presentation tips

Finding The Reasons Why Every 7 Out Of 10 Presentations Fail

‘Presentations are either your absolute best friends or your worst enemies.’

We caught you! Now that we have your attention let’s take a closer look at why this happens. Presentations are puzzling—sometimes they lift your confidence, and sometimes they expose your weaknesses.

In short, they are the most versatile tools to highlight your abilities, but they also come with a cost. Yes, you may fail at delivering a pitch, so instead of waiting for a slipup, prepare yourself with this blog and say goodbye to the anxiety once and for all.

Please spare 5 minutes to read this blog thoroughly. We are sure you will find a thing or two that is new to your knowledge.

From Blunders to Brilliance: The Psychology of Presenting

Winning and losing are two common threads of life. They come together to form a bundle of assorted experiences which every human ever carries around. However, failing is not that bad after all – it is the reason behind our growth.

Subsequently, the next time you are supposed to present a company profile design or the budget summary, try to master the basic elements of presenting. Here is a glimpse: 

Introducing the 6 Hidden Pitfalls of Presenting

Facing the Wrath of NOT Having a Plan B

Remember one thing – Technology is never biased towards anyone. It can fail or succeed for students and executives alike, so always have a backup plan ready to avoid any hindrances. Moreover, relying solely on technology can lead to disastrous results, including project malfunctions and file corruption. As a result, your presentations easily derails, increasing the stress levels.

Hence, make sure you make a contingency strategy along with your plan of action. For example, you can save the file on multiple devices (USB, cloud storage) and bring printed handouts along with you. You can also practice without a projector and still have better control over the circumstances.

Becoming Ignorant to Audience Unintentionally

Sometimes, you get so involved in an act that you lose the real essence. With the presenter, too, it is completely normal not to be attentive to the audience’s reactions. However, this needs to be addressed, or the results will be far less effective. You must pick on confused expressions, for example, to clarify points and adjust your delivery style.

So, the best way to escape this problem is to maintain eye contact and observe everything around you. This compels you to be mindful in the moment, noticing the body language of the target audience. Furthermore, you can encourage two-way communication during the session to maintain engagement.

Falling into the Slide Cramming Trap


It is a very basic habit of presentations-makers to overload their pitch decks with too much material. Yes, clusters of both images and text can give a very undesirable look to your work. Psychological observations suggest that it overwhelms the audience and makes it hard to follow along.

Thus, refrain from flooding your slides with more than enough information. It reduces the level of impact it can otherwise create. You can implement the 10-20-30 rule for this, which means no more than ten slides, 20 minutes, and a 30-point font size. Other than that, you must use bullets, visual aids, and shorter phrases to highlight the key themes.

Having Difficulties Matching Pace and Time

If you are not someone who likes to hire a company profile presentation service to ease your burden, you must learn to strike a balance between pace and time. Here is the explanation: when you are creating a pitch deck, you must be careful of how much time you are giving each slide.

Even the slightest of miscalculations can force you to rush through or drag out a slide, leaving the viewers in confusion. Presenters often make this mistake and then finish with an incomplete or hurried conclusion. Hence, allot adequate time for each slide depending on the context it is delivering.

Being Caught Off-guard with a Spontaneous Q&A

There is absolutely no way that a person from the audience will ask you a question with a prior warning. Clients and customers can come up with queries at any point in the exhibition. Therefore, at times, because of some abrupt questions, the presentations can go wild, especially if you are not already prepared for this.

So, learn to anticipate possible queries that may arise and understand the answers so well that you can tackle the situation cleverly without losing the plot. You could also go with tricks like acknowledging the question and buying some time to answer.

Inability to Deliver the Pitch Without Being Flat 

Another very common pitfall for ineffective pitch decks is that the presenter’s approach is quite monotonous. He or she just comes up on the stage and delivers even the most exciting content with zero energy. This, paired with a lack of variation in tone, causes the audience to lose interest.

A quick solution to this problem is learning from experts. Watch podcasts, attend TED talks, enroll in related courses, and get proper training. It is an art that matches your tone’s intensity with the point, and you must learn it. Furthermore, you need to incorporate stories, analogies, and other relatable content to maintain the audience’s engagement.

Questions that Generally Intimidate People

1. How can I overcome my anxiety before a presentation?

There are certain proven ways to overcome anxiety, such as –

  • Familiarize yourself with the venue and equipment
  • Practice everything with a friend or colleague
  • Ease your nerves with different breathing exercises
  • Rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse!

2. Where should I look while presenting?

It is the most challenging aspect of conveying a pitch. People think they are supposed to maintain direct eye contact with the audience, but it is wrong. You must also occasionally look at the screen.

3. Is it possible to measure the success of my pitch deck?

Surprisingly yes! It is possible to measure success through your audience’s feedback. Moreover, you can observe the engagement levels (reactions) and the achievement of your presentations goals with the help of follow-up responses.

4. If it turns out bad, how do I bounce back?

Not every day you are going to ace it, so on the bad days, try to reflect on what went wrong and seek constructive feedback. Then, learn from your mistakes and use the experience to enhance your future performance.

Key Takeaways of the Discussion on Effective Presentation

  • You need to understand the key principles that enhance clarity and engagement.
  • Start by knowing your audience, then structure the content around them
  • Keep rehearsing to make sure you deliver it with confidence
  • Use visual aids to grab attention, and do not forget to notice the audience’s cues
  • Combine the direct and indirect (non-verbal) feedback to improve your skills

By embracing these strategies, you can achieve both academic and professional success. Imagine playing on opportunities to share your perspective and achieve your personal and career goals.   

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