10 Presentation Habits
My College Students – And You –
Must UN-Learn (Part 2)
Yesterday, Alex Rister introduced five habits that college students need to purge.
In this article, she continues with five more negative habits.
6. Faking or acting when delivering.
Delivery should be authentic and natural. Often, students have incorrectly learned that audiences respond to funny and loud presenters, and they rely on foolish antics or acting like someone they are not. I frequently see students trying too hard to be outgoing like the class clown.
“Don’t invent a new persona when presenting, and don’t rely on gimmicks to win over your audience.”
Last week, my students delivered persuasive presentations. The last student to present was the shy, quiet kid in class who rarely speaks to anyone except when spoken to. Automatically, this student had the audience’s attention because they quieted to hear him talk for the first time. This quiet student didn’t stand on his head or juggle fire. He didn’t tell jokes or try to make the audience laugh. Instead, he was true to himself. His delivery was effective because it was him! Through his delivery, he showed his authentic self: quiet and reserved, yet knowledgeable and super duper smart. He had the best delivery of anyone in the class.
How to Un-Learn this Habit…
Remember that audiences respond to real presenters, people who act in front of the room the same way they do in real life. Don’t invent a new persona when presenting, and don’t rely on gimmicks to win over your audience. In order to avoid faking or acting when delivering your next presentation, focus on developing your authentic speaking persona. What are you like in real life? Write down the 5 to 10 words your family and friends would use to describe your personality. You want to embody those characteristics in front of an audience.
7. Creating bullet-ridden, ineffective slides.
Overused templates full of bullet points and too much text are not “visual,” so they do not work as visual presentations. My students learn from their teachers that they should select a template in Keynote and put their entire script on a slide. This results in the student turning around and reading his or her slides. This breaks all three legs of Endicott’s presentation stool.
A student in a previous class argued, “I like slides with bullet points! I’m not a visual person. Why should I change my PowerPoints?” This very student raised his hand a few lectures later to ask me what kind of font I was using because he liked it so much. Clearly, he was a visual learner and didn’t even realize it.
How to Un-Learn this Habit…
Don’t resist the gospel of Garr Reynolds and Nancy Duarte!
- If you have a lot of material to convey, pass out a document at the end of your speech filled with text, data, and important information. You must remember that Keynote and PowerPoint were designed to be visual aids – not a container for your 17-page report.
- Reynolds and Duarte teach us the proper principles of presentation design, so study these masters and improve your visual design skills. Start with Reynolds’ Presentation Zen and Duarte’s slide:ology.
- Reynolds and Duarte teach the picture superiority effect, which says that audiences remember high quality images and photographs more than text.
- Reynolds explains that a slide is “glance media.” Like a billboard, a slide should convey a message that can be digested in 3 seconds. Try the glance media test to ensure your slides will connect with your audience.
- Duarte also asks us to try another test: the Twitter test… If audiences aren’t engaged, they are complaining about yet another boring presentation on Twitter or Facebook.
It’s your job as a presenter to engage your audience, so meet their needs by thinking like a designer and creating visual slides.
8. Starting with an apology.
“I’m sorry, I had a lot of other work to do, and I didn’t have time to put a lot of effort into my speech.” “I’m sorry, I’m sick today, so my voice isn’t going to be what it usually is.” “I’m sorry, I’m really nervous.” Nervous students apologize throughout their speech, but all students make the mistake of apologizing at the beginning of a speech.
“Start with a positive! If the first thing you say is negative, you create a negative impression on your audience, and you lose credibility.”
This month, I had a student come to class and admit to a few of his fellow classmates that he wasn’t confident in his material. The first thing out of his mouth when he stood up to do his presentation was, “I’m sorry, everyone. I’m really shaky. I just drank a 5-Hour Energy.” By calling attention to the fact that he was shaking during his presentation, his audience couldn’t focus on his content because they were looking at his trembling hands.
How to Un-Learn this Habit…
Start with a positive! If the first thing you say is negative, you create a negative impression on your audience, and you lose credibility. You have 6 seconds to make a positive first impression on your audience; don’t waste that time apologizing. Garr Reynolds tells us to start with P.U.N.C.H. … Use your first 6 seconds to make your audience go, “Wow! I want to hear more.”
