{"id":15835,"date":"2020-04-13T17:05:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T17:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/?p=15835"},"modified":"2026-01-09T12:30:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:30:55","slug":"presentation-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/en\/presentation-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"8 presentation mistakes to avoid at all costs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group post-lead-pdf\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>DON&#8217;T HAVE TIME TO READ THE ARTICLE? DON&#8217;T WORRY, LET ME SEND YOU A COPY<\/p>\n\n\n<div class='_form_113'><\/div><script type='text\/javascript' src='https:\/\/mlcpresentationdesign.activehosted.com\/f\/embed.php?static=0&id=113&6A6058D21A271&nostyles=1&preview=0'><\/script>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;re going over your next <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/en\/presentation-delivery\/online-presentations-the-ultimate-guide\/\">virtual&nbsp;presentation<\/a> and you can&#8217;t have anything going wrong.&nbsp;Any presentation mistakes could be the difference between success or failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An important presentation can go wrong in a short time and there are many pitfalls waiting for you as a&nbsp;speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are the typical presentation mistakes&nbsp;to avoid?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By identifying them you would have an&nbsp;extra chance of avoiding them by learning from the presentation mistakes of those who have already been there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every time I participate in a presentation as a spectator I always try to learn from the other speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I always find it stimulating <strong>to be part of the audience<\/strong> and be able to observe the dynamics that occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, whenever I have the opportunity, I go in search of <strong>typical errors<\/strong> that undermine the effectiveness of the rapporteur, and I take note of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I decided to start sharing the list of all those I&#8217;ve collected so far,&nbsp;but the challenge is to continue this list together in order to make it richer and more useful to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, if you&nbsp;have an interesting contribution to the discussion, leave it in the comments;&nbsp;I&#8217;ll be happy to read it and integrate it into the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-using-the-nbsp-agenda-nbsp-in-a-presentation\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_using_the_agenda_in_a_presentation\"><\/span>1. Using the&nbsp;agenda&nbsp;in a presentation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you think it&#8217;s right or wrong to use the agenda in presentations?&nbsp;&nbsp;Is this really one of our top presentation mistakes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tough question to answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do most people do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a corporate environment, I can already tell you that everyone uses it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Typically, it is shown at the beginning of the presentation&nbsp;so the audience know&nbsp;which topics will be covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is done because you think that in the first moments it is right to tell <strong>people what they should expect<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you think it works?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I don&#8217;t think so.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Surprised?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If&nbsp;you&nbsp;watched a movie and in the first moments they told you the whole story and how it ends, in your opinion, would&nbsp;this&nbsp;have the same <strong>engaging impact <\/strong>that it would have&nbsp;had&nbsp;if the storyline had been&nbsp;revealed&nbsp;step by step?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s the whole point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want people&#8217;s attention you have to win&nbsp;them&nbsp;over with an engaging storyline that can <strong>surprise them&nbsp;step by step<\/strong>, surprise them and <strong>intrigue them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you reveal everything from the&nbsp;beginning&nbsp;you&#8217;ll lose&nbsp;their&nbsp;interest by wiping out any application of any storytelling model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If this is not enough to convince you not to use the agenda in your presentations, I would add that often the speaker ends up <strong>following the agenda by spending time<\/strong> saying things like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In section 1 we&#8217;ll see this topic, in section 2 I&#8217;ll talk to you about this one and then we&#8217;ll get to the heart of our presentation thanks to section 3 where I&#8217;ll talk to you about another one&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to tell me something, tell me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t tell me you&#8217;re&nbsp;gonna&nbsp;tell me and where you&#8217;re&nbsp;gonna&nbsp;tell me;&nbsp;go ahead and tell me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a dialogue between people no one anticipates what you are about to say or risks sounding like a fool. If you&#8217;re&nbsp;gonna&nbsp;say something to someone, just tell them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, in presentations try to behave naturally and give your audience what you want to&nbsp;say&nbsp;without anticipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So,&nbsp;is it always forbidden to&nbsp;use an agenda in your&nbsp;presentation?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No, not always.