The Presentation Tips No One Talks About

Type “presentation tips” into Google and you’ll be greeted with nearly a billion results and most of them say the same things:

Tell stories.
Pause.
Make eye contact.
Slow down.
Know your audience.
Prepare.
Cut the fat.
Smile.
Breathe.
Move.
Practice.
Start strong.
Close stronger.
Show passion.
Ditch the bullet points.

It’s all good advice, even essential. At Mindful Presenter, we teach and advocate for each of those fundamentals, but here’s the truth: most presenters never hear.

Great presenting isn’t just about collecting tips; it starts with a shift in awareness. The moment you realise that real impact comes from connection, not performance, and that connection requires much more than technique alone.

Here are three powerful presentation principles you rarely hear, but every presenter needs.

1. Don’t Be Yourself

“Just be yourself” is one of the most common pieces of presentation advice in the world. It’s also one of the most misleading.

Being yourself is wonderful, unless your “normal self” is anxious, monotone, withdrawn, overly serious, or uncomfortable being seen. In that case, “being yourself” becomes a ceiling rather than a strength.

The goal isn’t to be yourself; it’s to be your best self, and that requires self-awareness.

Before you step into the room, step into yourself:

Be still

Spend a few quiet minutes each day without noise, screens or stimulation.
Stillness sharpens presence.

Remember who you are

Reflect on how far you’ve come, the challenges you’ve overcome, the skills you’ve built, and the moments that shaped you.

Let go of perfection

Perfectionism is stress disguised as ambition; it narrows your voice instead of freeing it.

Seek feedback

Find out what you do well and what you don’t.
A great public speaking course can accelerate this more than years of trial and error.

Your audience doesn’t need the everyday version of you; they need the version of you that is awake, aware and intentional.

2. Embrace PowerPoint

PowerPoint isn’t the problem; the problem is how people use it.

Slides were never meant to be a script, a teleprompter or a data dump. Yet even the most experienced professionals still read from bullet-ridden decks as if the audience can’t read for themselves.

Used well, PowerPoint is a gift:

– It creates visual memory.

– Sparks imagination.

– Anchors your message.

– It brings energy and clarity to complex ideas.

A single powerful image can do more than a paragraph of explanation, and a clean, simple slide can make your message unforgettable.

Don’t reject PowerPoint, master it. Use it to help your audience, not overwhelm them.

3. Don’t Be So Serious

I spent years in boardrooms watching brilliant professionals drain the life out of their own ideas by being relentlessly serious. Somewhere along the way, many leaders came to believe that professionalism requires solemnity.

It doesn’t.

Unless you’re announcing redundancies, delivering tragic news, or reporting a catastrophic failure, you are allowed to smile. You are allowed to be warm and allowed to be human.

Connection requires emotion, and emotion requires expression.

At home, we don’t communicate with our families in a monotone voice, arms stiff, face frozen. We use humour, warmth, curiosity, and empathy.

Why should the workplace be any different?

A touch of lightness, a moment of charm, grace or humour can transform a room.

The World Has Changed. Presenting Hasn’t.

Think about the last business presentation you attended:

What do you remember?
How much do you remember?
How did you feel when it ended?
What did you feel when you returned to your desk?

At Mindful Presenter, we believe that most people forget 90% of a presentation by the time they reach their car, desk, or wherever they are heading back to. Not because they are careless, but because the presentation wasn’t designed for the way people think, feel, and remember.

In the last three decades, everything has changed:

Technology.
Education.
Medicine.
Transport.
Engineering.
Psychology.
Politics.

Everything except the way many professionals still present.

In some of the world’s most influential organisations, people are still:

– Reading from bullet-heavy slides

– Using a “corporate spokesperson” voice

– Speaking in monotone

– Listing achievements instead of creating meaning

– Leaving audiences bored, numb or indifferent

That’s mindless presenting, and it’s entirely avoidable.

Mindful Presenting Is the Alternative

We teach professionals to:

– Speak with confidence, clarity and impact

– Communicate with purpose, power and humility

– Add value every time they speak

– Connect emotionally as well as intellectually

– Use their voice with courage

– Challenge the status quo

– Lead positive change through communication

Because presenting isn’t about performance, it’s about presence, connection and it’s about making a difference.

If you want to learn the very best presentation skills:

– Book yourself onto a powerful public speaking course.

– Invest in some really good one to one public speaking coaching.

– Get yourself some excellent presentation training

Image courtesy of: Canva.com