9. Believing that a good speaker never says “um.”
Some of my students believe that a good speaker never says “um” or “uh” and often ask on the first day of class if they will be penalized for this. Students admit many of their former teachers have taken off 1 point from their overall presentation score for every “um” they utter in a speech. “Um” is an everyday part of communication, so why shouldn’t it be a part of public speaking?
“Focus on delivery as a whole instead of nitpicking every sound that comes out of your mouth.”
Teachers who insist on perfectionism in presentation are irrational and don’t understand the point of natural delivery. My students learn that there is no such thing as “perfect,” and I only want their delivery to be authentic and natural to the person they truly are.
How to Un-Learn this Habit…
Focusing on perfectionism in delivery actually takes you farther and farther away from your authentic self. This isn’t a good thing because, as Garr Reynolds teaches us in The Naked Presenter, naturalness is the key to effective speech delivery. Instead, accept “um” as a part of our communication and language. Focus on delivery as a whole instead of nitpicking every sound that comes out of your mouth.
10. Winging it.
Sometimes on the morning of speech day, a student will say to me or to his fellow classmates, “I’m just going to wing it.” This commonly used phrase results, 99% of the time, in an “F” on the presentation. The other 1%? A “D.” Research and preparation are essential for all 3 legs of the presentation stool. If there is ever a presentation fail in my classroom, that fail is the result of a student “winging it.”
How to Un-Learn this Habit…
Nancy Duarte explains that 36 to 90 hours of preparation are essential to pull off a successful one-hour presentation. Please do not ever believe you can “wing” any speech. Your audience expects preparation from you as a presenter; otherwise, they wonder why you’re leading them in the first place. Aristotle explains that ethos is all about the character and credibility of a presenter; an unprepared presenter has zero credibility. Remember the success rate of students “winging it” in my classroom, and remember that success rate applies to the real world, too.
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10 Presentation HabitsYou Must UN-Learn http://t.co/2wYNIRmt & http://t.co/yaQiJhhe via @6minutes #presentations
5 dingen die je moet afleren als het gaat om presenteren volgens @alexrister1 http://t.co/SWHGBnLr
5 dingen die je moet afleren als het gaat om presenteren volgens @alexrister1 http://t.co/SWHGBnLr
5 dingen die je moet afleren als het gaat om presenteren volgens @alexrister1 http://t.co/SWHGBnLr
5 dingen die je moet afleren als het gaat om presenteren volgens @alexrister1 http://t.co/SWHGBnLr
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Haha! I am guilty of winging it. Thanks for the article. I have to stop winging it to take my presentation skills to the next level.
While I think you are spot on with most of these, I must disagree with #9. Ummms and Ahhhs are not part of authentic communication, they are annoying verbal tics that can be easily eliminated.
I find that by directing my students to simply be silent in the moment that they want to Ummm and Ahhh, they can improve the impact of their delivery tremendously, without impacting their naturalness at all.
In fact, giving them permission to be silent for a moment, seem to help them in gathering their thoughts and speaking more deliberately and succinctly.
Sadly #8 is a big issue with many students as beside causing their audience to focus on stuff such as “trembling hands,” it could seem that they are winging it. They would say sorry to try to cover-up the fact that they never prepared their-selves for the speech and look worst in front the class (audience).
Also #9 deserves a half-half kind of answer. Saying “uhhh” or “um” is natural and normal to say in a speech, even great speakers say them sometimes. The issue is that you being to say it so often that 1/3 of the speech becomes a mix of “uhh’s” and “umm’s,” as now it can lead back to not being prepared for the speech and/or “winging it”.
A student in CST 100-02 at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College and still learning.
I am from CST 100-02 from NVCC Annandale campus. These habits that people have are really hard to get rid of. I think that it’s good that it tells how to unlearn them. One of the habits that I saw was of using the word “um”. I have used “um” in countless speeches throughout my school career. I am very used to it. Some teachers may say that students could get penalized, but it’s good that he says to be authentic and natural. It makes sense because “um” is apart of our language and why not use it. Not many people love speech giving but if they practice, then they will succeed.
