7 Reasons Why Presentations Fail and How to Avoid It

Hi everyone, my name is Andrei!

I’m a leadership and business agility trainer and consultant, managing partner and co-founder of my company, Introspecials. Before that I was a senior manager in IT multinationals and before that a software developer. I’ve presented and spoke at conferences and public events of all sorts and many sizes. I’ve also given countless presentations and speeches as part of business, to clients, colleagues, bosses and business partners.

My approach to presenting and public speaking is to treat it as an extension of everything else I do. It’s just another form of communication, another way of rallying support, of creating momentum, of pushing things forward. This practical, strategic approach is at the core of my course. Presenting and speaking is not magic and it’s not show business, it’s a part of the professional life of more and more people. Most of us won’t want to have the kind of jobs where public speaking and presenting is the main thing we do, but almost everyone needs to convincingly share an idea with their team, make a case to their managers or contribute something to their professional community. I address all situations, from the mundane to the high stakes, high pressure occasions.

I’ve learned from my failures, from my breakthroughs, and from the failures and improvements of those around me and I’ve identified why presentations fail, and it’s not because of the little things, it’s not because of the slides, or the less than stellar body language, or not enough smiling. It’s deeper and more strategic than that.

I will teach you how to analyze a situation, how to research your audience, how to clarify and sharpen your message, how to make it memorable, how to prepare well, how to be focused and effective in your delivery. I will also teach you how to manage and overcome your public speaking anxiety, if you suffer from it, as I used to. I won’t teach you how to choose fonts and colors for your slides, as I think that is the least of your concerns in 99% of the situations. Do the key things right, and the rest will follow.

Each chapter has the same structure:

1. Stating the problem

2. Two or three examples

3. The solution

4. Brief summary of the key points

The chapters, the 7 reasons why presentations fail, are:

1. You don’t know what you want and you don’t ask for it

2. You don’t do a good setup

3. It’s all about you and nothing about them

4. You overcomplicate it

5. You don’t prepare enough

6. You’re stressed out of your mind

7. You get distracted by the bling

I hope you’ll enjoy it and find it useful!