10 Ways to Ruin a Presentation

How to ruin a presentation

How do you ruin a presentation? It’s not that difficult.

I just finished reading a great article in the June 2013 edition of the Harvard Business review by Chris Anderson, the curator of TED. The article, entitled How to Give a Killer Presentation, contains a wealth of insights into how TED helps its speakers prepare for their TED Talk; it also contains some solid nuggets of wisdom that will help improve any speech or presentation.

ted_logo

There is a nice sidebar to Anderson’s article in which he says that although it might be hard to give a great talk, it’s very easy to blow it. He then sets out 10 common mistakes that TED advises its speakers to avoid. They are as follows:

1.  Take a really long time to explain what your talk is about.

2.  Speak slowly and dramatically. Why talk when you can orate?

3.  Make sure you subtly let everyone know how important you are.

4.  Refer to your book repeatedly. Even better, quote yourself from it.

5.  Cram your slides with numerous text bullet points and multiple fonts.

6.  Use lots of unexplained technical jargon to make yourself sound smart.

7.  Speak at great length about the history of your organization and its glorious achievements.

8.  Don’t bother rehearsing to check how long your talk is running.

9.  Sound as if you’re reciting your talk from memory.

10.  Never, ever make eye contact with anyone in the audience.

The only point with which I am not completely in agreement is the second one. While a speaker should never be overdramatic and should not speak too slowly, in my experience more people speak too fast than the opposite. You need to allow your audience time to absorb what you have said. Speaking at the right pace and with well-timed pauses will help in this regard.

But if you want to ruin a presentation, the other points are spot on. Check the list against some of your recent presentations. Get feedback from people in the audience. If you find yourself making any of these mistakes, you’ve found an area to work on for your next presentation. 

The entire article by Chris Anderson is well worth the read. If you do not have access to the print version of the Harvard Business Review (HBR), you are in luck. The article is on the HBR website (at least as of the date of this post) and can be found here.

Like this article?

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Linkdin
Share on Pinterest
Picture of mannerofspeaking

mannerofspeaking

  1. Thanks for sharing this, John. There’ve been some great articles on the HBR site recently, like a whole series of really punchy ones by Nancy Duarte.

    I agree with you about Chris’s 2nd point (“Speak slowly”). When I read it, I got a bit confused about whether he was saying these are things to do or to avoid! (That’s the danger of a negative list – easy to misinterpret the takeaways.) There’ve been a couple of TED talks where I think the person spoke too fast e.g. the often-cited talk by Sir Ken Robinson (although he paused well too).

    It’s fascinating to hear that TED starts working with speakers at least 6 months before their talk. That’s how much work such world-class speeches can take!

    Anyway, these are the HBR articles by Nancy Duarte:
    http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/12/avoid_these_five_mistakes_in_y.html (At the end it links to another 6 of her posts on HBR)
    http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/when_presenting_your_data_get.html
    http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2012/12/create-slides-people-will-reme.html (Video)

    1. Thanks very much for the comment, Craig. I have read some of Nancy Duarte’s stuff on the HBR site. Thanks very much for sharing the links so that I have them in one spot.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

11 − one =

Testimonials

John delivered a keynote address about the importance of public speaking to 80 senior members of Gore’s Medical Device Europe team at an important sales event. He was informative, engaging and inspirational. Everyone was motivated to improve their public speaking skills. Following his keynote, John has led public speaking workshops for Gore in Barcelona and Munich. He is an outstanding speaker who thinks carefully about the needs of his audience well before he steps on stage.

Karsta Goetze

TA Leader, Gore and Associates

I first got in touch with John while preparing to speak at TED Global about my work on ProtonMail. John helped me to sharpen the presentation and get on point faster, making the talk more focused and impactful. My speech was very well received, has since reached almost 1.8 million people and was successful in explaining a complex subject (email encryption) to a general audience.

