STOP Your Brand Being Killed By Your Presenters!

I was recently exposed to a local, South African, large multi-national’s strategic division presentation.

After listening to the speakers, I was truly shocked at the lack of presentation skills and professionalism in this group. Their speaking and presentation skills were shocking!

When asked my thoughts by a senior manager, I first clarified as to if they just wanted some back-slapping approbation, or an authentically sincere, and radically honest feedback, on the speakers skills.

My feedback could not be flattering if I was to be true to their genuine request. I honor them for being brave enough to ask for the real TRUTH from my perspective.

Here are the speaker mistakes I observe regularly in the workplace, and at business presentations and conference talks.

1.  Lectern Lurching

The speaker hangs onto the lectern for dear life. Both hands forcefully clutching the sides of the lectern with straight arms and locked elbows.

The lectern has also become the speaker’s anchor point and "protector".

The presenter seems to feel that they can hide behind the lectern, either from glaring attack, or to hide their body or bad dress sense.

They never move a step away from the protection and separation the lectern affords. NO possibility of audience connection here.

2.  Death by PowerPoint

If there is one aspect that really indicates the amateurish inability of the speakers’ speaking skills, it’s when they insist on reading the entire PowerPoint /overhead slides to the audience… verbatim… at 10% to 20% of the speed that the information has ALREADY been read by the audience.

I have seen many an eye glaze over in the audience as the ill prepared speaker plods haltingly through each powerpoint slide, word for word, syllable by syllable.

Support tools like PowerPoint are there for speaker reinforcement, not to replace the presenter. The slide could have a relevant picture and maybe a couple bulleted points, with the presenter talking around these points and the pictures message.

Even when using a digital support tool, cognisance must be made of font choice, size, and colour, along with the volume of detail on each slide.

Each slide should have around max 4 to 5 points with no more than 2-6 words per point. Clean, simple and professional.

Provide more detailed follow-up notes later, not on the screen.

3.  No-Notes-Noddy

I find it distressing when the presenter spends most of the time head down, reading their speaker notes. Their reading ability is often below par, akin to a stilted Grade 6, mispronouncing and re-reading abysmal content.

Occasionally they may tentatively glance up and steal a pithy glance at one small segment of the audience to ensure that they are all still there.

It’s not long before the attention levels of the listeners drop. This type of public speaking and presentation creates a distinctly unprofessional image, with the resultant disconnection of the addressees.

Use small cards and anchor points for stimulation or as a reminder. 

A mind map is another helpful tool. It’s even better if you REALLY KNOW what you are speaking about, and what you are going to say.

4.  Eyeball lock

I have had occasion in a small presentation of 10, or so, people when the presenter never looked at me, acknowledged me, or interacted with me through any eye contact, for the entire presentation!

The speaker focussed solely on one side...the “Safe side” of the room, and completely ignored the side we were on. I felt left out and totally unconnected to the speaker and the session message.

Maybe he had a sore neck?! I certainly didn’t connect, and thus felt his message was of little real value, and discovered his expert speaking skills were possibly non-existent.

5.  Boring Brad

Ever been to a talk where the presenter droned on incessantly in the same monotonous tone and lacklustre tempo? 

With no variety in tone or tempo, very little emotional contact can be made, and very rapidly, the audience’s minds wander onto more stimulating things, like the paint drying on the wall, or the antics of a dying fly on the windowsill.

There is absolutely no valid reason to be seen as an uninteresting public speaker.

Vocal variety and pauses add impact, gain attention and enhance the speaker’s appeal and ensure effective message delivery.

Even a little body movement can create some interest from your audience.

Boring gets tuned out very rapidly, and because you may be the boss, it worsens the situation. 

Engagement levels crash when a speaker is boring and dull, and content retention drops dramatically.

6.    Um…Um…Um…Chum

For me, there is nothing more off putting, and irritating, than a public speaker who does not know what they are going to say, or what is meant to come, next.