Nhat Doan from CST 100-36 at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College!
Believing that a good speaker never says “um.” I’m pretty surprised to know that “um” in speeches are ok. Most of my teachers did deduct point if he/she heard “um” from my speeches and now this text’s saying the opposite thing. Very interesting…
I am from CST 100-02 from NVCC Annandale campus. I feel like number 8 and 9 relate to me the most. Our professor told us when we gave out vocare speech and you should not say sorry when you are giving a speech. With regards with the um’s, i think one should be able to use um but up to a certain point and not using it in every other word because it can be distracting.
I am a student form Northern Virginia Community College CST 100-036N. #7 is a great point. I am also in habit of making presentations full of bullets and numbering. This article will helps me to identify my mistakes and take another look on my presentations in future. Also, it will help me to avoid overuse of bullets and numbering.
Besides, #9 is a real gem. Till today, I believed that words like “um” or “uh” are not part of any type of speech presentation. The reason for this is mentioned in the article that most of the teachers don’t accept these words during speech. This article helped to understand that delivering speech naturally without using these words is usually very tough.
I’m a student of CST 100-36N at the Annandale Campus of NVCC.
I think the habit number 9 is my biggest drawback. When I feel I’m losing my confident, I always come up with the “um” and “you know”. Although I know the audience will be bored but I keep repeating those words because sometimes I feel stuck with my speech and cannot deliver my speech fluently.
Hi, I am from CST 100-036N from NVCC Annandale Campus.
I totally agree with you about story telling. I think, stories are like a bridge that helps you to deliver your original message to the audience.
On the other hand, as you said choosing bad topics is not always students fault, they sometimes assigned to talk about those topics. In that case, how can we, as students, are going to be humorous or going to tell a story about a topic that we are not connected?
According to my experiences, I agree that message on the slides should be digestible by the audience in 3 seconds, because I remember those slides at the end of the speech.
Your article is really helpful for a student, who just started to take speech classes.
Thank you,
H. Nur Uyguner
Hello, I’m a student of NOVA CST100-36N class. After i finish reading this article, I agree 100 percent with this article. I also think that starting the presentation with apology make the presentation un professional. I believe that we should not mention about our excuses and try our best to deliver points.
I am a student at NOVA’s Annandale Campus for the class CST 100-36. #10 is my main problem. I don’t practice nearly enough, even though the idea in my head is perfect. However, because I’m sure it’s perfect in my head and as I write it down, I don’t deliver the speech perfectly, which is when it actually matters. Although the ideas in my head are so amazing, as I give speeches, more and more ideas come up into my mind and I let my mind wander, losing track of where I am on the speech. Because I forget where my place is, I tend to repeat something to remember where I am. If i practice enough and not wing it, I can at least remember where I am in the speech and when to say what, etc. For me, it’s because my ideas are too amazing that I take them for granted.
The main problem that i have when i’m giving a speech is that i always try so hard to not say “um”. Everytime i feel myself about to say “um” i freak out and lose track because i’m so focused on trying to not say “um”. I’m glad to have read that good speakers are allowed to say “um”. This article was really helpful because, it really cleared all the myths that i thought was true about public speaking. Now i have a lot more confidence and knowing that some of the things i thought were not allowed can be allowed.
Hello my name is Baha’a Bassil and I am a CST 100-36 student at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College. Reading this article I could relate to one particular habit and that is the “faking or acting when delivering.” For the audience to feel the emotion the speaker has to feel the emotion. Though that doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone. Some speakers when are put in front of a crowd completely change, they become entertainers. Muhammad Ali for example, he didn’t have the best grammar in the world but when he spoke people stopped and people listened. He said “At home I am a nice guy: but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.” Therefor I agree though to a certain extent with what you are saying.
I am a student in CST 100-36 at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
Looking at some of the other comments, it seems that everyone can relate to rule 9. I feel like it’s really a matter of opinion if filler words are acceptable or not. Personaly, I can’t help but kick myself every time I notice myself saying um. I feel that a simple pause is far more graceful than using filler words but I am still struggling to break the habit.
Hi. I am a student in CST 100-36 at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
The act I identify with is 6. Faking or acting when delivering. Sometimes for me it is hard to not put yourself in the moment you are describing and add too much excitement to your voice or act like the event is happening again.
I am a student form Northern Virginia Community College CST 100-036N. #7 is a great point. I am also in habit of making presentations full of bullets and numbering. This article will helps me to identify my mistakes and take another look on my presentations in future. Also, it will help me to avoid overuse of bullets and numbering.
Besides, #9 is a real gem. Till today, I believed that words like “um” or “uh” are not part of any type of speech presentation. The reason for this is mentioned in the article that most of the teachers don’t accept these words during speech. This article helped to understand that delivering speech naturally without using these words is usually very tough.
Good afternoon. I am a student in CST 100-36 at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
#9 Believing a Good Speaker Never Says “Um…”
Last week I spoke of my falling into #5 in order to avoid #9. After seeing a few speeches on YouTube last class, I clearly saw the point of #9. The best speech we saw was guilty of saying “um” a few times. Having “um” seem to be the main point of the speech by overindulging could be crippling, but I clearly saw that its presence doesn’t automatically ding the effect of a speech. Now I know, and as a wise man once said, “knowing is half the battle.”
Hello, I’m a student in CST 100-36 at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College. All those 5 presentation bad habits mentioned above help me notice the important and seriousness of a way to deliver a speech. Among all those, I especially like the point #8 – “Starting with an apology.” Normally, first impression is really important. If I said sorry to my audience about my lack of confidence, lack of preparation before giving them the speech, I would think it was like asking them for an excuse of not presenting well or sufficiently delivering what the audience expected.
By the way, thank you for the good tips, they are definitely useful.
I am a student in CST 100-36 at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
I have been taught that a good speaker never uses the expressions like “ummm,aaa”. But I realized after reading this article that if you used them occasionally it sounds more natural then without using them at all. But I also think that if you use those expressions a lot you might loose your credibility in front of your audience. Also, I agree with starting with an apology makes people to notice the things that you don’t want anyone to notice.
I also would like to add that I believe winging a speech never works for anyone. Audience will understand if you are prepared or not.
Hey this is Tony from CST 100- 36
These are some valid tips that I’m sure all of us use when we are not fully prepared. Often times we try to think off the tops off our heads and many times its very noticeable. Think the best way to overcome this is to be more prepared with our speeches in order to have a better outcome.
Hi, my name is Nicole and i am a student from cst 100-036n from the Annandale Nova Campus.
The main problem that i have when i’m giving a speech is that i always try so hard to not say “um”. Everytime i feel myself about to say “um” i freak out and lose track because i’m so focused on trying to not say “um”. I’m glad to have read that good speakers are allowed to say “um”. This article was really helpful because, it really cleared all the myths that i thought was true about public speaking. Now i have a lot more confidence and knowing that some of the things i thought were not allowed can be allowed.
I am a student in CST 100-036N at the Annandale campus of NOVA and I believe that the most important habit to un-learn is number 10. Sadly I am guilty of this bad habit in many of my speeches but not necessarily from a lack of practice. In my case I am just get extremely disorganized and nervous while presenting that I will start going off topic. I believe it would definitely benefit me if I could drop this habit so that my speeches seem more fluent and organized.
I am a student in CST 100-36 at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College. All these habits in this article I truly agree with. They are hard to get rid of and finding a different way to deal with it. I think it was very helpful that this article was here to help us step away with these habits. It connects to how mostly everyone talk during speeches. It’s a very helpful article and a lot of people should read this to help them get better.
I agree with post number 9. No one like pauses so we need something to kill the gap. I do it all the time but it became a really bad habit. It’s hard to not say um or ah during a speech. I guess it comes from not knowing the topic or forgetting something on the spot. I’m glad that i read this article because now I know what to practice on and not to over think everything.