NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

The 7 Deadly Sins ofBad Presenters

Dr. Med Byrd

Paper Science & Engineering Program

NC State University

NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

#1: Body Movement

• Bad presenters can’t seem to control their hands, fingers, legs, or bodies

• Constantly moving, twitching, etc.• Distracts audience from your presentation• Ask yourself: Where are my hands? Where are my

feet?

NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

#2: No Outline or Summary Slides

• The audience needs to know, up front, what you plan to do – use an outline slide

• They need to know, at the end, what you thought was important – use a summary or conclusion slide

NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

#3: Too Much on a Slide

• Don’t put more than 3 (maybe 4) bulleted items on a single slide

• Don’t put up graphs or tables that cannot be read or understood easily (use handouts if necessary)

• Don’t be afraid to use more slides with less info on each

• Keep it simple!

NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

#4: Reading the PresentationFrom the Screen

• The most awful sin of all!• Why does the audience need to listen to you read the

presentation? Why is a presentation needed at all?• Use the slides as general guidelines and to show data –

but YOU tell the story!• If you don’t know it…don’t present it!

NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

#5: Too Much Time on a Slide

• Rule of thumb: Don’t spend more than 20-30 seconds on a given slide

• Puts the audience to sleep• Keep it moving• Use multiple slides with moving highlights

NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

#6: Not Rehearsing

• A cardinal sin• “Winging it” will get you in trouble• Rehearse ANY presentation at least 3 times…with a

stopwatch!• When you KNOW it….then you can relax and put real

emotion and life into the presentation

NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

#7: Not Preparing

• This is different than rehearsing• Have you

- actually projected the slides on a screen, to see if they are readable?

- is the presentation readable from the back of the room?

- does the video clip actually boot up?

- is there a computer in the room? Does it work? Does it have USB?

- Don’t go in not knowing what’s going on!

NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering

Being able to make an effectivepresentation is an important part

of an engineering career!