TJ Walker says bad speeches aren't usually train wrecks—they're forgettable. The real killers: no stories or examples, text-heavy slides, and treating it like a data dump. Audiences remember nothing.
So what makes a bad speech? Hmm. Really can't remember. Well, when you get right down to it, that, in fact, is what makes a bad speech. People can't remember anything you said. It's actually very rare that someone is so awful that they completely freeze. Panic, faint, flop sweat coming out, complete disaster. The PowerPoint being destroyed. People think that's their potential problem that they have to worry about. But in the real world, that's not that common. Here's what is common. You get up, you give your presentation. Your clothes are exactly the way you want them to be. If you're using PowerPoint, the slides progress just as you want to. Everything is smooth, your hands are moving. Everything went according to plan. But if someone went around the room as soon as you finished and put a thousand dollar bill in front of everyone and said, okay, Bill, tell me every message you remember from Samantha's presentation, that person would never get to keep $1,000 because they can't remember a thing. That's the real tragedy of most presentations, is your audience can't remember anything. It went in one ear and out the other. And what makes them bad is they're devoid of stories and examples and case studies. And if there's PowerPoint, they're not using pictures and images, they're just using text. That's what makes a bad speech a bad speech. It's a boring data dump, and it's a wheelbarrow full of facts just thrown on people, and they forget it instantly. That is your number one potential problem as a speaker.
You're Not Being Judged on Your Work Yet: What New Hires Are Really Evaluated On
