Why People Hate Your Presentations
Last night I watched a man give a presentation that devolved into a free-for-all. I’ve been in his position when serving in a teaching role. It’s extremely frustrating. Here are some things that put you at risk for losing your audience when presenting.
1. Set false expectations. Often, your crowd is self-selecting. This means you get to start with people who want to hear from you. But, if you make a promise that doesn’t match up with your actual presentation, then you’ve invited the wrong crowd. Last night, the event was billed as a networking event for professionals in my industry and local to my neighborhood. Bingo! The actual event was a mixture of boring lecture and being surveyed as a focus group to help the organizer create products and services to sell to us. He opened by requiring everyone to complete a lengthy questionnaire and join his email distribution list. There was no opportunity to network with my peers. Eventually, everyone just started talking and ignoring the presenter.
2. Go too long. We were expected to remain seated for almost 2 hours. Way too long. When I went through instructor training in the Navy, we were given a rule of thumb, the poorly named “butts on seats switch.” The idea is that after 50 minutes of sitting still, the class’s “butts on seats switch” was pushed too far and they needed a break. I suggest 50 minutes as an absolute maximum. If you take longer, there is probably a flaw in your presentation. If you take 2 hours, you are being self-indulgent.
3. Talk about yourself. The first time I taught a group of Navy SEALs, I opened with a description of my professional background and credentials. From the back of the room, a bearded SEAL in civilian clothes hollered, “No one cares!” He was right. If you must talk about yourself, keep it brief and integrate it into a useful story.
4. Don’t tell stories, drop facts and jargon. Without a narrative to follow, people will need to choose to give you their attention at every transition. You will be competing with their entire universe. Do you think that your slides are more interesting than Instagram? You are wrong. Tell a story. Create a narrative. Give people a reason to stay with you.
5. Insult people’s intelligence. Last night, the slides were all words. Rows and columns of words. Paragraphs of words. The presenter went down the lists of words and explained what each phrase meant, “Who knows what affiliate marketing is? OK. Affiliate marketing is…” Ugh. You must give the audience something more than they could get from a search engine. Use images, involve the audience, give examples in the form of a story.