10 Meeting Presentation Dos & Don’ts

Making a presentation can be intimidating, but if you follow a few simple rules, your presentation will run smoothly.  Below you’ll find five dos & don’ts of making a presentation at a meeting.  

Do:

1.  Smile & Be Yourself:  When you smile, the world smiles with you.  That can be said for meetings, too.  If the presenter is smiling and upbeat, attendees will smile and be more alert.   Also, the audience will relate to you if you are genuine and not trying to be something you aren’t.  It will put you and the audience at ease. 

2.  Use a Computer or Projector:  Using technology can make your presentation appear more professional.  Some people use dry erase boards or overhead projectors – that is outdated.  If you or your company doesn’t have a computer or projector that will work alongside your presentation, you can use a laptop rental or a projector rental from a computer firm such as Rentacomputer.com.   Computer Rentals are convenient because you can have them delivered and set-up right where you need them at a mere fraction of the cost of purchasing the equipment, yourself. 

3. Come Prepared:  Get to the location of the presentation early so you can be sure everything is set-up and you have all the materials you need.  Run through your presentation and make sure you’re ready to go. 

4.  Use Multiple Visual Aids: Using the same five slides for an hour-long presentation isn’t going to cut it.  You need to change slides every one to three minutes.  Give attendees enough time to read what your slide says but don’t give them time get bored and start looking elsewhere. 

5.  Move Around the Room:  Don’t stand behind a podium or in one single spot.  Move around the room, engage your audience, and give them reason to pay attention.  

Don’t:

1.  Make Spelling & Grammar Errors:  One of the most unprofessional things a presenter can do is forget to run spell check.  Do this and proofread your presentation several times before letting your audience see it.  

2.  Speak too fast, too softly:  This is probably a given, but a lot of people talk too fast when they get nervous.  Take time to think about what you’re saying and enunciate your words.  You may make other changes in your voice when you’re making a presentation, as well.  Personally, I know I tend to speak softly when I’m nervous and there is nothing worse than having an audience to tell you to speak up.  

3.  Make Animation Mistakes: Animation can be a great way to keep your audience interested in your presentation but a little goes a long way.  Don’t overdo it and make sure you know how to use it.  If something goes awry in the middle of a presentation, it will make you look unprepared and unprofessional.  

4.  Use Multiple Fonts:  One or two fonts to dress things up is OK, but when you begin using a different font for every sentence, you’ll overwhelm your audience and make your presentation hard to read. 

5.  Leave Your Screen Saver On:  Imagine you’ve just given a five-minute lecture and forgotten all about your projector, yet your audience is still very focused on the screen.  You look up and see ocean creatures swimming around on your projection screen and realize you forgot to turn your screen saver off.  That one’s pretty self-explanatory.