Scott Eblin is an executive coach, speaker and author of 
Three Ways to Lose Your Audience September 13 2012
A little over a year ago, I wrote a post called Three Signs Your Slide Deck Stinks. I think it got the most comments in the history of this blog as I invited readers to share their pet peeves from presentation land.
The Slide Deck Stinks post comes to mind because I‘ve attended a lot of presentations lately. While I’ve heard some great ones, I’m sorry to say that there have been some bad ones too. In an age when practically everyone has a source of endless distractions (the smart phone) at their fingertips, it’s easier than ever to lose your audience in two minutes or less. I’ve seen a lot of presenters do exactly that.
You probably have your own list of things presenters do that cause you to check out. I encourage you to share them in the comments so we can all learn from each other (or at least enjoy a good rant.) If I was writing an open letter to anyone who has to present (which I guess I am actually), here are three things I would beg them to avoid if they don’t want to lose me and the rest of the audience:
Expect Me to Just Listen for 45 Minutes Straight: Please structure your presentation so you get me and the rest of the audience involved in the first two minutes and then give us something else new to do about every eight to ten minutes after that. Please don’t expect me to listen to fact after fact for 45 minutes or more without checking out. Ask us a question that requires a response or show of hands. Show a relevant (but short) video. Give us a simple exercise to do with a neighbor that illustrates your points. Ask us to jot down a few thoughts and share them with each other. Almost everyone these days has ADD. Work with that by mixing things up.
Talk in a Monotone: I don’t expect cartwheels and handstands, but please bring some energy to your presentation. Above all else, please drop the monotone delivery. It literally puts us to sleep.Vary your pace. Use some inflection. Raise your volume. Lower your volume. When you’re practicing your presentation (and I hope you are) record yourself and play it back. I’ll bet you’ll be surprised by how flat the delivery is. Dial up the energy. Most presenters (myself included) can’t dial it up too much.
Take Yourself So Damn Seriously: Some of you presenters are so serious up there that you’re scaring me. Let’s get real; most presentations are not about life and death topics so let’s not act like they are. Pretend you’re having a conversation with a bunch of friends. (It certainly worked for Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention.) Laugh a little. Smile.Connect with us.
OK, if you were writing your own letter to presenters what would you ask them to do to engage you or absolutely avoid so they don’t lose you? Please share in the comments.
One of my pet peeves with presenters is when they read the slides and don't prevent any other relevant data. I usually read the whole slide before they do and then I am bored. Those that do this often do it in that monotone voice you mentioned above.
I love your idea about getting people more involved by asking questions or sharing ideas with a partner. I do a lot of presentations, so I appreciate the idea!
Totally agree, I hate when a presenter turns their back to the audience to read a slide!
I taught my team by sounding an air horn every time they did it in practice…it worked they are all top notch presenters!
I agree that just reading slides does not make a good presentation.
I agree that mixing up voice inflections is important, as well as talking with the audience more like you are actually just talking with friends makes it more 'human' and interesting.
While I understand the assertion that "almost everyone these days has ADD", as in we are all used to multi-tasking and distracting ourselves from concentrating on anything for much time, I also find it a bit offensive that people expect to be 'entertained' all the time! HOW do they get through college classes, I wonder, if they can't concentrate for more than 8 minutes, for heaven's sake! So, I don't think the full burden of this issue falls on the presenter, who must now figure out how to influence people to feel 'engaged'. A more realistic approach would be to basically 'split the difference'. People need to understand it's offensive to disrupt meetings and presentations playing with their toys…the speaker deserves the respect of your attention…….or you should not be in the room.
Scott, Thank you for some great ideas.
I was speaking with a friend and mentor about the topic and discussed the following. Do you remember enjoying a wonderful presentation, well-organized and easy to follow; interesting, convincing, with a nice flow? This is the result of a good bit of preparation and effort that I find can easily be broken down and made to flow when you consider the following strategies.
*Begin gathering material for your presentation right away. Write as if you are conversing with one person.
