10 Myths of Presentation and Public Speaking
Frankie Kemp
4 November 2024
Presentation training courses often leave us with more questions than answers. With so many myths floating around about the right and wrong ways to present, it’s hard to know what to believe. From dealing with presentation nerves to mastering the art of presentation training workshops, I’m here to debunk some of the most common presentation myths to help you become a more confident and effective public speaker.
1. I’m better off winging it
The problem with improvisation is that it’s terribly haphazard! You’ll need some landmarks to stop you going off track. # A mind map can help to plan points without scripting. In my presentation training courses there are several techniques I teach to help you keep on track without being scripted – even online/
2. I need to write out my full speech before I speak
Do you? What a hassle! A script can take longer to write than notes and is much more difficult to edit. As we don’t speak as we write, reading out a speech will make you sound like a talking report.
3. …and then memorise it
Hence the cause of crippling nerves and blanking out! You end up struggling with ‘getting your lines right’ and that means you now have to deal with inflated presentation anxiety. Make life easy on yourself: keep to the main points and use notes only when necessary.
4.Nerves are bad for Presentations and Pitches
Actually, if you can control your nerves instead of letting them control you, the nerves become adrenaline, sharpening your focus and quickening your thinking. To control those presentation nerves there are several techniques including breathing, anchoring and visualisation.
5. Make timed eye contact with each person
Merely looking up from your cue cards or taking a break from your PowerPoint is not making eye contact. Getting a response from people by looking at them is. That eye contact is connection but timing it impossible. I came across that notion at a well known business school, and it’s trash. In presentation skills training courses, you learn how to look at your audience without scaring yourself silly (or freaking them out either). Here’s how to deal with eye contact online:
6. Begin with a joke
Unless you’re a comedian, try something safer. The problem with jokes is that they depend on timing, which is difficult to judge when you’re nervous. Moreover, if you open with a wise crack that falls flat, it’ll immediately dent your confidence. We often find a description of a shared experience is amusing. Not only is that safer, but is more likely to be relevant to your talk that a joke, shoehorned in for the sake of being funny.
7. You can’t change your voice
Why would you want to? Because research shows that both genders regard lower voices as having more authority. Your voice is as unique as your fingerprint. But you can change it by increasing your pitch range and varying rhythm. You can even deepen your voice through the exercises that presentation skills coaching offers.
8. Always introduce yourself at the beginning
In ‘real life’ we’re more likely to attract start a conversation, then realise we don’t know each others’ names. A presentation or pitch works the same way. First grab attention, then say who you are. This reflects more natural interactions. Using conversational techniques increases a sense of calm and confidence, as well as making you more engaging.
9. ‘He’s a natural.’
If a speaker is effective, they’ve most likely prepared over a length of time, gathering creative, pertinent material that has personal importance. Then they’ve ordered those thoughts and facts. And even if preparing for a presentation is easy for it’s likely down to someone showing them how to do it so the skill of public speaking becomes second nature.
10.Squeeze your buttocks
OK, maybe this isn’t a common myth but I heard someone suggesting this during a radio interview. How I wish he’d been on television so that we could see him walking around like he had a bad case of haemorrhoids. The rationale for buttock squeezing is that it stops women getting shaky legs when speaking and men should squeeze their thighs, for the same reason. The speaker obviously wasn’t a performer otherwise he’d have used some more useful methods.
In summary, the path to becoming an engaging presenter is filled with misconceptions. From thinking you need to memorise every word to underestimating the power of controlled nerves, it’s easy to get caught in the myths.
My presentation training deals with the facts and not the myths to transform your approach and deliver engaging, impactful presentations.
Ready to take the next step? Contact me here to discuss your needs or that of your team. Be less vanilla and more THRILLER.
