2012 AAHPERD National Convention
& Exposition, Boston MA
Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and
How To Fix Them
W. Leroy Fanning, Jamie Harvey, and
Burch Oglesby
Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and
How To Fix Them
1.
Too Freaking Long:
Diagnosis: It presents way more than
anybody wants to know.
Why It Happens: The speaker is “spraying
and praying” in hope that
something works.
What Results: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
How to Fix It: Always make your
presentation less than half as
long as you think it should be.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
2. Complicated Graphics
Diagnosis: It's full of busy
graphics with lots of little details.
Why It Happens: One picture
is worth a thousand words,
right? (Uh, wrong.)
What Results: The audience stare
glassy-eyed, then pulled out smart
phones and started checking emails.
How to Fix It: Only include simple
graphics; highlight the data point
that’s important.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
3. Reading from
Slides
•
Diagnosis: The speaker reads
aloud what everyone can read
for themselves.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker is
unprepared and using slides as a
memory-jogger.
•
What Results: By the third slide,
the audience is ready to kill the
presenter.
•
How to Fix It: Use slides to
reinforce your message rather
than to outline your data points.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
•
Diagnosis: The slides have fonts that
are too fancy, too small or both.
•
Why It Happens: The fonts looked
great on the desktop screen; on the
projector… not so much.
•
What Results: The audience squints
and peers and then gives up.
•
How to Fix It: Use large fonts in
simple faces (like Ariel); avoid
boldface, italics and UPPERCASE.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
5. Redundant Content
•
Diagnosis: The presentation
has slides that everyone has
already seen.
•
Why It Happens: Somebody is
trying to “standardize” on a
standard presentation.
•
What Results: The audience
gets bored to death.
•
How to Fix It: Never present
the same material to the
same audience twice.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
6. Busy Backgrounds
•
Diagnosis: The slides have
background templates that are
distracting.
•
Why It Happens: Somebody
thought it would make the slides
look more “professional.”
•
What Results: The audience gets
headaches trying to see what is
actually on each slide.
•
How to Fix It: Use a simple, single
color background. Always.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
7. All Opinion, No
Facts
•
Diagnosis: The presentation is all
opinions without any supporting
data.
•
Why It Happens: Laziness. It’s
easy to claim “leadership”; it’s
harder to actually be a leader.
•
What Results: The speaker's
credibility with the audience
leaps down the toilet.
•
How to Fix It: Only state opinions
that you can back up with
quantifiable data.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
8. Biz-Blab
•
Diagnosis: The presentation is
filled with tacky business
buzzwords.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker
wrongly thinks that biz-blab
sounds “business-like.”
•
What Results: The audience
assumes the speaker is 1)
pompous, 2) crazy, or 3) talking
in tongues.
•
How to Fix It: Just stop it. Please.
(The horror... The horror...)
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
9. Irrelevant
Information
•
Diagnosis: The speaker includes
material that doesn’t really
belong in the presentation.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker isn't
clear about the message that
needs to be conveyed.
•
What Results: The audience loses
the train of thought.
•
How to Fix It: Only include
material that’s relevant to your
overall message.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
10. Crappy Clip Art
•
Diagnosis: It has graphics lifted
directly from a low-grade clip art
library.
•
Why It Happens: Somebody was
trying to save a few bucks and a
few minutes.
•
What Results: The audience
figures that the speaker is too
cheap to do it right.
•
How to Fix It: If you've got to use
clip art, buy the good stuff.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
11. Skipping Around
•
Diagnosis: The speaker flips
ahead to another slide, then
flipped back.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker is
trying to edit the presentation
real-time.
•
What Results: The audience
rightly figures the speaker isn't
fully prepared.
•
How to fix it: If you must
improvise, do so within the
structure of the presentation.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
12. Wrong Audience
•
Diagnosis: The presentation is on
a subject that isn't appropriate to
the audience.
•
Why It Happens: The presenter
didn't bother to research the
audience.
•
What Results: The audience
rightly concludes that the
presenter doesn’t give a flying.
•
How to Fix It: Always research
your audience and customize a
story to match.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
13. Technical
Difficulties
•
Diagnosis: Something
happens that screws up the
slides or the sound.
•
Why It Happens: Nobody
bothered to test the setup
prior to the presentation.
•
What Results: The audience
rightly concludes that the
presenter isn't prepared.
•
How to Fix It: Always check,
then double-check, the setup.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
14. Intro is Too Long
•
Diagnosis: The first third of the
presentation introduces the
speaker, his firm and the topic.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker is
used to giving a longer
presentation and didn’t shorten the
intro.
•
What Results: Eye rolling all around
as everyone wonders when the
speaker will come to the point.
•
How to Fix It: Never spend more
than 1 minute on your
introduction. Never.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
15. Weak Attempts at
Humor
•
Diagnosis: The speaker tries to
be a comedian but lacks the
skills.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker
heard somewhere that humor
will make a presentation
better.
•
What Results: Blank stares.
•
How to Fix It: Unless you've
got the skills, leave the humor
to professional comedians.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
16. Overly Fancy
Slides
•
Diagnosis: The presentation is
chockablock with special effects
and visual jim-cracks.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker was
afraid that the audience would
find him boring.
•
What Results: Your audience
watches the pretty pictures and
misses the real message.
•
How to Fix it: Use the minimum
visuals that you need to tell the
story.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
17. All Data, No
Story
•
Diagnosis: It presents scads of
information without any context
or meaning.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker
wrongly assumes the
presentation was a lecture.
•
What Results: The audience pulls
out their smartphones by the
time the fifth slide comes up.
•
How to Fix It: Make your
presentation tell a story, ideally
with the audience as the heroes.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
18. Meandering
•
Diagnosis: The speaker wanders
off on a tangent rather than
following a train of thought.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker
didn’t really take the time to
think the presentation through.
•
What Results: The audience
rightly assumes the speaker is
disjointed and disorganized.
•
How to Fix It: Review your
presentation with a colleague,
make changes, then rehearse.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
19. Discussion
Rat-holes
•
Diagnosis: The presentation has a
slide guaranteed to pitch the
discussion down a rat-hole.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker
probably didn't realize that the
rat-hole was there.
•
What Results: The audience starts
arguing about the slide, making
the entire exercise useless.
•
How to fix it: Think through the
emotional impact of EVERY
slide in your deck.
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
20. Wrong Time of
Day
•
Diagnosis: The presentation is
scheduled for when everyone's
mind was elsewhere.
•
Why It Happens: The speaker
wrongly believe his message is
too important to wait.
•
What Results: The audience
barely hears what is said.
•
How to Fix It: Schedule
presentations for a time when
people will give it proper
attention.
Simple Design Rules*
• 1 One point per slide
• 2 Few matching colors
• 3 Very few fonts
• 4 Photos, rather than clipart
• *Alexei Kapterev (Death by PowerPoint)
pun intended
Simple Design Rules*
• Presentation checklist:
• Significance
• Structure
• Simplicity
• Rehearsal
Simple Design rules*
• Significance
• Why does it (the material) matter?
• How do I grab their attention?
• What do I want them to do?
Simple Design Rules*
• Structure
• Convincing
• Memorable
• Scalable
Simple Design Rules*
• Simplicity
• 1 point per slide
• Images whenever possible
• Few matching colors
• Very few fonts
Simple Design Rules*
• Rehearsal
• Present it aloud
• Get feedback
• Room and equipment
Top 20 Reasons Presentations
Suck and How To Fix Them
• Feedback?
• Questions/Answers???
• Thank you for your attention!
Thank You For Your Attention