*Write the conclusion right away then write the talk using that as a guide. Generally the last thing you say is what is remembered most. You'd like people to walk out with what specific point in mind? When your presentation is a discussion topic at the conference this is likely what will be shared with others.
*Write with the needs of the audience in mind, what do they want to know? Then tell them what you will tell them – Then tell them – Then tell them what you told them.
*Don't write to be read write to examine the topic at hand. Personally I find familiarity with my topic to be the best predictor of success. I use my power points only as a cheat sheet / memory jogger and to help the audience focus (Less is more). I’ll keep a separate card of key take away points to refer to just to make sure I cover the important key take away’s I want to get across. Ad-libbing with my power point outline ALWAYS yields better results than trying to adhere to notes. This also frees up my hands and allows me to get out into the audience. Coming off the stage getting at the audience level builds rapport.
* Plan for re-writes; I keep a folder or notebook nearby and jot down ideas to use later when I put together my presentation.
* Don't worry about being unique; just bring your own perspective to bear the audience wants to hear what you have to say! Bring the audience into your talk through questions, exercises, get them actively involved. This also helps you with thinking ahead.
* Keep your major points to several 3-4 your audience will find it easier to follow think about what the really need to know.
* People are interested in what affects them. Decide what I sin it for your audience then the litmus test is have you delivered this? How will they do things differently because of your presentation? If they change their thinking or are able to act on the knowledge then you have delivered! You will often find that in doing so you will be asked to present to others and then the hard part becomes when to say no.
This happened at three conferences in a row just in the last three months; one led to another which led to another and I now find myself as the closing keynote for a C-Level conference who’s last year’s closing keynote was Presidential Candidate Herman Cain. I’ll be relying on the suggestions above and look forward to learning from what others say in reply!
P.S. I would love to connect with others who wish to share ideas on improving presentations: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lonsoutherland
Don't write EVERYTHING you want to say in the slides. Like someone else said about reading the slides instead of presenting material not on it.
I find if i keep the slides more to an outline and important points and talk about those and teach around the points, i keep people perked up a bit more. If there is a complex equation, of course that goes on the slide and maybe even the solution.
If I'm sending out the slides ahead, i'll put alot in the "notes" area and let people know that so they read those for the big chunks of what I need to say about the slide – but i don't clutter them up with infinite detail.
Ditto to the slide issues discussed previously. A presentation style that I find annoying is the session pitched as group discussion (which is fine) led by the experts (also fine) but in reality, it becomes talk among strangers. The experts may set the topic but, after that, no facilitation, follow-up questions, additional prompts, other than thanks for coming. It make me wonder why I am attending the session. I could have the chat among strangers over coffee or cocktails. Bottom-line for me: ensure substantive content delivered like Scott E. suggests.
A few years ago I sat at a lunch table with a former governor who was to be the speaker. Throughout lunch he would pull out his pen & write on his hand. Finally we asked what he was doing. He explained he was making speech notes. While the audience thought he was gesturing with his raised hand, he was actually reading his reminder point for his speech.
Pleas do not READ ME YOUR SLIDES WORD FOR WORD. And understand that the second a slide is presented, the entire audience is paying more attention to the slide than the speaker. So keep the slides simple and brief, and expand on the points (or just simple words or phrases) on the slide in your presentation.
Do not say, "um, ah, ya know" or any other smacking/clicking sounds. Take a breath and allow for a couple seconds of silence to allow your points to sink in or to collect yourself and get back on track.
I'm amazed at how often presenters put up a slide with lots and lots of data or small print — and then actually say "I know you can't really see/read what's up there." So … why even put the slide up in the first place!
Proofread and speak with good grammar. I'll check out as soon as I hear fake words like 'irregardless', or if there are spelling/punctuation errors in "you're" presentation. If you are presenting, it means that you are representing something (your company, your industry, a group of peers, work team, etc) and have been selected as the best presenter for this presentation. Come through for them.