Today at SketchBubble Ashish Arora blogged about Ten Bad Habits That Will Ruin Any Presentation. Omitting the “Bad Habit No.” he used to begin each item, his list is:
"1) Failing to put your remarks in context
2) Opening your remarks with an apology
3) Speaking behind barriers
4) Begging for more time to get your point across
5) Easing off on your standards because none of the other speakers are any good either
6) Punctuating all sentences with “um,” “oh,” or “you know.”
7) Talking faster and speeding up your slides because time is running out
8) Never read from your slides
9) Never clench your hands into a fist
10) Don’t fidget"
The eleventh bad habit is a lack of consistent structure. His last three items really should be:
8) Reading from your slides
9) Clenching your hands into a fist
10) Fidgeting
Also, only his sixth item ends with a period.
Shifting structure can be used for poetic effect, like in the Pink Floyd song Wish You Were Here, where the lyrics trade order from good first to bad, and then change back:
“So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell?
Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees, hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year.
Running over the same ground, what have we found?
The same old fear. Wish you were here.”
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