6 Common Public Speaking Mistakes You Should Avoid and How to Fix Them

A conversation between you and your friends or family is not something difficult to do. You can do it naturally, especially when you spend a lot of time with them. However, speaking in front of the public is different. You might have made a public speaking mistake without realizing it.

What would happen if you made a public speaking mistake? It is not only about you getting embarrassed. You also couldn't deliver the message and provide information to the audience. In short, your presentation is unable to give you the result like what you want.

Isn't that scary? So, to avoid the mistake and give you a gist of what kind of common mistakes you might make, we have listed them below. Plus, we also throw in ways to avoid them. Let's start!

Reading Aloud

Reading aloud is a method to practice speaking in front of the public. It helps you to gain self-confidence. You also can train your pronunciation. However, doing it during the presentation is a big mistake. You might think this method will attract the audience's attention. But it will make you sound like speaking without a heart and even make you sound robotic.

How to fix this public speaking mistake? Make notes about the topic and message you want to deliver to the audience. Create bullet points consisting of a summary of the information without including the whole sentence.

Under pressure, you can switch to reading aloud the presentation material. Do it briefly. Then, use the speaking method we explained above.

Also, keep your eye contact with the audience during your presentation. You shouldn't look at the notes too long. Take a glimpse of it and use the summary as the base for your presentation. It means you need to understand and remember the topic you are going to present in front of your audience.

Memorizing the Script

You might already write perfect lines that you want to deliver to your audience. It consists of information and interesting sentences that you thought will make your audience entertained. However, if you speak based on the lines you made before, you sound unnatural. In the worst case, you might forget the lines, which ruins the whole presentation.

Is it wrong to memorize a presentation script? It is not. However, it is more efficient and natural if you use the word you made on the spot. The audience also enjoys it more than when the presenter uses the prepared lines.

To fix this public speaking mistake, create several chunks of information. Use it to organize your ideas and information you want to share with your audience. To make it easier, create three big chunks. It is easy to develop and remember.

Poor Usage of Presentation Slides

Presentation slides help you to keep the audience engaged with your presentation. The slides also can provide more detailed information on the topic you are talking to your audience. However, it can lead to one public speaking mistake. You focus too much on the slides than the audience.

When that happens, you will speak like reading the prepared lines because you read directly from the slides. No eye contact with the audience. That will drop the attention level to the bottom. In the worst case, your audience could leave the venue because they feel that the public speaker doesn't care about them.

What is the solution? Create professional-quality presentation slides. Also, you should put the slides as a supporting tool to avoid this public speaking mistake. Use it as a reference on one part of the topic your audience needs to know its detail.

More importantly, do not see the slides too long. Keep eye contact. To do that, you should remember the content of each slide. Therefore, you know what you want to say to your audience for each slide you present to them.

Speaking Too Fast

You might think that speaking fast makes you sound knowledgeable. But presentation is one of the forms of communication forms. Therefore, you should consider your audience. Speaking too fast is hard to understand and increases your audience's stress level.

Slow your pace and take a breath. Stop talking for a bit is also a good idea. Try to make your presentation like when you speak to a person. That will help you to avoid this public speaking mistake.

Monotone Voice

This public speaking mistake often happens to beginner public speakers. It makes the presentation feels boring, dull, and flat. The audience might feel sleepy because of this speaking style.

So, prepare your mind before speaking to prevent your presentation becoming a lullaby for your audience. Take deep breaths and calm your nerves. Similar to previous mistakes, the solution is to make it like when you are speaking to another person or friends.

The Habits to Deal with Pressure

You might have a habit to do when facing pressure. For example, fidgeting, twisting your ring, playing with a pen, or rocking front and backward when you feel nervous. It might let you feel peaceful and calm your mind. However, these habits will distract your audience from the information you present.

Stay on the spot with feet hip-distance apart. Let your upper body relax, and move your arms, hand, or feet naturally. Move them when you need them. Do not let your nerves take control of your move.

This public speaking mistake might be hard to fix. It is because these movements become the habits that you naturally do on many occasions. You need to train hard and have more experience speaking in front of the public to deal with it.

Conclusion

In general, many public speaking mistakes happen during presentation time because of a lack of preparation. Therefore, you should prepare everything carefully and practice it regularly. You can fix those mistakes and prevent them from happening.

More importantly, enjoy your presentation. Enjoying this activity will help you greatly to fix your public speaking mistake. More importantly, you also can have fun during your presentation.