Compelling Presentations: How to Inspire People to Take Action

Mistakes to avoid and tips to help you be a go-to leader

Photo by sps universal on Unsplash

We’ve all been there.

Company meetings. Classroom lectures. Online webinars. We all know the torture of being 15 seconds into a presentation and wanting to escape as the speaker slowly kills your joy with their dull, monotone, and predictable flow.

As boring as these tired talks may be, it’s the standard we’ve accepted. It feels safe hiding behind a polished (albeit uninspiring) slide deck because it’s what people expect. We stick with the status quo in an attempt to fit in with the professional world.

But it isn’t a great way to stand out from the crowd.

If you’re a CEO, entrepreneur, leader, or anyone looking to gain more visibility and opportunities in your career, it’s time to rethink the way you show up. Because these presentations — these workshops, keynotes, and company meetings — can be incredible opportunities to build connections, mold minds, and ignite transformation.

Language is power. And speaking is a conduit for change.

Knowing how to transform your thoughts into ideas that inspire action is a skill everyone should be clamoring to learn. And yet, too many leaders are missing an opportunity to motivate their people because they don’t take the time to hone in on a powerful idea or know how best to share it.

Instead, we do what’s been done before — because as boring as it is, at least it doesn’t rock the boat. But the status quo of presentations is full of mistakes, including the four most common ones listed below. And these mistakes could be the thing that kills your opportunity for growth.

Presentation Mistake #1: Hiding behind a wall of text

Slides can be helpful for visually supporting your ideas. But too often, presenters cram a million thoughts into a single frame, leaving the audience overwhelmed, confused, and thinking, “this could have been done over email.”