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the presentation was built to be read, then the agenda might help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s that? I&#8217;ll explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine that, because your written presentation is quite substantial in the number of slides, the recipient&nbsp;is flipping through,&nbsp;one after the other,&nbsp;looking for information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During an oral presentation, you&nbsp;say times and sequences of the flow of communication but if the presentation is read, it is up to the reader to decide in what order to use the content&nbsp;and how much time to devote to each section,&nbsp;based on his or her interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This implies that<strong> the reader may want to jump from one section to another<\/strong> of the presentation in search of the information that most interests him&nbsp;or her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you really want to stop this behavior?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Absolutely not!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the reader does this, it means that there is a need for it and therefore it must be made easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using, in combination, three of the following&nbsp;tools:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Agenda\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Section dividers\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Slide navigator for slides.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_1.png\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The agenda is the starting point, like the index of a book,&nbsp;and&nbsp;represents the map of the world into which the reader will dive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The section dividers are the access ports to each topic and the navigator is&nbsp;the locator&nbsp;that allows the reader to know, at any time, slide by slide, in which section&nbsp;certain information&nbsp;is located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This way, if&nbsp;the reader&nbsp;wants to jump from one section to another,&nbsp;he&nbsp;or she&nbsp;will&nbsp;just have to find the navigator to know whether to go forward or backward in the&nbsp;flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The combined use of these three elements constitutes a formidable navigation system for each reader who will enjoy your content without the&nbsp;need for&nbsp;your guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-forcing-questions-and-stimulating-nbsp-interaction\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_forcing_questions_and_stimulating_interaction\"><\/span>2. Forcing questions and stimulating&nbsp;interaction<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_2.jpg\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You thought <strong>stimulating interaction <\/strong>was useful, so&nbsp;you&#8217;re surprised it&#8217;s <strong>one of our listed presentation mistakes<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I agree.&nbsp;Let&nbsp;me&nbsp;explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How many times&nbsp;have you&nbsp;attended a presentation in which the speaker stopped at a certain point and said: &#8220;<strong>Ladies and&nbsp;gentlemen,&nbsp;feel free to interrupt me at any time, raise your hand and interact freely<\/strong>?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then followed an attempt to reassure the audience about what was said: &#8220;Rest assured, there are no stupid questions and any observation&nbsp;can be&nbsp;of interest to everyone.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How many times does the rapporteur ask: &#8220;Are there any questions?&#8221; and <strong>silence falls&nbsp;in the&nbsp;meeting room<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is the embarrassing situation&nbsp;in which no one wants to be exposed and the rapporteur is unable to go ahead with the presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each presentation is a moment of dialogue with your audience;&nbsp;otherwise why should you stand in front of them, keep eye contact and draw people&#8217;s attention to you (not your slides) most of the time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_3.png\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You heard me. I said a dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This involves <strong>an&nbsp;exchange <\/strong>between people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a presentation,&nbsp;it translates into <strong>an interaction&nbsp;between speaker and audience<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For me, every successful presentation is a moment of exchange of ideas between the audience and the speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a&nbsp;speaker,&nbsp;you&#8217;re&nbsp;not the star of the presentation;&nbsp;you&#8217;re the coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who is the <strong>real protagonist <\/strong>of the presentation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Your audience!&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact that they&#8217;re pointing the lights at you and that everyone&#8217;s watching you, curious to know what you&#8217;ll have to say, should never mislead you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each successful presentation has the power to influence the actions of its own audience and convince them to do something they would not otherwise have done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The whole event is built so that your audience is put in the best conditions to be able to change, to understand the deep reasons why it is&nbsp;really worth&nbsp;changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The change could be the decision of an investor to finance your startup, the CEO who decides to listen to your recommendation and make&nbsp;one&nbsp;decision rather than another, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I always thought that trying to interact with your audience was&nbsp;important, but I was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The interaction with the audience must be conquered in the field and triggered in a natural way;&nbsp;you can&#8217;t force it in any way,&nbsp;no matter how good you are and&nbsp;how perfect&nbsp;your presentation&nbsp;is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many&nbsp;try&nbsp;but&nbsp;few&nbsp;succeed, because they ask for it and try to force it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A good presenter doesn&#8217;t need to tell people to talk to him&nbsp;or her;&nbsp;he&nbsp;or she&#8217;ll make sure&nbsp;<strong>the dialogue happens&nbsp;naturally<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The way you stand determines how you are perceived by your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&nbsp;are able to&nbsp;empathize with your&nbsp;audience&nbsp;you will see that people will naturally interact with you whenever they feel the need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to react&nbsp;to an unexpected interruption?