One of the most common misconceptions in public speaking is the idea that a speaker must first say what he will speak about, then speak about it and then again summarize what he said. That is at least what Nick Morgan, American expert on communication and presentation skills, claims on Forbes.com. He argues that we are not in the army where such a procedure is commonly used. Every speaker should primarily engage the audience and repeating the same thing all over again will not help him with it.
Other public speaking mistakes summarized by Morgan include:
A good presentation must be based on slides
The use of PowerPoint and similar tools for creating presentations is so widespread that it came to be known as a kind of duty. Not every presentation, however, requires slides. Real leaders do not need slides for their speeches. When you use slides, make sure that they contain only images for the audience, not the notes for the author.
Public performances must be formal
Previously, this was true. The trend of today is, however, being set by leaders and other public figures with less formal, conversational style of public speaking. A public speech is nothing else than a conversation with the audience. Thus, take it as a conversation and enjoy it.
Speakers must stand on the stage during their speeches
The cause of this myth is partially technological - eg. when the speech is being displayed on a big screen at a conference or when the button to move the slides is located at the podium. All this can now easily be managed wirelessly. An average cameraperson can follow you moving around the stage or in the audience directly. Another cause is fear. However, even fear can be removed through relatively simple training. To be a successful apeaker, therefore, be brave.
Last 15 minutes at the end should be reserved for questions from the audience
Questions are not a good ending. The audience will then leave with the response to the last question in their mind regardless of how relevant it was. A public performance should be closed by the speaker using a few short notes for the audience to leave with.
-kk-