If you search for the essentials of an impactful presentation online, there is a very high probability that you will see a larger volume of myths as opposed to the facts. And some of these myths have been around for so long that they are never questioned and often mistaken to be truths. Some of these are downright absurd and make no sense and some others have been terribly misinterpreted. Very often, these tips have been passed on by otherwise ‘well-intentioned’ individuals. This mini e-book is busts some of these. Let’s go myth bustin’

1. Presentation Myths
Bustin’ some

2. 1
If you search for the essentials of an impactful presentation online, there is a
very high probability that you will see a larger volume of myths as opposed
to the facts. And some of these myths have been around for so long that
they are never questioned and often mistaken to be truths.
Some of these are downright absurd and make no sense and some others
have been terribly misinterpreted. Very often, these tips have been passed
on by otherwise‘well-intentioned’individuals.
For instance, an often heard remark is that 55% of your communication
happens through body language, 38% through tone of voice and only 7%
through words. Really? Most of those who quote this, never question the
numbers nor the validity of such a research.
Bustin’ a few
Presentation Myths
Effective public speaking and impactful
presentation skills have a huge impact on your
ability to lead your teams, drive action and even your
net worth. Warren Buffet feels that effective public speaking can add as
much as 50% to your net worth in your life time. He thinks of it as a necessary
skill. Hear it from him here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xfelKplJqA
Sadly, the skill is packaged as a pack of tricks that can be mastered in a few
days. This is as far from the truth as possible. In fact, it is just another myth.
So we ran a campaign on our social media handles to separate the wheat
from the chaff. We received a heartening response and several requests to
compile them for easy reference. And this mini e-book is
the result.
Let’s go myth bustin’

3. 2
A detailed explanation by the presenter always
leads to an enhanced retention by the audience
Myth 1
The truth is in stark contrast to the reality. A detailed explanation does not
lead to greater retention, it leads to boredom.
In reality, the biggest gripe against presentations is that the slides are loaded
with information.‘Busy’is the word for it now.
This overloading stems from a misplaced belief that more details will
help the audience to understand the message faster. The reality is the exact
opposite.
Information overload leads to three things:
„ Confusion
„ Boredom and
„ Disconnectedness
And the result is a lost opportunity!
Information on a slide is not like loading a scale
- more the heavier. More information does NOT make the
argument meatier or more persuasive. On the contrary,
excess information has a detrimental impact.
This phenomenon is seen in negotiations too. This was observed in a
landmark study led by Neil Rackham, the gentleman well-known for
developing the SPIN selling framework.
Rackham’s study revealed that expert negotiators presented fewer reasons
to support their case because a bigger number of reasons steals the thunder
from their best points. Similarly, a presenter too, loses ground on the
weakness of their least compelling achievement.
You can read the Neil Rackham paper here: http://bit.ly/38k0o6l
or a summary here: https://bit.ly/2MV7BSY

4. 3
“All these points are really very important. We have to keep them,”is a
common refrain that we hear from presenters. In saying or believing so, they
never pause to think who is it important for? Them, or their audience?
Skipping this question pushes presentations into the abyss of boredom as
they end up saying what can be said, rather than what must be said.
We can easily move from the former to the latter if we spend a little time in
understanding who am I speaking to?
Starting to create your presentation by firing up PowerPoint (or Keynote)
is akin to starting the construction of a building without any architectural
drawings. (if you really want to see where that leads to, search‘Winchester
Mystery House’)
Presenter is the HERO of the presentation
and must take the centre stage
Myth 2
This approach of beginning with the
creation of slides ignores some very important
considerations, like:
„ Who is the audience
„ What do they want to know, or
„ How can I best connect with them, and so on
A successful presentation is about the audience, not the presenter. Till the
presenters keep placing themselves at the centre, they will continue to
churn boring and disengaging monologues!
So that makes the audience the real HERO, and NOT the presenter!
Read about the parallels between the‘Winchester Mystery House’and bad
presentations here: http://bit.ly/2ObgGIa

5. 4
On one end of the spectrum are presenters who are victims of the show-
‘em-everything. And on the other end of this spectrum are folks who often
say,“I do not want it in more than five or six slides.”
Most presenters battle hard to strike the balance between everything in only
five slides. The effort exerted to strike this delicate balance wreaks havoc on
slide design.
But why do the presenters feel that fewer slides are better? Often, the
number of slides is seen as a proxy for time. Logically, it may seem to
be a rational assumption. But then do fewer slides really mean a shorter
presentation?
The short answer is NO, because
presenters are struck by the
show-‘em-everything
mindset.
Fewer slides means a shorter
presentation
Myth 3
The result definitely is fewer slides but that
does not translate into shorter and engaging
presentations.
So what is the solution? Presenters must have absolute clarity of the
message they want to convey. More than the volume of information,
presenters must focus on the meaning of the message.
When the focus is on the volume of the message, the collateral damage is
slide design, because it is last thing on the presenter’s mind.
Too much information dilutes the message. Less is More.

