What are some presentation don'ts?

Answer 1

In addition to the points made above:

1. Keep it short. No more than 10 slides, no more than 30 seconds of talking per slide; thus, a 5-minute presentation. Much more than that, people will stop paying attention.

2. Bullet points and simple charts only on slides. If you need more in-depth info, create a handout. Nobody can retain anything on a slide once the slide disappears.

3. Along those lines: Slides reinforce what you are saying, so put the important ideas behind your speech on each slide. Always print out your slide show and hand it to the audience so they can keep it. Collateral makes your presentation real; the bullet points on the slide printouts makes them remember what you said.

4. Speak loudly and slowly. If you feel like you are talking to a half-deaf elderly man, you're at the right speed and volume. In anything other than a 10 x 10 room, you have to speak up and speak slowly so people in the back of the room can hear and understand you.

5. Keep your speech positive. Everyone has problems, no one has solutions; even if you don't have solutions, people will think you do if you are upbeat about the problems. If you use positive words ('solution', 'opportunity', 'benefit') and a sunny voice, you will keep your audience better than if you use negative words ('problem', 'issue', 'consequence') and a monotonous tone.

6. Stay on message and on time. Do not let questions steer you awry. I like to hand out scrap paper at the start of the talk and tell people, if they have questions about the presentation, write them down. If you have an assistant, allow people to pass them forward during your talk, so your assistant can sort them and cull duplicates / tough questions from the lot; if not, ask people to hold on to their questions and you'll answer them after you are done; the audience will self-moderate questions that way.

7. Along those lines, never give a presentation that doesn't include Q&A time and never end a presentation without answering a few questions. People will only retain what you said if their peers and mentors show an active interest and ask about the points you want them to retain. If people don't ask questions, provide answers anyway: "A common question people ask me is how you find a good employee who doesn't get bored with the job. Well, the first step is ..."

Answer 2

1 - Do not overload your slides with text. Your audience is supposed to focus on you, not try to read 20 bullet points on the screen. Keep text to a minimum, highlighting key points written in brevity.

2 - Do not use cheesy clip art. Use images only when relevant and when they reinforce the message.

3 - Do not use any pre-designed background layouts by PowerPoint. They are very unprofessional looking.

Now here are some DOs -

1 - Do practice your presentation a few times, preferably in front of a couple or more people. Get their feedback. And time yourself. See how you can improve your impact by tightening up drawn out parts.

2 - Do make eye contact with your audience. But don't look at just one person the whole time. Pan across the audience.

3 - Do pause during the presentation at good break points to ask if anyone has questions.

4 - Do thank your audience when you are done.

Answer 3

Number 1 presentation NO-NO!
1) Don't use hundreds of fancy effects and do-dads... Nobody wants to see spinning text flying in from all corners one letter at a time accompanied by typewriter sound effects and changing colors every time you pass a pointer over it.

K-I-S-S = Keep It Simple Stupid

2) Don't present your presentation without:
a) spell checking (you don't want to look stupid)
b) letting someone else review it (a second pair of eyes might spot something that you overlooked)
c) reading it out loud (better yet ... use a program like ReadPlease to read it for you)

Answer 4

do not use same words over and over. do not say like alot. do not use conjunctions such as and too often. do not read off of paper-use notes to remind yourself of topics you want to hit on. hop this helps. GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 5

these words are a no no UM , AND , I THINK , MAYBE
Just be confident like you are and You Will Kick ***