The three WORST tips given to presenters (and the best way to ignore them)

Have you ever heard of imagining your audience naked to get over your fear of presenting to them? How about practicing in front of a mirror? Anyone who has tried any of those well-intentioned tropes knows how useless they are. Fooling ourselves into thinking that we can assuage fears by laughing at our audience, or that we can convince them of anything by feigning authenticity, is worse than a waste of time. It prevents us from using our greatest power as presenters: our true selves. Try to ignore the “worst advice” and replace it with powerful communication.

worst advice:

memorize your presentation

Now this one sounds reasonable enough on the surface. After all, much of our fear of presenting is wrapped up in our fear of looking foolish in front of others. Some of it stems from our fear of going blank when all eyes are on us. If we memorize our presentation, that won’t happen, right? Perhaps, but what will certainly happen is that we will be taken out of the “moment” as we put all our energy and attention into remembering the least significant part of our presentation: the literal words. Suddenly, we’re not focused on the immediate reaction we get from the audience or making sure we connect with them. Instead, we’re focusing on making sure the words keep getting out. That sets the bar too low: surviving the presentation to the end is not your goal. CONNECTING with your audience is.

Instead: Know Your Presentation

Focus on the essence of what you are presenting: that is, your key messages. This is the most important thing for your audience to understand. If the worst happens and all your materials and notes disappear, how would you summarize what you came to say? Bring those bigger ideas to the fore and build your presentation around them. Your audience may not remember all the supporting details, but they should remember your key points. Worry less about repeating the exact words you intended and more about making sure you’re connecting. If you see nodding heads, react. If you see puzzled looks, don’t just push your way through. Stop and make sure you are not rushing past your audience just to fill the gap. Slow down and make sure you really see your audience and gauge their reactions. Remember, no one knows what you’re supposed to say, so don’t let a pause or a different phrase than you planned put you off.

use a lot of bullets

For whatever reason, many presenters think they can take a long, dry presentation and suddenly make it come to life if they can just add enough bullet points to the screen. Have you ever sat through one of those presentations where the bullet points in no way indicate an abbreviated point? Heck, they might not even indicate a point! Here’s the thing: TEXT ON A SLIDE IS NOT A VISUAL AID. There is nothing in the text that makes it more understandable, or illustrative, than the spoken word, by itself.

Instead: Put the visual back in Visual Aid

Are there actual pictures that would help illustrate your points? Can you bring relevant tables, graphs, photos and illustrations to help your audience “see” your points? If you must use bullet points, greatly reduce them and the words you use. Your audience didn’t come to read and they didn’t come to hear you read to them. (Hint: If you use punctuation on bulleted information, you are using too many words.)

more is better

Have you ever sat down to watch a presentation that is the product of many hands? More details, more slides, with the presenter singing something like… “..and here you can see it again…” gold “This is just another example of…” Yes, you want to prove your key points. Data helps you do that. However, information overload can quickly confuse your audience and actually mask your key points.

Instead: Spiky is Powerful

Limit your backup points and secondary data to your “best stuff”. Ask yourself if a certain slide is needed, why, and what could be carried over to the handout. Remember, this is an ORAL presentation. That means presenters need to pay attention to the most important messages, with enough information to provide strong support. Remember, you are the presentation, so stay center stage.