5 Reasons Why Most Presentations are a Waste of Time and Effort

For almost a decade now, I have helped hundreds of people improve their abilities to build and deliver highly impactful presentations that actually get results.
 
From executive briefings to sales presentations to proposal presentations to investor pitch decks and everything in between, I see the same kinds of mistakes being made over and over again.
 
It’s time to change that.
 
Taking a typical presentation I see from lousy (reaction: “meh – not interested”) to amazing (reaction: “wow – let’s do this!”) isn’t rocket science, but it does take some work.
 
Here are 5 reasons why most presentations fail and are a waste of time and effort:
 
1.Spray and pray approach. This is where the presenter hasn’t done their homework to figure out what are the top 3-5 things their audience most cares about relating to their topic. So they cram in a bunch of content hoping to hit paydirt but it virtually never happens.
 
2.Confusing flow. Here the presenter may have some relevant and important insights to share (or not) but has not thought about the best way to flow the content through the presentation without losing the audience along the way.
 
 
3.Overly me-focused. This is when the content is too “me” oriented. That’s to say, what I as the presenter care about or think is important and assume you will too. For example, a salesperson that presents a ton of content about “here’s how great my company is,” or “here’s how amazing my product is.” This is a major turn-off but most presenters don’t realize it.
 
4.Not matching the pace of delivery to the audience. This is another common one where the presenter either goes too fast or too slow when delivering the content. As a result, you have either left the audience behind if you go to fast or you’ve made them super bored so they check out while you’re presenting.
 
 
5.Reading slides. This is the bane of our existence when we’re on the receiving end of someone reading out their slides yet it’s funny how many presenters totally forget this when they are delivering. That said, it’s probably the fastest way to put people to sleep so if that’s your goal, go for it!
 
 Avoid these common mistakes and you’ll be way ahead of the pack.
If you’re interested, I also have made a video lesson available here with the proven framework I help my clients implement that has produced amazing results: ​https://bit.ly/40lYdch