I mentioned in a recent entry a straw poll taken across a number of senior people working in communications and PR.  In that survey I asked for the top three characteristics of speakers they most admire and I also asked for their "pet hates".  The previous entry addressed the top three points of admiration and gave us some clues as to what we should focus on if we want to (a) overcome a fear of public speaking, or (b) simply improve our skills.

This entry reveals the "pet hates" - the things that top people in communications just don't want to see - here goes:

1. Speakers who read from the screen/speaking to bullets on slides.  
2. Speakers to speak with a dry mouth.
3. Overplaying of 'accepted techniques'.
4. Over use of notes.
5. Pacing around for no good reason/wandering around the stage.
6. Dictatorial style.
7. Waiting for slides to appear before talking (because they don't know what's on them).
8. Putting entire presentation on a slide and then reading it aloud.
9. Too much detail (or too much information).
10. Hard to hear.
11. Bland content.
12. Misuse of visual aids.
13. Lack of focus, clear uneasiness or lack of confidence.
14. 'Death by bullet point'.
15. Over-running allocated time (or just being over long for given content).
16. Lack of understanding audience's perspective/point of view.
17. Inappropriate use of humour.
18. Reading from text (notes or slides).
19. Never making eye contact.
20. Never moving.

Within the confines of our minds would any of us confess to any of the above?  It's a pretty nasty list isn't it?  The point is that I would guess that all of us have sat through presentations where the speakers did at least some (I hope not all) of the above and we know the damaging effect it has on the impact of an otherwise acceptable performance.

So what's to be done?

Suggestion:  Next time you make a presentation - and I don't care to whom - be it internal (colleagues or managers), customers or suppliers, ask if the audience would object to you making a video of your performance for your own benefit.  The audience don't even need to be seen on the video - in this case you're the important one.  Check your videoed performance against:

1. The previous posting - see how many 'top three characteristics' you can identify in yourself as a professional speaker.
2. The list above - how many bad habits do you need to get rid of?

Let's know how your score - only when you have the courage to (a) measure something and then (b) tell people the score, will you improve.

Go and be great.