Xu Cui

When you give a presentation, try to avoid the following common mistakes:

1. Too much text
   The best way to bore your audience.  Also, audience will start focusing and reading the text and ignore your talk.
2. Read slides
   People read text faster than you. Your reading becomes a distraction.
3. Small font
   The smallest font should be >24 point.
4. Too many slides
   Keep it 10-20.
5. Long presentation
   People have hard time to concentrate more than 20min.
6. Not explain what x-axis and y-axis are
   Even smart audience won’t know what the x- and y-axis stand for in your diagram.
7. Not interact with audience
   Try to walk around, make eye contact etc
8. Not repeat audience’s question before answering it
   Unless you are sure everybody heard the question, you should repeat the question first.
9. Not say “good question” before answering an audience’s question
   The easiest way to make people feel good, why not do it?