Thanks to the conference I attended last Tuesday, I have more presentation bloopers to add to my never-ending list. The previous bloopers can be found here and here. When the list is long enough, I promise to compile and come up with a book or something.

Three more with no special preference since all are equally bad!

1. Spelling errors on your slides

Here’s a couple that I found.

In the gamming industry…
Microfsoft
Upluft and Profit
Generated an annual revenue of $1.000000 dollars (huh???!!!)
Curent Maket size of 30 billion people

Ok, you get my point… when you have these glaring spelling mistakes in your slides, here’s the image you are protraying to your audience: sloppy and can’t be bothered. Unless that’s what you want the audience to think of you, I suggest you get someone to do a spell check.

2. Get your pronounciation right

It cracks me up when some presenters stumble on the same word every single time, without any sign of remorse. There was one team that had to review a company’s product named Morange. And throughout the 10 minutes presentation, they came out with many ways to pronounce this word.

Moo-ronge
Ma-range
Ma-rangi
Mo-ran
Moo-rock

And I swear one time I heard Moron. They might as well labelled the product Moronic Morange. That would be… urm, memorable. Some “credit” has to be given to the company who named their product mo-range.

3. Reading off the script

Although my preference is to go without one, sometimes there is a need for it. However, I feel that most speakers are too reliant on their script. You see them referring to their script even if it is just reading their name and designation??!! Yes, this is very puzzling. I once came across a book that taught me how to read from a script. Here’s the golden rule. Never ever speak when your eyes are on your script. So here’s the process - see, stop, say.

First, look down and take a snapshot of your script. Memorize a chunk of words. Bring your head up and then pause for a second. When you are ready, say what you have memorized in your own words. It’s a three step process: see, stop and say. It is very important that you pause. Yes, it may be weird for you but in reality, the pause help make your speech conversational. It also creates anticipation, which further deepen the impact.

Let’s use President SR Nathan’s opening speech at the Parliament on Thursday as an example. (I wonder who is his speech writer?)

Forty one years ago
(pause)
Singapore was thrust into independence and an uncertain future
(pause)
At that defining moment of our history
(pause)
we resolved to succeed.
(longer pause for impact)
Together
(pause)
Singaporeans made key choices that made us who we are today
(pause)
a united people of different races
(pause)
living and prospering in harmony.

Of course it helps to be first familiar with your speech (grins). Here’s something fun to do. Go hear the podcast (it is every Singaporean’s right to do so anyway) and then try the see-stop-say process for his introduction segment. See if you can detect the difference. As with all new techniques, it takes practice to internalize. The next time you pick up the newspapers, magazine or book, try reading out loud using stop-see-say process. Remember, practice makes perfect!
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Any burning questions to ask? Send them to eric@ericfeng.com and I will get back to you asap. Meanwhile, enjoy the articles at Public Speaking for All!
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