6. 5
“The public is more familiar with bad design than good. It is, in effect,
conditioned to prefer bad design because that is what it lives with”said Paul
Rand, the celebrated designer behind the IBM logo, in his book‘Design,
Form and Chaos’.
Psychologists have a name for it - the‘Mere Exposure Effect’, which
essentially means that people develop a preference for things merely
because they are familiar with them.
The situation for presentation design is far worse. Busy slides with lines and
lines of ill-formatted text, cheesy images and clipart are the norm. And so
common, that sometimes exceptions are out rightly rejected. Yes! good
design is rejected.
Remarks, like…
Slide design is a nice
to have skill
Myth 4
‘This is just an image’.
‘Why is this slide so empty’?
‘Add some more text, and some borders’and many similar comments are so
commonplace, that we flinch no more.
Tragically, the ability to deal with bad visual design has become a valuable
coping skill in businesses and offices of our times.
However, good slide design is to a great presentation as good
cinematography is to a blockbuster movie. Just a change in the use of a
particular typeface, selection of the right image and visualizing data with the
right graph can lead to a huge impact in the way information is perceived
and retained.

7. 6
Slide design is a valuable skill for any businessperson. And if COVID-19 has
taught us a thing, it is that the slides are going nowhere. So, design is a must-
have contemporary skill rather than a nice-to-have.
Design as an organisational competency can reap amazing rewards.
McKinsey & Company tracked the design practices of 300 publicly listed
companies over a five-year period in multiple countries and industries.
...Slide design is a nice to have skill
Myth 4
This also went on to become the basis of the McKinsey Design Index (MDI).
It comes as no surprise that companies with the top quartile MDI scores
outperformed industry-benchmark growth by as much as two to one. You
can read the entire study here:
www.mckinsey.com/.../the-business-value-of-design

8. 7
“I am a natural speaker”
“I can wing this”
“I don’t prepare, it makes me sound rehearsed and artificial. I want it to be
natural”
If you have heard these (or similar such remarks) before a speech or
presentation, you definitely know what followed. Disaster! if we were to
put it mildly.
On the other hand, if you introspect about the secret behind the most
powerful speeches in human history that moved the audience - were they
extempore, improvised, or impromptu
with no preparation, planning, or
rehearsals?
The answer is a big NO!
Extempore is the natural
way of presenting
Myth 5
WHY?
Simply because developing and delivering a speech
or a presentation is a highly creative activity, and that calls for a focused left
and right brain thinking. It calls for understanding who my audience is, what
do I want them to know and most importantly, to deliver the message in the
allocated time.
The success and failure of any engaging speech or an impactful presentation
is then a result of thoughtful planning and methodical preparation, or lack
of it.
A clear message, weaved into a well thought-of and structured flow is
the key to an impactful delivery. The best part is, once it is done, it sounds
extempore.
Neil deGrasse Tyson echoes this when he says,“You need to be ten times
more prepared to look as if you didn’t prepare at all.”
You can hear him yourself here:
https://youtu.be/iz42492xY20?t=30

9. 8
Indulge in a simple exercise. Just google“quotes about body language”and
click on the first link.
The first quote in the list of 43 quotes is Ralph Waldo Emerson. Interestingly,
Mr. Emerson wasn’t even talking about body language. BOOM!! Google it
again! Do it, before you read any further. Like we said indulge in the exercise.
The volume of misinformation about body language is immense. And
historically, a lot has been said and written about the contribution of body
language to the success of a speech or a presentation too.
Sadly, much of what you think you know about body language is really
urban folklore.
Recent studies on the psychology
of body language suggest
that much of common
wisdom that most
people accept as
gospel is really
nonsense.*
Body Language is the prime contributor
to the presenter’s success
*Source: What you think you know about body language may be hurting
your speaking career
(https://westsidetoastmasters.com/article_reference/body_language_myths.html)
Myth 6
There is no denying the fact that we are
influenced by the appearance, posture, and the
way the speaker carries herself. But by no yardstick
of measure does it account for being the most important determinant of
success (remember the Mehrabian Myth!)
Just recall that presentation where the speaker delivered a well-crafted story,
supported by a compelling argument, and data to substantiate.
Now imagine the opposite - a suave and impeccably dressed speaker with
the right tone of voice and making all the‘right’gestures while delivering a
message that itself is garbled and is making no sense to you as an audience?
Research suggests that the audience is selfishly forgiving. If their What’s-in-
it-for-me (WIIFM) is addressed and the speaker is making sense, everything
else takes a back seat. – accent, body language, even dressing.
YES, all of these.
Body language then, is NOT the most significant factor while
delivering a presentation. MESSAGING is!

10. 9
Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are full of experts promising an antidote
to ALL your public speaking woes.
Shine on the TEDx stage in 7 days!
Just 5, screams another…
And there is one that says Just 3!!
This, often, invokes the image of the snake-oil salesman. Sadly, those who
buy into this allure, end up disheartened.
Let us understand a fundamental - public speaking is a skill and
mastering any skill calls for repetition and practice.
Can you learn how to speak
effectively in 3 days? The
short answer is Yes.
Become a Master public speaker
in just 3 days!
Myth 7
Can you master the skill in three days?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!
Can three days at the gym turn you into an athlete? No, but
you will learn how to operate the machines. Presentations are no
different either.
Confident public speaking is a result of clear and straight thinking, an
empathic view of the audience and command over the language. All three
of these are a result of a slow‘learn and practice’drill and cannot be
grasped overnight.
So, the next time you come across such proclamations; remember, some
roads have no shortcuts.
If you would like some help with your presentation skills or the design of
your slides, reach out to us on: training@knoledge.in
We would love to lend a helping hand.

11. 10
If you would like some help with your
presentation skills or the design of your slides,
reach out to us on: training@knoledge.in
We would love to lend a helping hand.
© 2021 KNOLedge