Avoidable acts of speaker self-sabotage

I was at a conference recently full of clever presenters speaking on a subject I’m fascinated by… which made it easier to bear the tragicomic displays of speaker self-sabotage which marked the event.

Time and again the presenters undermined themselves and eroded the audience’s confidence.

If you’ve ever spoken at a conference, or sat flinching in an audience, you’ll recognise these phrases which should never be spoken from a podium:

“I didn’t read the speaker brief.” Speaker, you’ve just told the audience you’re unprepared and your content probably isn’t relevant. Saying this with a charming grin does not soften the blow.

“My team prepared these slides.” You must be very important! But again you’ve just told the audience that you’re not well prepared and will be reading from the screen.

“I’m going to talk more about this later.” Never say this. You’ve just warned us your speech is repetitive and poorly structured. Re-organise your presentation or – if you must repeat yourself – don’t alert us to this in advance.

“I covered this earlier.” Again, don’t tell the audience you’re wasting their time. If your argument benefits from repetition, go for it proudly without undermining yourself. ?

“I’m going to talk fast.” This sounds amusing, but it’s not. We know you won’t actually talk fast, you’ll just go over time. Know how much time you’ve been given, and rehearse until you get it right. Going over time is a disrespectful act of robbery – you’re stealing time from the next speaker, and from the audience, and neither is nice.

“I’m going to skip this bit”. It shouldn’t be in your presentation in the first place. With this phrase you’ve confirmed you’re under-prepared AND made us wonder if we’re missing something important; a double whammy.

“I promise I’m almost finished.” Never, never say this. Be proud of your content and your right to speak. Never apologise for taking up space or time – not just because that’s an uncomfortable way to live, but because the moment you apologise to your audience you undermine your credibility and give your listeners permission to turn off.

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Sound familiar? These phrases are so ubiquitous you almost think they’re required.

Speaking in public is hard enough without self-sabotage, so the next time you prepare for the podium keep three things in mind: be prepared, respect the time limit and – if you manage those two – you’ll never need or want to apologise.?

Image credit: Anton Gvozdikov, Shutterstock