Last time, I introduced you to Dynamic Dave. This time, I want you to meet Poor Peter. When I wrote about Dave, I wanted to share with you some tips about becoming a good speaker. This time, I am sharing with you some bad speaking habits to avoid especially when you use slides for your talks. But before doing so, please allow me to thank Poor Peter for inspiring me to write this article. Thank you so very much Peter, you made my day!
Peter started his presentation poorly. When he was introduced to us, he immediately went to his laptop to project the slides but the projector would not work. He struggled with it trying to make it work. He was tracing the cables and the power switches to make sure all were in order. The audience started chatting with each other. He lost an opportunity to capture the audience attention. Peter could have avoided this awkward situation by checking the equipments in advance.
Once the slides were up and running, Peter struggled with the slide clicker. He was going back and forth with his slides. Again, he should have tried using the clicker in advance. Personally, whenever I speak, I always take my own clickers. Yes, clickers. I always carry two clickers with me just in case one of them fails to function properly and as a precautionary measure, I always take spare batteries with me.
He then committed the speakers’ biggest unforgivable sin when it comes to using slides. Peter was reading from his slides. He forgot an important fact about using slides; they are visual aids not notes to read from. By doing this, he missed an opportunity to connect with the audience through his eye contact. In addition, he sent a wrong signal to the audience, in a way, he told us: “I’m not fully prepared that’s why I’m reading.” Finally, why didn’t you send us your slides to read in our homes or offices at our own convenience instead of boring us to death!
Let’s talk about Peter’s slides. His slides were cluttered with text and pictures. For example, in one slide he had four pictures on the left side while having one full paragraph and five bullet points on the right side. What a way to confuse the audience! Think about this analogy for a moment. What happens when you present too many toys to a child? He or she gets confused on which toy to pick. However, if you present one toy to a child, chances are he or she will focus on that toy only. As a speaker; you should make your slides simple to help the audience in focus on your ideas and thoughts.
Now, allow me to share with you few more mistakes Peter committed in his slides. Firstly, his text font size was inconsistent. In some slides, the font size was big while in others it was small. This is not a good practice. Secondly, the pictures colors were poorly chosen and the lighting level in the hall complicated this matter further. All the pictures seemed to be in black and white; they did not add vitality to his slides. He should have asked the event organizers on the lighting levels of the hall and whether they are adjustable to support the visibility of the slides.
Finally, at many times Peter stood between the audience and the projection screen. If you are projecting your slides, why you are not allowing us to see them! As a speaker, you should always think about how to use the stage effectively. If your slides are in English, it is better to keep the projection screen on your left side while are you facing the audience because this will make it easy for them to watch you when you speak and then shift their attention to the slides when required. If your slides are in Arabic, stand on the right side.
Whenever you plan to use slides, think about your speaking situation. Answer this basic question: Do you really need slides to support the ideas you are trying to communicate to the audience? If not, leave them out and save yourself all the hassles associated with slides. However, if you think that you should use slides because they will support you in speaking to the minds, hearts and the funny bones of the audience, plan their use carefully and never be like Poor Peter!