The Seven Deadly Sins of Presenting…Are you committing them?

Wow, only 2 more steps to go and already we have had fantastic feedback from those that signed up to take part in this training. And by implementing the first 5 critical steps that we have covered, delegates have already seen a big difference in their presentation style.

Today we are going to be covering a critical step that affects many when presenting. When the nerves kick in, this critical step can be a real deal breaker.

# Sin 6 – Rattling through your slides and presentation

The speed of your presentation is very important. My best advice here is that “less is more”.

I have witnessed so many presenters try to ‘pack in’ as much information as possible into their allotted time. They may have as many as 40 slides for a 20 minute presentation! Take away the time for the ‘opener’ and ‘close’, that’s less than 30 seconds per slide! I have seen the opposite too of course, where a presenter may only have 2 slides for the same time frame; which is 10 minutes per slide. Both may be entirely appropriate, but in my experience many presenters misjudge time.

I have recorded another short video below to demonstrate what happens when you commit this sin:

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There are two elements to pace and speed of a presentation.

The amount of time you have to present
The pace at which you present it

Remember less is more, given that you only have a certain amount of time, be prepared to limit the information and content to convey your key messages. The issue most of us have is that we know too much, we have too much information and knowledge on the topic, so we try to give as much information as possible. This does not work, and indeed is a different topic of conversation, it has more to do with preparing the presentation, and having your target audience in mind.

However, remember the Purpose of your presentation, the Benefit to your audience of listening to you, and the intended Outcome from the presentation. With this in mind, you will limit the amount of information you deliver in the time you have.

Why is this important?

Well, if you go too fast and rattle through all your slides, you will be perceived as rushed and ill prepared, and this will increase your anxiety. This is self-perpetuating! You will sense that your audience thinks you are rushing, and this will increase your nervousness and anxiety!

Try not to rush your presentation, there are no positive interpretations. If you have prepared a 30 minute presentation, and at the last minute are told the last presenter over ran, so you only have 15 minutes to deliver your presentation, do not panic (!) and do not try to squeeze your content into half the time, it will not work! Take time to be even more concise on your ‘Key Message’ and remember the Purpose, Benefit and Outcome of your presentation.

If your delivery style is too slow, paradoxically, this may also be perceived as ill prepared. If you have not listened to yourself presenting (as suggested on my last email) you may not yet know how you sound. So be even more aware of your voice if your delivery style is ‘slow’. Coupled with a dull unexciting voice, you will come across as dull and flat which translates into ‘boring’, and your audience will switch off or leave.

Play the below video to see this critical step in action…

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Pace is the sixth critical step to becoming a confident and effective presenter. Tomorrow we will be looking at the final critical step so look out for tomorrow’s email. Only one more step to go!

Kind Regards

Laith

P.S. We would really value your feedback and opinion on how helpful you have found this critical step and how you feel it will help you in the future when you master this skill; therefore please take a moment to leave your comments below and if there are any other areas that you would like our help with in the future please do tell us and we will create another campaign to help you going forward.

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