by Gilda Bonanno LLC
Effective presentation skills are key to your success whether you’re a seasoned executive or new to your career. I’ve been coaching people on their presentation and communication skills for more than 18 years and my clients have presented to audiences of every size and background, from their employees and leadership team to potential investors and the Board of Directors.
In that time, I’ve seen the same mistakes over and over, whether the clients come to me as rookies or seasoned presenters.
Here are the 3 most common mistakes I’ve seen that you should avoid when presenting:
1) You don't practice enough.
You need to practice more than you think you do. This is especially true if it’s a high stakes presentation, meaning it’s important to your career or team, or you’re presenting new material or in front of a new audience.
Practicing doesn’t mean flipping through your slides or looking at your notes. Practice means saying the words out loud because they will sound different coming out of your mouth than you were imagining them in your head. Practice your timing so you know how long your presentation will take and don’t exceed your time limit. Practice your transitions so you can seamlessly move from one section of the presentation to another.
And practice out loud in as close to the real environment as possible. If you're going to be seated at your desk presenting through Zoom, then that's how you practice. If you're going to be standing up in a conference room, then you practice in a conference room (ideally, that actual conference room if it’s practical to do so). The idea is for you to get comfortable enough with your material (and how long it takes to deliver it) and the environment, so in the moment, you can focus on your audience.
2) You’re not confident.
Your lack of confidence can “leak out” in many ways. Sometimes it shows in your overuse of pause words (“um, ah”) and minimizers (“kinda, just”). Other times, you speak too softly to be heard, you rush through your presentation, or you’re too nervous to breathe enough so you run out of air by the end of the sentence.
It’s crucial for you to monitor your self-talk and believe in yourself and then demonstrate that confidence in front of your audience. This allows you to stay in the moment, both to engage your audience and to engage your brain power (to remember your presentation preparation and practice and any relevant work experience that would help as well as to be able to handle any issues that arise, such as an unexpected question or a technology glitch).
3) You try to communication too much information.
An overload of information can show up as going over your time limit (a very common but avoidable mistake), overwhelming the audience and/or having crowded, cluttered slides.
The first reason that information overload usually happens is because you’re an expert on the topic and want to be able to share as much as you know with everyone. In fact, the more you know, the harder it is to give a concise presentation. Instead of telling them everything you know, focus on telling the audience what they need to know about your topic, given the context and time limit of the presentation.
The second reason you could have information overload is because you haven’t spent time ahead of time thinking strategically about your topic from the audience’s point of view. Your presentation doesn’t exist in a vacuum. How is this presentation connected to the overall strategy of your communication and what you're trying to achieve with this group of people?
Once you’ve figured out what the audience needs to know and your own overall communication strategy, then cut out anything from your presentation that isn’t necessary or relevant. You can certainly keep extra material in an appendix, have it ready to respond to questions with or send as a follow-up, but you don't want it cluttering up the key message and supporting points in your presentation or your slides.
If you avoid these 3 common mistakes that even experienced presenters make, you will be a more effective presenter and the audience is more likely to pay attention, remember your message and act on it.
© Gilda Bonanno LLC - Gilda Bonanno serves as a trusted advisor to executives and entrepreneurs to transform their communication, presentation and leadership skills. She has worked with companies on 4 continents, from Chicago to Shanghai and Rio to Rome. The instructional videos on her YouTube channel have received over 1.5 million views and her e-newsletter has reached subscribers in over 45 countries since 2008. For other articles or to receive Gilda's e-newsletter, visit www.gildabonanno.com