8 ways to tank your presentation

With universities resuming and reluctant office-goers returning to their cubicles after a sluggish and self-indulgent summer break, what better way to ring in the new work season than reviewing some of the ways you may be bombing your presentations in the difficult days to come.

1. You didn't bother finding out who your audience is

You have a vague idea about the company that they work for, but you don't know how much they already know on the topic, and you don't know what they expect to take away from the presentation. A couple assumptions about their technical level and knowledge of tools and technologies you're discussing, and your presentation will be of zero use to your audience.

2. You didn't prepare a witty icebreaker

"This is a serious presentation on deoxyribonucleic acid," you say to yourself, "this is no place for jokes." Fine, at least start with an interesting fact or a startling statistic or a relevant background story. Make a good first impression and it's fine even if the rest of your presentation is serious stuff.

3. You fitted in as much information as you possibly could

It's far too easy to go overboard with the text, especially because presentations tend to be built off of reports or other written documents. If you can stick to the 10/20/30 rule: 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 size font. If 10 slides are just not cutting it for you, go easy on the text and be generous with photos, charts, quotations, etc.

4. You didn't run a sound check or a projector check or any check for that matter

You assume that everything's been set up for you down to the very last detail. But wait, is that an odd-sized projector screen? Did the teaching assistant just say the projector's not working? How are you going to present without your slides? Do you even have handouts? Expect chaos, that way you'll be prepared.

5. You make close to no eye contact with your audience

Because you're too busy reading off the slides of course. And if you're not making eye contact, you probably don't have their complete attention either. Do you really want to give a presentation to a room full of people who are staring at everything from blank space to projector screen except for your face?

6. You bank on Bangladeshi internet for something or the other

Whether you're giving a presentation at the Radisson or a classroom in a university, don't count on: a) having an internet connection, and b) having an internet connection with a speed higher than 1kbps. Do the world a favour and download videos beforehand and use screenshots of webpages you might need to refer to.

7. You want to go both deep and wide

It's completely okay to not talk about every little thing you deem relevant—it's actually a good thing as it leaves space for questions from the audience.

8. You're hiding behind the computer screen

You need to come to terms with the fact that no matter how suave and confident you are, that computer is on top of a table three feet off the ground and you're going to get lost behind it every time you hunch over to change the slide. And while it might give you a false sense of control over the presentation, it looks completely unprofessional. Have someone change the slides for you or get yourself one of those fancy laser pointers.