what are some presentation mistakes

The 15 Most Common Presentation Mistakes You Should Avoid

Becoming a better presenter should be in your bucket list. With so many real-life benefits to improving your presentation skills, you’re seriously missing out if you think being an ‘okay’ presenter is good enough. Avoid these common presentation mistakes, and be on your way to becoming a popular and highly sought-after speaker in your industry!

Perfection Isn’t Key To A Successful Presentation

Photo by Jonathan Hoxmark on Unsplash

There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ presentation. We’re all bound to make mistakes – rookies and expert presenters alike. And that’s alright. Why? Because we’re not robots. We’re humans. As such, we are inherently error-prone.

Think about the last time you had a ‘perfect’ presentation. Can you remember? No? Maybe that’s because it never happened. No matter how well-prepared you are, you may still occasionally stumble, mispronounce something, or forget to mention some meaningful examples you’ve rehearsed during practice.

Perfection isn’t something that you should aspire to, anyway. You’re just setting yourself up for failure that way. When you’re aiming for perfection, you’re setting the bar far too high and putting a ton of pressure on yourself. The more you make mistakes, the more frustrated you become. Even if you achieve the impossible and do a ‘perfect’ presentation, what’s next for you? What’s comes after ‘perfection,’ anyway?

Perfection is never the right approach. Instead, strive to continuously improve and become a better version of yourself. Even the most successful presenters constantly look for ways to improve themselves. They read up on presentation techniques, observe their competitors in action, and are relentless in their pursuit of knowledge.

Wouldn’t you love to be like these ‘experts’? They’re already at the pinnacle of success, and yet they continue to seek knowledge and growth. Complacency just isn’t part of their vocabulary – and it shouldn’t be in yours, too!

Stop Committing These 15 Most Common Presentation Mistakes

In the beginning, you may find yourself committing these mistakes over and over again. That’s okay. Don’t be frustrated. Take it as a challenge to continue improving. These mistakes are called ‘common’ for a reason. Presenters of all levels make these from time to time. So, don’t be too harsh on yourself if you don’t succeed right away.

1. Not defining your presentation goal

Presenters who don’t define their presentation goal are prone to making a lot of mistakes which translates to a higher risk of failure. Sure, you can try to ‘wing’ it, but what would you say your chances of success are?

Before you even plan out your content, you should know what your presentation’s goal is. Are you looking to inform, educate, persuade, activate, inspire or entertain the audience?

Now, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. One would expect an informative or educational presentation to be a bit more serious than an entertaining one would be. But, if it’s not against the rules, try to liven things up as well. You can say you want to educate and, at the same time, entertain people. Or, you can persuade and inspire your audience simultaneously.

Whatever your goals may be, always have the audience in mind. Meet people’s expectations and plan your presentation in such a way that they will not be disappointed.

2. Not preparing enough for the presentation

It’s so easy to put off preparing for a presentation when you know the topic like the back of your hand. In your mind’s eye, you can see yourself finishing the outline, the speech, and the slides – all in just a few hours.

But, of course, when it comes right down to it, you find yourself panicking because you underestimated the task at hand. So, when you get to your presentation, you’re sweating nervously. And your slides are nothing but a bunch of copied-and-pasted text from the Internet.

Procrastination has destroyed so many reputations and so many careers. Leaving stuff up to the very last minute may give you a rush of adrenaline. It makes you feel powerful when you get lucky and pull a successful presentation off. However, it also makes you think you can pull the same stunt every time you have a presentation coming up. You get complacent and don’t prepare until the very last minute.

The only excuse you can have for not preparing is when you’re not given enough time in the first place. Say you’re doing a client presentation. But your boss only assigned that task at the very last minute, leaving you with literally zero time to prepare. You certainly can’t be blamed in this situation, unless your boss is deliberately trying to get you fired.

3. Not knowing who your audience is

You’re doing your presentation to benefit your audience. So, spending a fair amount of time researching your topic is the right thing to do. But don’t stop there. Learn more about your audience, too.

How can your presentation add value to people’s lives? Why should they listen to you? And why should they care about your presentation?

Getting to know your audience can mean the difference between success and failure. If your message resonates with them, they’re going to pay attention to you. Otherwise, they’ll tune you out – they simply have no reason to listen to you.

Let’s say, for example, you’re giving a presentation on a new product your company is launching. If you know your audience, you can tell stories that they can relate to. You can cite real-life examples that are relevant to your audience.

If you’re presenting in front of a culturally diverse group of people, you don’t want to make an off-putting joke that people will hate you for. Offending your audience is the last thing you want to happen during your presentation.

Getting to know your audience isn’t really as hard as it sounds. This article will give you ideas you can follow to learn more about your listeners.

4. Not checking if the presentation file is working

In most cases, you won’t have a technical team on standby. Whether you’re doing a one-on-one presentation, or presenting in front of a group, it’s important to personally make sure you can access the presentation file.

It doesn’t matter if you’re using PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides, or whatever your preferred presentation app is. You may have designed a bunch of impressive-looking slides, but if you can’t access it on presentation day, then your work is all for naught.

This is especially important when the stakes are high. If you’re trying to get people to invest a considerable sum in your business, you need them to trust you. And the thing is, they’re not going to trust you if they witness you panicking because the presentation file is corrupted, or worse, missing!

How can people trust you with their money when you can’t even be bothered to check beforehand if your file is working? Think about it. So, don’t throw a tantrum if people give you negative feedback on your company website or on social media. Own up to your mistakes and do a better job next time.

5. Not scoping out the presentation venue ahead of time

Here’s another very common presentation mistake. You don’t just waltz in to your presentation venue without visiting it earlier in the week (or day), and making sure everything’s in good working condition.

Check the sound system, the projector, the podium, the stage, etc. Go to the very back of the room, and see if you can still read the text on your presentation slides. If not, well, at least you still have time to make the necessary adjustments. Ideally, however, this should have been factored in before you even started working on your slides.

Make sure your voice carries across the room, and everyone can hear you loud and clear. You’ve got an important message and you want it to be heard.

If you’re presenting in a cozy cafe or renting a small meeting room in a very busy establishment like a restaurant, then check the noise levels in the area. Can your guests hear you? Perhaps you can request to be moved to a better, quieter spot.

Scoping out your presentation venue may sound unnecessary, but really, it’s the small things that count. After all, you want your audience to be as comfortable as possible, so they’d be more receptive to your presentation.

6. Too many animations

Subjecting your audience to a presentation with nonstop animations and transitions is akin to torture. Seriously, try watching your presentation yourself and see if you can last till the end without getting dizzy, or worse, throwing up!

Animations, when used sparingly and carefully, can do a lot of good to your presentation. You can get people to re-focus their attention on you. A subtle movement every now and then can emphasize important points in your presentation. Applying animation effects to every single element on your slides is just plain overkill.

For best results, stick to simple animations. The most commonly used slide transition effect is a simple fade animation. For object animations, there are plenty of options to choose from in PowerPoint. Before you apply an animation effect, ask yourself first if it adds any value to your presentation. If the answer is ‘no,’ forget it. If ‘yes,’ then by all means, add that effect to your slide!

7. Not getting straight to the point

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Your audience is most likely composed of busy individuals. Respect them by not wasting their time. After briefly introducing yourself, tell them what they can expect to learn from your presentation. Then, go through your points one by one.

Having an outline – and sticking to it – will help prevent you from going around in circles. With an outline, you can structure your presentation, and go from introduction to body to conclusion smoothly. In short, an outline can help you plan how you can make the most impact on your audience.

Remember, people have short attention spans. If you don’t deliver on your promises, and you keep on talking about non-relevant stuff, people will tune you out. You better give them something important to chew on before they turn their attention elsewhere.

8. Too much text or information in slides

This is personally one of my pet peeves in presentations – cramming way too much info on slides. When you lay out everything on your slides, you don’t give your audience any incentive to continue listening to you. They’re just going to read your slide and play on their phones while they wait for you to move on to the next slide. They’ll just repeat this process until the end of your presentation.

The element of surprise or the unknown is important in presentations. Keep your audience’s interest by not sharing everything on your slides. Pique their curiosity by giving hints and clues on your slides. Then deliver a verbal discussion on what those hints mean.

Another benefit of not putting way too much text or information in your slides is that you avoid doing the next mistake.

9. Reading the presentation slides

Trust me when I say you’re disrespecting your audience by reading whatever is on your slides. It’s like you’re assuming they don’t know how to read for themselves!

What’s even worse is when your slides are so crammed with text that the font size becomes reduced to near-infinitesimal levels! So, you end up inadvertently insulting your audience even more. Now they’re stuck listening to you read your slides because they can’t read what’s on there. It’s the double whammy of bad presentations!

To sum up this point, people want to learn from you and they want to listen to you. But they DON’T want to listen to you read your slides.

10. ‘Death by PowerPoint’

Don’t quote me on this, but I don’t think anyone’s literally died yet just by watching a PowerPoint presentation. ‘ Death by PowerPoint’ is a phenomenon brought about by the millions of PowerPoint presenters who bore their audiences to tears, or in this case, death.

If you’ve ever attended a presentation where the presenter showed a dizzying and confusing array of slides, or droned on and on without caring if anyone’s actually listening, then you’ve personally experienced this phenomenon. I bet you – and everyone else – were thinking you’d rather be anywhere else but there.

Here’s a video from 10 years ago that’s still relevant today:

So, yeah, ‘death by PowerPoint’ is easily one of the most common PowerPoint mistakes you should avoid at all cost!

11. Not speaking clearly

Many rookie presenters are guilty of this common presentation mistake. Who wants to listen to a presenter speak gibberish? Not me. And I’m pretty sure not you, either. You’re attending a presentation because you want to learn something. When the speaker on stage doesn’t speak clearly, frustrations can quickly build up.

So, when you practice your speech, it’s important to make sure you enunciate each word clearly. Don’t use words that your audiences aren’t familiar with. If you’re speaking to a bunch of elderly people, don’t use lingo they may not understand. If you’re with a younger group, try to learn their slang so they’ll feel more comfortable with you.

Also, when using acronyms, make sure you define it first so people don’t end up confused. You want everyone to be on the same page as you, and communication is key to achieving this particular goal.

12. Not making eye contact

Making eye contact is one of the first things you should work on as a presenter. Why? Because avoiding eye contact during presentations make you look dodgy and untrustworthy. You won’t inspire confidence. So, don’t be surprised if no one takes you seriously.

With eye contact, however, you make it easy for people to see that you actually believe in what you’re saying. If you’re trying to persuade them to buy something from you, they’ll look at you for reassurance that you yourself believe in the product you’re selling.

Eye contact helps you build connections with your audience. When you make eye contact for a few seconds, you feel like you’re talking to that person one-on-one. In that moment, you make that audience member feel important and respected. In return, they will be more receptive to the message you’re sharing with them.

If you’re a naturally shy person, you’ll need to take some baby steps in the beginning. Try practicing making eye contact with the people you interact with on a daily basis. Over time, you’ll find yourself making eye contact naturally and you’ll feel your confidence levels rising.

13. Not dressing appropriately

Photo by Heather Ford on Unsplash

How would you feel if you wore formal attire to someone’s presentation and the speaker shows up wearing street clothes? You’d probably be annoyed that you took the time to dress up. Here you are listening to someone who didn’t even bother to wear a more suitable outfit for his talk.

First impressions are everything. The right clothes can make people warm up to you. You’re selling an image of being a professional, trustworthy speaker. Your clothes can definitely speak volumes on your behalf.

When in doubt, stick to the classics – gray or black business suits look good in presentations. If you’re borrowing someone else’s suit, make sure it at least fits you. You don’t want to look like you’re swimming in your clothes. For best results, invest in your own business suits. Wearing your own clothes will help you feel more comfortable and more confident.

Don’t forget about your hair, too. You want nothing sticking out unless you’re speaking to a bunch of guys with spiky hair. But even then, you’d still want to maintain an air of professionalism.

The bottom line is, make yourself look good so you’ll feel good. Carefully pick out your clothes . Let your audience see that you’re someone they can build a professional relationship with.

14. Insufficient knowledge of presentation topic

As I’ve mentioned earlier in this article, people attend your presentation because they want to learn something new from you. So, if you show up to your presentation without doing your research or your homework, then you’re essentially wasting their time.

It’s important to be prepared for your presentation. But don’t just cover the basics and then gloss over the details. Be prepared to go as in-depth as possible and cover all possible angles. Now, I don’t mean you need to know everything about the subject, but do try to be as well-informed as possible.

Don’t tell people what they already know. Figure out how you can ‘sell’ your ideas and make your presentation engaging and exciting!

15. No clear call to action

Many rookie presenters make the mistake of not adding a call to action (CTA) to their presentations. They think that their job is done just by sharing whatever their message is and that nothing else needs to be done afterwards.

To be fair, however, in informative presentations, the need for a CTA may not be as clear-cut as, say, a sales presentation. But you should definitely still add a call to action to ALL presentations.

Why? Because CTA’s motivate and encourage your audience to take action. You’re letting them know that the ball is in their court now. You’ve laid out what they need to do, so they can apply the information they’ve learned from you.

Don’t let people treat your presentation as something they can just sweep under the rug. Make an impact during your presentation so that people will be more willing to follow your CTA.

Here’s a tip: instead of using a thank you slide, put your CTA in the final slide. This way, people will be more likely to remember – and take action on – your call to action.

Final Words

You don’t need to aim for a perfect presentation. But avoiding these common presentation mistakes will definitely help you become a better presenter. Define your presentation goal and plan out your content before you do anything else. When designing your slides, make your audience’s visual experience a positive one. Create a strong first impression and engage with your audience throughout your presentation. Help them learn from you, and they’ll help you achieve your presentation goals!

You might also find this interesting:

• Here are the best resources to improve your presentation techniques
• The seven worst presentations of all time and why they went wrong
• Bad PowerPoint Examples You Should Avoid at All Costs

Create professional presentations online

Other people also read

6 Presentation Styles of Famous Presenters

How to create and deliver a powerful presentation introducti...

The seven worst presentations of all time and why they went ...

[email protected]

Click to copy

Email copied!

18 presentation mistakes you probably make (and how to avoid them)

July 11, 2017

Almost exactly one year ago I was in Paris with a colleague and his team of presentation coaches. We were gonna hold a presentation workshop for an international company and their senior managers. What unfolded in that workshop was eye-opening. We asked the attendees to reflect on what makes a presentation great versus awful, and the consensus was clear - bad slides can ruin even the most brilliant presenter's performance.

As we delved into the workshop, it became evident that the common pitfalls were "bad slides," "too much text on slides," and "ugly PowerPoint slides." Aha! The attendees understood the significance of clean design in business presentations. This was great news for me who was growing my presentation design agency.

Bad slides can make the greatest presenter fail

One might argue that as long as you're a captivating speaker, the slides are secondary. However, reality struck us during a 5-minute presentation exercise. One of the senior managers, let’s call him John, had great stage presence and his outgoing and fun personality caught my attention straight away. John was not talking about a super exciting topic, but his impressive way of presenting it made me actually want to listen and see if I could learn anything.

The issue was that John's slides kept pulling my attention away from him and what he was saying, and my focus was instead on reading his bullet points. And it didn't take long before I had lost him and what he was talking about. This happened over and over again with several of the other managers. It became clear that the details crammed into his slides were working against him, not for him.

Most of the senior managers were good at communicating their ideas but they didn't need all the content that they had stuffed in their slides. The details in their presentation slides worked against the speaker rather than supporting them. And this is a fact that most speakers neglect: do my slides enhance or detract from my message?

When you are preparing a presentation, try asking yourself these three questions:

Do I really need all these points on my slide? Embrace simplicity and let your speech fill in the gaps.

What can I delete from my slides and convey through my words? Less is often more when it comes to impactful presentations.

Do my slides support me, or are they stealing the spotlight? Ensure your slides complement your narrative, not compete with it.

The 18 most common presentation mistakes people do, and how to avoid them

On the second day of the workshop we worked together with the participants, did some role plays, critiqued their slides and how they gave their presentations. From these exercises we developed a big list of the most common mistakes people make when giving presentations. We also gave suggestions on how to stop making those mistakes. Here are the top 18 from that list.

1. Ignoring the Power of Design

Mistake : Underestimating the impact of presentation design.

Solution : Embrace clean, visually appealing slides that complement your message. Consider color psychology, visual hierarchy, and maintain consistency throughout. It's hard to tell stories with bullet points.

2. Overlooking the Psychology of Colors

Mistake : Neglecting the influence of colors on audience perception.

Solution : Choose colors wisely to evoke the right emotions. Warm tones for passion, cool tones for trust. Align your color palette with the mood and message of your presentation.

3. Neglecting Visual Hierarchy

Mistake : Failing to guide the audience's attention through visual hierarchy.

Solution : Use larger fonts, bold colors, and strategic layouts to highlight key points. Guide your audiences' attention with visual hierarchy.

4. Inconsistency in Design

Mistake : Not maintaining a consistent design throughout the presentation.

Solution : From fonts to color schemes, consistency breeds professionalism. Create a cohesive narrative by ensuring all design elements align with your brand.

5. Underestimating the Power of Storytelling

Mistake : Overlooking the impact of a compelling narrative.

Solution : Tailor your story to resonate with your audience. Craft a narrative arc with a captivating introduction, core content, and a memorable takeaway. Humanize your presentation with real-life anecdotes.

6. Not Knowing Your Audience

Mistake : Failing to tailor your presentation to your audience.

Solution : Understand their needs, challenges, and aspirations. Make your message more relatable by addressing their specific interests.

7. Neglecting Virtual Presentation Skills

Mistake : Ignoring the nuances of virtual presentations.

Solution : Master the art of virtual communication. Leverage tools, optimize visuals for screens, and maintain an engaging tone to keep your audience actively participating.

8. Avoiding Interaction in Presentations

Mistake : Sticking to a one-way communication approach.

Solution : Break away from monotone presentations with interactive elements. Incorporate polls, Q&A sessions, and multimedia to keep your audience engaged and participating actively.

9. Underestimating the Impact of Presentation Design Agencies

Mistake : Overlooking the expertise of presentation design agencies.

Solution : Collaborate with specialized presentation and/or PowerPoint agencies for visually stunning presentations. They understand the nuances of effective design and can transform your ideas into captivating visuals.

10. DIY Design Mistakes

Mistake : Thinking effective design requires a hefty budget.

Solution : Explore user-friendly design tools like Canva. Invest in online courses to enhance your skills and gather feedback from peers to uncover areas for improvement.

11. Ignoring Rehearsals

Mistake : Neglecting the importance of rehearsing your presentation.

Solution : Practice your delivery to enhance confidence and identify areas for improvement. Record yourself and watch it back. Seek feedback from a colleague.

12. Overloading Slides with Information

Mistake : Cramming too much information onto slides.

Solution : Embrace simplicity. Focus on key points and let your speech fill in the details. A clutter-free slide enhances audience understanding.

13. Disregarding Body Language

Mistake : Ignoring the impact of body language during presentations.

Solution : Be mindful of your gestures, posture, and facial expressions. Positive body language enhances your credibility and engages the audience.

14. Neglecting the Opening Hook

Mistake : Starting your presentation with a weak or generic opening.

Solution : Capture your audience's attention from the start. Begin with a compelling question, quote, or anecdote to hook your audience and set the tone.

15. Poor Time Management

Mistake : Overrunning or rushing through your presentation.

Solution : Practice pacing to ensure your presentation fits the allotted time. Be mindful of your audience's attention span and adjust your content accordingly.

16. Ignoring Feedback Loops

Mistake : Disregarding the importance of feedback.

Solution : Seek feedback from peers, mentors, or the audience. Constructive criticism helps refine your presentation skills and address blind spots.

17. Using Overly Complex Jargon

Mistake : Assuming your audience understands complex industry jargon.

Solution : Simplify your language to ensure universal understanding. Clear communication enhances engagement and relatability.

18. Lack of Adaptability

Mistake : Failing to adapt your presentation style to different audiences or settings.

Solution : Understand the context and preferences of your audience. Tailor your delivery to resonate with diverse groups, whether in a boardroom or a virtual setting.

Mastering the art of presentation goes beyond being a captivating speaker. It involves understanding the marriage of design and storytelling, navigating the technological landscape, and adapting to evolving presentation styles. Whether you collaborate with a presentation design agency or take the DIY route, the goal remains the same - to captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression. Embrace the power of design, craft compelling narratives, and watch as your presentations become not just informative sessions but memorable experiences.

Recent articles

View all articles

Figma Slides: A new presentation tool taking on PowerPoint and co

Presentation tools

How to prepare a great conference keynote presentation

Public speaking

• Open training
• Team training

28 Common Presentation Mistakes. Which are you making?

• Articles and Resources
• > Interpersonal and Communication Skills
• > 28 Common Presentation Mistakes. Which are you making?

The best presenters and speakers continually hone their skills and test out new material. Regardless of how much presenting experience you have, don’t assume you have nothing new to learn. But don’t strive for perfection either. Instead, identify a few issues that you could improve upon and work on those first – starting with whatever will have the biggest impact on your presentations.

So how do you go from average to outstanding presenter? Have a look at our list of the  28 biggest presentation mistakes  that most presenters make. Is there anything we missed?

1. Starting poorly

Make sure to start your presentations with impact. Saying,  “Welcome, my name is ___. Today we will be talking about…”  is  boring . Do something different – be bold, creative, inspiring! And arrive early so you won’t feel flustered, which will carry over into your presentation. Most importantly, be interesting!

2. Failing to address the audience’s concerns

Before you even think about creating a presentation, know what your audience is struggling with so that you can solve their problem or address their concerns.

3. Boring your audience

If you can’t be interesting, don’t bother speaking in front of people.

4. Failing to engage emotionally

We like to think that humans make rational decisions, but   studies show  that people make decisions based on emotion, and then rationalize their decisions afterwards.

5. Using too much jargon

Your language needs to be appropriate for your audience. They can’t listen to you while they’re trying to figure out what you said. If you speak in circles around them, they may never fully catch up. If you can’t avoid the use of jargon or a technical term, be sure to explain what it means when you introduce it, and don’t introduce too many at once.

6. Being too wordy or rambling

Don’t use up an hour of time when 20 minutes will do. Respect people’s time and get to the point. Be concise and don’t ramble. But don’t rush, either. Yes, it’s a fine line.

7. Going over your allotted time

This is a simple matter of respect. If your presentation goes over your allotted time, there’s a good chance your audience will lose interest and leave anyway – or at the very least, stop listening because they’ll be focused on other commitments and trying to figure out how they will adjust.

8. Lack of focus

Your slide deck should help you stay on track. Use it as a guide to make sure you move logically from one point to another.

9. Reading slides verbatim

In all likelihood, your audience can read perfectly well without your assistance. If you’re just going to read to them, you might as well save everyone some time and just send them a copy of your slide deck. This isn’t the place for a bedtime story.

Challenge yourself to put as few words on the slides as possible, so that you can’t read from them. Could you do your entire presentation with only one word on each slide? If not, this is an indication that you may not know your materials well enough.

10. Poor slide design

PowerPoint gets a bad rap because 99% of slides are very poorly designed, but it’s not Bill Gates’ fault that the world lacks design skills! Just because a feature is available in PowerPoint, doesn’t mean you need to use it.

In fact, when you start designing a presentation, it’s best if you don’t even open PowerPoint. Use Microsoft Word to create an outline first. Focus on the content and structure, and only when that is outstanding, move to PowerPoint and start designing your slides.

If you don’t know how to design good slides, find someone who does or learn. While poor slide design probably won’t make or break your presentation, it can undermine your credibility and distract your audience – or worse – help put them to sleep.

Depending on the type of presentation, you may want to consider the   10/20/30 rule from Guy Kawasaki . Ten slides for a 20-minute presentation with fonts no smaller than 30 points. It’s not appropriate for all types of presentations, but it’s a nice guideline and slide-to-duration ratio.

Be careful when buying PowerPoint templates – while they may look pretty, more often than not, the design is not conducive to great presentations. The fonts are almost always too light and/or small to be read at the back of a room and the designers often cram too much on one slide. Buying presentation templates only works if you understand good design. Don’t trust that just because a “professional” designed it, that it’s any good. It can take longer to fix a poorly designed slide than to just build one from scratch.

11. Cramming in too much information

If the audience can’t make sense of the data, or if they have to stop listening to you so they can read, you’re doing it wrong. Simplicity and white space are your friends. Think, “How would Apple design a slide deck?”

12. Incorporating too much data

Ask yourself, “Why am I including this data?”, “What action do I want to inspire?”, and “If I removed this, could I still make my point?” to help determine if the data relevant enough to include.

“We have met the Devil of Information Overload and his impish underlings, the computer virus, the busy signal, the dead link, and the PowerPoint presentation.” – James Gleick

13. Relying on PowerPoint as your only presentation tool

Even when used correctly, PowerPoint should not be your only tool. Use flip charts, white boards, post-it notes, and other tools to engage your audience. Try to break up the amount of time the audience spends staring at a screen.

14. Making it about you

As the presenter, you are the least important person in the room. When you understand that and focus on the goal of helping your audience, you can eliminate a lot of the nervousness that comes with presenting.

15. Being a Diva

To be a great presenter, one could argue that you have to have a slightly inflated sense of ego and tough skin. It’s not easy standing in front of a room full of people (often complete strangers) who will critique your performance without knowing anything about you or the kind of day you’ve had. That inflated ego can be useful in protecting you when things don’t go well.

But your ego doesn’t give you permission to act like you’re more important than everyone else. You’re the least important person in the room, remember?

The best presenters are those who are authentic and who truly want to help people. Try to accommodate the organizers and see things from their perspective when they need you to adapt. Make it easy for people to work with you and they will ask you to come back.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

16. Not practicing enough (or at all!)

“Winging it” works well for very few people. The people who successfully speak without much practice are those who are fantastic natural speakers  and   who know their material inside out and upside down. Even if you’re one of the lucky few, you need to get the timing right – so practice anyway!

17. Apologizing or drawing attention to your fears or shortcomings

When you’re having an “off day” it’s natural to want to say something like, “I didn’t sleep well last night so forgive me if I seem tired.” But when you do that, you’re undermining your own credibility because your audience might not have even noticed you were tired. But now that you’ve drawn attention to it, they will focus on it, look for clues, and may even include a comment on your feedback form. Don’t give them reasons to complain!

18. Technical difficulties

There are no excuses for not preparing technology ahead of time. Make sure you’ve tested everything before your presentation. Always carry extra batteries for your presenter remote (if you use one).

If you arrive late, you’re setting yourself up for failure and run the risk of starting off stressed, which can have a domino effect on the rest of your presentation.

19. Overusing animations and transitions

Many people struggle with vertigo, motion sickness, and nausea. Out of respect for those people, never  move   text; if you must animate it, the text should remain static on the screen as it fades or wipes in. This allows people to fix their eyes on a focal point and start reading before the animation finishes. Don’t make your audience follow bouncing, flying, zooming, spinning, growing, or floating text… or anything else for that matter!

Transitions are quite unnecessary, but if you must use them, only use a quick fade. If your transitions are too slow, they’ll interfere with your normal speech pattern.

Remember – no one will leave your presentation and think, “Wow, those animations were great!”. They will comment on the content and your ability to present it. And the food… or lack thereof.

20. Not using enough relevant stories

Connect with people on a personal level to build rapport and trust. People will remember your stories much more easily than they will remember any facts you present. Just make sure the stories are relevant to your presentation or you’ll risk annoying people for wasting their time.

21. Making your stories too long

Don’t drag out your stories with useless details. The worst stories begin something like this:

“So last Tuesday I was walking the dog and… or wait, was it Wednesday? No, it must have been Tuesday. Hmm, now I’m not sure. Oh, wait. I was wrong. Actually, it was Monday and I know that because I had just come back from the gym. Right. So, last Monday, I was walking the dog and…”.

By now your audience is ready to pull their hair out. To make your stories more interesting, keep them succinct and only include relevant information. If you mess up unimportant details that don’t affect the outcome of the story, don’t correct it – just keep going.

End strong with a punch line, a twist, a lesson, or a call to action.

22. Lack of eye contact

Obviously, you want to be sensitive to different cultures, but In North America, lack of eye-contact can make people distrust you. If making eye contact adds to your nerves, pick three main focal points around the room (one on the left, one in the centre, and one on the right). Move from one focal point to the other as you speak, making eye contact with a few people from each area.

23. Failing to pause

A pause is like the mount on a diamond ring. The diamond is the message, but the mount is what presents it to the world and helps it shine! Help your message shine with a well-placed pause.

24. Poor use of humour

Humour can enrich any presentation, as long as it’s appropriate. Self-deprecating humour is almost always safe. Poking fun at yourself also helps put people at ease, and when you hear laughter, it can help you relax.

25. Ending with Q&A

This is a mistake that almost everyone makes. If you end with a Question and Answer session, what happens if you can’t answer the last question? What if the answer isn’t one the audience likes or wants to hear? Ending with Q&A risks ending on a negative note. Instead, do your Q&A a few slides before finishing up so that you can end strong.

26. Summarizing the entire presentation

If you can recap your entire presentation in 5-10 minutes, why did you waste an hour of the audience’s time? Emphasize only the main ideas very briefly.

27. Not including a call to action

What was the purpose of your presentation? Were you trying to teach something? Did you wan to persuade the audience to take an action? Whatever the goal, make sure to tell people what you want them to do next.

28. Not asking for (anonymous) feedback from the audience

Feedback is useless unless it’s anonymous. If you just want people to tell you how great you are, ask them in person. You’ll rarely find anyone who won’t be willing to tell a little white lie to save face. But if you actually want to improve your presentation skills, ask for honest, anonymous feedback in writing. This is where that tough skin comes in handy, but it’s the best way to learn. And over time, as your presentation skills improve, so will your feedback.

“There are always three speeches for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.” – Dale Carnegie

************

To improve your presentation skills in a safe environment with the guidance and feedback of an experienced presenter, register for PMC’s   Skills for Effective Presentations  course. This workshop will help you gain the confidence you need to go from average to outstanding presenter – sign up today!

“The instructor was welcoming and knew how to provide feedback without intimidating or embarrassing participants.” – Anonymous participant

“This workshop was well structured. The number of students was perfect, don’t need more as small group is excellent. The instructor was well informed – very interesting and would recommend this course for sure!” – Carol

• 4 Ways To Have More Effective Meetings
• 6 Facilitation Strategies to Solicit Participation in Meetings

Related workshops

Let us help you create your training solution, hello we'd love to hear from you.

Complete the form below or reach us at: [email protected] , or 613-234-2020

Contact details

To help you.

• I wish to subscribe to PMC Training content.

Welcome to our new website!

We appreciate your patience as we add the finishing touches. In the meantime, go and explore!

Cookie Usage Disclaimer: This website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies. For more information, please review our Privacy Policy .

10 Common Presentation Mistakes – How to Avoid

January 02, 2024

Many of us make common mistakes in our business presentations. Often these presentation mistakes are ways of working that seem efficient (but are not) such as: (1) planning your talk with PowerPoint, (2) writing your talk without planning, (3) skipping practise sessions and (4) narrating dull slides.

So, what makes a bad presentation? And how do you avoid common presentation errors?

Each of these presenting mistakes are ‘false friends’ – where you feel as if you are making progress but in reality you are diverting from the true path and giving yourself more work than necessary.

Study these bad presentation mistakes and identify where you can improve.

• Do you avoid planning your presentation up front?
• Are you too quick to start producing presentation slides?
• Are you reluctant to try out your presentation ideas on others early in the process?
• Do you use boring safe language?
• Do you try and say too much in your presentations?
• Are you unsure how to bring your presentation to life with levity.

These are all simple, natural presenting mistakes that cause thousands of presentations every day to be less effective than they should be.

While avoiding these traps will not make you a brilliant presenter, each trap you identify will take you much nearer to being a confident and convincing presenter.

Top ten ways to avoid common presentation mistakes

• Don’t start with PowerPoint. Leave creating visual aids until the end of the process
• Don’t start writing before planning. Have a clear plan first
• Don’t be the centre of attention. Make your talk about your audience.
• Don’t use written language. Translate everything you write into compelling spoken language.
• Don’t try and say too much. Say less, but say it better.
• Don’t be boring. Say something interesting every 10 words.
• Don’t be subtle. Be big, bold, clear and compelling.
• Don’t speak too fast. Leave a pause every 5-10 words.
• Don’t lead with slides or narrate slides. Speak directly to your audience and only use visual aids when they help your audience
• Don’t avoid practising. Dedicate time perfecting your talk and perfecting your performance.

Presentation Mistakes #1 – Do you waste time with PowerPoint?

Summary: powerpoint is a poor planning tool. only open powerpoint after you have decided what you are saying..

Most people, when they start writing a presentation, they open PowerPoint. They create slides, perhaps use old slides, design new ones and feel as if they are making progress because they can see ‘progress’ – something they can print and share.

BUT: Starting with PowerPoint is the equivalent of creating a movie by filming before you have a story or a script. You end up with a lot of footage, but it is near impossible to turn this into anything usable. You waste time and you waste money.

Instead, Create a powerful talk that barely uses any visual aids. Use the planning and language tools outlined in this blog article to create a talk that can work on its own without slides. You may realise that your presentation does not need slides. If you do want visual aids, only start creating them at the end of the presentation process, not at the start.

And why not rename ‘slides’ as Visual Aids. This change of language will help you think differently. Each Visual Aid must help your audience interpret what you say. Only create Visual Aids where they are absolutely necessary. Make life easier for your audience.

“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”.  – Benjamin Franklin

Avoid Presentation Mistakes – Top Tips

• Stop using PowerPoint to plan
• Only use PowerPoint to create your visual aids or handouts after you have decided what to say.

Learn how we can help – schedule a free consultation now

Presentation Mistakes #2 – Do you make yourself or your idea the focus of your presentation?

Summary: while your presentation might be about your product or your business, you will be more effective if you make your audience the centre of attention..

A typical bad presentation starts: “In today’s presentation I will talk about how we performed last month, what our plans are for this month and how we are changing the way numbers are reported. I’ll talk about project Pegasus and give an update on the latest company sales figures”

Why is this not good? This presentation opening is more like a table of contents than anything else – and it contains little that is useful for the audience.

The art of communication is translating what you want to say into what it means for your audience. You’ll grab your audience if you talk about them and their interests. If what you say is useful, your audience is more likely to pay attention.

Instead, start like this: “As we all know, this has been a tough month. You’ll hear more about last month’s disappointing performance and learn about our plans for this month and what that means for your departments. I’ll also share with you the changes you can expect to see in how we report our numbers. You’ll also be pleased to know that project Pegasus is on track. We can already see a positive impact on our sales numbers – which I am sure we are all very pleased to hear.”

What has changed?

• Each ‘I will talk about’ has been translated into a ‘you will….’
• By using many more personal pronouns (we/ our/your) the talk is easier to listen to.
• In the revised text you hear much more useful information (is it good news, bad news) and
• The audience is involved in the story (‘we are all very pleased to hear’).

In short, the audience is now the centre of attention of this talk.

“Nobody cares what you think until they think that you care” – Maya Angelou

• Give your audience useful information from the start.
• Talk about them and what your information means for them
• Avoid ‘tables of contents’. Say something interesting in every phrase.

Presentation Mistakes #3 – Is your presentation a data dump?

Summary – a data dump is not a presentation. the real job of a presentation is to analyse and interpret information so it means something for your audience. you must add value..

A typical bad presentation sounds like: “Sales last quarter were 3.6m, this is up 3.2% on last quarter and down 2.8% on the previous year. This is 4.6% behind budget and 4.5% better than forecast. Breaking it down by division we can see that North was 8.2% over budget while South was 1.2% behind budget…….”

What’s wrong with this?  If you compile data then it’s tempting to share your hard work. But talking through raw numbers is a waste of everyone’s time. Instead, you want to look impressive.

That means, you must add value. You should describe what those numbers are saying. For example, you might say:

“As we can see, sales at 3.2m last month were as expected. The important thing to note is that North won the new IBM contract, which was unexpected, while South had three customer delays which pushed their sales back by a month. We are still pretty confident of reaching our end of year numbers.”

By speaking in this way you are giving your audience valuable information throughout (sales: “as expected” …. North: Unexpected IBM contract….South: customer delays,… pushed sales back by a month…’confident of reaching end of year numbers”).

The real art here is doing the hard work for your audience. If you make it easy for the audience you’ll not only have a better presentation, you will also look more impressive in front of your audience.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I’ll spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

• When you report data, add value.
• It’s your job to do the hard work.
• Explain what the data means for your audience.
• Make it easy for your audience.

Presentation Mistakes #4 – Do you use written language in your talk?

Summary – the written word and the spoken word are two different languages. one belongs on the page, the other in the mouth..

A typical bad start: “It is a pleasure to welcome you to this symposium, which is part of our programme to mark the 75th anniversary of the Central Bank of Ireland. I am especially delighted that Francois Villeroy de Galhau is joining us today to give a keynote address. I am looking forward also to learning from the excellent lineup of speakers later in the afternoon. “The topic of financial globalisation is a natural theme for the Central Bank of Ireland. At a macroeconomic level, the global financial cycle is a primary determinant of financial stability conditions in small open economies. This lesson was painfully learned across the advanced economies during the international credit boom that occurred over 2003-2008.” Remarks by Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, to the Financial Globalisation Symposium as part of the programme to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Central Bank of Ireland, Dublin, 2 February 2018

What is wrong with this?  When you preparing words for a talk or presentation, you want to avoid planning through typing. The spoken word and the written word are like different languages.  If you type first, you’ll probably find:

• The sentences are too long,
• The words are too complicated
• The rhythm of spoken language is lost
• You miss powerful rhetorical tools that make spoken language interesting and easy to listen to.

Written language must be translated into spoken language.

So, instead, say it first then write it. Then say it out loud again. Check that you are using plenty of rhetorical tools.  Listen for the rhythm of your speech and whether it’s easy to say (and easy to listen to). For example, this might have been a speech writer’s first draft for the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland.

“Welcome everyone to this great occasion. It’s 75 years since the Central Bank of Ireland was born. In that time we have grown up. – We were born as a new institution in a new country – and we are now standing tall alongside our brothers and sisters in Europe and around the world, a full participant in the global economy. In our busy life we’ve lived through financial cycles, a few near misses and, most recently, an international credit boom. “Financial globalisation is a topic close to our heart. What happens globally determines what happens locally. The global credit boom that ended in 2008 showed us how our financial stability is at the mercy of global forces.”

“Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.” – Herman Hesse

• Always speak words before writing them down
• Use plenty of rhetorical tools
• Use an audience to test that it’s easy to understand

Presentation Mistakes #5 – Are you trying to say too much?

Summary – great talks usually say less, but use more reinforcement, illustration and examples.. the art of presenting is knowing what to take out..

Imagine an over-enthusiastic primary school teacher explaining atoms to her students.

“Atoms are the basic building blocks of everything around us. And each atom is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. These atoms are very small – you can fit 10^19 atoms into a grain of sand. The really interesting thing about electrons is that they are both particles and waves – they have a duality. In fact all matter demonstrates duality – but it is most easily seen in electrons. Now let’s look at protons and neutrons. These are made up of more elementary particles call quarks. The Standard Model of particle physics contains 12 flavours of elementary fermions and their antiparticles……”

By now the children are very confused.

What went wrong? When you say too much you give your audience a problem. If your audience has to work hard to interpret what you say, you have failed in your job as a presenter.  Your job as a presenter is to make it easy for your audience. 

Great communication involves simplifying, reinforcing and giving examples.  Imagine this alternative start:

“Atoms are the basic building blocks of everything around us. The air we breathe is made of atoms. The ground we walk on is made of atoms and we are all made of atoms. Atoms are very small. See this grain of sand here? Guess how many atoms are in this grain of sand? It’s a big number: a one followed by nineteen zeros. That’s a lot of atoms. There are roughly as many atoms in this grain of sand as the total number of stars in the observable universe. To look at it another way. If this apple were magnified to the size of the Earth, then each atom in the apple would be approximately the size of the original apple……”

“Simplify, then exaggerate” – Geoffrey Crowther, Editor, Economist Magazi ne

• Say less, but say it better
• Cut out non-essential information from your talk
• Don’t be afraid of reinforcing, illustrating and repeating what’s important

Learn these techniques and more to improve your presentation skills with intensive presentation training

Presentation Mistakes #6 – Are you guilty of Death by PowerPoint?

Summary – death by powerpoint happens when bad presenters let their slides lead. they ‘talk through’ what’s on the screen. instead, you want to talk directly to your audience, using visual aids as support..

Imagine this bad, and typical presentation: “As you can see on this page, we have looked at fifteen initiatives to revitalise the businesses. We examined the pros and cons of each initiative, as outlined in the table below. Following our analysis, it looks like initiatives 3, 7, and 8 are the most interesting. We’ll now look at each of the fifteen initiatives and explain why we came to our conclusions.”

That’s what death by PowerPoint feels like.

Death by PowerPoint has three causes.

• The speaker is narrating slides rather than speaking directly to the audience. i.e. the speaker expects the audience to both read and listen at the same time.
• The speaker talks about HOW they have done the work they have done rather than WHY this work matters and WHAT their work means.
• The speaker adds little value in what they say.

To Avoid Death By PowerPoint, get straight to the point.

Try this alternative start (read it out loud) “As you know, we were asked to find ways to revitalise the business. After speaking to everyone in this room, we identified the three projects that will make a real difference. We’ve chosen these because they deliver the greatest return on effort, they have the lowest risk and they can be implemented fastest. By the end of this meeting, we want all of us to agree that these are the right projects and to get your full support for rolling these out over the next 6 weeks. Is that OK?”

“I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking. People confront a problem by creating a presentation. I wanted them to engage, to hash things out at the table, rather than show a bunch of slides” – Steve Jobs

• Get to the point immediately.
• Don’t rely on your audience reading. Tell them directly what’s important.
• WHY is more important than WHAT is more important than HOW

Become an impressive presenter with bespoke presentation coaching. Learn more about intensive presentation training

Presentation Mistakes #7 – Do you use meta-speak?

Summary – meta-speak is talking about talking. avoid it. speak directly to your audience..

Imagine this bad presentation: “I was asked today to talk about our new factory. In putting together this talk I wanted to tell you how we designed it and went about planning it. I also wanted to cover the process we used to get it delivered on time and on budget.”

What wrong with this? It’s as if the speaker is narrating their thought processes about planning this talk. While that might be interesting to the speaker, it is of little value to the audience. Avoid.

Instead, get right to the point, Speak directly.

“We have just opened our new factory. And we did this in just 12 months from board approval to the cutting of the ribbon in the loading bay. How did we achieve this? And how did we deliver it on time and on budget? Today I’ll share some of the lessons we leaned over the last 12 months. And I’ll reveal some of the mistakes we nearly made. And I’m doing this because it just might help you when you are faced with what seems like an impossible problem…”

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein

• If you see meta-speak creeping in, cut it out
• Make your language direct.
• Get right to the point.

Presenting Mistakes #8 – Do you gabble or speak too fast?

Summary – speaking too fast helps nobody. you should learn how to incorporate pauses – many pauses – long pauses – throughout your talk..

Try saying this out loud:  “A-typical-speaker-will-speak-in-long-sentences-and-keep-speaking-linking-phrases-together-so-that-there-is-no-gap-and-no-time-for-the-audience-to-absorb-what-the-speaker-has-said-and-no-time-to-plan-what-to-say-next-this-causes-the-speaker-to-feel-more-nervous-so-they-speed-up-and-it-frustrates-the-audience-because-they-have-no-time-to-process-what-they-have-heard-before-the-speaker-is-onto-their-next-point…”

This typically happens when a speaker is nervous. So they rush. And it is then hard for the audience to listen.

Instead, try speaking this out loud:  “Good speakers use short phrases — They share one thought at a time — — By leaving gaps — it’s easier for the audience. — The good news is — it’s also easier for the speaker. — When a speaker uses pauses — they have time to compose their next sentence. — This helps the speaker look more thoughtful — and more convincing. — It also helps the speaker feel more confident.

“The most precious things in speech are….. the pause.” – Ralph Richardson

• Pausing takes practice. Few people do it instinctively.
• Use shorter phrases – one idea at a time.
• Aim for a pause at least every ten words
• Record yourself, listen to your pauses and hear how they add gravitas
• Keep practising until your pauses feel natural and sound natural.

You can learn these techniques quickly with bespoke presentation coaching

Presentation Mistakes #9 – Are you too serious?

Summary – levity can help you look more professional and will help your audience pay attention to what you say..

Too many presentations overly serious, dull and un-engaging.

Why? When we have something important to say we want to look ‘professional.’ But professional and serious are not the same. When you are too serious it’s harder for your audience to connect with you.

If you really want to look professional, bring the audience into your world. Levity and humour helps you achieve this. This does not mean you should tell jokes, but you should help the audience smile and feel clever for understanding what you say.

See how you can do it differently.  This is the third paragraph of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s EU Privacy speech . He uses humour followed by flattery to get his audience open and receptive to what he is about to say.

“Now Italy has produced more than its share of great leaders and public servants. Machiavelli taught us how leaders can get away with evil deeds…And Dante showed us what happens when they get caught.

“Giovanni has done something very different. Through his values, his dedication, his thoughtful work, Giovanni, his predecessor Peter Hustinx—and all of you—have set an example for the world. We are deeply grateful.”

“Inform, Educate & Entertain”. – Sir John Reith, BBC

• Have a smile on your face when preparing your talk
• Look for opportunities to introduce humour and lighten the tone
• Play with ideas.

Presenting Mistakes #10 – Do you avoid practising?

Summary – it’s tempting to avoid practise and to wing it on the day. this is the amateur approach..

The best presenters, like great athletes, do all their practising in advance , so that their performance on the day  looks effortless.

People make excuses to avoid essential practise:

• “I’m always better without practice”
• “I don’t want to over-prepare”
• “I sound wooden when I over-rehearse”
• “I’m more natural on the day”
•  “This is an artificial environment. I’m much better in front of a real audience.”

But many people are deluded. They believe themselves to be good speakers.

So, instead, think of yourself as a professional athlete, actor, pilot or dentist. These professionals make their work appear effortless only because of hours of preparation. A great presenter should think the same.

Use your rehearsal to try out every aspect of your talk and to iron out what works. Use a critical audience. Keep changing and improving it until it’s as good as it can be. If you are not a brilliant speaker, then spend time building your skills. This practice includes:

• Cut any waffle or anything boring
• Say something interesting at least every 10 words
• Use more rhetorical tools (see Chapter x)
• Keep reinforcing your key points
• Start strong, end strong

“The more I practise, the luckier I get”. – Gary Player, champion golfer

• Dedicate proper practise time – at least three sessions for an important talk.
• Use a critical audience
• Keep cutting, changing, fixing and tweaking
• Only stop when you are able to pay attention to your audience’s reaction rather than remembering what you want to say.

Summary – key presentation mistakes to avoid

When you understand the common mistakes presenters make, you will find it easier to create and give a compelling, successful presentation.

Reminder: Top ten ways to avoid common presentation mistakes

How to avoid presentation mistakes – for ever, if you really want to improve your presentation skills, then get in touch. our team of expert presentation coaches has been helping business executives polish their presentation skills for over 15 years. we are trusted by some of the world’s largest businesses. click on the link below to discuss your needs., transform your presentation skills with tailored coaching.

We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too .

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.” Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice of leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East to improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.

Unlock your full potential and take your presentations to the next level with Benjamin Ball Associates.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email [email protected] to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

Or read another article..., how to write a speech that matters – 10 top tips.

To write a speech that works, you need to know the tricks of…

Brilliant Presentation Skills Training for Business – 8 Top Tips

Great presenters stand out. They have had training in presentation skills.  You too…

How to Improve Your Executive Presence – 4 Tips

Learn how executive presence coaching can help you develop executive presence To succeed…

How to Scale your Business – 8 Low Cost Ways

How do you scale a business?  This is one of the big questions…

Contact us for a chat about how we can help you with your presenting.

What leaders say about Benjamin Ball Associates

Ceo, plunkett uk.

"Thank you so much for an absolutely brilliant session yesterday! It was exactly what we were hoping for, and you did an incredibly job covering such a range of issues with four very different people in such short a session. It really was fantastic - thank you!"

James Alcock, Chief Executive, Plunkett UK

Manager, ubs.

"Essential if you are going to be a spokesperson for your business"

Senior Analyst, Sloane Robinson

"Being an effective communicator is essential to get your stock ideas across. This course is exactly what's needed to help you do just that!"

CEO, Blast! Films

“Our investment in the coaching has paid for itself many times over.”

Ed Coulthard

Corporate finance house.

“You address 95% of the issues in a quarter of the time of your competitor.”

Partner International

“Good insight and a great toolbox to improve on my presentations and delivery of messages to not only boards, analysts and shareholders but to all audiences”

CEO, Eurocamp

“We had a good story to tell, but you helped us deliver it more coherently and more positively.”

Steve Whitfield

Ceo, ipso ventures.

“Ben did a great job on our presentation. He transformed an ordinary set of slides into a great presentation with a clear message. Would definitely use him again and recommend him highly.”

Nick Rogers

“Moved our presentation into a different league and undoubtedly improved the outcome and offer we received.”

Let's talk about your presentation training needs

+44 20 7018 0922, [email protected], our bespoke presentation coaching services, investor pitch coaching, executive presentation coaching, public speaking training, executive media training, new business pitch coaching, privacy overview.

how to give the perfect presentation

10 most common presentation mistakes, avoid these basic presentation errors, 1. lack of preparation.

Too often a good presentation is ruined because the speaker has not taken the time to prepare. Preparation involves attention to both the personal and professional aspects of the presentation. Personal elements include body language, voice, and appearance. Professional aspects include researching the subject, organizing the content, and preparing the visuals. So, whether your presentation lasts for five minutes, five hours, or five days, you owe it to yourself and your audience to prepare thoroughly.

2. Poor Use of Visuals

Visuals should enhance your presentation, not detract from it. Most business people around the world today have learned how to use PowerPoint technically, but not professionally. Slides are overcrowded, unattractive, and inconsistent. They are loaded with lengthy, unnecessary words, written in sentences, instead of bullets. They include detailed information that should be provided to participants in the form of handouts. They underutilize the power of images. By taking the time to learn how to create powerful visuals, you will have a creative edge over the competition.

3. Inappropriate Humor

Off-color jokes could doom your presentation, because you are taking the risk of offending someone in the audience. Humor is culture-sensitive. What is considered funny in one part of the world may be considered private and taboo in another. So, avoid using humor in professional presentations, and consider other ways of breaking the ice and establishing rapport with your audience members.

4. Inappropriate Dress

The best advice is to dress conservatively so that the audience can pay attention to what you are saying, not what you are wearing. In your private life, feel free to express your individuality. In professional arenas, it can be disastrous to show your true colors. Like it or not, professionals around the world expect to see you dressed a certain way. It is best not to surprise them; otherwise they will be concentrating on your unusual appearance instead of your worthwhile message. Women in particular should be extra careful to present a professional appearance, and stay away from low necklines, short skirts, jangly jewelry, wacky hairstyles, and flashy colors.

5. Not Knowing the Audience

Custom-design your presentation to fit the needs of your audience. Find out the size and demographics of your audience beforehand. What are the ranks and positions of the people who will be attending? Who are the decision-makers? How much knowledge do they have of the subject you will be presenting? What is their native language? What other cultural expectations or protocol should you be aware of? By considering such factors beforehand, you increase the effectiveness of your presentation dramatically.

6. Non-Functioning Equipment

Since so much of our business world is dependent on technology, always check your equipment beforehand. There is nothing more frustrating than malfunctioning equipment, which can cause unnecessary delays and frustration. One solution is to have a printout of your visuals for yourself. That way, you will have the necessary information you need to deliver a presentation, even if you do not have the necessary equipment. If you solve the problem in this way, you will also gain the empathy and appreciation of the audience, who may have been in your shoes at some point in their own professional careers.

7. Starting or Ending a Presentation Late

Like you, the members of the audience have time restrictions. Respect them. In the United States and Canada, the mark of a professional is one who starts and finishes the presentation on time. However, time is viewed differently in eastern and western cultures. When traveling or presenting in an international context, consult a local partner or colleague to find out what is considered “normal”, even if it seems strange or differs from your own practices back home.

8. Using a Monotone Voice

Your voice is the primary means of communicating with your audience. No matter how interesting your material, if you speak in a monotone voice, you will lose your audience. An effective voice should be vital, audible, and clear. Of course, voice will be affected by age, gender, physiology, health, motivation, and past experience. Nevertheless, people of all kinds can learn how to make their voices more effective by learning about voice production, breathing techniques, vocal exercises and voice care. If necessary, work with a voice coach to learn how to improve your voice.

9. Too Much Material in Too Short a Time

If you have too much material, cut back or cut out. It is annoying and pointless for a speaker to try to rush through a presentation. If you have strict time restraints, be selective about what information to include. Pass on extra information in the handouts. Remove a number of detailed slides and keep only the most basic ones. Allow for the fact that you may have less time available to make your presentation due to interruptions, malfunctions, delays or other circumstances. By restricting the information flow, you will have a greater impact on your audience. They will remember more and be in a better position to speak to their superiors or take action on your recommendations.

10. Not Clarifying the Topic

Make sure you know clearly what you are expected to speak about. Second, don’t assume the audience knows what you are going to speak about. To avoid confusion, always include information about the topic of your presentation in your introduction. Get into the habit of saying, “Today, I’ll be explaining…” or ”My presentation today will show…” Do this without exception. Some members of your audience may also be global learners, who need to know the destination before they can follow along the detailed path of your presentation.

how can I custom design my presentation to an audience from another country?

By reading! There are several excellent books available that provide information about the cultural norms, habits, values and expectations of various countries. One especially useful book is When Cultures Collide by Richard Lewis, an experienced cross-cultural expert. There are also many websites that provide cross-cultural insight. You could also look for information produced by the foreign ministries of various countries, or visit a consulate / embassy and request further information. Today, depending on where you are, it may also be possible to simply talk to someone from the host culture.

I have a lot of information I need to provide in an upcoming presentation. I know I will run short on time. Is there anything I can do?

Looks like you have no choice but to reduce the amount of material. There is nothing to be gained by overloading your audience with information. Include only the most critical information on your slides and put the rest into a handout which you distribute after your presentation is over. If you hand it out beforehand, you will lose the attention of the audience as some of them will be leafing through the handout instead of paying attention to your presentation.

i am good in grammar but when i start a presentation then my voice quality is not good.means i am not a good speaker.so please tell me the best way to improve it.

About Presentation Prep

Being able to speak in public can change your life! Presentation Prep is your complete, free guide to delivering speeches, lectures, and presentations more successfully and confidently. Whether you're a native English-speaker who suffers from public speaking anxiety, or a non-native speaker who needs guidelines for presenting to international audiences, this site will give you everything you need. Presentation Prep is written by Rebecca Ezekiel, an experienced corporate trainer who specializes in the areas of communications, presentations, and cross-cultural skills. Her online English language training videos are watched by millions of students worldwide.

Presentation Training Institute

A division of bold new directions training, the most common presentation mistakes and how to avoid them.

At some point, most of us have sat through a boring, dull, or confusing presentation. Chances are you were doing everything but listening. You may have been scrolling through your phone, checking an email, making a grocery list, or even nodding off. The fact is, no one enjoys sitting through a bad presentation. That’s why it’s so important to spend some time perfecting your presentation skills. Regardless of how much presentation experience you have, there is always room for improvement. So, how do you go from an average presenter to a great one? Take a look at some of the most common mistakes presenters make and how you can avoid them. 

Not Preparing Enough

You may assume that since you know your topic like the back of your hand that you don’t need to spend as much time preparing for your presentation. Wrong! In your mind’s eye you may think you have the whole presentation worked out, but when it comes time to actually present it, you find yourself panicking because you underestimated the task. Pulling off a good presentation takes adequate preparation. Do your due diligence, know your topic, spend time creating a meaningful presentation, and rehearse it several times. Preparation is the key to delivering a successful presentation. 

Not Focusing on Your Audience

Oftentimes presenters get so wrapped up in their topic and the delivery of their presentation that they forget about the needs of their audience. The whole point of your presentation is to provide something beneficial for the audience, so it only makes sense that you need to learn about them before you arrive. Take some time to find out who your audience is, what their background knowledge on the topic is, and what they hope to gain from your presentation. Then, you can tailor your presentation to meet their needs. 

Too Much Text on Slides

There is nothing more annoying to an audience than having to read paragraphs on every slide. Slideshows can be a great way to enhance your presentation, but they are intended to do just that. Every piece of information should never be included on your slides. Cramming too much information on a slideshow will almost certainly guarantee you lose audience interest. Furthermore, if your audience is busy reading all of that text, they won’t be listening to you.  Keep your slideshows simple and remember that less is always more. 

Reading from a Slideshow

The only thing worse than expecting your audience to read all of your slides is for you to read it to them. Again, keep your slides simple with less text, meaningful images, and visuals that supplement what you are saying. People are there to listen to you speak, NOT to hear you read from slides. 

Rambling or Using Too Much Jargon

Most people aren’t super excited about attending a presentation, so be respectful of people’s time. Don’t spend an hour talking if you can get your point across in 20 minutes. Likewise, be mindful of your audience and avoid using too much jargon or too many technical terms. It’s difficult to pay attention to someone when you have no idea what they are talking about. 

Trying to Cram Too Much Information

Before preparing your presentation, ask yourself: “What is the main purpose of my presentation and what do I want my audience to take away from it?â€. Narrowing your presentation down to one main point can help you eliminate unnecessary information so you aren’t cramming too much information into your presentation. You don’t want to overwhelm your audience, but rather leave them with a few memorable points and a call to action. 

Not Familiarizing Yourself with the Venue and Equipment

Imagine your presentation begins in an hour and when you arrive at the venue to set up, the projector won’t work with your laptop. All of those slides that you have been preparing for weeks are useless and you only have moments to improvise. You can avoid this situation by checking out the venue and available equipment ahead of time. Familiarize yourself with the space and all of the technical equipment so you can identify potential issues and come up with a plan B if needed.

Top 10 Common Presentation Mistakes

In today’s academic and professional world, presentation skills have become a key requirement for success. Whether you are presenting a project in class or pitching an idea to potential investors, the ability to effectively communicate your thoughts and ideas is crucial. However, many students make common mistakes during presentations that undermine their message and leave their audience unengaged. In this blog post, we will explore the top 10 most common presentation mistakes and provide valuable tips on how to avoid them, ensuring your presentations are impactful and memorable.  

What are Presentation Skills?

Before we dive into the common mistakes, let’s first understand what presentation skills entail. Presentation skills encompass a set of abilities that enable individuals to deliver information or ideas in a clear, concise, and engaging manner. These skills include verbal and non-verbal communication, organization, visual aids utilization, and audience engagement techniques. Developing these skills is essential for students as it enhances their ability to convey their thoughts effectively and secure the attention and understanding of their audience.  

Top 10 Most Common Presentation Mistakes

There are many mistakes that should happen while giving a presentation. Here we have listed the top 10 common mistakes in the presentation.  

• Lack of Preparation: One of the most prevalent mistakes students make is failing to adequately prepare for their presentations. Without sufficient preparation, you risk stumbling through your content, causing confusion, and losing the interest of your audience. To avoid this mistake, make sure to thoroughly research your topic, create a well-structured outline, and practice your presentation multiple times.  
• Overreliance on Slides: Another mistake commonly observed is an overreliance on slides. While visual aids can enhance a presentation, using too many slides or cluttering them with excessive text can overwhelm your audience and divert attention away from your message. It is best to keep your slides simple, with minimal text and impactful visuals that support your main points.  
• Reading from Notes: Presenters who rely heavily on reading from their notes often come across as disengaged and unprepared. Memorizing your content or familiarizing yourself with key points allows for a more natural delivery and a stronger connection with your audience. Use cue cards or visuals as prompts to maintain a smooth flow of your presentation.  
• Lack of Eye Contact: Failing to establish eye contact with your audience can project a lack of confidence and connection. Make a conscious effort to maintain eye contact with different individuals throughout your presentation. This not only helps in building rapport but also keeps your audience engaged and attentive.  
• Speaking Too Fast or Too Slow: The pace you speak significantly impacts your presentation’s effectiveness. Speaking too fast can cause your audience to miss important information while speaking too slow can lead to boredom. Practice speaking at a moderate pace, allowing for clarity and understanding. Utilize pauses strategically to emphasize key points and provide your audience with time to absorb information.  
• Lack of Enthusiasm: Presentations that lack enthusiasm can quickly become monotonous and lose the attention of your audience. Injecting enthusiasm into your delivery by using variation in tone, gestures, and body language can help captivate your audience and convey your passion for the topic. Engage your audience with relevant anecdotes or examples that evoke emotions and make the content relatable.  
• Ignoring Audience Engagement: A presentation should be an interactive experience rather than a one-sided monologue. Failing to engage your audience by neglecting to ask questions, encourage participation, or provide opportunities for discussion can hinder the effectiveness of your presentation. Incorporate interactive elements, such as quizzes or group activities, to keep your audience actively involved throughout.  
• Poor Time Management: Going over or under the allocated time can disrupt the flow of your presentation and leave your audience feeling frustrated or unfulfilled. Practice your presentation with a timer to ensure it fits within the given time constraints. Allocate appropriate time for each section and be mindful of pacing during the actual presentation.  
• Inadequate Use of Visual Aids: While visual aids can enhance your presentation, they must be used thoughtfully and purposefully. Avoid overcrowding slides with excessive information or using irrelevant visuals that distract from your main points. Instead, opt for clear, concise, and visually appealing visuals that complement your speech and help convey your message effectively.  
• Lack of Post-Presentation Reflection: Many students neglect the crucial step of reflecting on their presentation performance. By analyzing what went well and what could be improved, you can enhance your presentation skills for future engagements. Seek feedback from peers or instructors and make a conscious effort to address any identified areas of improvement.  

Best Way to Avoid Presentation Mistakes

The best way to avoid these common presentation mistakes is through practice, preparation, and utilizing effective techniques. Here are some key tips to help you deliver successful presentations:  

• Practice : Practice presentation multiple times to familiarize yourself with the content and ensure a smooth delivery. You can rehearse in front of a mirror, record your presentations for self-evaluation, or seek feedback from trusted individuals.  
• Preparation : Thoroughly research your topic, create a well-structured outline, and gather relevant supporting materials. A solid foundation of knowledge will boost your confidence and enable you to deliver a more engaging presentation.  
• Visual Aid Design : Keep your visual aids concise, visually appealing, and relevant to your content. Use bullet points, graphs, or images to support your main points and enhance understanding. Limit the amount of text on each slide to avoid overwhelming your audience.  
• Engagement Techniques : Engage your audience through eye contact, variation in tone, body language, and interactive elements. Incorporate audience participation, encourage questions, and foster a collaborative environment to maintain interest and attention.  
• Time Management : Practice your presentation with a timer to ensure you stay within the allocated time. Allocate time for each section and be mindful of pacing to create a cohesive and well-structured presentation.  
• Reflect and Improve : After each presentation, take the time to reflect on your performance. Identify areas of improvement and actively work on honing your skills. Seek feedback from others and implement constructive suggestions to enhance your future presentations.  

Final Notes

Presentation skills are essential for students, and avoiding common mistakes can significantly enhance your ability to convey information effectively. By addressing the top 10 common presentation mistakes and following the best practices outlined, you can deliver impactful presentations that leave a lasting impression. Remember to practice, prepare, engage your audience, and continuously work on refining your skills. With dedication and effort, you can become a confident and influential presenter.  

Seeking a straightforward method to comprehend ideas similar to the one elucidated earlier? Join Tutoroot’s virtual tutoring sessions for a more efficient grasp of subjects and have your uncertainties resolved. Explore the realm of Tutoroot’s online tutoring today by arranging a complimentary trial session.

Click Here to BOOK A FREE DEMO

Q: What are the mistakes in a presentation?  

A: The most common mistakes in presentations include lack of preparation, overreliance on slides, reading from notes, lack of eye contact, speaking too fast or too slow, lack of enthusiasm, ignoring audience engagement, poor time management, inadequate use of visual aids, and neglecting post-presentation reflection. By being aware of these mistakes and implementing strategies to avoid them, students can improve their presentation skills and deliver engaging and effective presentations.  

Related Posts:

• Top 10 Tips for an Effective Presentation
• Know Your Teacher: Common Teacher Types In School
• What are Presentation Skills? Importance, Benefits
• Best Proven Effective Presentation Techniques
• What are the Most Common Causes and Effects of Stress - How…

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

10 Most Common Presentation Mistakes You Can’t Afford To Make

Whispers, yawns and zero interaction from the audience besides checking their smartphones…do you know this scenario? Presentation mistakes happen to everyone, but there are certain situations that you can certainly avoid. Listed are 10 of the most common presentation mistakes that are an easy slip up if you aren’t careful, but that can quickly be tramped. Test yourself to see which of these 10 mistakes you could be making in order to save your audience a “death by PowerPoint”

• Boring title? Create a short and catchy title that will spark newly-found curiosity to your topic (limit to 70 characters). Try to incorporate keywords; this will give your audience a broad sense of what to expect. Know that it will take practice to create a great title, but it is worth the effort, time and exercise it will take.
• Endless bullet-point lists? Leave the forever long lists and endlessly detailed points behind and visually display the highlights of your speech. Your templates should aim to be beautiful and comprehensible at a glance. The purpose you are there is to give the full story and add the interesting details!
• No images? Did you know that 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual? Keep the text on your templates to a minimum and add visuals and pictures. Use images to reinforce what you say.
• Overkill on company logos? Your company logo is great to incorporate in your presentation, but make sure you place it discreetly in the header or footer, or it will quickly start to become an annoying visual. Sponsor logos should be shown only once either at the very beginning or on one of your very last slides.

• Content overload on any single slide? Build your templates after the motto, one thought per slide. Make the template coherent and simple, but significant. Steve Jobs style of presenting is a great example here.
• Tiny, unreadable text? Use a text size that is visible – a good size is no less than 36 pt. for titles and 18 pt. for text.
• Speaking quietly and incomprehensibly? The obvious counter would be to speak loudly and clearly, but this might not be helpful if the real problem stems from stage fright or naturally being an introvert. The simplest solution is to practice in front of a mirror and practice in front of someone standing on the opposite end of the room. Projecting your voice clearly is a simple practice and builds up confidence. A great solution here is to pick up the hobby of singing to learn how to project your voice. So why not join a choir and stop hiding behind your pc?
• Talking Impersonally? Make the point to be personal by speaking to the audience directly, just like you would in a one-on-one conversation. Deliver your thesis with specific points that are relatable and incorporate stories and humor.
• Passing your intended presentation time? Practice your speech with a stopwatch in hand, and then rehearse and optimize your presentation. So you will internalize your topic so you can freely talk, but still be within your given time.We hope these quick tips helped pinpoint some flaws. Stay tuned for specific insights to some of these points and let us know what mistakes you have problems with! We’d love to read your comments.

Share this post

• share  
• save  

Design Thinking: Problem Solving with a Difference

Why Corporate Mission Statements Are So Important

7 Tips & Learnings from the Apple Keynote

10 Presentation Design Mistakes to Avoid (With Examples)

One of the most important aspects of a successful presentation is designing an effective slideshow. Unfortunately, it’s also a part most professionals often neglect or don’t pay attention to.

This is why most of the bad presentation designs share a pattern. They are usually made using the default PowerPoint templates. They use the same default fonts as every other presentation. They also include terrible stock photos. And try to stuff as much information as possible into a single slide.

We noticed all these mistakes and more while exploring some of the most popular presentations on SlideShare. They were slideshows with thousands and even millions of views. But, they were riddled with mistakes and flaws.

In this guide, we show you how these mistakes can be harmful as well as give you tips on how to avoid them. Of course, we made sure to include some examples as well.

19+ Million PowerPoint Templates, Themes, Graphics + More

Download thousands of PowerPoint templates, and many other design elements, with an Envato subscription. It starts at $16 per month, and gives you unlimited access to a growing library of over 19+ million presentation templates, fonts, photos, graphics, and more.

Minimal PPT Templates

Clean & clear.

Ciri Template

BeMind Minimal Template

Mystify Presentation

Explore PowerPoint Templates

1. Adding Too Many Slides

One of the biggest mistakes you can do when designing a presentation is adding way too many slides. This not only makes your presentation unnecessarily long but it can also affect the audience’s engagement. After a few slides, your audience will surely lose interest in your presentation.

Rand Fishkin is a well-known entrepreneur in the marketing industry. This is one of his presentations that received over 100,000 views. And it features 95 slides. We believe it could’ve generated more views if he had made the presentation shorter.

A presentation with 95 slides is a bit of an overkill, even when it’s made for an online platform like SlideShare.

Solution: Follow the 10/20/30 Rule

The 10/20/30 rule is a concept introduced by expert marketer Guy Kawasaki . The rule recommends that you limit your presentation to 10 slides, lasting only 20 minutes, and using a font size of 30 points.

Even though the rule states to limit the presentation to 10 slides, it’s perfectly fine to design a 20-slide presentation or even one with 30 slides. Just don’t drag it too far.

2. Information Overload

Statistics and research data are important for backing your claims. Even in your presentations, you can include stats and data to add more validity and authority. However, you should also remember not to over-do it.

A good example is this popular SlideShare presentation with more than 1 million views. Since this is a tech report slideshow, it includes lots of stats and data. But the designer has made the mistake of trying to include too much data into every slide in the presentation.

If this slideshow were to present to a large audience at a big hall, most of the audience won’t even be able to read it without binoculars.

Solution: Visualize Stats and Data

A great way to present data is to visualize them. Instead of adding numbers and long paragraphs of text, use charts and graphs to visualize them. Or use infographics and illustrations.

3. Choosing the Wrong Colors

How long did it take for you to read the title of this slide? Believe it or not, it looks just the same throughout the entire slideshow.

The biggest mistake of this presentation design is using images as the background. Then using colors that doesn’t highlight the text made it even worse and rendered the text completely unreadable.

Solution: Create a Color Palette

Make sure that you start your presentation design by preparing a color palette . It should include primary and secondary colors that you use throughout each slide. This will make your presentation design look more consistent.

4. Using Terrible Fonts

Fonts play a key role in improving the readability in not just presentations but in all kinds of designs. Your choice of font is enough for the audience to decide whether you’re a professional or an amateur.

In this case, the slide speaks for itself. Not only the font choice is terrible but without any spacing between the paragraphs, the entire slide and the presentation is hardly readable. How did this presentation generate over 290,000 views? We’ll never know.

Solution: Avoid the Default Fonts

As a rule of thumb, try to avoid using the default fonts installed on your computer. These fonts aren’t designed for professional work. Instead, consider using a custom font. There are thousands of free and premium fonts with great designs. Use them!

5. Adding Images from Google

You could tell by just looking at this slide that this person is using images from Google search. It looks like the designer lazily downloaded images from Google search and copy-pasted a screenshot onto the image. Without even taking the time to align the screenshot to fit the device or removing the white background of the image.

Or he probably added a white background to the images after realizing the black iPhone blends into the black background. Most of the images used throughout this slideshow are pretty terrible as well.

Solution: Use High-Quality Mockups and Images

The solution is simple. Don’t use images from Google! Instead, use high-quality images from a free stock image site or use a premium source. Also, if you want to use devices in slides, make sure to use device mockup templates .

6. Poor Content Formatting

There are many things wrong with this slideshow. It uses terrible colors with ugly fonts, the font sizes are also too big, uneven shapes, and the list goes on.

One thing to remember here is that even though apps like PowerPoint and Keynote gives you lots of options for drawing shapes and a color palette with unlimited choices, you don’t have to use them all.

Solution: Use a Minimal and Consistent Layout

Plan a content layout to be used with each and every slide of your presentation. Use a minimalist content layout and don’t be afraid to use lots of white space in your slides. Or, you can use a pre-made PowerPoint or Keynote template with a better design.

7. Writing Long Paragraphs

Adding long paragraphs of text in slides is never a good way to present your ideas to an audience. After all, that’s what the speech is for. The slides, however, need to be just a summary of what you’re trying to convince your audience.

Don’t make the mistake of writing long paragraphs that turns your slideshow into a document. And, more importantly, don’t read from the slides.

Solution: Keep It Short

As the author Stephen Keague said, “no audience ever complained about a presentation or speech being too short”. It takes skill to summarize an idea with just a few words. You should always try to use shorter sentences and lots of titles, headings, and bullet points in your slideshows.

8. Not Using Images

This entire presentation doesn’t have a single image in any of its slides, except for the company logo. Images are a great way to keep your audience fully engaged with your presentations. Some expert speakers even use images to add humor as well.

The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is popular for a reason. Instead of writing 200-words long paragraphs, use images to summarize messages and also to add context.

Solution: Use Icons, Illustrations, and Graphics

You don’t always have to add photos or images to make your presentations look more attractive. Instead, you can use other types of graphics and colorful icons. Or even illustrations and infographics to make each slide more entertaining.

9. Designing Repetitive Slides

This presentation about Internet Trends is one of the most popular slideshows on SlideShare with more than 4 million views. If you go through the slides you’ll notice the entire presentation is filled with nothing but charts and graphs.

Your audience will easily get bored and lose attention when your presentation has too many slides containing the same type of content.

Solution: Use a Mix of Content

Make sure to use different types of content throughout the slides. Add text, images, shapes, icons, and other elements to create each slide more engaging than the other.

10. Using Complex Infographics

Even though images and graphics are great for visualizing data, it’s important to use the right designs to showcase the data without confusing the audience.

For example, this slideshow made by HootSuite is filled with stats and data. Most of which look fine. Except for a few slides that include complicated designs filled with information all over the place.

Solution: Design Simpler Graphics

There are many great online tools you can use to design your own infographics and visuals. Use them. But, also remember to use simpler designs that are easier to understand for all audiences.

In Conclusion

There’s no such thing as the perfect presentation design. Every slideshow has its flaws. But, if you learn to avoid the common mistakes, you’ll have a much higher chance of winning over your audience and delivering a more engaging presentation.

If you don’t have any slideshow design experience, consider picking one of the bee PowerPoint templates or best Keynote templates . They feature designs made by professionals and you won’t have to worry about making any mistakes again.

• Join Mind Tools

10 Common Presentation Mistakes

Avoiding common pitfalls in your presentations.

© iStockphoto Silberkorn

Don't fall into these common presentation traps.

Most of us have experienced dull, irrelevant or confusing presentations. But think back to the last really great presentation you saw – one that was informative, motivating and inspiring. Wouldn't you love to be able to present like that?

This article looks at 10 of the most common mistakes that speakers make when giving presentations. By avoiding these, you'll make your presentations stand out – for all of the right reasons, and none of the wrong ones.

Mistake 1: Not Preparing Enough

Steve Jobs was a famously inspiring speaker. His speeches may have looked effortless, but, in reality, each one took days or weeks of preparation.

Careful preparation is essential. The amount of time you spend on planning depends on your situation, but it's a good idea to start early – you can never be too well-prepared.

Proper preparation also helps you to manage presentation nerves   . When you know your material inside and out, you're far less likely to feel nervous. Our presentation planning checklist   and Bite-Sized Training session on " Giving Better Presentations   " can help you to plan your next event properly.

Mistake 2: Not Familiarizing Yourself With the Venue and Equipment

Imagine that your presentation starts in an hour. You arrive at the venue and, to your horror, the projector won't work with your laptop. The slides you spent hours preparing are useless. This is a disaster!

You can avoid a situation like this by taking time to familiarize yourself with the venue and available equipment at least once before your presentation.

Often, the sorts of problems that can jeopardize your presentation will be situations beyond your control, but this doesn't mean that you're helpless. Conduct a risk analysis   to identify potential issues, and come up with a good "Plan B"   for each one.

Mistake 3: Ignoring Your Audience

Sometimes, speakers can get so wrapped up in delivering their presentations that they forget about the needs of their audience.

Start your presentation by telling your audience what to expect. Let them know what you'll cover first, whether and when you'll stop for a break, if you'll be taking questions during the presentation, and so on.

Providing these "signposts" up front will give your audience a clear idea of what to expect, so that they can relax and concentrate on your presentation.

Mistake 4: Using Inappropriate Content

The primary purpose of any presentation is to share information with others, so it's important to consider the level you'll pitch it at.

Do some research on your audience. Why are they here? How much do they already know about your topic, and what do they most want to learn from you? It's no use giving a presentation that's so full of jargon   that no one understands you. But you wouldn't want to patronize people, either.

Try to put yourself in people's shoes, to get a clearer idea about their needs and motivations. You can also greet individuals as they arrive on the day, and ask questions   to get a feel for their level of knowledge. This will also help you to personalize your presentation and make a connection with each person in your audience, so that they'll be more attentive to what you say.

Mistake 5: Being Too Verbose

Short, concise presentations are often more powerful than verbose ones. Try to limit yourself to a few main points. If you take too long getting to your point, you risk losing your audience's attention.

The average adult has a 15- to 20-minute attention span. So, if you want to keep your audience engaged, stick to the point! During the planning phase, make a note of the themes you want to cover and how you want to get them across. Then, when you start filling out the details, ask yourself: "Does my audience really need to know this?"

Our articles on the 7 Cs of Communication   and Communications Planning   have more tips for communicating in a clear, concise way.

Mistake 6: Using Ineffective Visuals

Poor slides can spoil a good presentation, so it's worth spending time getting yours right.

We've all seen slides with garish colors, unnecessary animation, or fonts that are too small to read. The most effective presentation visuals   aren't flashy – they're concise and consistent.

When choosing colors, think about where the presentation will take place. A dark background with light or white text works best in dark rooms, while a white background with dark text is easier to see in a brightly lit room.

Choose your pictures carefully, too. High-quality graphics can clarify complex information and lift an otherwise plain screen, but low-quality images can make your presentation appear unprofessional. Unless an image is contributing something, embrace the negative space – less clutter means greater understanding. Use animation sparingly, too – a dancing logo or emoji will only distract your audience.

Mistake 7: Overcrowding Text

The best rule of thumb for text is to keep it simple   . Don't try to cram too much information into your slides. Aim for a maximum of three to four words within each bullet point, and no more than three bullets per slide.

This doesn't mean that you should spread your content over dozens of slides. Limit yourself to 10 slides or fewer for a 30-minute presentation. Look at each slide, story or graph carefully. Ask yourself what it adds to the presentation, and remove it if it isn't important.

Mistake 8: Speaking Incoherently

Even though we spend a significant part of the day talking to one another, speaking to an audience is a surprisingly difficult skill, and it's one that we need to practice.

If nerves make you rush through a presentation, your audience could miss your most important points. Use centering   or deep breathing   techniques to suppress the urge to rush. If you do begin to babble, take a moment to collect yourself. Breathe deeply, and enunciate each word clearly, while you focus on speaking more slowly.

Our article on better public speaking   has strategies and tips that you can use to become a more engaging speaker. One useful technique is storytelling   – stories can be powerful tools for inspiring and engaging others. Our Expert Interviews with Annette Simmons   and Paul Smith   have tips that you can use to tell great stories.

Finding This Article Useful?

You can learn another 151 communication skills, like this, by joining the Mind Tools Club.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Receive new career skills every week, plus get our latest offers and a free downloadable Personal Development Plan workbook.

Mistake 9: Showing a Lack of Dynamism

Another common mistake is to freeze in one spot for the duration of your presentation.

Some presenters feel most comfortable behind the podium. Try to emulate great speakers like Steve Jobs   , who moved purposefully around the stage during his presentations.

As well as working the stage, he used gestures and body language   to communicate his excitement and passion for his subject. Pay attention to what your hands are doing – they're important for communicating emotion. But only use gestures if they feel natural, and avoid being too flamboyant with your arms, unless you want to make your audience laugh!

See our Expert Interview, " Winning Body Language   ," to learn more about body language and what it says to your audience.

Mistake 10: Avoiding Eye Contact

Have you ever been to a presentation where the speaker spent all of their time looking at their notes, the screen, the floor, or even at the ceiling? How did this make you feel?

Meeting a person's gaze establishes a personal connection, and even a quick glance can keep people engaged. If your audience is small enough, try to make eye contact with each individual at least once.

If the audience is too large for this, try looking at people's foreheads. The individual may not interpret it as eye contact, but those sitting around them will.

It takes practice and effort to deliver a good presentation. But, if you know how to avoid the pitfalls, your presentations will be great.

Common presentation mistakes include not preparing properly, delivering inappropriate content, and speaking poorly.

Time spent on careful planning always pays dividends. Check out the venue, and familiarize yourself with equipment in advance to avoid possible problems.

Keep your content clear and concise, with visual aids to match. And make sure that you pitch it at the right level for your audience's understanding, so that your presentation doesn't patronize or bewilder.

Remember, public speaking is a performance. Practice speaking clearly with a slower pace than your normal speech to avoid "rapid-fire" delivery. Use eye contact, body language and gestures that complement your message to keep your audience engaged.

Infographic

Click on the image below to see 10 Common Presentation Mistakes represented as an infographic:

This site teaches you the skills you need for a happy and successful career; and this is just one of many tools and resources that you'll find here at Mind Tools. Subscribe to our free newsletter , or join the Mind Tools Club and really supercharge your career!

Rate this resource

The Mind Tools Club gives you exclusive tips and tools to boost your career - plus a friendly community and support from our career coaches! 

Comments (17)

• Over a month ago Midgie wrote Thanks Ali for that feedback. Hope it helps you to make presentations with great impact! Midgie Mind Tools Team
• Over a month ago Ali Raza wrote Yes, I am entirely agreed with this article, and I just want say that this article is very helpful and enlightening.
• Over a month ago BillT wrote Hi Pandey, Thank you for letting us know that there was value in the materials for you. Having a well-laid out plan for your presentation can certainly help to engage the audience, and make the presentation both interesting and fun for everyone. BillT Mind Tools Team

Please wait...

VisualStory®

• Duarte DataStory®
• Presentation Principles™

Slide:ology®

• Slide Design

Speaker Coaching

• Presenting Virtually™
• Illuminate™
• Adaptive Listening™
• Team training
• Learning journeys
• Brand and product storytelling
• Keynotes and events
• Sales enablement
• Communication systems
• Accelerator Lab™
• Our culture
• Our leaders
• Case studies
• Media mentions
• Guides and tools
• Learner support

6 presentation mistakes every professional should avoid

Mike Pacchione

“There’s this one guy at my company who … ”

So began my in-flight conversation about presentations and presentation mistakes. This happens a lot. The surprising thing about this conversation was the rest of the sentence.

“ … is way too exuberant when he presents.”

Wait, what? Nobody says that.

We talked for a while. I explained how to fix the problem. Then we talked about how rare that problem is.

See, for the past four years, I’ve flown all over the world to bring Duarte methodology to companies via our storytelling workshops .

When I started, I assumed every company would have its own set of problems. So, I began every workshop by asking attendees to jot down presentation challenges at their company. Turns out I was wrong. People across all companies repeatedly make the same presentation mistakes. It doesn’t matter what industry, the age of the company, or the caliber of employees, a bad presentation is bad for the same reasons.

Steer clear of these 6 presentation pitfalls

The following list includes all the most common presentation mistakes, which are easy to avoid by the way.

1. Your presentation covers too much information (TMI!)

I have facilitated 211 workshops in the past five years.

In every single one, I have asked: “what happens in a bad presentation?”

In literally every single workshop, someone responds “too much information.”

That’s right: 211 times out of 211. You couldn’t get that many people to agree on what day of the week it is.

It’s difficult to give instruction on exactly how much information you need in a presentation – but it’s probably less than you think. Put simply, the more facts we hear, the less any of them stick. Choose wisely.

A good, yet seldom implemented tactic is to focus on what the facts mean rather than the facts themselves.

Instead of just reciting the results or the data, give me an analysis; explain why something happened, and what the ramifications are in the future. We call that balancing information with insight.

A data presentation I love sharing is David Epstein’s TED talk . He is so good at walking you through only the essential information, then telling you why that information matters.

An excerpt:

“Take a look at the record for the 100-meter freestyle swim. The record is always trending downward [information] but it’s punctuated by these steep cliffs. The first cliff, in 1956, is the introduction of the flip turn [insight] .”

2. You distract your audience with acronyms, abbreviations, and jargon   This one is tricky. To save time, most people at most companies have a slew of acronyms they regularly use. Saving time is a good thing, right? But here’s the problem: acronyms only work when everyone’s been brainwashed to memorize them. If you haven’t memorized a term, your brain spends extra time and energy figuring out what it means. That leads to distraction. Example: I sat in on a rehearsal for a company’s big marketing presentation. They kept using acronyms like PPC, but never explained what it meant, probably because they use the term 79 times a day. I, however, don’t live, eat, and breathe marketing acronyms. It took me a few seconds to remember what that meant (pay-per-click). That might not sound like a big deal, but do the math. The average rate of speech is about 130 words per minute. Five seconds to decode an acronym means I’ve missed out on ten words, basically a whole sentence. Every time the presenter used an acronym, it was the equivalent of me putting on earmuffs for the next five seconds. Don’t do that to your audience. Pretty please. As good as it may seem, I promise, it’s a presentation mistake. 3. Presenting irrelevant information guarantees a bad presentation

A couple years back I hosted our VisualStory ® workshop for a compliance department that presents to the company’s sales team. I asked them to think about the stakes of their presentation. What is in it for the audience? Almost every single attendee said the same thing: “It will allow us to remain compliant.”

Can you see the problem here? Is a salesperson motivated by the goal of remaining compliant?

So, we stopped and thought like salespeople. Eventually, we came up with different stakes: “It will help us avoid an Enron situation.” That’s something a salesperson would listen to.

Make the audience the hero of your presentation. Everything must be catered to them because if they do not adopt the idea you propose in your presentation, your idea dies. At the very least, consider what motivates them, what they already know about your topic, and what a walk in their shoes looks like.

4. Your Call to Action (CTA) is confusing or vague

It is amazing how many presentations, even good ones, end without telling the audience what they should now go do . Or, they do give direction, but it’s vague (i.e., “I need your support,” which, depending on how you hear it, could be asking for money, a pat on the back, or an inspiring cat poster). To fix this, picture your audience loving your presentation. Now that they’re bought in, what specific action do you want them to take when they return to their desk?

The best call to action I’ve seen in person was at a productivity seminar. The presenter asked everyone to pull out their phone, she waited until everyone had done so, then she asked them to schedule a reminder one month from that date. Boom. Call to action, answered.

5. Your monotone presentation style is soporific

Most of the time, this mistake is paired with another classic: the presenter reading their slides to the audience. Just in case the audience couldn’t handle that by themselves.

Look, speaking confidently doesn’t come easily to most of us (though, shameless plug alert: We’ve got a great workshop if you’d like help with that). It can feel awkward, it can feel scary, it can feel like your audience is judging you. It’s not easy, especially if you’re not a naturally ebullient person. But here’s the deal: If you don’t seem excited by your talk, there’s no chance the audience get excited.

Ridiculous as this feels, one of the best things you can do is record yourself. Pull out your phone, open your voice memo app, and talk about your topic for a minute. Odds are the expressiveness you feel internally does not match how it sounds externally. A monotone presentation is a presentation mistake that pretty much guarantees a bad performance.

6. Your presentation lacks a clear point or purpose

In one of my first presentation workshops, I sat down with a participant to help him with his point of view.

“What do you have so far?” I asked.

“The team made a lot of mistakes,” he said.

“That’s not a point of view,” I said.

He looked confused. I explained the difference between a point of view and a fact. Let’s try again.

“The team keeps making mistakes.”

Round and round we went. Did he have an opinion as to how the team could get better? Was there a particular mistake the team needed to stop making?

Eventually, he came up with something. But, for the rest of the day I pictured him going through life making factual, opinion-less statements:

• Green is a combination of yellow and blue.
• Socks can be made of either cotton or wool.
• Not many people speak Greek anymore.

You know what still surprises me the most about this?

He is not alone. An incredible number of people have trouble expressing a point of view. They have plenty of facts. Facts are safe. But a point of view is a huge problem. You give your audience an idea to adopt, that often includes taking a chance that they’ll disagree with you. Use your data to back up the opinion, that’ll keep it dynamic, that’ll separate you from the pack.

So, after all those presentation mistakes, we need a happy ending, right? The good news is that bar for presentations in your organization is probably low. If you can avoid making even a few of the very natural presentation mistakes I described, you can easily avoid giving a bad presentation and even stand out as good presenter.

As for that exuberant guy at the beginning of this post? I made that up. Not once have I encountered that person in the corporate world. Odds are that person exists somewhere. If it’s you, consider yourself lucky. You have the opposite issue from most presenters in the world.

Check out these related courses

Captivate™

Improve your public speaking

Overcome bad habits, conquer fears, and increase your confidence in any speaking setting. Discover your strengths and build on them to improve your delivery.

Structure and storyboard a talk

Analyze your audience and organize your ideas into a story structure that will move them. Transform content into visual concepts and build a storyboard for your presentation.

Personalized help for speakers

Up-level your speaking skills with one-on-one support. We’ll help you rehearse your talk, polish your presence, and transform your message delivery.

Craft a persuasive talk

Learn how the world’s greatest speakers use story to persuade. Develop a story structure that powerfully expresses your ideas, applying the principles of empathy, contrast, and variety.

Presentation Principles™

Learn presentation basics

Follow a step-by-step method to write compelling stories, amplify ideas visually, and present with confidence while learning at your own pace.

Turn ideas into visuals

Use visual thinking and design principles to transform information into effective and memorable graphics for presentations.

Create “skimmable” documents

Build helpful pre-reads and impactful leave-behinds with presentation software to support knowledge sharing and decision-making.

Check out these related resources

11 audience engagement strategies for all presentations

Need help keeping your audience engaged? It could be your presentation structure, delivery, or both! Dive into these strategies to keep your audience engaged the entire time you take the stage.

17 rhetorical devices that will make you sound like Steve Jobs

Want to communicate like Steve Jobs? Join us in an analysis of one of his most famous speeches and how he employed rhetorical devices to make it memorable and moving.

The ultimate guide to contrast: What your presentation is missing

Need to deliver a great presentation? Master the art of contrast to make sure it’s unforgettable and met with success, every time.

The secret to writing a call to action in a persuasive speech

Struggling to write a call-to-action for your speech or presentation? Make sure you address the 4 audience types so your CTAs are met with success.

Everything you need to know about using speaker notes in PowerPoint®

Learn all the Powerpoint hacks with speaker notes from an expert presentation designer. Easily design and prepare for your next presentation with ease.

How to make a great impression when speaking to senior leadership

Need exec buy-in? Learn 5 easy tips on how to present to executives and get your initiatives approved for success.

What to do when you make a mistake in a presentation

Its many people’s worst nightmare – making a mistake whilst giving a presentation.

Written by Nick Smallman • 21 November 2014

Remembering points, trying to use body language, it can all get on top of you, especially if you’re an inexperienced presenter or are giving a complicated presentation. Don’t worry. Everyone makes mistakes when giving presentations , even the best. It’s how you handle it that counts. Whether you’ve said the wrong word, garbled a sentence, or lost your train of thought, the rules are the same.

Common presentation mistakes presenters make:

Presentations can be a great way to share information and ideas, but they can also be incredibly nerve-wracking. To ensure the success of your presentation, it’s important to avoid common mistakes that could harm its effectiveness. Here are some of the most frequent presentation mistakes and how you can avoid them:

Not Preparing Enough

Preparation is key when it comes to presentations , and not preparing enough will only lead to problems during delivery. Beforehand, research your topic thoroughly so you have an in-depth understanding of the material you are presenting. It is also beneficial to practice aloud several times before delivering your talk in order for yourself to become comfortable with speaking about the content confidently.

Relying Too Much on Visual Aids:

Visual aids such as slideshows or videos can help support what you are saying during a presentation; however, relying too much on them may distract from your message rather than enhance it. Make sure that any visuals add value by providing additional insight into your discussion points instead of repeating what was already said verbally—otherwise leave them out entirely if they do not contribute anything meaningful towards achieving the goal of the presentation itself!

Being Unprepared for Questions:

Asking questions is a normal part of any successful presentation; therefore, being unprepared for potential inquiries will make it difficult for you to answer effectively or provide relevant information quickly should someone ask something related but unexpected during delivery time! Practice responding to different types ahead so that when someone does pose a question at any point throughout yours–you’ll feel confident answering without hesitation or delay due diligence beforehand might just save face later down line!

Not Engaging Your Audience:

Presentations should be engaging for both speaker and audience alike; otherwise everyone loses interest quickly after just few minutes into it!. To keep people interested in what’s being said try breaking up long segments with interactive activities like polls or Q&A sessions; these tools help foster participation while giving listeners opportunity express their thoughts freely which often leads better comprehension overall purpose behind each respective topic discussed throughout duration entire session itself.

What to do when you make a mistake in a presentation:

Take a breath..

Taking a breath gives you time and can calm your nerves. Pause for as long as you need to and resist the urge to quickly start talking again; begin when you know what you’re going to say makes sense. This stops you from making more panicked mistakes, or from garbling your words, and a pause can make you look thoughtful and in control.

Don’t apologise.

Apologising can reduce your credibility, and make you feel embarrassed. Making a mistake when you’re giving a presentation isn’t going to ruin anyone’s day, and you’ll really just be apologising to yourself. You can acknowledge the mistake, and be sure to correct yourself, but do so and move on.

Own the mistake.

By taking responsibility for a mistake, you appear confident. Tripping up on a word or getting a phrase back-to-front can be quickly solved by a correction, but any informational mistakes should always be corrected. ‘I should say x instead of y,’ or a correction along those lines is effective and isn’t apologising.

Talk To The Audience.

It’s okay to talk to the audience, especially if you’ve forgotten what you just said. Asking the audience what you were saying, or the name of something you’ve forgotten, can often seem planned and inclusive. It’s often a good idea to talk to the audience during your presentation anyway, and doing so can make this trick seamless.

No matter what your mistake, or how you handle it, remain positive and don’t get hung up on it. Mistakes are made by everyone, and are part of becoming a better public speaker.

Back to all insights

Share this article

Sign up for regular updates.

Get our latest insights by subscribing to our newsletter. Each week you'll receive updates helping you to understand and respond to the challenges facing your organisation. We won't share your details with anyone and you can unsubscribe at any time.

More articles for you

High and Low Context Cultures – Intercultural Communication

Culture, Diversity & Ethics

How to Be a Good Team Player at Work

Networking & Personal Brand

How to speak with conviction

Personal Impact

Speak to us

0800 389 2639, +1 718 421 0200, +852 6025 1101.

Get in touch with our dedicated team to discuss what we can do for you.

3 Group Presentation Pitfalls — and How to Avoid Them

by Allison Shapira

Summary .   

Putting together an effective group presentation takes teamwork and coordination so it doesn’t look like a patchwork quilt. And yet, many of us never budget the time to fully prepare. The author outlines some of the common mistakes people make in group presentations and offers best practices to keep you on track. 

Many of us have experienced poor group presentations. If you’re giving one, it’s the last-minute scramble the night before to decide who is presenting which part of the presentation. If you’re observing one, it’s the chaos of hearing multiple people talking over one another or, even worse, simply reading their slides word-for-word and ignoring their audience. 

Partner Center

How to get over making mistakes in your presentation

So you made a mistake during your presentation. Even if the rest of the presentation goes great, it’s the mistakes that get burned into our brain.

Yes, everyone makes mistakes, but how to you get over a mistake when the memory of it makes you want to hide with shame? It’s important to figure this out, because no matter how great a presenter you are, mistakes will happen. We`re digging into this important strategy thanks to a questions sent in by Sonja:

Help! I really screwed up my last presentation. I completely skipped over one of my points, and totally flubbed my answer to what should have been an easy question from one of the people there. I’m completely embarrassed and feel like an idiot. What advice do you have for helping me get over these mistakes? They’re all I can think about. 

Much love, Sonja 

Watch the video below for my full answer (You can click here to watch it over on YouTube , or scroll down to read the transcript):

Remember to like the video and subscribe to my YouTube channel – your likes, subscribes, and comments help other people find it more easily!

And how it’s your turn – what’s the biggest mistake you ever made in a presentation? Be brave and share it in the comments down below. 

Prefer to share via social? You can share it with with me over on Twitter via @lsergy  or over here on Facebook!

Sonja, thanks for asking this question, because It’s something many of us struggle with – I still struggle with this on a regular basis!    It’s a simple fact of life – we all screw up. No presentation is 100% perfect, and part of becoming a confident speaker is learning how to deal with mistakes and not let them slow you down.   

Here’s something critical to understand: our mistakes are usually WAY bigger in our minds than they are in the minds of our audience. Sonja, I know it might seem to you like skipping over that point or screwing up that answer was a huge deal, but for the most part the audience doesn’t notice mistakes like that unless  you  point them out for them.   

One of the most valuable lessons I learned when I was in dance was that when I was dancing solo, the audience didn’t know the choreography. If I messed up a step, they’d never know. As long as I carried on  as though nothing went wrong, the performance looked seamless.   

The same goes for a lot of those slips and trips we make in our presentations – the audience doesn’t have a script in front of them. They don’t know exactly what you planned on speaking about, and probably won’t notice that you missed one of your points.   This also applies when you mess up an answer. They know that you’re coming up with the answer on the spot, and most probably won’t remember an awkward moment or poor phrasing unless you draw their attention to it.  

I know it can be hard to stop those mistakes from blowing out of proportion in your head. So here’s a strategy I personally use to help bring me back to a more reasonable mindset after a less-than-perfect performance.  

I take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns. One column I title “Stuff I did wrong” and I list everything I think I might have done wrong – anything from being underprepared to telling a lousy joke to forgetting a point to accidentally flinging my remote presenter across the room.    Then I call the other column “Evidence to the Contrary”, and in this column I write down how the audience was responding and behaving during and after my talk – things like “laughed at my joke” or “asked lots of questions” or “came to talk to me afterwards” or “asked for my business card.”  

Then I ask myself “would the audience have acted this way if I screwed up as badly as I think I did?”   

You see, what matters most about your presentation is what your audience felt about it. Would they have spoken to you after your talk if you seemed like an idiot? Would the have gotten your business card or gave you good reviews if they felt you couldn’t answer their questions? Would they have sat through your whole presentation if they thought it was boring or useless? Probably not!   By focusing on your audience’s behavior towards you, you can get a more objective view of how your presentation really went. This isn’t to say that you didn’t make some mistakes – we all do – but it helps you put those mistakes into better perspective instead of letting your inner critic use them like a baseball bat to beat you up with.   

Mistakes during presentations are often much more minor than they feel, and audiences usually don’t notice them as much as we think they do. This exercise will help you shrink your perception of those slip ups down to size so you can get back on your game and start working on your next presentation.  

I hope this helps you rest a little more easily tonight, Sonja.

Author:  Lauren Sergy

Related posts.

• PowerPoint Templates
• Google Slides Templates
• Keynote Templates

It’s obvious that everyone wants to express and explain the ideas he has or will talk about in the best possible way, so the first thing we do when we are tasked with presenting an idea is to quickly find a way to help us and make it easier for create the best presentation possible. There are a lot of rules that you must take into account when creating a presentation, and a lot of details and principles you may forget or overlook because you are a rookie or still don’t know its wrong. Here we will focus on the most common presentation mistakes, and how to overcome them so your next presentation will be something you are proud of.

Some mistakes you can make when making a presentation are:

1. acting without a plan.

Every presentation must have a primary and clear goal. Not having a core idea that you can build upon will result in definite failure. So you should know what your presentation’s goal is. Are you going to inform, persuade, educate, entertain or inspire your audience?

Of course, you can educate and entertain them at the same time. Or persuade and inspire your attendees altogether, but never let it for the flow of events, think and be certain of what you intend to do. And whatever your goals are, always have the people in mind. Meet their expectations and plan your presentation in such a way that they will satisfy them. For example, after introducing yourself briefly, tell the audience what they can expect from your presentation. Then, go through your points in order.

Having an outline and sticking to it will help avoid going around in circles, as you can structure your presentation, and go from introduction to the body then to conclusion smoothly. In other words, an outline helps you plan how you can make the most impact on your audience.

2. Lack of Preparation

This point is linked directly to the first one. Which you do after you know exactly what you want to talk about, but how to do it is something else. There are personal and professional manners of any presentation. Personal elements include voice, body language, and appearance. Professional ones are researching the subject, organizing its content, and preparing the slides. But whether your presentation lasts for five minutes or an hour, you must prepare and practice it through.

3. Not engaging the audience

Not fearing giving public speech doesn’t mean you are good at interacting with the audience. Some presenters prefer not to make any contact with the attendees thinking it will save them troubles and embarrassment. But it’s not true nor right, you always need to make eye contact with them and ask them questions throughout your presentation, so you guarantee their attention, focus, and interest in what you offer. Voice is also a primary mean of communicating as it must be effective, clear, and vital to ensure you are the leader of your own presentation and the attendees are following you well.

4. Double check the presentation file

It doesn’t matter if you’re using PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides, or whatever your preferred presentation software is. And no matter how good you have made your slides and content and reviewed them, you should always check your presentation file before the act.

Imagine you are about to give a very important presentation, for investors or employers. You don’t want to be put in an embarrassing situation because your presentation files don’t work or are corrupted just to find that the moment you want to start. As simple it is, as important it will be for you to avoid such an event.

5. Do you hear me?

Usually, the presenter starts by clicking on the microphone 3 times and asking the audience out loud: “Can you hear me?” Then he smiles awkwardly when he discovers that everyone can hear him but no one raises their hands to say so. This is not the responsibility of the presenter, there are those who take care of these things. If the speaker starts his presentation and no one hears him, he must calm down and try again, smile in the face of the audience, maintain confidence and calm in front of them, and wait until the problem is resolved. If the sound continues to be interrupted, the presenter should approach the organizers to find a solution to the problem.

6. Reading from the screen

If you want to know what is the shortest way to bore your audience, it’s simply reading the same screen they are reading, and even worst, turning your back to them while doing so. That’s not acceptable in any way, instead, have a copy of the slides printed on paper in front of you or a laptop or a tablet facing you so you can glance down to see where you are and what you should be talking about.

7. Jamming Slides with words

It is strictly forbidden to fill the presentation slides with too many words, which forces the audience to take a long time to read the text, and worse is reading it out loud slowly or in a hurry, in this way, the audience will be distracted. When more than 4 lines are added to a slide, the audience begins to read and does not listen to what the speaker has to say. Always use short titles and your memory(or laptop) to explain details to the audience.  And if you have too much material, try to minimize it. It is pointless and annoying for the presenter to rush through a presentation.

8. Asking the audience to turn their phones off

In old days, the speaker had to ask the audience during the presentation to turn off their mobile phones, but now the audience needs their mobile devices in order to talk about the presentation events on social media or take notes about the material presented. The time has changed now, and some can ask the audience only to put the phones in silent mode, but it is better for the presenter to have a strong presence to attract the attention of the audience rather than asking them to do so directly.

9. Insufficient knowledge of presentation topic

People have come to your presentation expecting to get something new from you, so if you were not very well prepared on the subject you are showcasing, then you’re essentially wasting their time. Having well searched the topic you want to talk about and covering all its angles is what awaited for you to do. Don’t tell them what they already know, but bring something that interests and amuse the audience and adds up to their knowledge.

10. Exceeding given time

One of the most unfulfilled promises by the presenter is that he will not be long, yet this usually doesn’t happen. The audience does not care much about the duration of the show but just wants to take advantage of the time to learn something new. It’s best to always start with, “This show is going to change your life,” or “This show is planned to take 30 minutes, but I’ll try to do it in 25.” The only thing required of the presenter is to keep this promise.

It is very important to practice a lot before any presentation, if the presenter discovers that he is running out of time, it is a mistake. It is better if he tries to finish five minutes earlier to allow the audience to ask questions, and if no one wants to ask any questions, they should be left for a cup of coffee, and during this time they may ask the presenter in a one-on-one discussion. Having an extra 5 minutes usually leads to the discontent of the audience.

And at the end don’t forget to smile. A smile can change the atmosphere of the room dramatically putting it at ease and give the presenter strong confidence. Not to mention that smiling can help avoid some of the mistakes we talked about earlier, such as engaging with the audience and reading from a screen. So unless you’re delivering bad or somber news, always relax and smile!

Recent Articles

30+ best powerpoint infographic templates (editable ppts in 2023), 25+ best powerpoint timeline templates and examples with modern design, 20+ best ecological powerpoint templates (with awesome designs), 20+ best creative powerpoint templates (for 2022 presentations), stay on op - ge the daily news in your inbox, related articles, 15+ best farm & agriculture powerpoint presentation templates, how to design a professional and purposeful logo that attracts the audience at first sight, leave a reply cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Google Slides Presentation Design
• Pitch Deck Design
• Powerpoint Redesign
• Other Design Services

• Design Tips
• Guide & How to's

10 common mistakes in presentations most students make

Presentation design is fundamental, although some people prefer to ignore it. Of course, good content is a must, but the poor form can harm the final output. So, let’s find out what are the most common mistakes students make when creating their presentations and how to fix these mistakes.

1. TMI (too much information)

There are two major types of presentations: the one you present and the one you send to your professor via email. Attention! These are two different tasks, and you cannot complete them successfully using the same presentation twice.

• In the first case, you can use only images and almost no text. Do not write your cheat sheets on slides and do not read. Your professor will notice that you’re not ready for the class.
• In the second case, you need to write down all your thoughts (be concise), as long as you won’t have the opportunity to talk about the content.

2. Bullet points are not always relevant

If you think that bullet points are the specific standard in presentations, you will be disappointed. When there are too many “black points” on one slide, it turns into a giraffe. Replace bullet points by numbers, images, or icons. Your audience will be grateful. For example, add some images:

3. Wrong image format

Although we live in the age of high technology, many presentation designs still use the old-fashioned 4:3 slide format. If you use it as well, then you waste the space on the slides. These black bars on the sides of the slide look strange and are totally useless.

4. Boring typical pictures

White men, handshakes, and ladders of success move from one presentation design to another, year by year. Don’t let this lousy images ruin your project.

5. Photos with a white background on color slides

If you want to create a presentation with a colorful background on slides like presentation services do, don’t use the images with a white background. To remove it, you don’t even need Photoshop.

6. Too many colors in one presentation

Try to use no more than five colors in one presentation. This amount is enough for all slides. Color is an essential aspect of the presentation. It should be based on the topic of your presentation and your messages. Remember about the contrast. The contrast makes a significant difference.

7. Complicated data visualization

Usually, people use standard diagrams with a lot of information. Sometimes there are even three or four diagrams on one slide. As a result, all the valuable information you want to convey merges.

8. Lack of hierarchy on the slides

In any system, there must be a hierarchy. What should a person first pay attention to? What is the most important thing on the slide? These points should be understood immediately. Chaotic slides are difficult to perceive.

9. Lack of focus on the slides

Imagine that the focus on the slide is a laser pointer with which you show the audience where to look, what essential elements they should pay attention to. To build a focus, you can use color, element size, and graphic techniques.

10. Lack of preparation for the presentation

It’s better to doublecheck everything before showing your presentation to anyone. After all, it’s the essence of your research project.

Each of us makes mistakes, and this is OK. It is important to learn from these mistakes, integrate the experience, and no longer repeat them. Try to avoid these mistakes in your presentations.

#ezw_tco-2 .ez-toc-widget-container ul.ez-toc-list li.active::before { background-color: #ededed; } Table of contents

• Presenting techniques
• 50 tips on how to improve PowerPoint presentations in 2022-2023 [Updated]
• Present financial information visually in PowerPoint to drive results
• How to present a research paper in PPT: best practices
• Keynote VS PowerPoint

Highschool presentations: all you need to know

8 rules of effective presentation

How to make a presentation interactive

More From Forbes

5 predictable mistakes that result in dreadful presentations.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

Fear of public speaking is related to a lack of understanding of how to prepare for public speaking. ... [+]

By most measures, Liam is an outstanding professional. As Head of Operations for a global manufacturer, he’s used his expertise in process engineering to help grow the business exponentially. However, Liam has an Achilles heel: his presentations are awful. His internal and external audiences tune him out even before he gets to his second slide.

In the most recent Chapman University Survey of American Fears, 34% of Americans report being afraid or very afraid of public speaking. That number likely pales in comparison to the number of people who regularly experience ‘Death by PowerPoint’. Millions of presentations are given every day. Most of those presentations are mediocre, at best.

Over the past 25 years, I’ve coached hundreds of leaders on their presentation skills. Given that data set, I’ve seen a consistent pattern of mistakes that well-intentioned executives make that lead to dreadful presentations. Becoming aware of these mistakes is the first step in eliminating them.

Mistake #1: Building The Wrong Agenda

Most people start planning for their presentation by thinking about what they hope to get across to the audience. Some of these hopes can include: “I want to impress them. I want them to buy from me. I want them to buy-in to my plan. I want them to appreciate all the work my team did.”

There’s a major problem here. These thoughts are all speaker-centered. Speaker-centered thoughts lead to creating a speaker-centered agenda. Pardon the bluntness, but no one cares about your agenda. They care about their agenda.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of September 2023

Best 5% interest savings accounts of september 2023.

Here’s the secret to proper presentation planning: Build your presentation from your audience’s perspective, not yours. Ask yourself: What’s in it for them to listen to you? For example, are you going to:

• Help them navigate a change?
• Make their workday easier?
• Reveal an exciting new opportunity?

Work backwards from their desired outcome to crafting their agenda. Then you can begin structuring your content accordingly.

Mistake #2: Thinking the Slides are the Presentation

Once you have figured out your audience’s agenda, clarify: What’s the purpose of your presentation? To educate? Motivate? Inspire?

If all you can come up with for a purpose is “just to share information”, then scrap your presentation, and send an email instead. The biggest pet peeve people have with bad presentations is presenters who project PowerPoint slides and then only read the text that’s written on the slide.

The PowerPoint slides are not the presentation. The interactive experience between you and your audience is the presentation. PowerPoint is just a tool to help you in that exchange.

Mistake #3: Doing a Data Dump

Understandably, data is important in your business. It helps you make good decisions. But when it comes to presenting information, a data dump is deathly dull. It’s extremely difficult to engage and inspire an audience only using rows and columns of spreadsheets.

If you want your presentation to move beyond bland and boring, spice your data up. Stories, analogies, even props are great ways to bring your data points to life. Researchers Chip and Dan Heath found that after a presentation, 63% of attendees remembered stories, while only 5% remembered statistics.

Mistake #4: Telling

Your presentation isn’t a talk. It’s an experience. Ideally, a very engaging one. If you want to up your chances at engaging your audience, find ways to turn your one-way monologue into a two-way dialogue. Ask questions and listen to responses. Build in breakout discussion groups, and even better, have those discussion groups stand up at a flipchart and scribe their answers and report back.

Include interactive polling, facilitate discussions, use appropriate humor. The possibilities are endless. The more active your audience is, the better.

Mistake #5: Confusing Reviewing with Rehearsing

Silently reading through your slide content in advance does not count as preparing to give a presentation. When I asked Liam why he read through his content like a book (and many leaders do), he said, “I want to make sure it all makes sense.” If you are a subject matter expert (SME), rest assured, the content will make sense to you. Sadly, if that’s your goal, you’re aiming at the wrong target.

