Mastering Presentations: Be the Undisputed Expert when You Deliver Presentations

Chapter 5

PowerPoint Mistakes That Will Kill Your Chances of Doing Well and How to Avoid Them

“Why doesn’t the fellow who says, “I’m no speechmaker,” let it go at that instead of giving a demonstration?”

—Kin Hubbard

When we get calls and e-mails at work with questions about presentations, the most common topic that is referenced is PowerPoint. In fact, when we first begin coaching new clients, they will frequently want to reduce their fear when giving PowerPoint presentations or will want to learn how to design PowerPoint presentations. They rarely call a presentation or a speech a presentation or a speech. They often refer to the presentation or speech as a PowerPoint presentation. Therein lies one of the biggest challenges that people have when they give business presentations. They forget that PowerPoint is just a visual aid. It is not the actual presentation.

So this chapter covers the top 10 mistakes that people make when they design and deliver PowerPoint presentations. Fortunately, most of these mistakes are created by the way that the presenters prepare their presentations, and simply by doing the things we’ve already outlined in this book, you’ll eliminate most of these challenges automatically.

MISTAKE #1: TREATING POWERPOINT AS THE PRESENTATION AND NOT A VISUAL AID

The absolute biggest mistake that we make is designing a “PowerPoint Presentation” versus using PowerPoint as a visual aid for the “real presentation.” Remember, a presentation is a verbal communication to ...