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, as if you were talking to a friend, answer the questions and make sure everyone&nbsp;there is following you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This leads me to recommend that you pay attention to the next recurring error in your presentations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-not-sharing-nbsp-questions-with-everyone\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_not_sharing_questions_with_everyone\"><\/span>3. Not sharing&nbsp;questions with everyone<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_4.png\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It often happens that you, as a speaker, have a microphone so that everyone can listen to you when you speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But then, if you were good at not making the error 2 described above, someone raises their hand and asks a question, typically, without a microphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&nbsp;and the&nbsp;person\u2019s&nbsp;neighbors are the only ones who hear&nbsp;the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the vital presentation mistakes is to&nbsp;reply&nbsp;directly to the person concerned without caring about the fact that many others&nbsp;have&nbsp;not heard&nbsp;the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So&nbsp;what should&nbsp;you do&nbsp;instead?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The solution is&nbsp;simple&nbsp;but you&nbsp;have to&nbsp;get used to not responding on impulse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes you may get an uncomfortable question,&nbsp;and&nbsp;you may want to clarify the issue immediately and close the point before a debate opens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nevertheless, you must always have the utmost respect for your&nbsp;audience&nbsp;and you must ensure that everyone is participating in the dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you get a question and you&nbsp;suspect&nbsp;that&nbsp;some&nbsp;of the audience have&nbsp;not heard it, before answering it, <strong>repeat&nbsp;the question asking if you&nbsp;have&nbsp;understood correctly<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This way, it will act as a request for clarification from you and the audience will feel automatically involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Avoid asking the person who asked the question to repeat it so as not to create tension for those who are already&nbsp;opening up&nbsp;and, if possible, avoid saying that the repeat&nbsp;is&nbsp;for those who have not heard,&nbsp;as you&nbsp;do not want to make them&nbsp;appear to be&nbsp;the cause of&nbsp;the&nbsp;repetition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s a little shrewdness but you will realize that it will help you to keep the audience&#8217;s attention and strengthen your empathy with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Empathizing with your audience means really listening and having the ability to make them experience&nbsp;the presentation as protagonists by reflecting the attention that is given to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve read a beautiful, best-selling book on the subject, which I believe any presenter and&nbsp;any person&nbsp;with a little common sense should absolutely read at least once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/8189297813\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=8189297813&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=m\">How to&nbsp;Win&nbsp;Friends &amp;&nbsp;Influence People.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_5-1.jpg\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Can you get more empathetic by reading?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honestly, I was rather skeptical, but this book opened&nbsp;my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I highly recommend reading it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4-presenting-with-nbsp-ineffective-nbsp-slides\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_presenting_with_ineffective_slides\"><\/span>4. Presenting with&nbsp;ineffective&nbsp;slides<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_6-1.png\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Exactly. Now everybody&#8217;s making presentations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are managers who say that they spend <strong>more than 50% of their working time making presentations<\/strong> for themselves or their bosses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of time is invested in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/en\/presentation-delivery\/business-presentation-the-ultimate-guide-to-create-a-modular-and-effective-one\/\">business presentation design<\/a>, but&nbsp;rarely&nbsp;is&nbsp;the result up to the time invested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With all the time invested in making presentations, we should all be magicians and our presentations should be spectacular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most common presentation mistakes is to throw slides together just before the presentation, and then rely on your speaking to make up the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_7-1.jpg\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How many presentations have you seen&nbsp;that were&nbsp;really effective?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe you can think of a few, but I&#8217;m ready to bet they&#8217;re not part of everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/en\/presentation-design-technique\/why-the-corporate-powerpoint-template-fails-and-how-to-make-it-work\/\">Why is the result mediocre<\/a> despite the time invested?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Making an effective presentation requires a mix of skills that rarely coexist in a single professional. That&#8217;s why relying on a <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/en\/powerpoint-presentation-design-agency\/\">PowerPoint presentation design agency<\/a> can be the right choice when the goal is to create impactful presentations while optimizing time and ensuring visual coherence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We need an understanding of what we call &#8220;<strong>Critical Thinking<\/strong>&#8221; in jargon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is, your knowledge of the subject and your ability to produce relevant content for your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You need the ability to select which information to present and which to omit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Careful, this seems&nbsp;easy&nbsp;but it is not at all, especially if you are directly involved in the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In all honesty I say to you that it is easier for me to synthesize&nbsp;the&nbsp;presentations of&nbsp;others&nbsp;than&nbsp;my own&nbsp;because I have <strong>a colder approach to the content<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you need to organize the content into an engaging storyline,&nbsp;or what do you say before and what do you say after?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do you start the presentation and how do you plan to finish it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the way, do you know what <strong>an initial engagement strategy<\/strong> for a presentation is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me give you a tip:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mauriziolacava.com\/lean-presentation-design-blog\/presentations-delivery\/13-successful-presentation-hook-ideas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Presentation hook examples: the 13 most successful presentation hook ideas ever<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_8.png\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What are the moments when you create <strong>peaks of attention<\/strong> and prepare to counteract&nbsp;the drops?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last but not least,&nbsp;do you&nbsp;have&nbsp;the ability to&nbsp;display&nbsp;your messages in a presentation, often in PowerPoint,&nbsp;in a way&nbsp;that is truly effective and consistent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The truth is that we are often&nbsp;business people&nbsp;more prone to problem solving than to creativity and therefore we have difficulty making&nbsp;really effective&nbsp;slides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Careful, I&#8217;m not even talking about&nbsp;visually attractive slides, but <strong>slides that pass the message<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make effective slides&nbsp;you must&nbsp;certainly&nbsp;be able to choose:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The right images\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/mauriziolacava.com\/lean-presentation-design-blog\/presentation-design-technique\/free-images-for-powerpoint-presentations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Free images for powerpoint presentations: the definitive guide<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The right icons (<a href=\"https:\/\/mauriziolacava.com\/lean-presentation-design-blog\/presentation-design-technique\/presentation-icon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PowerPoint icons: The Complete Guide to using Presentation Icons<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>More than anything else, however,&nbsp;you need to develop a design approach to slide design and eliminate creativity from the equation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you designed according to what people see&nbsp;and learned to control people&#8217;s eyes, you could trigger a profitable dynamic of interaction between you and your slides designed on the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;d find that the audience would watch you and then, when you change slides, quickly slide&nbsp;their eyes&nbsp;back to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do you do all this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I call it Neuro Presentation Design and it consists in a design and&nbsp;super efficient&nbsp;approach to the realization of impactful&nbsp;slides:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mauriziolacava.com\/lean-presentation-design-blog\/visual-composition-applications\/eye-path-control-for-presentations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Neuro presentation design: how eye path control can dramatically improve your presentations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe that we can all learn to make&nbsp;effective&nbsp;slides&nbsp;in a short time, just&nbsp;by&nbsp;combining&nbsp;the right approach with the tools of the trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What tools?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;re right. I haven&#8217;t told you about&nbsp;the tools&nbsp;yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, between you and me, <strong>I do tricks on presentations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this reason, people are often&nbsp;surprised when they&nbsp;see me&nbsp;drawing&nbsp;presentations at the speed of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems like slides come to life in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the years I have studied the way people work on PowerPoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I found that a small group of recurring activities is the cause of most of the time wasted and the inaccuracies in making a presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What did I do with these results?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I created a PowerPoint button for each of these tasks and automated it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus&nbsp;was born&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/en\/powerpoint-addin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MLC PowerPoint Add-in<\/a>,&nbsp;the first set of custom features developed by presentation makers for presentation makers that has the dual purpose of making you faster&nbsp;at creating&nbsp;more effective presentations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_9.jpg\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a look&nbsp;at it;&nbsp;you can try it for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-watching-nbsp-slides-while-nbsp-the-audience-nbsp-are-present\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_watching_slides_while_the_audience_are_present\"><\/span>5. Watching&nbsp;slides while&nbsp;the audience&nbsp;are present<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-100.