10 Things to Avoid During Presentations

Whether if it’s an assignment you present or a product you promote, a good presentation can give a great first impression!

Here are 10 important things to be aware of during your presentation:

1. Reading the text on the slides
   What’s the main reason for you to use a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation? To illustrate what you’re saying, to give yourself a good outline for your presentation, or to spice up your words with some flashy graphics? Whatever the reason, make sure you don’t literally read what’s on the slide. Doing that will eliminate the need for the slides to be there in the first place.
2. Speaking towards the screen
   This is directly connected to the first point. When you read what’s on the slides you have to turn your head towards the screen. This doesn’t only make it less interesting to watch, it also projects your voice in the wrong direction, causing it to sound muffled. While projecting your voice towards the audience they will also be able to see the expression on your face, making it easier for them to understand and stay focused.
3. Skipping seemingly uninteresting slides
   It’s important to have the right timing for your presentation. You don’t want to discover that you don’t have enough time to show everything, and then having to decide on the spots which slides are less important so you can skip them to save time. It will give your audience the impression you didn’t have enough time to prepare.
4. Hurrying through slides without explanation
   The right timing will also prevent you from having to rush trough slides while only explaining them half. Don’t expect people to understand what you show. Make sure you won’t have to explain what your slides are about; Make sure they support your words.
5. Showing too much text on the slides
   This list is not made in a specific order, but this might be the most important thing to avoid during a presentation, and also the mistake people make the most. Make sure your slides are illustrations for what you have to say. Don’t put the actual information on them. If you expect people to read what’s there don’t blame them for not listening to you.
6. Using small or fancy fonts
   Reducing the font size is often done to fit more text on a slide. Bad practice; look at point 5. Also be aware of the readability of your text. Using fancy fonts may make your slides look nicer, but can you still read them in the back of the room?
7. Spelling mistakes
   There’s no need for spelling mistakes, as there’s a spelling checker available in every piece of software. A simple thing to do, that will make you look much better.
8. Reading everything from your notes
   Don’t read the information from the slides, but also try not to read everything from your notes. Try to stay in contact with your audience. If you know what you’re talking about a short list with keywords should be enough to keep your story going.
9. Starting without a clear opening
   Especially when you’re talking about a certain subject for the first time, it’s important for your audience to know what you are talking about. So don’t dive right in to your story, take your time to introduce the subject and your motivation to talk about it.
10. Using complex graphics, charts or screen shots
    If there’s a real need to show complex graphics and charts you could print them and hand them out on paper. Putting them on a slide will probably not make things clearer as they will be difficult to read and there will not be enough time to analyze and understand them. Only show the results, and just explain how you came to them.

Sounds familiar? Any other important things to pay attention to? Please leave a comment and let me know!

Photo by melodygates