The 7 Most Common Presentation Mistakes — And How to Avoid Them
Stronger presentations close deals, inspire action, and win buy-in. Here are 7 mistakes that stop that from happening — and how to fix them with proven coaching strategies.
Presentation coaching for business leaders and teams isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s essential. If people are kind enough to give you their time and attention, the least you can do is make it a good experience for them.
And by “Make it a good experience,” I mean, “Don’t be boring.”
Between my own conference speaking, my one-to-one presentation coaching, and 30 years in stand-up and television writing, I’ve seen hundreds of pitches and presentations from leaders, founders, and teams in every industry. Whether you’re running a board meeting, pitching to investors, or delivering a high-stakes keynote, the same mistakes show up again and again.
If you’re responsible for the performance of a team — or for your own impact on stage — these are the 7 mistakes you can’t afford to make.
1. Failing to zcknowledge the elephant in the room in business presentations
Self-awareness is simply acknowledging whatever your audience might be noticing or thinking. And that’s something you can do with humor — you can do things between the lines. Sometimes what someone might be noticing or thinking is “that didn’t go well.” You can use understatement, simply acknowledging that elephant in the room to remove it as a potential distraction or a potential obstacle to connection.
For a leader, this is about credibility. If you walk into a room with a visible distraction and ignore it — whether it’s a technology glitch, breaking company news, or the fact that the temperature is sub-arctic, your audience spends mental energy on the wrong thing. Acknowledge it, own the moment, and move on.
2. Giving the “audiobook” version instead of a live corporate presentation
If most of what you’re doing is reading your slides verbatim, wouldn’t it have been easier to just send us the PDF to read in our own time?
This is where many internal presentations and pitches collapse. Your team needs to understand that slides are not a teleprompter. They are a visual reinforcement of the message. If team members can’t present without being totally dependent on them, they don’t own the content.
3. Competing with your slides and losing audience focus
The only thing worse than reading your slides verbatim is NOT reading them verbatim. If you put up a slide that has text on it, that’s an invitation to read it. So it you’re doing it while you’re sharing different information, you’re splitting the audience’s attention and canceling out your own effort.
Leaders often overlook this in their teams, but it’s a major credibility drain. When your audience has to choose between reading and listening, they will choose reading — and stop listening to you.
4. Overwriting your message and diluting your pitch
I’m a writer. I like words. But don’t over-write. Trim the fat. It’s possible to emphasize a point without making it feel repetitive. See?
Business audiences value efficiency. Overwritten presentations dilute impact, stretch meetings unnecessarily, and can make even the most important content feel exhausting.
5. Leaving yourself out of the presentation
If ChatGPT could give me the same information, why am I sitting here giving you my time?
Data and evidence matter. But what makes a presentation memorable is the human behind the content. Your team’s experience, perspective, and insight is what earns attention and trust. Without that, they’re just reading out loud. (Dive deeper: Human Connection in CX: The Competitive Advantage AI Can’t Replace)
6. Delivering a humor-free talk that fails to connect
I like to think of humor as seasoning. If you think of it like salt, sometimes it’s appropriate to use a lot — like movie theatre popcorn. But sometimes just a tiny bit is plenty — a few flakes of sea salt on chocolate is amazing. Too much is just weird. It’s all about balance.
Humor isn’t about telling jokes. It’s about using authentic moments to create connection. A small, relatable human moment can shift the room, lower resistance, and make your message stick. (Read more: How to Add Humor to Your Presentation Without Adding Jokes)
7. Ending without impact in professional speaking
Uh, I guess that’s it or So does anyone have any questions is not an ending. Memories are short. The thing we’re most likely to remember is the end of your presentation. Leave us with something that lasts.
For leaders and teams, this is about closing with intention. Your final words should lock in the takeaway, create clarity, and move your audience to the next step.
Why this matters for your team
You can have the best message in the world. But if people don’t want to listen to you or you’re not interesting to listen to in some way, shape or form, you’re kind of wasting everyone’s time.
That’s why I work with companies and leaders to turn dry presentations into engaging experiences that get results. Whether it’s preparing a sales team to pitch with confidence, helping executives land their keynotes, or working one-to-one with senior leaders, I show people how to present in a way that is clear, persuasive, and impossible to ignore.
Book me to show your team how to pitch and present with more impact
If your audience isn’t engaged, they won’t remember you or your message. And if they don’t remember you, what’s the point?
Book me to speak at your event or work with your team. I’m not an academic full of theory. I’m a professional comedian and 7x Emmy Award-winning comedy writer. I’ll show your audinece how to eliminate these mistakes — and replace them with storytelling, humor, and delivery techniques that land every time.
For more tips on using humor in business, visit:
