What Trips Up Presentations?
“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say”
– (attributed to) Ralph Waldo Emerson
Everything that you do, every mannerism of yours tells its own story. And it can sometimes be in stark contrast to your narrative. For example, it is difficult to believe someone who claims to be happy, but has on a dour expression.
Body Language ‘Mistakes’ That Can Impede Your Presentation
The following are a list of mannerisms that can erode the audience’s impression of, and trust in, a presenter. You would do well to avoid these.
As you go through this lesson, use this as a checklist to identify possible development areas for yourself.
a. Rocking back and forth or pacing about
Your audience wants to know that your assurances are ‘rock solid’; that the team or organisation that you represent can be trusted to ‘stay firm’ in the face of trouble; that you and organisation are ‘strong’ enough to withstand challenges and be around to meet their needs, and not simply disappear one day.
Swaying, shifting your weight from one leg to another, pacing about or in other words, not maintaining a ‘solid’, sure stance, makes them think otherwise.
It paints you and the team or organisation that you represent as being less than fully capable or ‘solid’; your narrative notwithstanding.
That’s rock solid. That’s iffy. You want that, not that.
b. Lack of strength and colour in your voice
Another chink in a presenter’s armour which severely erodes the potency and effectiveness of the presentation is a flat, colourless voice.
That is boring and the narrative hard to believe. That sounds like it is trustworthy and means business.
Presentations, where every point is delivered in the same ‘blah’ tone, fail because the audience fails to register the important point and the key take-aways from the presentation. Also, a dull monotone will soon cause your audience to tune out, rendering your presentation a failure.
c. Avoiding eye-contact with your audience:
You may say that you and your product can be trusted to deliver, but lack of eye-contact with your audience will cause them to think you are lying.
After all, if you were being truthful, you would not evade their gaze. Rather, you would look them in the eye.
Well, it might be that you are only nervous. But, how is your audience to know that? How are they to know that it is not lack of ability, or that you are not speaking a lie, that is the reason behind the averted gaze
d. Slouching or letting your shoulders droop as you speak
When you slouch or let your shoulders droop, you seem unsure about yourself and your product. For, if you truly were confident about yourself and your product, then you would stand upright, with your chest puffed up with pride.
The fact that you slouch and lack energy tells a story of its own. One that negates your narrative.
e. ‘Hiding’ your hands
Placing your hands out of sight of your audience – by sticking them behind your back, or in your pockets – makes it look like you are hiding something from them. That is not the impression that you want to give your audience, now is it?
f. Reading your slides off the screen
Why would you do that? Is it because you do not know your content well enough? If yes, why are you wasting your audience’s time?
It’s a strict no-no. And we’ll deal with this one in a lesson all by itself.
Delivery matters
If your audience perceives a dichotomy in your conduct and narrative, then chances are that they will reject you, your idea or product and your organisation.
You cannot blame them for being wary. The cost of failure can often be too high. The hassle with righting wrongs caused by choosing the wrong partner, vendor or expert is best avoided.
Your presentation delivery would have led your audience to think that you are untrustworthy and/ or not confident about yourself, idea or product.
And that would be catastrophic, for if they do not trust you, then you will fail to move them and to accept what you say or sell.
In the next online lesson, we will look at how to project confidence and trust. For now, please scroll down to take the quiz.