Andy Yen

CEO, Proton Technologies

John gave the opening keynote on the second day of our unit’s recent offsite in Geneva, addressing an audience of 100+ attendees with a wealth of tips and techniques to deliver powerful, memorable presentations. I applied some of these techniques the very next week in an internal presentation, and I’ve been asked to give that presentation again to senior management, which has NEVER happened before. John is one of the greatest speakers I know and I can recommend his services without reservation.

David Lindelöf

Senior Data Scientist, Expedia Group

After a morning of team building activities using improvisation as the conduit, John came on stage to close the staff event which was organised in Chamonix, France. His energy and presence were immediately felt by all the members of staff. The work put into the preparation of his speech was evident and by sharing some his own stories, he was able to conduct a closing inspirational speech which was relevant, powerful and impactful for all at IRU. The whole team left feeling engaged and motivated to tackle the 2019 objectives ahead. Thank you, John.

Umberto de Pretto

Secretary General, World Road Transport Organization

I was expecting a few speaking tips and tricks and a few fun exercises, but you went above and beyond – and sideways. You taught me to stand tall. You taught me to anchor myself. You taught me to breathe. You taught me to open up. You taught me to look people in the eye. You taught me to tell the truth. You taught me to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. I got more than I bargained for in the best possible way.

Thuy Khoc-Bilon

World Cancer Day Campaign Manager, Union for International Cancer Control

John gave a brilliant presentation on public speaking during the UN EMERGE programme in Geneva (a two days workshop on leadership development for a group of female staff members working in the UN organizations in Geneva). His talk was inspirational and practical, thanks to the many techniques and tips he shared with the audience. His teaching can dramatically change our public speaking performance and enable us as presenters to have a real and powerful impact. Thank you, John, for your great contribution!

Sara Canna

HR Specialist, World Health Organization

John is a genuine communication innovator. His seminars on gamification of public speaking learning and his interactive Rhetoric game at our conference set the tone for change and improvement in our organisation. The quality of his input, the impact he made with his audience and his effortlessly engaging style made it easy to get on board with his core messages and won over some delegates who were extremely skeptical as to the efficacy of games for learning. I simply cannot recommend him highly enough.

Thomas Scott

National Education Director, Association of Speakers Clubs UK

John joined our Global Sales Meeting in Segovia, Spain and we all participated in his "Improv(e) your Work!" session. I say “all” because it really was all interactive, participatory, learning and enjoyable. The session surprised everybody and was a fresh-air activity that brought a lot of self-reflection and insights to improve trust and confidence in each other inside our team. It´s all about communication and a good manner of speaking!"

Jon Lopez

General Manager Europe, Hayward Industries

Thank you very much for the excellent presentation skills session. The feedback I received was very positive. Everyone enjoyed the good mix of listening to your speech, co-developing a concrete take-away and the personal learning experience. We all feel more devoted to the task ahead, more able to succeed and an elevated team spirit. Delivering this in a short time, both in session and in preparation, is outstanding!

Henning Dehler

CFO European Dairy Supply Chain & Operations, Danone

Thanks to John’s excellent workshop, I have learned many important tips and techniques to become an effective public speaker. John is a fantastic speaker and teacher, with extensive knowledge of the field. His workshop was a great experience and has proven extremely useful for me in my professional and personal life.

Eric Thuillard

Senior Sales Manager, Sunrise Communications

John’s presentation skills training was a terrific investment of my time. I increased my skills in this important area and feel more comfortable when speaking to an audience. John provided the right mix between theory and practice.

Diego Brait

Director of the Jura Region, BKW Energie AG

Be BOLD. Those two words got stuck in my head and in the heads of all those ADP leaders and associates that had the privilege to see John on stage. He was our keynote speaker at our annual convention in Barcelona, and his message still remains! John puts his heart in every word. Few speakers are so credible, humble and yet super strong with large audiences!

Guadalupe Garcia

Senior Director and Talent Partner, ADP International