Every presenter wants to connect with their audience, and every audience wants to be engaged, yet three habits continue to sabotage even the most well-intentioned speakers.
These habits aren’t dramatic, they’re subtle and often creep in unnoticed, quietly draining the life out of your message.
Let’s bring them into the light.
Bad Habit 1: Reading Your Slides
Ask people what makes a bad presenter, and they’ll list the usual suspects:
– Hands in pockets or arms folded
– Too many “UMMS” and “errs”
– Talking too fast
– Fidgeting with a pen.
None of these comes close to the cardinal sin of presenting: reading your slides to the audience.
The moment you read a slide out loud, you send a clear message: “I don’t know my content well enough to speak to you directly,” and your audience immediately checks out.
The New Habit: Design Slides for the Eyes, Not the Ears
As you create each slide, ask yourself: “Will they read this while I’m speaking?”
If the answer is yes, you’re not designing a visual aid, you’re creating a handout, and if your slides can do the talking, you probably don’t need to be there at all.
Send the document by email and save everyone time.
Instead: Use compelling images, very few words and use slides to amplify your message, not replace it
Your audience came to hear you, not your slides.
The New Habit: Hit the B Key
One of the most powerful presentation tools is also the simplest: Press B.
It blanks the screen, brings every eye back to you and creates a moment of pure connection.
When you’re ready, press B again to get the slide back and continue.
The New Habit: Practice Until You Don’t Need the Slides
Slides are not a script; they are not a memory aid or a safety blanket.
Know your message inside out.
Practice out loud with friends, colleagues, and in the room if possible.
When you know your content, your slides become what they were always meant to be: support, not salvation.
Bad Habit 2: Speaking Too Fast
The second silent killer of presentations is speed.
Many presenters speak too fast, not because they want to, but because:
They’re nervous, passionate, are racing the clock or just have far too much content.
When you speak too fast, you don’t just overwhelm your audience; you lose them.
The New Habit: Record Yourself
Self-awareness is the foundation of mindful presenting.
Record yourself, listen back to it and ask others to listen to it too.
You can’t change what you can’t hear.
The New Habit: Pause With Purpose
A pause is not an absence of sound; it’s a moment of meaning.
Pause after key points and questions.
Pause to let your audience breathe and to let yourself think.
Silence is one of the most powerful tools a speaker has.
The New Habit: Breathe
Breathing is the gateway to calm, clarity and control.
– Slows your pace
– Grounds your presence
– Opens your vocal range
– Helps you improvise
– Makes you sound confident
Your breath is your anchor, so use it mindfully.
The New Habit: Practice Reading at Different Speeds
Take a book, magazine or newspaper and read a page out loud.
Read it slowly, then quickly, then somewhere in between and feel the difference.
The best way to slow down is to practice slowing down.
The New Habit: Involve Your Audience
When you ask questions, invite reflection or run a simple exercise, something magical happens: you stop lecturing and start connecting.
A conversation naturally slows your pace and deepens engagement.
The New Habit: Build Variety
Variety is the antidote to monotony.
Use:
– Short videos
– Props
– Handouts
– Stories
– Demonstrations
– Questions
Content is king, but contrast is the crown.
Bad Habit 3: Movement — Too Much or Too Little
Movement is energy, expression and connection, although mindless movement without meaning is a distraction.
Fidgeting, pacing, swaying, jingling coins or playing with a pen are all habits which pull attention away from your message and distract your audience.
On the other hand, standing rigidly still, like a guard outside Buckingham Palace, disconnects you just as quickly.
The New Habit: Watch Yourself
Record your presentation and watch it back.
You can only change what you’re aware of.
The New Habit: Free Your Hands
Hands in pockets or clasped behind your back are like ‘handcuffs’; they stifle energy.
Start with your hands relaxed in front of you, just above your waist.
They will know what to do; they always have. Just let them speak.
The New Habit: Stand Firm
Ditch the comfort props, pens, pointers, and anything you fiddle with.
Stand with:
– Feet shoulder‑width apart
– Shoulders relaxed
– Head up
– Torso engaged
– Breath steady
Feel your feet connected to the ground beneath you.
The New Habit: Tell Your Face
If you say you’re passionate, but your face hasn’t been informed, your audience won’t believe you.
Your body is part of your message; let it speak.
The New Habit: Move With Meaning
Movement should match the message.
– Three key points? Stand in three different places.
– Talking about the future? Step forward.
– Reflecting on the past? Step back.
– Describing size? Show it with your hands.
Purposeful movement is visual storytelling.
Your audience doesn’t just want to hear your energy; they want to feel it.
The Real Solution: Mindfulness and Self‑Awareness
These three habits are only the beginning, and there are many more, but the solution to all of them is the same:
Mindfulness.
Self-awareness.
Intentionality.
Once you recognise the habits that don’t serve you, you can replace them with habits that elevate you and connect with your audience.
Presenting isn’t about perfection; it’s about presence, and presence begins with awareness.
If you need help with bad presentation 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
Image Courtesy of: Canva.com
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.