5 speakers you don't want to be

You must have met them. Heard them at conferences or podcasts. Watched their presentations at meetings. Maybe they rolled their eyes behind the switched off camera on video calls.

The problem is not the topics, but their approach.

I have put together a list of top 5 speakers/presenters who sabotage their own performance in various ways and tire the audience - and at the same time they think they are brilliant.

1. the HUSTLER

He came to "break up". There is no nervousness , no hesitation, no concrete content, value or message. We just have a show. The audience is an extra, and he is the main character. The whole movie.

It starts directly with sentences like these:

"People, let's understand each other right away..."

"Let's be realistic..."

"No one else will fucking tell you this like this, you idiot..."

He likes to talk about the grind , getting up at 4 in the morning, and emphasizing that he gained his first entrepreneurial experience at the age of 10, selling apples or lemonade in the neighborhood.

However, he often does not have an elite experience or has quite controversial results and track-record in the industry he is talking about. It compensates for the lack of content with very provocative statements, often with cursing or toilet humor .

He avoids direct answers to specific questions from the audience:

"Yeah, great, we'll do that later - but let me tell you something first..."

LESSON: Being energetic is great. Being “loud” with zero content is not.

When the volume goes up and the value of the message goes down - that's not charisma. That's noise.

2. the GENERALIST

Says everything, but really nothing. His sentences sound as if they were copied from corporate strategies, with the help of some platitude generator:

"In today's dynamic environment, staying agile is key."

"We need to think outside the box to make real change."

"Communication is very important."

No examples, no focus, no concrete value - just waves of sentences that mean nothing. The audience looks at him as if they've dropped into a TED Talk from The Twilight Zone or Stranger Things.

LESSON: If no one knows what you wanted to say, you didn't say anything.

A single message with concrete value in its delivery always beats a forest of generalities.

3. the SLIDE-NINJA

He starts the presentation. He turns his back to the audience. On each slide, a bunch of bullet points. He starts reading point by point. Usually monotonously and lifelessly, like reciting a train schedule. These are some of the most common mistakes in presentations.

Pure premeditated murder of the audience.

"Our team implemented a strategy to optimize internal processes..."

"As we see on this graph... (pause while he reads what it says himself)"

"The next slide... shows... something we're going to see now..." (in the meantime, a slide comes in that he hadn't even planned to show).

Without looking at people.

Without interpreting the context.

Without emotion.

The audience feels like they're listening to a poorly recorded audiobook... except no one here can press pause or stop.

No one remembers what he said - because it was all written down.

LESSON: A slide is a tool, not a hacksaw.

If you read everything, the audience wonders: Why should they listen to you, why didn't you just send an email?

If you're going to talk, talk to people, not to a screen. You're there to bring the story to life, not to read it.

4. the JUSTIFIER

He comes on stage with his head down and a "I know I shouldn't be here" look on his face.

The first sentence already undermines his authority and credibility:

"I apologize, I didn't have time to prepare better."

"This slide is a little messy, I know, but it will be clearer later..."

"I know this may not be the most interesting topic..."

All enthusiasm dies on its own, before anyone in the audience has even thought anything.

At every "maybe", "sorry", "I know it's not ideal", the audience automatically lowers their attention a little. He tries to lower their expectations in order to reduce the pressure on himself - but he kills both the content and the authority.

LESSON: If you don't believe in your own performance – neither will the audience.

Apologies and downplaying are not modesty. That's self-sabotage on live broadcast.

Prepare yourself – or give up.

5. the LOST STORYTELLER

He came to talk about marketing strategy, but somewhere along the way he turned to his own resume. He took the advice that good speakers tell stories too literally.

"When I was a kid, I always liked to analyze things..."

"You know, my wife often tells me that..."

"Last week at Lidl I noticed something interesting..."

"Well, and something else unrelated, but it just happened to me the other day..."

He tries to connect personal anecdotes to the theme – but never really gets to the theme. Just as he never gets to the point of the story.

The audience is sitting around waiting to hear something concrete. Spoiler: they won't.

Everything seems nice for the first 20 seconds, but after the third digression, no one knows what the topic is anymore. It stops being convincing .

LESSON: A real-life example can bring content to life – but it shouldn't consume it.

You are not the subject of the presentation. Your ego – even less so. Stories should be relatively short and have a clear point.

SO WHAT KIND OF SPEAKER SHOULD I BE THEN?

I have often written about the characteristics of good speakers and desirable practices in previous blogs and the weekly newsletter .

All of these types have something in common: Instead of conveying the message – they distract from it .

And a good presentation doesn't have to be spectacular. It just needs to be clear, interesting and convincing . All my clients from numerous companies in Croatia have seen this for themselves.

If you want to improve or perfect your next performance, presentation or speech, or arrange corporate training for your team - contact me.

We learn, practice, and record everything about public speaking that no one has taught you, even though everyone expects you to know.