When it comes to delivering a good presentation, there exists no replacement for preparation, no shortcut or magic pill.

But even with impeccable preparation, there are still many traps you could fall into – some of which you may be falling into now and not even realizing it. Excellent delivery is likely to compensate for poor content – at least you’ve made it entertaining. But there exists no substitute for great content. 

To boost presentation skills for digital marketers or when you need to give a presentation to your team, upper management, or investors, the most determining factor is the content, the presentation itself. The truth is that great presentation content with poor delivery is still likely to pass. But if your goal goes above simply giving, you should be making a concerted effort to improve your delivery.

It’s a lot harder than it looks, standing in front of a group of people, demanding their attention, demanding their complicity. There is even science to explain why public speaking is so hard. And while there exists no shortcut to becoming comfortable and effective at public speaking. It simply takes a lot of practice to get it right. There are a few traps that even the most practiced veterans fall into.

In this short article, we’ll discover a few traps (or mistakes) to avoid when giving a presentation. You can apply all these tips to audiences of all sizes and presentations of all types, especially when slides or visuals are involved.

Reading

When the bulk of the presentation is given in slides, the one giving the presentation is often tempted to (or falls into the habit of) simply reading the slides for the audience. Surely you’ve seen presentations of this type before. They tend not to be engaging.

An interesting psychological chain reaction is triggered when you read for an audience. Reading for the audience permits listeners not to read for themselves. You show slides with words on them, so people conclude that the slides don’t have much value (otherwise, they would be asked to read them). And since you are reading something that you have thus devalued, you are telling the audience what you have to say is not of much value.

It’s a normal practice to expect or ask your audience to take a moment and read a slide. This creates a moment of silence, which is often terrifying for the public speaker (especially if they don’t have much experience in public speaking). But silence, when it’s controlled and serves a function, can be a valuable component of a good presentation.

Instead of reading for the audience, break up the slides into what you ask the audience to read and what complementary information you will ask the audience to listen to you give.

Tone

Misreading the room – not adopting the style and manner that a group of people is expecting – is a trap that every public speaking professional has fallen into at one time or another. And it is not a pleasant experience to live through.

Some speakers like to kick things off with a joke or make light comments that aren’t relevant to their presentation. Other speakers prefer to jump right in – get it over with sooner, in some instances. Choosing a tone of voice and style appropriate for the audience is crucial. It is hard to recover if you get off with the wrong message. And if you’ve ever tried surviving the corporate world, you’ll know just how true that is.

The audience’s dress will go a long way toward informing you as to what level of formality you need to use. Their posture and facial expressions are also good clues to determining the right tone. 

It’s okay to take a moment to look over the audience and read them before you jump into your presentation. People with limited experience in public speaking (and even those with a lot of experience) often have a strong aversion to silence. It takes a while to learn that silence is not your enemy in a presentation.

Pace

The speed with which you deliver your presentation will go a long way toward determining how effective it is – how well you conveyed the information and how engaging and persuasive you were.

There is no hard and fast rule. The pace of the presentation will depend on the audience’s expectations and the content. 

The best way to know if you are using the right pace is by looking at the faces of the audience members. The chances are if you’re going too fast or going too slow, they will want to let you know, almost in a pleading fashion, so that you can make the needed correction.

If you’re going too fast, that could elicit looks of fear, anxiety, excitement, and miscomprehension. While if you’re going too slow, you’re more likely to evoke boredom and frustration.

Conclusion

Just like a good chef can only make a good dish if they have good ingredients, so can a presentation only be excellent if the content is right. Your performance will determine how effective, persuasive, and memorable the presentation is. Leveraging your communication skills and improving the delivery of your presentation is a sought-after soft skill recruiter is looking for.

There’s no substitute for practice. But you’ll also need to stay vigilant and make sure you don’t fall into the most common traps listed above.