Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Mistakes”
People say silly and ridicules things in their Linkend profile.
This is an example of both silly and ridicules. Would you hire this person? Would you even invite this person to have a conversation? The Linkedin profile is vague, cliché and lacking in accomplishments.
This could easily be text that was lifted from a university text book.
Notice that not a single accomplishment is stated nor measured.
There are many mistakes that presenters make when using PowerPoint. What’s the most common and easily preventable mistakes? PowerPoint is not evil. It’s simply a slide presentation software that is easy to use and many presenters have used it for decades. Because many presenters have used it so poorly, we have become complacent about poor PowerPoint presentations.
PowerPoint is a tool. Don’t allow the tool to cloud your thinking about how to accomplish your presentation goals. Put the hammer down and think about the purpose and goal of your presentation.
Another silly Linkedin profile. About
Entrepreneur, innovator, visionary, embracer of change elements, and pursuer of higher learning with tenacity, patience, and judgement in decision-making resulting in a great deal of stamina and resolve mentally and physically.
Entrepreneur – So What? Innovator – So What? What did you innovate? Visionary – So What? What does this mean?
Instead, he parked himself behind the lectern and boringly read the speech that someone wrote for him. Cleary the speech writer wanted to demonstrate his vocabulary by including several ten-dollar words. That doesn’t enhance comprehension, rapport or trust.
A results driven professional with business and human resources mangement experience in a global environment. What mistakes do you see with this opening statement on their profile?
You might notice that it’s full of vague terms. There’s nothing specific. What has this person accomplished? Nothing that we can see. It feels cliché and nothing grabs your attention.
It appears that they have written their profile to attract “click bait”. Key words that they believe recruiters might be looking for.
Nothing specific, nothing about their accomplishments. Simple click bait or so they hope.
Reread that and see if you can pick out the filler words that steal energy from this speech. Imagine if you used these words in your presentation. What might that do to poison your intended message? Picking out the filler words is the first step to eliminate them. It starts with you becoming aware. Start listening to what you say when you speak…. ah, umm, like so, okay, right, you know…
What happens when your words sabotage your message instead of conveying it? As CEO of your company your words are important. The messages that you deliver in public are evaluated by your investors, staff, suppliers, customers, competitors, marketplace and media. People will judge you and your company by your words. They might misjudge your message. That’s why it’s important to thoughtfully choose your words to convey your intended message.
When it’s your turn to speak don’t try to think on your feet. It’s too dangerous. When you try to wing it you leave too much to chance. You might be sharp today. Or, you might be ill or even in a foul mood. Thinking on your feet is experimenting with your audience. Don’t gamble the success of your presentation on the throw of the dice.
This CEO didn’t know how to end his presentation. That was curious because as the head of an advertising firm he stressed the importance of telling stories. He emphasized the need to sculpt three components to your stories; opening, body and close. But he didn’t do that with his presentation. Both his opening and close were disasters. I wonder if he delivers a better close when pitching to prospects.
You’ve probably endured too many painful presentations – most of them dominated by PowerPoint slides. Have you wondered why so many presenters still deliver painful PowerPoint presentations?
Why are the presenters reading the slides to you? Do they believe you can’t read? Why did they put so much text on the slide? Why is the slide so cluttered and confusing? Why are presenters ignoring the audience experience?
