Page 98 - Today’s Business Communication; A How-to Guide for the Modern Professional

WhY MUST I gIvE A MEMORABLE PRESENTATION? 87

because his message was inappropriate for his audience.” Ouch! Gover-
nors, presidents, and other important leaders have speechwriters who are
paid to make the presenter look good. It is unimaginable that a profes-
sional speechwriter would send his or her employer out to make a presen-
tation with a poorly prepared speech.
Judith also witnessed recently another surprisingly bad presentation.
“I attended a Public Relations Society of America chapter event that was
packed with business professionals. There was a presenter who was sup-
posed to be an expert on using social media. I was eager to learn from her
expertise so I could use social media to promote my work. She got stuck
in her presentation. Drew a blank. Had no written notes to which she
could refer. She was bad.” Judith says the woman tried to play off her bad
presentation by making a remark that she intended as funny, but it fell flat
and confirmed her lack of preparation.

Falling on Your Face

While it is possible that there are more than four reasons you can fall on
your face while making a presentation or delivering a speech, we believe we
have identified the four major reasons, which are illustrated in Figure 7.1.
These four behaviors are, to some degree interrelated, yet any one of
the four can cause a complete disaster. Put all four together, and, well,
you might end up in some government program to protect your identity.

Fear

Four causes of Poor
Sloth presentation preparation
failure

Lack
of
imagination

Figure 7.1 Four causes of presentation failure