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5 other things that presenters should never do…

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In a previous post I gave a short set of reasons why presenters should never, never, never use a laser pointer, when they stand up to speak. Why? Because it makes them look incompetent, and the audience could work out what it was they wanted them to look at specifically if the slide wasn’t –

1. A hideous collision of images, bullets and data with no visible point to make.
2. Actually their written report projected onto the screen because they were too lazy to make a professional visual aid.
3. Or if they just used their voice by saying something like ‘as you’ll see, down in the left hand corner, highlighted in red…’

Here are 5 other little-voiced tips that presenters should be aware of if they want to step into the ranks of the ‘interesting and memorable few’ rather than drown, unheard in the pool of terrible speakers that feed on the ocean bottom of corporate life.

Never…

1. Start your presentation with an agenda slide – no one cares. Grab their attention first.
2. Ask audiences to hold their questions to the end – why should they?
3. Have visuals that take the audience more than 3 seconds to process before looking back at the speaker – because they diminish you and confuse them.
4. Apologise for anything you say or do – unless someone is fatally injured by your presentation, it just takes power away from you.
5. End your presentation without a recap of the ‘big idea’ – because if it’s good enough for Plato, Shakespeare and Cervantes, it should be good enough for you.