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you ever turn to the screen to see what to say according to the slide you are projecting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If that happens to you, <strong>it&#8217;s time to stop<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seriously, this must never happen again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re wondering if it&#8217;s that bad, it is!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every time you turn around and look at what you have to say, you give your back to your audience and lose visual contact with people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You completely <strong>lose <\/strong>the perception of a <strong>dialogue <\/strong>because&nbsp;through&nbsp;following your slides&nbsp;you are&nbsp;giving priority to what you have to say rather than to&nbsp;the&nbsp;people&nbsp;present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, you&#8217;ll get people used to watching slides first and then following your comment and losing the leadership of your speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;re going to be the commentator on your slides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does that seem acceptable to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I wouldn&#8217;t say so!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This is why this is one of the common presentation mistakes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, how do you avoid it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn how to use&nbsp;PowerPoint (PowerPoint&nbsp;slide show)&nbsp;speaker&nbsp;mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s it for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;slide show mode shows on the screen of your laptop the slide projected in large and the next slide in small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-97.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To enable speaker mode, your laptop must be connected to a second screen, such as a projector or other TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Usually you can connect with an HDMI cable<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-7.jpeg\" alt=\"Image result for hdmi cable\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Or with a VGA cable<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-8.jpeg\" alt=\"Image result for vga cable\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Always be careful&nbsp;to have an adapter with you in case your laptop doesn&#8217;t have the corresponding ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I, for example,&nbsp;go around with this<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B079MDQDP4\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=mlcpresenta04-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;creativeASIN=B079MDQDP4&amp;linkId=d0b7430739043ca8ec172afc00c12c4f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">adapter<\/a>&nbsp;because I have USB type C:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-101.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With slide show mode, you&#8217;ll always have an eye on the next slide, and you won&#8217;t have to turn to look at the screen every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-6-lack-of-leadership\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6_lack_of_leadership\"><\/span>6. Lack of leadership<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-9.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Do I look like I&#8217;m overreacting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not at all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A presentation is intended to influence people to do something they wouldn&#8217;t otherwise have done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You could&nbsp;sell&nbsp;a product or service to a customer,&nbsp;your startup to an investor or a recommendation to top management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In any case, <strong>you&#8217;re trying to convince them to&nbsp;accept&nbsp;your ideas and act<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, you&#8217;re trying to exercise your leadership over your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You see I wasn&#8217;t exaggerating?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not having <strong>leadership <\/strong>is one of the presentation mistakes that is sure to limit your chances for a successful presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A leader is a charismatic person who&nbsp;has clear beliefs and is ready to share them for others to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Avoid at all costs saying things like &#8220;I&#8217;ll show you the next slide <strong>very quickly<\/strong>&#8221;&nbsp;or &#8220;I&#8217;ll just steal <strong>another 5 minutes<\/strong> to tell you that &#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you show me the next slide&nbsp;quickly it&nbsp;means that it was not so important&nbsp;to avoid showing it to me;&nbsp;if you&#8217;re stealing my time&nbsp;then I will not be so inclined to devote more to&nbsp;the presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We often feel indebted to our audience and tend to justify our actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First of all, I&#8217;ll tell you that nobody really notices everything that happens during the presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes I jump&nbsp;slides&nbsp;or&nbsp;I don&#8217;t show videos that I had in the stream,&nbsp;and I do it simply by clicking several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I never stop to say, however, &#8220;<strong>This is no use going forward<\/strong>&#8220;;&nbsp;I just do&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The audience doesn&#8217;t even notice if I avoid commenting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&nbsp;do&nbsp;comment, you <strong>attract their attention <\/strong>and <strong>generate curiosity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The audience might then ask: &#8220;You&#8217;re showing me&nbsp;fewer&nbsp;slides than you prepared:&nbsp;<strong>why?<\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a clear idea of what you want from people, take a firm and&nbsp;respectful&nbsp;attitude&nbsp;but <strong>do not let yourself be found vacillating<\/strong> otherwise&nbsp;you will <strong>risk losing leadership<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-7-using-the-laser-pointer\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"7_using_the_laser_pointer\"><\/span>7. Using the laser pointer<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/BLOG_Presentation-Mistakes_16.jpg\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I see fewer and fewer people using it now, but when I see some&nbsp;doing&nbsp;so&nbsp;I get chills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please tell me you&#8217;re not one of those who use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why do you think speakers use laser pointers?