Common Public Speaking Mistakes to Avoid

I’ve spent the past few weeks working with a group of speakers preparing for a large corporate event, and I keep seeing the same 5 pitfalls. It felt right to share here on LinkedIn, because it’s relevant for anyone pitching a client, presenting to your team, or speaking on a stage: 1. Resist the urge to lead with an intro, "Hi, my name is." Start with a strong hook - a question, a statement that announces the problem you’re about to solve, instead of leading by introducing yourself. And let’s please stop going around with some “hot start” where your entire team gives intros in a cheeky way for a new business pitch or client presentation. Just introduce yourself before you’re about to speak and then go into what problem you’ll be solving for the client if they hire you. 2. Establish the stakes. Why is the work you’re doing so important? What would happen if you didn’t do it? What are the stakes of the problem or challenge you’re outlining? 3. Tell a personal story. If you can take a personal story (yours, a customers, someone your work impacted) and thread it through the talk or presentation, everyone in the room will walk away remembering some part of that person’s journey. They’ll visualize the person, they’ll develop an emotional connection to them, and they’ll remember your talk long after it’s over. 4. Practice your steps and hand gestures. Choreography is a big part of presenting, and far too many people focus only on the words they’re saying. I am someone who speaks with my hands, which can be distracting on stage. That’s why when I’m preparing for a talk, I run through how I will walk around on the stage and when I will stop to make a point. Ask me about the triangle method I learned while prepping for my TEDx talk! Be aware of your body but not too self conscious of it. Move your hands so they add emphasis but don’t distract. Record yourself walking around your office or living room rehearsing, even if it makes you cringe. This will help you make any necessary adjustments as you go. 5. Focus on ONE message. Be clear on the one major takeaway you want people to remember after you leave the stage, the room, the meeting. Don’t muddle your message or try to communicate too many things in too little time. Keep going back to your one main thing. Repeat it if you have to. Make your point, and don’t dilute the point with tangents or unnecessary details. Restate your point in closing. What else makes or breaks a great presentation? I’d love to hear your best advice!

I find myself wanting to rip the laser pointer out of someone’s hand as they make a presentation.   I want to see the data on the slides, so I just can’t look away. But I might lose my breakfast here.   The speaker doesn’t seem to understand that the laser pointer is a tool to highlight critical points. They’re shaking the green light across every sentence on the slide. It’s nauseating to watch.     This week at the American Chemical Society Fall National Meeting I saw some great talks, and others (like this one) that had all the #science in them to be great but made a few fatal errors.   Beyond using the laser pointer with abandon, I’ve come up with a list of things to absolutely avoid when giving a #research talk.   ⏱️ Ignoring time. If you have 20 minutes, write a 15 min talk and leave room for questions. Don’t write a 30 minute talk and rush through it. Your audience will have whiplash. 👩🦰 Forgetting the audience’s needs. You know what you did. We don’t. Craft a story to tell us what you did, how you did it, why it matters. The talk is for them, not you. 🦸🏻♀️ Telling the audience how amazing you are/your work is. Let the science speak for itself and convince us of your expertise through the work. Show us, don’t tell us. 🙅🏻♀️ Overloading the talk with content. In 15 minutes, you can make 3 points. You must decide what are the most critical pieces of information to share, and what details to leave out of the talk. 💡 Adding way too much text, animations and images. Keep your slides neat and focused. Remember that they can be just as much of a distraction as a help. 🙇🏻♀️ Dismissing questions. Sure, maybe you think you said it in your talk, but if someone has a question, it shows they are interested in your work. Answer questions graciously and without annoyance.

Ever been in front of a crowd, delivering your speech... and halfway through, you just know it’s not landing? Yeah, we’ve all been there. 😬 Here’s what’s probably going wrong: → Overloading With Information 📚 You’re excited. You’ve got so much to share. But when you dump it all on your audience, it’s like drinking from a fire hose. ✅ Fix: Stick to 1-3 powerful points. They're not going to remember everything anyway...trust me on that. So focus on what you want them to remember and AMPLIFY that. → Ignoring The Audience 🫣 Talking at people instead of with them. That’s like trying to dance solo at a party. ✅ Fix: Engage. Ask questions. Invite them into the conversation. Questions are POWERFUL and get them to focus internally on experiences instead of just your words... → Poor Structure 🧐 No clear flow? It’s like giving someone a puzzle with missing pieces. They’re lost. ✅ Fix: Follow a framework. I created a simple one called EASE...I talk about it here: https://lnkd.in/e8MYQcHJ The beauty of these mistakes? They’re all fixable. And once you do... your message will hit like it’s supposed to. 💥 What’s one speaking mistake you’ve learned to avoid? Drop it below! 💬👇 #PublicSpeaking #CommunicationSkills #Storytelling #Leadership