Do You Have Bad Speaking Habits Without Realising It?

Most presenters don’t lose their audience because of weak ideas; they lose them because of the noise they create unwittingly.

Noise is the silent killer of communication. It shows up in your slides, your structure, your delivery, and even your mindset. Many professionals don’t realise they’re creating it.

Here are three of the most common and most damaging speaking habits we help people overcome every day.

Bad Speaking Habit 1: Visual Noise

“Death by PowerPoint” isn’t a joke; it’s a global epidemic.

During a recent workshop in London, I stepped out for a break and glanced into the meeting room next door. Behind the glass wall, I saw a scene that plays out in offices everywhere:

– A presenter facing the screen, not the audience

– Eight bullet points crammed onto one slide

– Tiny font

– No structure

– No connection

He read every bullet point aloud to a room full of intelligent professionals as though they couldn’t read it themselves.

This doesn’t support effective communication; it simply adds unnecessary noise.

The Antidote

– Stop relying on bullet points; your audience doesn’t respond well to them.

– Present one idea per slide.

– Think billboard, not document.

– Use images and bold, clear headlines.

– Never read text to your audience.

– Ask: How does this slide help them, not me?

Your slides should support your message, not suffocate it.

Bad Speaking Habit 2: Emotional Noise

Before anyone presents in our courses, we ask one question: “How do you want your audience to feel?”

The most common answer is, “Informed and engaged.”

That isn’t a deliberate choice; it’s the default setting people select when they haven’t thought carefully about their audience. In business, informing and engaging is the very minimum, and if that’s all you aim for, your presentation becomes forgettable, another layer of noise in an already overloaded world.

Information alone is not influential

If your message could be delivered more effectively in an email, your audience will resent you for making them sit through it.

The Antidote

– Decide what you want them to do, not just what you want them to know.

– Decide how you want them to feel, not just what you want to say.

– Bring information to life with stories, examples, and meaning.

– Ask yourself:

Start with the essentials: Why does this matter to them? What difference will it make? Why should they care?
When you can answer those questions, you stop presenting information and start delivering with energy, purpose, and intention, the foundation of real impact.

Your job isn’t to simply share data; it’s to make people feel something that changes what they do next.

Bad Speaking Habit 3: Preparation Noise

In a recent session, a delegate admitted she rarely prepared for presentations. She expected it to be taken lightly but it revealed something far more important.

It wasn’t a “bad habit” it was a lack of care for her audience.

When you don’t prepare, your audience pays the price. They hear hesitation, rambling, filler words, and uncertainty. They feel the noise of your unstructured thinking.

Preparation is not optional, it’s respect.

 The Antidote

– Never hide behind “I’m too busy.”

– If you can’t prepare properly, hand the presentation to someone who will.

– Craft your content, don’t just assemble it.

– Be crystal clear on your message and why it matters to them.

– Don’t memorise; internalise.

– Practise your delivery: pitch, pace, rhythm, tone, emphasis.

– Build in pauses so your message can land.

– Practise your physical delivery: posture, gestures, eye contact, facial expression.

– Understand how your voice and body reinforce your message.

The Good News

These habits aren’t character flaws; they’re simply unconscious.

Mindful presenting gives you the awareness to spot them and the discipline to eliminate them, and your audience will thank you for it.

Your voice deserves to be heard, without noise.

If you want help breaking bad speaking habits:

– 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

Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash