It’s Halloween in America……time for all kids to get really creative with their costumes and run around their neighborhoods collecting sugary candy treats. They would love to get full sized candy bars, but that’s rare. What they fear are houses that disappoint them or worse yet, trick them, by turning the house lights off and pretending to not be at home…or worse. (In the old days, it was the other way around…people in the houses got tricked if the treats were inadequate or missing.)
The Halloween scenario is not unlike what happens in a normal business presentation. Your audience is like the kids: they want to enjoy themselves; they want the treats, not the tricks; they are ready to engage. The presenter is like the neighbor distributing the candy (aka the information, the motivation, the inspiration). If you are not prepared for your audience, then bad things can happen.
It’s true, presentations can be scary, but not when you take the time to prepare thoroughly and thoughtfully. Most business professionals that I know rely too heavily on PowerPoint to do their thinking and messaging for them. They plan with PowerPoint, they build their outline with PowerPoint, they create slide after slide after slide – in effect, creating crib notes for themselves in PowerPoint. And then they dump it all on their audience. Sinful, isn’t it?
Have you committed any presentation sins lately?
“The Five Cardinal Sins are all too real. And although each of the five is unique and independent of the others, they can all be summarized in a least common denominator, a Data Dump: an excessive, meaningless, shapeless, outpouring of data without purpose or plan.”
– Jerry Weissman
Jerry Weissman, the author of Presenting to Win and the presentation coach to dozens of pre-IPOcompanies, talks about the Five Cardinal Sins of presenting in Chapter One of his book.
- No clear point
- No audience benefit
- No clear flow
- Too detailed
- Too long
Give them a treat, not a trick
You owe it to your audience (and your reputation) to do a better job when you give presentations. You may think you are pretty good, but you can always get better. Presentations are a subset of communication – the vital skill set that will distinguish you from others. It’s a skill set worth sharpening and investing in!
Yes. It’s true. Presentations can be scary…but not when you utilize the skills, tools, and support available to your organization through my Motivated Presenter training and coaching program. Consider scheduling a training class with me in 2016. Contact me to discuss your needs: 860.408-0033 or Kathy@AmericasMarketingMotivator.com.
