How to avoid giving a boring presentation!

Most of us have attended a boring presentation, and if we are truly honest many of us will have also given a boring presentation at some point in our careers!

Here’s the lowdown on how to avoid giving a boring presentation…

Just because a subject matter isn’t the most exciting, it doesn’t mean that you can’t keep your audience interested. But why are so many people guilty of giving a boring presentation?

• A big factor is nerves. 74% of people have a fear of some kind of public speaking. So if giving a presentation fills you with dread then you aren’t alone.
• If you are really passionate about your job then you aren’t likely to find it boring. Don’t forget that your audience doesn’t naturally share your passion for the subject.
• Not everyone is a natural public speaker. Some bosses may not realise that their staff need to be taught how to present.

So what can you do to make your subject more interesting for your audience?

1) Body language is just as important as the content of your slides.

Stats are regularly bandied about: “Words only account for 7% of human communication. Tone of voice accounts for 38% and body language accounts for 55%.”

But regardless of these often misquoted stats – it’s true that positive body language is crucial in public speaking and presentations.

2) Smiling makes your voice sound better.

You’ll actually sound less boring! Looking directly at people helps too: your audience will focus more on your words if they feel you are speaking directly to them.

3) Try to gesture as you make your points.

It goes without saying that crossing your arms will make you look guarded and putting your hands in your pockets makes you look bored – if you appear bored your audience are going to be as well!

4) Try to control your nerves.

A few butterflies are ok but if you’re too nervous you won’t get your point across effectively and risk rushing through your slides. Take a few deep breaths before starting.

5) Project your voice and vary the tone.

If you speak quietly not only might the people at the back of the room struggle to hear what you are saying, they might also think you aren’t enthusiastic about the message you’re selling.

6) Keep your slide content to the minimum amount needed to get your message across.

Research findings advise that we keep content on slides to a minimum – ideally one point per slide.

7) Don’t just read from the slides – your audience can do that for themselves.

Clean, well designed slides with 1 message and visual per slide rather than just blocks of text mean that you can expand on your main points and have your audience focus on what you’re saying rather than reading the information for themselves.

8) Using eye catching visuals

Giving your audience something to look at will keep hold of their attention – just make sure the images are relevant to the message. And you just know that this is where we can come in to help. Or we wouldn’t have written this handy list of tips for you.

If you try to keep these tips in mind then you’ll avoid giving a boring presentation. For more advice on how to make your presentations even more effective get in touch with us.

Need some outside help? Try these lovely people:

Martin at Tandem Comms

Jeremy at Jeremy Cassell Coaching

Belinda at Second Nature International