6 common yet avoidable presentation flaws

So began my in-flight conversation about presentations and presentation mistakes. The surprising thing about this conversation was the rest of the sentence.

“…is way too exuberant when he presents.”

Wait, what? Nobody says that.

We talked for a while. I explained how to fix the problem. Then we talked about how rare that problem is.

For the past four years, I’ve flown all over the world to bring Duarte methodology to companies via our storytelling workshops.

When I started, I assumed every company would have its own set of problems. So, I began every workshop by asking attendees to jot down presentation challenges at their company. Turns out I was wrong. People across all companies repeatedly make the same presentation mistakes. It doesn’t matter what industry, the age of the company, or the caliber of employees, a bad presentation is bad for the same reasons.

The following list includes common—and avoidable—presentation mistakes:

1. Your presentation covers too much.

I have facilitated more than 200 workshops in the past five years.

In every single one, I have asked: “What happens in a bad presentation?”