6 Presentation Mistakes Every Professional Should Avoid

Most of us have sat through presentations that were boring, dull, and confusing. But each one of us has also witnessed presentations that were engaging, interesting, and to the point. Obviously, we all would want to be able to create the second kind of presentation, the ones that can have a lasting impact on the audience. So, as a professional, whose job involves creating PowerPoint Presentations, here are six presentation mistakes you should avoid in your presentation design layout to have an impact on your audience. 

There’s a lot of unwanted information

One of the biggest mistakes professionals often make is adding unwanted information that is not really required. To make a presentation that keeps the audience’s interest intact, keep it crisp, concise, and have information that is relevant and important. Cut the flab and get to the point. Having long introductions and build-up is not really required. In a majority of cases, you would be making a presentation to company CEOs or business stakeholders, who have no time for the build-up. It is better to concentrate on the basic idea you are presenting and spend time and effort elaborating that.

Use of difficult language, acronyms, and jargons

You might be familiar with jargon and acronyms that you often use in your industry, but there is no guarantee that your audience is aware of them too. So, keep the language simple and avoid using jargon that is very specific to your field. If you do find a need to use acronyms, explain them right at the beginning of the presentation. Still using them to the minimum is a good idea. An average brain is capable of comprehending 130 words per minute, if a few seconds are lost in decoding the acronym, they are losing out on 10 words. That is not what you want.

Vague or confusing call to action

Every presentation is made for a purpose, that is, you want your customers, business partners, or stakeholders to do something for you. That call to action should be absolutely clear. Many presenters end their session with an unclear or confusing call to action, which completely defeats the idea of giving a presentation. So, something like ‘I need your support’ could mean anything from asking for money, congratulating them, appreciating them, etc. But that is not enough. You need to give your audience exactly what you want them to do. So, if you are presenting something for your audience to visit your website and subscribe, say it in those many words so that there is no room for confusion. Your audience should not leave thinking that they witnessed and what were they supposed to do.

Make it interesting

Some of the most boring and useless presentations are made by those who just read out the slides without making the information interesting. Create slides that provide only the basic idea, and back them up with interesting anecdotes, studies, valuable data, etc to drive home your point. You should provide your audience with more than what the slides say. Otherwise, you can simply just mail them your presentation and they can read it. There is no point in you standing in front of so many people and talking if you are not providing them with something extra.

Not keeping scope for last-minute adjustments

You must be prepared for the last-minute editing of content. Start with knowing your audience, and edit or rejig your content accordingly. Also, there might be sections of information in your original presentation that might not be relevant on the day of the presentation. Things might have changed, or situations altered. So, keep space for last-minute alterations so that you sound absolutely updated and relevant. If there is a slide that you feel wouldn’t work for a particular audience, skip it. It is better to make a shorter presentation than a longer one with multiple pieces of information that is not relevant for the audience.

Making your presentation too text-heavy

Making a presentation is a visual form of communication coupled with a verbal flow of information. While people are listening to you, they are also looking at your slides, which means they are reading your slides, while comprehending your words. And humans are not wired to process so much information qualitatively. So, make your slides a perfect combination of text and images. Too text-heavy slides will take their attention away from what you are saying and they will neither be able to completely understand the slides nor concentrate on what you are saying.

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When it comes to making engaging, interesting, and professional PowerPoint Presentations, it is easier said than done. While the above-mentioned tips will help you create an impactful presentation, sometimes such things are best done by professionals. This is where Visual Spiders come into the picture. A company with years of experience in making a highly-engaging presentation, Visual Spiders ensure that every slide is a perfect combination of text and visuals. They also ensure that your presentations bear a professional look and make you look good. So, if you need powerful presentations to impress your audience, get in touch with us.

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