10 Disaster Presentation Starters

How Not to Start Your Presentation: 10 Roads to Disaster

by: George Torok

Preparing a speech can be like sculpting. You keep removing the excess clay until you have your work of art. If you want to start your presentation with a bang instead of a bust avoid these ten mistakes. These tips will show you how not to start your speech.

1. You like me, you really like me

Sally Fields did this when she accepted her academy award. Her gushing outburst was mocked because it seemed unprofessional. We all want to be liked but Sally pushed our puke button with her act. If they are giving you the award don’t insult them by pretending that you don’t deserve it.

2. Tell a joke

If you have an ancient book on public speaking that tells you to start with a joke – burn it and purge anything you read from your memory. That is a terrible way to start your speech. It’s difficult to tell a joke well in front of an audience. It usually fails – a bad way to start your speech. Don’t tell jokes.

3. How is everybody today?

You have probably seen the “motivational speaker” wannabe start his presentation with this question. Then he repeats the question only louder as if that means your first response was too weak. It looks, sounds and feels phony and it ticks people off – a very bad way to start your presentation.

4. I don’t know why I have been asked to speak

Imagine the thoughts that go through the minds of your audience when you start with this phrase. If you don’t know – why are you speaking? This is going to be a dreadful presentation. Why did I attend? How do I escape?

5. I’m really nervous

It’s okay to admit imperfection. But don’t tell your audience that you are a lousy presenter, this is your first time or that you are very nervous. That conveys lack of confidence. Often they can’t tell the state of your nerves so keep it to yourself. If you are a lousy presenter they will decide on their own soon enough. Don’t foretell your own presentation disaster.

6. I’m really not prepared

How would you feel when the speaker says this at the beginning of his speech? You might think about leaving the room, checking your email or tuning out at the least. As the presenter you want to build interest and anticipation when you start your presentation. You want your audience to perk up and think, “This could be good.”

7. I’m sorry

Don’t start your presentation with an apology. I’m sorry for starting late. I’m sorry that the coffee was cold. I’m sorry that the real speaker couldn’t be here. What a depressing way to start a speech.

8. I’m perfect you’re not

Your introduction said flattering things about you to build your credibility with the audience. But you must not start your presentation appearing to be perfect. You need to build rapport and one way to do that is by revealing a human flaw, admitting an embarrassing mistake or voicing your own dilemma.

9. Criticize

English: A member of the audience holds a “Thank You” sign during President Barack Obama’s speech on medicare fraud and health care insurance reform at St. Charles High School in St. Charles, Mo., March 10, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Maybe the introducer messed up your introduction. Perhaps the conference appeared badly organized. Maybe the venue screwed up the registration and the meal. The speaker before you might have chewed into your presentation time. Don’t criticize. If you do that, the audience will tune you out. If any of those things happened you must capture their attention by taking the higher road. Offer them hope. Show them your insights to a better way.

10. Kissing up

You are the most beautiful audience to which I have ever spoken to. Yuk! You can compliment your audience but make it appropriate, sincere and factual. False flattery stinks of snake oil.

Improve the start of your presentation by removing these 10 errors so you can start your speech in the right direction. You and your audience will be amazed at the difference.

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Junk food as ‘addictive as drugs’

Eating junk food can be addictive Photo: GETTY

Junk food is almost as addictive as heroin, scientists have found.

A diet of burgers, chips, sausages and cake will programme your brain into craving even more foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat, according to new research.

Over the years these junk foods can become a substitute for happiness and will lead bingers to become addicted.

Dr Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist, carried out the research which shows how dangerous high fat and high sugar foods can be to our health .

“You lose control. It’s the hallmark of addiction,” he said.

The researchers believe it is one of the first studies to suggest brains may react in the same way to junk food as they do to drugs.

“This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neuro-biological foundations,” said Paul Johnson, Dr Kenny’s work colleague.

Dr Kenny, who began his research at Guy’s Hospital, London, but now works at Florida’s Scripps Research Institute, divided rats into three groups for his research, due to be published in teh US soon.

One got normal amounts of healthy food to eat. Another lot was given restricted amounts of junk food and the third group was given unlimited amounts of junk, including cheesecake, fatty meat products, and cheap sponge cakes and chocolate snacks.

There were no adverse effects on the first two groups, but the rats who ate as much junk food as they wanted quickly became very fat and started bingeing.

When researchers electronically stimulated the part of the brain that feels pleasure, they found that the rats on unlimited junk food needed more and more stimulation to register the same level of pleasure as the animals on healthier diets.

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Young kids prefer to share prizes after working together

Washington, Feb 13 (ANI): A new study has shown that young children choose to share prizes after working together.

In the study, three-year-old children shared with a peer after they worked together to earn a reward, even in situations where it would be easy for one child to keep all of the spoils for himself.

The new research was inspired by work in chimpanzees that found their cooperation regularly breaks down.

Other research in humans has suggested that young children might not be very good at sharing, but this has usually depended on asking the children what they’d do in hypothetical situations, or giving them one shot at dividing up resources.

For this study, researchers wanted to take a more thorough look at how young children share, particularly in a situation where they had to work together for a common goal. They had pairs of children complete a task in which they had to collaborate to get a prize. The prize-gummy bears, stickers, or other items-was piled on a board with wheels inside a transparent box. If only one child pulled on a rope, the board wouldn’t move, but if they pulled together, they could bring it toward them and reach the food or toys through windows in the transparent box. Sometimes there was only one window to reach through; sometimes there were two. But even when there was only one window, which meant that one child could have monopolized the prizes, the children almost always shared equally. Each pair of children was tested several times.

“We were surprised that this rule was so strict-that equality was so strongly preferred,” said Felix Warneken of Harvard University, a coauthor of the study.

And the children shared virtually without conflict.

“It was rarely the case that one took all the resources and the other kid had to say, ‘Hey, that’s not fair.’” Sometimes, if one child didn’t take their half of the spoils immediately, the other would even point it out.

The study has been published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. (ANI)

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