Understanding your own content is one thing. Communicating it in a way so that other people understand and remember is a completely different skill set. This was a big part of Liam’s issue. Like many SMEs, Liam thought if it made sense to him, it would make sense to others. That’s now how public speaking works. This discovery helped Liam realize learn that he had never learned how to properly prepare to give a presentation.

How do you prepare? Assuming that you’ve effectively structured your content, then you rehearse your delivery.

The word rehearsal means to re-hear . Which means to practice by speaking out loud. Not just silently in your head. Yes, awkwardly out into the room.

The point of rehearsal is to connect the ideas in your brain to the muscles of your mouth. As a rule of thumb, speak the whole presentation out loud at least six times before you go live. If the stakes are high, rehearse even more. Rehearsal is your number one confidence builder. Most business presenters are dreadfully under rehearsed. And most of their presentations show it.

Communication lies at the core of effective leadership. Being able to present to others is an essential communication skill. Once Liam learned how to prepare, his communication skills improved to the level of his technical expertise. Eradicate these five mistakes, and your presentation skills will improve, too.

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

Join The Conversation

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. 

Forbes Community Guidelines

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site's  Terms of Service.   We've summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

• False or intentionally out-of-context or misleading information
• Insults, profanity, incoherent, obscene or inflammatory language or threats of any kind
• Attacks on the identity of other commenters or the article's author
• Content that otherwise violates our site's  terms.

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

• Continuous attempts to re-post comments that have been previously moderated/rejected
• Racist, sexist, homophobic or other discriminatory comments
• Attempts or tactics that put the site security at risk
• Actions that otherwise violate our site's  terms.

So, how can you be a power user?

• Stay on topic and share your insights
• Feel free to be clear and thoughtful to get your point across
• ‘Like’ or ‘Dislike’ to show your point of view.
• Protect your community.
• Use the report tool to alert us when someone breaks the rules.

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site's  Terms of Service.

Follow Bleed Cubbie Blue online:

• Follow Bleed Cubbie Blue on Twitter
• Follow Bleed Cubbie Blue on Facebook

Site search

• Chicago Cubs recaps
• Chicago Cubs minor leagues
• Chicago Cubs essays
• Chicago Cubs game threads
• Wrigley Field renovations
• Full archive
• FanDuel MLB Odds
• FanDuel World Series Odds
• Chicago Cubs Odds
• MLB Picks and Predictions
• Bleed Cubbie Blue Community Guidelines
• Current time in Chicago
• BCB Specials & Site Info
• Winter 2019 music threads
• Yahoo Cubs news
• Yahoo Cubs team page
• Yahoo Cubs report
• Yahoo Cubs depth chart
• Yahoo Cubs transactions
• Yahoo Cubs photos
• Community Guidelines

Filed under:

• Cubs 6, Dodgers 3: Taking advantage of Dodger mistakes — and some great PCA defense

The Cubs came from behind with a five-run eighth and won the series at Dodger Stadium, also helped out by some spectacular catches by Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Twitter
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: Cubs 6, Dodgers 3: Taking advantage of Dodger mistakes — and some great PCA defense

This game was highly anticipated as the first MLB matchup between the top Japanese pitchers Shōta Imanaga and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, both of whom came over from Japan’s NPB last offseason.

Imanaga got touched up for three home runs — fortunately, all solo shots — and the Cubs trailed by two entering the eighth.

That’s when the Cubs put together one of those rallies on the road we’ve gotten accustomed to seeing, helped out by some sketchy Dodgers defense. A five-run eighth erased that deficit and Pete Crow-Armstrong made three highlight-reel catches, helping the Cubs to their third win in a row, 6-3 over LA . The victory also made the Cubs a .500 road team for the season at 37-37. They have won 10 of their last 11 road games.

The Cubs couldn’t do anything with Yamamoto in the first, but Imanaga pretty much matched him by getting the first three outs on just four pitches.

In the top of the second with one out, Isaac Paredes singled and after Michael Busch struck out, Nico Hoerner singled up the middle.

Then this happened [VIDEO].

Pete Crow-Armstrong’s grounder ate up Freddie Freeman. It was originally called an error on Freeman, but later PCA was given an RBI single. Paredes, who got a good break off second, scored to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

That lead didn’t last long. Tommy Edman, who used to drive Cubs pitchers crazy when he was with the Cardinals, homered leading off the bottom of the second.

In the third, Imanaga allowed some traffic on the bases with a couple of singles, but got some defensive help (and added some himself) when he got Shohei Ohtani to hit into this double play [VIDEO] .

Edman did it again in the bottom of the fourth, his second solo homer of the game and 10th career homer against the Cubs, his most against any team.

PCA just missed catching that one [VIDEO].

After the fourth, Yamamoto was out of the game after 59 pitches, as his stated limit for this game was 60. But the Cubs couldn’t do anything with reliever Ryan Brasier in the fifth, save a one-out single by PCA.

Then the Dodgers smacked a third solo homer off Imanaga in the fifth, that one a no-doubter by Max Muncy.

The Cubs couldn’t do anything, either, with the second LA reliever, Blake Treinen, despite a one-out double by Seiya Suzuki. And the seventh-inning Dodgers pitcher, Alex Vesia, also held the Cubs scoreless, the only hit a one-out single by Hoerner.

In the seventh, Imanaga allowed Andy Pages to reach on what was called an error on Dansby Swanson (it probably should have been a hit) — and then picked Pages off [VIDEO] .

And to end that inning, PCA made a fine running catch in right-center [VIDEO] .

Vesia came back out to throw the eighth and issued a leadoff walk to Ian Happ. Dave Roberts replaced Vesia with Evan Phillips. Swanson then reached on a little dribbler that Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes threw wide of first base.

Happ scored on Suzuki’s single to make it 3-2, and when the Dodgers relay throw went into the third-base dugout, Swanson also scored and the game was tied. Suzuki wound up on second. The Cubs challenged that positioning, saying Suzuki should have been placed on third, but the review crew kept him on second. Cody Bellinger was then intentionally passed.

Paredes was fooled by a sweeper and struck out, but then Busch hit what might have been an inning-ending double-play ball.

Instead, it was fumbled and the Cubs had the lead [VIDEO].

Nico Hoerner followed with this RBI double and it was 5-3 Cubs [VIDEO].

Bellinger scored, with Busch holding at third, on Nico’s third hit of the game. PCA batted next, and grounded to first with Busch scoring to make it 6-3 [VIDEO] .

Because of all the Dodger errors, four of the five runs in the inning were unearned — of course, they count just the same.

Nate Pearson relieved Imanaga in the eighth and got some good defense from his outfielders. Ian Happ made a nice running snag to begin the inning [VIDEO].

Then PCA showed off again with a second sliding catch on a ball hit by Ohtani [VIDEO].

Mookie Betts then singled, but Pearson got Freddie Freeman to ground to third to end the inning. Pearson has now allowed just one run in his last eight appearances, covering 13 innings.

In the ninth, the Cubs put a couple of runners on base but could not score, so the game went to Porter Hodge for the save opportunity.

With two out and a runner on third, Hodge appeared to fall ill with a 2-1 count on Muncy [VIDEO] .

He stayed in the game and then this happened [VIDEO] .

PCA stole a home run from Muncy with his third great catch of the evening and the Cubs had a nicely-played win. Here’s PCA talking about the catch [VIDEO].

After the game, Craig Counsell updated reporters on Hodge:

Hodge’s heart started racing to point where he became concerned, Counsell said. Counsell added Hodge had it happen before & just needs couple mins to let it go away. Told them he was good to go once it calmed. Been checked out & cleared before, likely get looked at again per CC. https://t.co/9JanOZ6kKl — Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) September 11, 2024

About the home runs off Imanaga, we all knew he was somewhat susceptible to the home run when the Cubs signed him. And at least all the Dodgers homers in this game were with the bases empty. The three homers Imanaga served up in this game made his season total 26, which is tied for fifth-most in MLB. Of the 26, 15 have been with the bases empty and six others with one man on.

And fortunately, the late Cubs rally meant all’s well that ended well, and overall, Imanaga didn’t have a bad outing. The homers were the only runs he allowed, three runs in seven innings, four strikeouts, no walks.

The Cubs go for an improbable series sweep Wednesday evening at Dodger Stadium. Jordan Wicks will start for the Cubs and Bobby Miller gets the call for the Dodgers. Game time is again 9:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

In This Stream

Cubs vs. dodgers tuesday 9/10 game threads.

• 2024 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 145
• Overflow thread: Cubs vs. Dodgers, Tuesday 9/10, 9:10 CT

More From Bleed Cubbie Blue

• A look at remaining schedules for the Cubs and other wild card contenders
• Cubs 10, Dodgers 4: Michael Busch bites the hand that once fed him
• Suddenly, the Cubs have become road warriors
• Minor League Wrap: Cam Smith leads Tennessee past Birmingham, 5-3
• BCB After Dark: Is Amaya a keeper behind the plate?
• Outside The Confines: The big showdown in Philadelphia

Loading comments...

• Subscriptions

By clicking Sign In, you agree to our Terms and Conditions and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Sign In Up with your social account

We won't post to any of your accounts

Your password must include:

• Min 8 characters
• Min 1 lowercase character
• Min 1 uppercase character
• Min 1 number

‘Below Deck’ EP Answers Burning Questions About Casting the Show: Past Mistakes, Firings and More

Below Deck fans got some of their burning casting questions including regrets, how involved production is with firings and more.

Nadine Rajabi , who is an executive producer on Below Deck and Below Deck Mediterranean , revealed during a recent appearance on the “Group Text” podcast that the stars often change after being cast in the franchise.

“That has happened so many times,” Rajabi said. “Some people freak out because they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I sign up for? How is this going to affect my life?’ And some people are just silent. And I’m like, ‘What happened? You were so funny and outgoing.'”

Rajabi recalled some instances when she met people who were “so funny” and lived by the “work hard, play hard” motto — until they got on the boat. “[They] just freeze because of the cameras,” she revealed.

Related: Below Deck's Biggest Drama Through the Years

Below Deck , which debuted on Bravo in 2013, introduced viewers to various crew members who reside and work on a superyacht during charter season. The original series quickly became a major success for the network, spawning spinoffs that include Below Deck Mediterranean, Below Deck Sailing Yacht, Below Deck Down Under and Below Deck Adventure .

Keep scrolling for answers about some of the biggest Below Deck casting changes:

How Does the Casting Process Work?

According to Rajabi, production doesn’t have too much time to spend with the contenders before they join the show.

“You meet somebody, like, two times on a Skype, maybe three times on a Skype at most or maybe one time some of the people,” she explained. “Some people do so well we just do one Skype with them and that’s it. Some people we talk to a couple of times because you want to make sure.”

Rajabi has offered the same advice to everyone — but it’s often ignored. “I always say to them, ‘Be yourself because if you try to be something that you’re not, the camera is going to sniff it from a mile away,'” she added. “The camera never lies.”

Related: Ranking Every 'Below Deck' Franchise Show From Most to Least Memorable

Are there background checks in place.

Bravo has a “whole department” that looks into each applicant’s past, but they don’t always know when someone is “lying” on their resumes.

“That’s when you run into these seasons that kind of become toxic — if somebody’s trying to be something that they’re not, or trying to start something,” Rajabi said. “It’s just like, ‘Why are they doing this?'”

Can Bravo Fire People After Casting Them on a Show?

Once the Below Deck stars are hired, production doesn’t have any say in their departures.

You have successfully subscribed.

Subscribe to newsletters

By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from Us Weekly

Deal of the Day

Check our latest news in Google News

Check our latest news in Apple News

“There’s absolutely nothing you could do,” Rajabi revealed about how they “cannot fire” anyone behind the scenes. “They’re in the care of the captain.”

Related: A Guide to 'Below Deck' and Its Many Spinoffs

Is there more interest in starring on ‘below deck’ now.

More than a decade after Below Deck premiered, the casting process has changed because of how much the show blew up.

“I think it’s lost its innocence,” Rajabi said about the franchise. “Back then, it was truly yachties just doing a YOLO thing. Maybe they did another season, and then they go back to their boats. [Now] they want to come [and] be reality stars. And I think that’s the problem of what is happening in all of reality right now.”

In this article

More Stories

• Newsletters
• For Subscribers

Matt LaFleur said he and his staff are responsible for some of Packers mistakes in loss to Eagles

GREEN BAY − Coach Matt LaFleur on Monday afternoon held his first news conference since the Green Bay Packers returned from their season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil.

Outside of news on Jordan Love’s i n jured knee and Malik Willis stepping in to replace him, the following are three takeaways from the session:

Packers ’ early run woes hurt against Eagles

LaFleur said a combination of missed blocking assignments and he and his coaching staff being a tad slow to adjust to what the Eagles were doing defensively were the main factors in the Packers’ costly slow start running the ball.

Running back Josh Jacobs gained only 4 yards on six carries in the first half, and several of those carries came on the Packers’ two trips to the red zone in the first quarter that failed to produce a touchdown. On one play from the Eagles’ 5-yard line, for instance, rookie guard Jordan Morgan failed to come off a double-team block to pick up linebacker Nakobe Dean, who shot through a gap and tackled Jacobs for a 1-yard loss.

“I can’t tell you how many times we had linebacker run-throughs that we didn’t block the ‘backer, it’s hard to get going,” LaFleur said. “And early on in the game, they were doing some line movement, and credit to them I didn’t think we adjusted quick enough. But once we did get our runners going, we blocked their front much better.

“Give credit to Philly, that’s a really good front, all those guys. But I wouldn’t say — sure we may have tried some different running schemes, but that’s almost every game. I think we got the gap scheme going a little bit, and that helped maybe slow down some of their movement.”

The Packers finished the game with 163 yards rushing and a 7.8-yard average per carry, including Jacobs with 16 runs for 84 yards (5.3-yard average). This week, presumably without the injured Love, the Packers face an Indianapolis Colts team that gave up 159 yards on 30 carries (5.3-yard average) to Houston running back Joe Mixon in a loss to the Texans.

“Every game is a new challenge, and I think if you look at Indy, another very disruptive front,” LaFleur said. “I’m sure they’re going to have a big emphasis on stopping the run after Houston ran the ball 40 times on them. They’ll be working hard on that, there’s no doubt about it, which presents another challenge.”

Matt LaFleur elaborates on 'uncharacteristic' staff mistakes

LaFleur said the Packers’ penalty for 12 men on the field that wiped out a 32-yard touchdown pass was among the coaching staff errors that after the game he said were uncharacteristic.

Love caught Philadelphia with 12 men on the field while the Eagles tried to make a substitution on the Packers’ first possession, but the Packers also tried to substitute on the play and got caught with a 12th man trying to run off the field as well.

“We can’t sub in that situation,” LaFleur said. “We try to do a good job of holding our subs, but certainly we’ve got to see the (defensive) huddle. I think there was some communication on the headsets. I’m not saying —everything is important that we do, in my opinion, you never know, the game, the margin of error in our league is so small, every mistake, whether it’s execution or communication or whatever, it maybe can cost you.”

LaFleur also said poor staff communication resulted in Keisean Nixon returning a kickoff from 8 yards deep in the end zone with only 27 seconds left in the game and the Packers down 5 points. The play ate up 5 seconds and gave the Packers the ball at only their 16 instead of the 30 if Nixon had taken the touchback.

“At no point do we want to (return it), if a kick is 7 yards deep or whatever it is, and we have jump to catch it,” LaFleur said. “It’s the timing element of it, you get the ball at the 30-yard line, we were just trying to get in Hail Mary range, and those are valuable seconds. Obviously, I wasn’t clear on what we wanted, so that will not happen again.”

Packers’ recuperation looks good

The Packers’ flight home from Brazil landed a little before noon Saturday, and LaFleur gave the players off until Monday. The coaching staff came in Sunday to begin preparations for the game against Indianapolis.

LaFleur suggested that even though the flight to Brazil was longer, this trip wasn’t as hard on the players as the one to London in 2022 because the time change was smaller.

“I would tell you that it’s a little different than going over to Europe when you’re on a totally different body clock,” LaFleur said. “The fact that you can stay on your same body clock, and we had a great airplane where we had like 60 laydown seats or whatever, so a lot of our guys were able to rest, not only on the way there but on the way back.”