Learn how to study and work more effectively.

They say people fear public speaking more than spiders and death.

I find this so strange because I really enjoy public speaking. And I also have grown to appreciate spiders (my husband did his PhD on trapdoor spiders).

Whether you love it or hate it, public speaking is a valuable life skill. It’s one worth cultivating.

Having delivered hundreds of presentations, I’ve learnt a lot about what you should and shouldn’t do when giving one.

I’ve also learnt that it’s wise to ignore popular public speaking advice that gets thrown around. Cliches like “Imagine everyone in the room is naked”. That’s not going to help!

Over the past 20 years, I’ve had to learn to go with the flow and be prepared for anything when delivering presentations.

Here are a few things I’ve experienced as a public speaker:

• Being heckled, booed, and yelled at
• Technology failing on me in epic and disastrous ways
• Having to evacuate a building mid-presentation due to a fire alarm going off
• Presenting to empty seats in a massive auditorium on a stormy night
• Presenting during a heatwave in a venue that had no air conditioning (I was dripping in sweat and so were the students)
• Audience members falling asleep during presentations
• Presenting to a room of students so hyped up on energy drinks and sugar that I couldn’t even finish saying a sentence
• Adult participants jumping up and trying to take over running my sessions

And that’s not even the worst of it.

I’m not bitter and twisted about these experiences. As the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca said:

“Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember.”

Looking back, I can have a good laugh about them.

Although these experiences were quite gruelling at the time, I am grateful for every one of them. Why? Because they taught me something valuable.

In some strange way, they also boosted my confidence. I came to see myself as someone who could handle (and survive) difficult situations.

Here’s the thing: nobody is born with a knack for public speaking. It’s a skill you need to work on.

You have to get your reps in (reps = talks). Then after each talk, it’s important to stop and reflect on what went well and what you could do differently next time. I’ve found this to be the best way to refine my public speaking skills.

You can also improve by watching other speakers and noting what you like and what irritates you. This is what I’ve done.

As I watch people deliver presentations, I can’t help but notice small adjustments they could make that would dramatically improve their public speaking.

So, what are the common mistakes I see people make when delivering presentations?

Here are eight things I wish people would stop doing when delivering presentations, along with simple fixes for each one.

1. Don’t start with an apology

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard people start a presentation by saying things like, “Sorry, I finished putting this talk together an hour ago” or “Sorry, I’ve only had 3 hours sleep, so apologies if I don’t make much sense”.

I’m not kidding. These are all comments I’ve heard from academics presenting at conferences.

When you start with an apology, it creates negative momentum. Your audience collectively thinks, “Ugh, here we go…”.

Starting with an apology is also a sure-fire way to destroy your credibility. For the rest of your talk, you’ll be fighting for the listener’s interest and attention!

So, drop the apology. Even if you’ve only had 3 hours of sleep, the audience doesn’t need to know this (plus, they don’t care).

Begin on a positive note and harness all the energy you have for the presentation. Once you’ve wrapped things up, you can treat yourself to a nice, long nap!

2. Don’t move too slowly

Professional public speaker Scott Berkun says:

“ … most lectures are slow one-way trips into sedation.”

He’s not talking about the speed at which you talk. You can speak at a normal pace, but you need to keep things moving.

Don’t start with a long, boring introduction. Keep your introduction short and sweet, especially the introduction about yourself.

Whenever I deliver a talk, I start by saying something like this:

“Hi, I’m Jane. For the last 15 years, I’ve been experimenting with different study strategies: strategies that make learning less painful, less boring, more fun and more effective. Today I’m excited to share some of my favourite strategies with you. ”

Then, I launch straight into providing value (e.g., sharing a strategy or a new idea).

I don’t go into my qualifications, tell a long story about myself, outline all the points I’ll be talking about, or thank the client for having me there. That’s boring. It feels slow and painful.

As Professor BJ Fogg recommends:

“You should move your audience efficiently through (1) new ideas and (2) a range of emotions”.

If you waffle on too much at the beginning (or at any point), you risk losing your audience’s attention.

3. Don’t have too much text on your slides

You’ve probably experienced sitting through presentations where the presenter read word-for-word what was on their slides.

No one walks away from these presentations feeling energised and inspired. Personally, I feel resentful and drained of my life force.

Boredom factor aside, another major problem with having too much text on your slides is that it creates interference. The audience ends up multi-tasking: switching between listening to you speak and reading the text on your slides.

Research shows that multitasking in this way leads to less retention of information. It can also be stressful for the audience.

This is why my presentation slides consist mainly of images. I use very few words (if any) on my slides. This is a deliberate design decision. I want the audience to be focused on what I’m saying rather than reading what’s on the slide next to me.

4. Don’t have your phone visible

Whenever I see someone reading speaking points from their phone, I want to swipe it out of their hand.

Your phone needs to be out of sight when you deliver a presentation. Put it on silent and keep it in your bag (or even better, leave it in another room). Please do not touch it or look at it until you’ve finished presenting.

Why do I feel so strongly about phones and public speaking?

Because phones are a barrier to connection with your audience.

In the book The Workshop Survival Guide, Rob Fitzpatrick and Devin Hunt write:

“Consider the negative impact of having dinner with someone who keeps glancing at their phone…holding and checking your phone projects massive disinterest in your audience, even if it was for a workshop relevant reason.”

Instead of reading speaking points off your phone, use palm cards. But keep them small.