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll tell you&nbsp;why they do, and why this is another of the common presentation mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To draw attention to a specific part of the slide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This implies that the speaker turns around, loses visual contact with people, identifies the message on the slide and tries to draw attention with a microscopic red dot in the confusion of its contents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does that sound&nbsp;really smart&nbsp;to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your slides must already be designed to draw people&#8217;s attention to a specific point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a speaker, all your attention is focused on people and the dialogue you are establishing with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The slides must show exactly what you want to show when you click.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You just&nbsp;have to&nbsp;think about projecting the next slide;&nbsp;the design will draw people&#8217;s attention to a specific point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do I mean by that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m talking about the difference between a slide in which there is no <strong>user experience <\/strong>and one in which&nbsp;there is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you see that the right graph (POST) clearly shows the contents organized on different levels of reading to maximize the&nbsp;viewer\u2019s attention?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-98.png\" alt=\"presentation mistakes\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When you draw you always have to ask yourself what you want people to see&nbsp;the second you click and&nbsp;show the slide projector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How&nbsp;do you do it, especially if you work with charts and tables?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you work a lot with data slides, I&#8217;ll let you read a guide that will change your life and that of your audience:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mauriziolacava.com\/lean-presentation-design-blog\/charts-tables-for-presentations\/presenting-data-in-powerpoint\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>The definitive guide to presenting data in powerpoint<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-8-getting-nbsp-caught-off-guard-nbsp-if-nbsp-slides-stop-working\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"8_getting_caught_off_guard_if_slides_stop_working\"><\/span>8. Getting&nbsp;caught off guard&nbsp;if&nbsp;slides stop working<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>What if while you&#8217;re presenting the screen becomes&nbsp;monochrome&nbsp;and you suddenly find yourself without a slide?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being <strong>unprepared <\/strong>for this one of the most common presentation mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-99.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A few days ago, just as I started writing this article, I was at an event where a personal effectiveness trainer was making a good presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suddenly, the power is cut off and the laptop with the presentation is turned off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Was that predictable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Absolutely!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Probably the trainer could not have&nbsp;imagined&nbsp;that he would be blown out of power during the&nbsp;presentation&nbsp;but&nbsp;he could have prepared himself in case something went wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, he promptly got everyone up and involved them in an interactive activity,&nbsp;stating that he would wait for the restoration of the presentation by the technicians in&nbsp;charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re&nbsp;cool-headed&nbsp;you can also improvise but my advice is to <strong>prepare yourself&nbsp;in case something goes wrong<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Technology is a powerful tool, but we can&#8217;t risk causing everything to fail if the technology fails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-conclusions\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"conclusions\"><\/span>Conclusions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Each presentation is the opportunity of the time you are given by your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Often, in the short time allowed you&nbsp;have to&nbsp;be unnoticed and the stakes can be very high because your presentation can have a serious impact on your business or your work and possibly that of your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mean, failure in a presentation can cost you dearly and should not be contemplated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are&nbsp;a number of&nbsp;fairly recurrent pitfalls, among which we have listed some of the most serious.&nbsp;I&nbsp;want this article to be a cue for&nbsp;each of us to share our experiences in the comments and for everyone to benefit from them, and avoid these presentation mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, go ahead and share: what was your failure or save during your presentation?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;re going over your next virtual\u00a0presentation and you can&#8217;t have anything going wrong.\u00a0Any presentation mistakes could be the difference between success or failure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-presentation-delivery","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.9 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>8 presentation mistakes to avoid at all costs - MLC Presentation Design Consulting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are the typical presentation mistakes\u00a0to avoid? 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