1.
2
Presentation
Traps
You
Must
Avoid
By
Chris
Wisdom
www.wizcomm.co.uk
We’ve
all
listened
to
presentations
by
smart
and
capable
people
but
when
it
comes
to
getting
across
their
messages
effectively
they
mysteriously
fall
short.
The
reason
for
this
is
when
you
prepare
for
presentations
it’s
easy
to
fall
into
one
of
two
traps
that
create
lots
of
stress
for
you
and
your
audience.
Trap
One
is
when
you
Over
Prepare
You
try
to
cram
every
last
bit
of
possibly
relevant
information
into
your
presentation.
Just
in
case.
The
downside
is
that
your
message,
if
you
have
one,
gets
lost
in
the
detail.
You
run
the
risk
of
boring
your
audience
with
PowerPoint
leaving
them
disengaged
and
frustrated.
Most
of
them
just
want
to
know
your
key
message
and
what
you
want
them
to
do,
especially
if
they
are
senior
people.
Trap
Two
is
when
you
Under
Prepare
This
is
where
you
think
you
can
wing
it
and
the
people
will
be
won
over
by
your
magnetic
personality.
In
Trap
One
the
audience
is
overwhelmed
with
information
but
in
your
case
they
are
underwhelmed
because
of
the
lack
of
solid,
relevant
arguments.
They
may
smile
and
seem
generally
excited
but
they
won’t
be
convinced.
The
lack
of
structure
will
leave
them
confused.
So
this
is
the
message.
And
it’s
the
same
for
both.
Don’t
over
prepare
or
under
prepare.
Ask
yourself
2
questions
“What’s
my
main
message?”
and
“What
are
the
3
best
key
points
that
explain
it?”
Then
only
put
in
the
most
important
information
to
support
those
points.
When
who
have
a
reliable
method
you
can
easily
prepare
for
most
significant
presentations,
meetings
or
briefings
in
less
than
30
minutes.
I
teach
executives
the
P.R.E.P.A.R.E.
method
so
look
out
for
more
about
that
in
another
post.