When I was 12 years old, I had a public speaking coach who drilled into me that big palm cards weren’t a good look. She would make me trim existing palm cards so they fit perfectly in the palm of my hand and wouldn’t be visible to the audience. I recommend you do the same.

Now, if you’re thinking, “But Jane, I need my phone to keep track of time”, I have an excellent alternative for you: two kitchen timers.

Before I deliver a talk, I set a countdown timer for the presentation duration (this way I can keep an eye on the time and make sure I don’t go over my allocated time slot). I also have another timer within arm’s reach to time exercises, such as pair shares or break activities.

I used to wear a watch to keep track of time, but this required too much mental energy to figure out how much time I had left.

Here’s the thing: presenting to a room full of people takes a lot of mental energy. This means you need to find ways to save your brainpower wherever possible. Using digital timers to keep track of time is an effective method to conserve mental energy.

5. Don’t stand behind a podium or desk

Being an effective public speaker is all about removing barriers between you and the audience. If there’s a podium that everyone has been presenting behind, don’t be afraid to go against the norm and step out in front of that podium to present.

By performing this simple move, your audience will instantly feel more connected to you.

Some speakers feel constrained by the podium as their laptop or microphone is placed there. But there are simple and effective technologies you can use to free yourself from feeling tied to this spot.

Most venues have handheld microphones you can use. If not, you can project your voice.

How do you deal with being far from your laptop and clicking ahead to the next slide?

Consider investing in a remote clicker (I use this one). Trust me, this will be money well spent.

One thing that can disrupt the flow of a good talk is when a presenter says, “Next slide, please” or “Can you go back a few slides, please?” and then waits for someone near the laptop to click through the slides.

A clicker allows you to experience total freedom as you deliver a presentation. You can move around the space and maintain control of your slides.

6. Don’t try to be too polished, slick or perfected

Perfect is boring. Perfect stops you from growing and trying new things.

Think of a lot of TED talk speakers. They are often coached to have a certain polished style.

But the best TED talks are when people bring their own style to the table. They don’t try to be like the other TED speakers. They are fully themselves.

At the end of the day, people want to connect with a human they can relate to. Perfect is unrelatable.

So, don’t fall into the perfection trap. Instead, follow Scott Berkun’s advice and “avoid the mistake of trying to make no mistakes”.

Accept that you will make mistakes. And when you make a mistake, don’t take yourself too seriously. Laugh it off and keep things moving (see point 2).

7. Don’t wing it

You must practice your talk before giving it. Please don’t do a dry run on your audience.

In the book Confessions of a Public Speaker, Scott Berkun says:

“Practice until it feels good. Anything you plan to do in your talk must be practised. If you get a new laptop, remote or presentation software, give those things runs well in advance.”

Let me be clear: you are not practising to be perfect. You are practising so you know how to transition from one point to the next.

You are practising so you are confident with your content. The more confident you are, the easier it is to connect with your audience (and deal with hecklers).

Practise sessions also allow you to safely make mistakes and correct them.

So, when it comes to practising your talk, when and where should you do this?

If you can, practice in the conditions of the actual talk. Here’s an example from my own life . . .

A few months ago, I had to deliver an online session for a fashion company based in New York City. This meant I would be presenting at 11pm (not my usual presenting time).

I’m not exactly a night owl, so I was nervous about how I’d go about presenting at this late hour.

A week before the talk, I decided to do a practice session at 11pm. I got up from bed and noticed I could barely string a sentence together. Uh-oh. What was I going to do?

I decided to try having a long power nap at 8pm, wake up, and then do 20 minutes of exercise before practising the presentation.

Through trial and error, I discovered a sequence of behaviours that worked, allowing me to present late at night. When it came to doing the actual presentation, I felt alert and energised. I was able to present from 11pm to 12:20am with relative ease and good energy.

But had I not practised under those conditions, the talk could have very easily been a flop.

8. Don’t show your nerves 

It’s normal to feel nervous before a talk. However, you need to find ways to release that nervous energy before presenting, so you appear natural and at ease with the audience.

If you’re visibly nervous, this can make your audience feel on edge and concerned for your wellbeing. This isn’t a great experience for them, and there’s a good chance it will interfere with their ability to absorb what you have to say.

I’ve found that the best way to release nervous energy is to move my body on the morning of a presentation.

A 20-minute run or ride usually does the job at releasing 90% of my nervous energy. Another 5% is usually cleared with a 3-minute deep breathing exercise.

As for the final 5%? I accept that some nerves before a talk are a good thing. I choose to view those nerves as excitement rather than fear.

The final 5% of nervous energy keeps me alert and on my toes, ready for anything that may come my way during the presentation.

The key is to stay in the moment when you’re presenting. Focus on what’s happening in the here and now. Don’t worry about the next part of your talk or the bit you stuffed up earlier. If you can just be in the present and concentrate on what you need to say at this moment, it will help keep your anxiety levels down.

I recommend experimenting with different practices to see what works best for you in terms of releasing nervous energy.

To sum up

Public speaking skills are like a muscle: the more you work them, the better and more dynamic you’ll be when delivering presentations. There are simple things you can do (and stop doing) to hone and refine your public speaking skills.

The most important thing is that you don’t focus on delivering a perfect presentation. Making mistakes is inevitable. What matters most is that you learn from the experience and continue to grow and improve your speaking skills.

My public speaking journey has been a wild and exciting ride. When you approach speaking with a playful spirit and accept the fact that you can’t control everything, it doesn’t feel so scary. It feels more like a fun adventure.

Image Credit