whether you are worth listening to? Just like on a first date, first impressions are everything when presenting. But all too often we see people stand up, immediately flip to their PowerPoint, and jump right into the information and facts they need to get across. A lackluster introduction to a presentation is just like coming to a blind date in your pajamas - pretty much everything is going to be down hill from there. So what do you need to do to get your audience's attention? I personally like to make use of humor. Humor disarms your audience and offers them a needed moment of enjoyment and fun. Not long ago I started a presentation with a Superbowl commercial. It had very little to do with the content of my presentation (and I told the audience that), but it provided me everyone's complete, rapt attention.
2. Distracting PowerPoint presentations. Microsoft designed PowerPoint to help professionals to be more effective presenters, but sadly it has made the vast majority of people even worse at presenting. Instead of complementing the information, when used poorly, PowerPoint actually takes away from it. Typically people put too much text in each slide. If people are going to essentially read your information word for word, why not just send them an email and forget about the presentation entirely? PowerPoint should really be utilized for key points only, not every piece of information you need to get across. Also, pictures are worth a 1,000 words and videos ten thousand. I've seen too many presentations that are 100% text - no graphics. That is similar to Chinese water-torture for your audience. Many people lack the graphic-design expertise to make visually pleasing presentations. If that's your dilemma, you can use PowerPoint outsourcing. There are companies that will create your presentation for you and will make it look tons better than you probably could.
3. A Lack of Organization. A failure to give your listeners a simple preview of what you are talking about keeps the audience disoriented and trying to figure out where you are going and when you will be done. It's nice as a listener to have a map of what is going to be presented. Make sure your listeners know the main areas you are going to cover before you talk about them. It will provide for them context for the info and put them at ease because they will have an idea where they are at. Think of your presentation kind of like a city tour. You'll need to give the passengers a map with the biggest points of interest they will see during the trip.
4. A failure to Finish Strong. Besides your intro, your conclusion is the most essential part of your presentation. It is the final impression you leave with your listeners. Too often presenters will just kind of halt their presentation when they finish covering their material. They will say something like, "that's it." What their audience is thinking however is something like, "that's it???" You need to finish with a bang. Finish with a story or an illustration. Give something that leaves people with a good taste in their mouth. You can believe it or not get by with delivering a low-quality presentation if you simply start and finish off well. Of course you'll want to do more than that, but you get my point.
Keep away from these 4 common mistakes when giving a presentation and you'll be well on your way!
1. A failure to capture the audience's attention. Did you know that people in your audience subconsciously ascertain within the first few moments of your presentation whether you are worth listening to? Just like on a first date, first impressions are everything when presenting. But all too often we see people stand up, immediately flip to their PowerPoint, and jump right into the information and facts they need to get across. A lackluster introduction to a presentation is just like coming to a blind date in your pajamas - pretty much everything is going to be down hill from there. So what do you need to do to get your audience's attention? I personally like to make use of humor. Humor disarms your audience and offers them a needed moment of enjoyment and fun. Not long ago I started a presentation with a Superbowl commercial. It had very little to do with the content of my presentation (and I told the audience that), but it provided me everyone's complete, rapt attention.
2. Distracting PowerPoint presentations. Microsoft designed PowerPoint to help professionals to be more effective presenters, but sadly it has made the vast majority of people even worse at presenting. Instead of complementing the information, when used poorly, PowerPoint actually takes away from it. Typically people put too much text in each slide. If people are going to essentially read your information word for word, why not just send them an email and forget about the presentation entirely? PowerPoint should really be utilized for key points only, not every piece of information you need to get across. Also, pictures are worth a 1,000 words and videos ten thousand. I've seen too many presentations that are 100% text - no graphics. That is similar to Chinese water-torture for your audience. Many people lack the graphic-design expertise to make visually pleasing presentations. If that's your dilemma, you can use PowerPoint outsourcing. There are companies that will create your presentation for you and will make it look tons better than you probably could.
3. A Lack of Organization. A failure to give your listeners a simple preview of what you are talking about keeps the audience disoriented and trying to figure out where you are going and when you will be done. It's nice as a listener to have a map of what is going to be presented. Make sure your listeners know the main areas you are going to cover before you talk about them. It will provide for them context for the info and put them at ease because they will have an idea where they are at. Think of your presentation kind of like a city tour. You'll need to give the passengers a map with the biggest points of interest they will see during the trip.
4. A failure to Finish Strong. Besides your intro, your conclusion is the most essential part of your presentation. It is the final impression you leave with your listeners. Too often presenters will just kind of halt their presentation when they finish covering their material. They will say something like, "that's it." What their audience is thinking however is something like, "that's it???" You need to finish with a bang. Finish with a story or an illustration. Give something that leaves people with a good taste in their mouth. You can believe it or not get by with delivering a low-quality presentation if you simply start and finish off well. Of course you'll want to do more than that, but you get my point.
Keep away from these 4 common mistakes when giving a presentation and you'll be well on your way!
About the Author:
Check this out for more presentation tips. Need help with your PowerPoint presentation, consider outsourcing your PowerPoint.
No comments:
Post a Comment