They often fill the awkward voids of silence with incessant ums, ahs, and..and...and...and..!.

On one occasion I counted a presenter’s ums. The ums outnumbered the words he intended to say!  It was brain numbing and very distracting to say the least.

Often this is a strong indicator of nervousness, or simply a blatant lack of preparation. This is simple to rectify on both accounts with our Mind-Grow-Flow process.

Some people may say. well... at least he TRIED... I agree. However not at the COST of your BRAND IMAGE...

Never put C-team players on the A-team field if you plan to WIN! Use a PROFESSIONAL to keep your brand image professional.

Some people struggle with speaking english, when it's not their mother tongue... In this situation a LOT of practice is necessary to pull it off well.

Get a professional Speaking Coach if this is your weak area.

7.    Audience Bonding

Frequently the presenter neglects to build any kind of rapport, engagement, or emotional bond with the viewers or audience.

This prevents them from participating fully, leaving them feeling distant and disconnected. 

There are some presenters who are totally unaware of the audience’s attitudes, reactions, or state. 

If a presenter is going to persuade or inform, they need to build a stronger connection, create credibility, and evoke interest, before launching into their talk or presentation.

Good audience bonding creates and sustains credibility.

It promotes openness to the message and creates a friendlier audience energy and attitude with greater interactive potential. 

8.    Information and Detail Overload

Often the presenter will have 50-100+ slides, each with volumes of detail and information. IT just become a lot too much...We are all experiencing info overload from all aspects of work and life.

Often within 5 -10 minutes of being on the receiving end of information, people are already into overwhelm. The presenter cannot afford to be ignorant of the body language messages, mindset and state of the audience.

Often the presenter provides an overdose of “numbers stuff”, and too little useful information:

• that is clear,
• has simple and meaningful visuals,
• memorable stories,
• shared insights.

Many times presenters are bombarding the audience with facts and figures, when they could achieve greater results if the explored better ways to get the message across.

Remember “Facts Tell, Stories Sell”. Stories are remembered long after the facts have faded.

9.     Weak Willy – Open and Close

The opening and closing segments are the greatest opportunities a presenter has to get and retain attention, set the mood and call the people to action.

A weak opening indicates a poor and boring presentation to come, and causes people to tune-out right in the beginning. It's a real challenge to get their attention again..

On the other hand, a powerful opening gains the audiences’ attention, sets the tone and tempo, and frames the rest of the presentation positively. 

"A weak close is just as bad, as a bad opening."

Being let down in the end, invalidates much of what preceded, regardless of how interesting it may have been.

10.  Muttering Mike

The final sins of presentation and public speaking are; bad or incorrect language use, incoherent speaking, and pronunciation.

Make sure you know how to pronounce the words BEFORE you stand up and present.

For example, if foreign names comprise a part of the presentation, do some research on their pronunciation, before running the risk of offending anyone.

Each time a person stands up in front of an audience, they have an unbelievable opportunity to build credibility and passion, to educate, inform or persuade.

If presenters work for a corporate brand, they either enhance or demean the brand promise, every time they present.

The emotional association the audience has with the brand is based on, and influenced by, each and every utterance and action, the presenter makes.

It is commercial suicide to send out weak and unprofessional speakers as brand ambassadors, especially to paying audiences.

In seconds the brand image associated becomes irrevocably contaminated by the unprofessional delivery or incompetence of the speaker.

Consider the REVOLUTIONARY WORKPLACE Consciously Constructive approach and offer professional training and speaker coaching for your staff, speakers, managers, and leaders, on an ongoing basis, to take them from pathetic... to PROFESSIONAL.

Or even contract professional business presenters to keep your brand promise strong in the public eye?

If you would like to explore ways of ensuring your that staff, managers and leaders, become potent professional presenters to inspire and motivate your people and teams, please give Tony Dovale of LifeMasters.co.za REVOLUTIONARY WORKPLACE High Performance System & Team Building in South Africa a call on +27 (0)83-447-6300, or email [email protected]