Having coached employees on presentation skills since 1990, and witnessed oh so many more, I’ve noticed some clear patterns in the behavior of inexperienced presenters. Public speaking rookie mistakes will kill you.
Being awesome at public speaking can be one of the most fear-inducing parts of modern life. It induces many of these mistakes.
However, it also can be one of the most rewarding tasks you can do. Talking in front of an audience is nothing to fear, so long as you are prepared.
This article will give you everything you need to plan, prepare, and deliver an awesome public speech.
Be a master at grabbing and keeping his audience’s attention, which is the number one goal of any public speaker. And also any compelling speech. Take them on a journey by way of an interesting story or maybe several.
How do you do it, you say? Pay attention to these key lessons from the most common mistakes. Don’t make them and practice, practice, practice.
Let’s get started:
Presenting too much material
This is easily my most often noted mistake.
Though it’s always better to have more material than you need, you also need to know what you will cut if you run out of time.
Common presentation mistakes.
Rookie presenters feel compelled to get through all their material even if it means going past their allotted time. I’ve heard of speakers who have gone as much as 45 minutes over their time commitment.
This is inexcusable. If you want to estimate how much time your talk will take in front of an audience, practice on your feet, and time yourself.
Expect your actual talk will take at least 25% longer and maybe even 50%. Speakers often expand even further on their topic when they see the audience’s reactions.
Forget the significance of the speech title
Match your topic to your objectives and audience interests. This will help capture the audience’s attention, raise expectations, and give you a specific focus. All are critical to your success.
And to achieve your goal, you must know your audience and do your research homework. Let what you learn to show in your speech.
Not keeping it simple
You can keep it simple, even if you have mountains of research to report.
First, fine-tune your core message. Chisel away at your topic until you can reduce your presentation to a core message.
Once you achieve this, all your ideas can march behind it.
This is as true for business presentations as it is for political campaigns.
Consider, as examples, Obama’s campaign speeches. He used his simple slogan to make us believe he was the politician for change — something so many Americans longed for — and he appealed to us to have faith.
He won people through a simple slogan, which then allowed him to serve up his ideas about meaty topics more easily.
Not anticipating questions and concerns
Be aware of the great line by Goethe, “Every word that is uttered evokes the idea of its opposite.”
What this means is that when you express one view, the odds are high that people will reflexively think about other, unmentioned aspects of the topic.
A presentation that does not deal with this “evoking of opposites” loses the audience’s attention because it fails to address the questions and concerns that come up in people’s minds.
So anticipate them. Show your audience that you understand the contrary view better than they do, and explain why your proposal or argument is still superior.
Make sure your points include things that are not obvious or known. Offer your unique opinions.
Weave in proof points and examples. Then you can use the stories to help illustrate your points.
Taking oneself too seriously
Many speakers tend to be very serious and formal. If they could bring more of their natural, informal style into their presentations, they would be more authentic and engaging and authentic.
The stiff formality and rigid “professionalism” many tend to slip into when presenting may garner respect, but respect only has value if people want to spend time with you
Respect the audience’s professionalism but relate to their humanity informally. By speaking to them more informally, you project that you are equal.
They will read that as confidence. As I often said to employees, “If you are not having fun, you are not doing it right.”
Lacking practice
Know your opening and closing statement COLD. Rehearse well.
3 hours before your speech, go for a short walk. Once on stage adapt the alpha pose to lower stress and increase your confidence.
Granted, many rookie presenters don’t know how to prepare effectively other than preparing their media. Experienced speakers do plenty of research so that they feel confident in their material and their ability to respond to any question the audience might throw at them.
It’s important to go through multiple drafts or iterations of your material, revising and editing, to arrive at the most finished form of your talk.
Not practicing your talks and presentations on your feet is one of the single biggest mistakes you can make. Experienced speakers will often do a dry run of their material with a trusted audience of friends, family, or colleagues.
They will simulate the environment of their presentation using a projector and slide remote. They’ll choreograph their movements and gestures which will dramatically increase your ability to remember your material.
They recognize areas of challenge (weak segues, awkward media transitions, etc.) and come up with tricks and tactics to help them flow seamlessly through their material.
Speaking with no enthusiasm
This problem is not restricted solely to rookie presenters. 80 – 90% of the presenters that I observe do not expend enough energy or enthusiasm. Hence, they come across as uninvolved, uninteresting, and unenthusiastic.
Crank up the energy level. You will command more attention and project more confidence and charisma. I cannot stress this strongly enough.
Public speaking rookie mistakes … not taking your time
One of the most important point to remember is not to rush at the start. Overlook to the audience, smile, and pick out a few faces to concentrate on.
Talk to these few faces and maintain good eye contact.
Use small-scale movements and gestures
Most rookie presenters are afraid to take up too much space. This hesitance comes across like an apology to the audience.
Public speaking blunders.
Not focusing on the delivery
Always use a wireless microform so that you can move around. Vary tone and inflections of your voice. Maintain good eye contact by picking specific people in the audience.
Change them around every moment or so.
Lacking pauses
Well planned pauses will do wonders for your speech. For example, Obama has mastered the art of pausing.
He paused to let us catch up with him. He paused to let his words resonate. He paused, in a sense, to let us rest.
Pauses also give the impression of composure and thoughtfulness.
Where you pause is up to you; there are no hard and fast rules.
Try it. Slowly inhale to the count of three at each breath mark. Speak as though you had plenty of time.
The goal of this exercise is to teach your body to slow down.
Not looking to employ impacts
Ask a challenging question on your subject theme for a dramatic opening. Present the topic as a story if you can.
Use an occasional short, witty quote.
Also, use an occasional repetition and pauses for attention on key points.
Forgetting about the memorable ending
As we have said, focus on one theme and eliminate everything else. One relevant message and several great stories to illustrate. Save your most memorable story for your ending. Hopefully, the one that is also the most encompassing of your message.
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you.
But believe in the importance of being a great presenter. And put it to good use.
It’s up to you to keep improving your presenting skills and efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, the best presenters can provide ideas and or inspiration.
And the learning.
But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improve your presentation skills?
Do you have a lesson about making your presentation strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find him on Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading on marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
