The Pitch Avatar team has compiled the main reasons why audiences often react to presentations quite differently from what their creators expect.
Most authors of online presentations are constantly searching for new ideas to improve the effectiveness of their materials. And almost everyone has faced the fact that not all useful tips found online or received from successful professionals work the way they should. One of the main problems is that content creators dream, like medieval alchemists, of discovering a kind of universal magic formula that will turn their presentation into perfect content. The kind that flawlessly attracts exactly the clients the presenter needs. Unfortunately, such a philosopher’s stone does not exist. When a professional gives useful advice, they assume that the content level, even without their help, is at least average or above average. It is impossible to turn an overall poor presentation into an excellent one by using a single “trick.”
Which means that before thinking about improving the effectiveness of a presentation, it is important to understand what reduces that effectiveness. Simply put, what viewers don’t like about online content.
We should note right away that this time we decided to avoid using references. Too often they distract from the article itself. Anyone interested can easily find services online that provide access to up-to-date research and statistics. In this case, we will rely on the experience of our team, our partners, and our clients. So here it is:
10 Signs of a Poor Online Presentation
Boring. The famous satirist Voltaire once noted that all genres are good except the boring one. These words are worth remembering for all presentation authors. If you present your material in a dry and overly formal way, filling it with specialized terminology, formulas, and static black-and-white charts, you will almost certainly put your audience to sleep. Even if the information in the presentation is useful and essential for them.
No matter how serious the topic of your presentation is, it is worth thinking about how to present it in the most accessible and engaging way possible. One of the best formats is: “Problem – Solution.” And don’t forget about humor. No one is suggesting turning a presentation or webinar into a stand-up show. But a little humor helps refresh the audience and refocus their attention. The key is that the jokes should be related to the topic of the presentation.
It is also worth noting that presenters do not necessarily have to tell jokes themselves. Funny images, GIFs, or short videos can entertain viewers just as effectively. And humorous quizzes, contests, and polls can also help engage the audience in the presentation process.
Low quality. A huge number of presentations are created in a rush. As a result, their quality often leaves much to be desired. This primarily concerns video appearances by hosts or speakers and voice-over narration. Slips of the tongue, poorly chosen emotions and intonations, swallowed word endings, speech that is too fast or too slow – all of this literally “kills” a presentation in the eyes of the audience.
Too long. Every year we are exposed to an increasing volume of information. This is the main reason short-form content continues to grow in popularity. The same applies to online presentations. If presentations lasting 18–20 minutes were once considered normal, today even a ten-minute presentation is unlikely to be watched to the end.
3-5 minutes (not including Q&A or other interactive elements) is the approximate timeframe modern online presentation creators can realistically expect. And in most cases, 3 minutes is better than 5.
How can you compress information to this size? A universal approach is visualization. Less text, more images, collages, videos, and similar visual elements. The human brain reads and processes visual information much faster than text or speech.
Too few images and videos. As mentioned above, people perceive, process, and remember visual information faster and more effectively. It is no surprise that one of the main complaints viewers have about presentations is the lack of illustrations.
The days when you could rely on one slide for every two minutes, filling the time with “talking,” are long gone. A modern presentation should be highly visual from beginning to end. And it is best to focus on dynamic content.
Not enough interactivity. Viewers don’t like being assigned a passive role during a presentation. They prefer to actively participate in it. Interactive slides that allow various manipulations, polls, and contests – these are exactly the elements audiences expect from modern presentations. But most importantly, viewers want the opportunity to share their opinions and ask questions. Naturally, they also expect feedback from hosts or speakers. And not only at the end of the presentation, but throughout it. To make this possible, it is important to equip the presentation with a feedback system.
Too much text. Presenters often overload slides with large amounts of text. This is one of the biggest mistakes they make. Viewers do not enjoy reading during presentations. That is a fact.
Text is slower to process than both audio and video. Listening, watching, and reading simultaneously is uncomfortable. Therefore, text in an online presentation should serve only a supporting role.
Sentences should be no longer than six words, written in a large font, and occupy no more than one quarter of the slide. At the same time, it is worth taking the time to think about how to reduce the text in the presentation to an absolute minimum, ruthlessly removing any words or sentences that are not essential.
Template-based presentations. One of the most common problems with modern presentations is how similar they are to one another. In an effort to save time, authors produce them using the same templates, sometimes even using identical slide sets as a foundation.
Obviously, such presentations fail to attract viewers because they do not stand out from the mass of similar content. In fact, creating such a presentation may be worse than not creating one at all.
What can be done? A good solution is to develop unconventional scenarios through brainstorming. Especially since today artificial intelligence can also be used to help generate ideas.
In conclusion
One of the most effective ways to create presentations that are truly engaging for viewers is to follow new developments offered by technological progress and actively experiment with them.
Try it and see for yourself!
Good luck and successful presentations to everyone!
