Every day, brilliant professionals miss out on opportunities simply because they are not confident or effective when presenting. They know their content. They care deeply. But when it comes to sharing their message, pitching their ideas or leading the room, something gets lost.

It’s not about being flashy or extroverted. It’s about being clear, compelling and credible every time you speak. And in my experience, it’s also about understanding that great presentation skills are not a nice-to-have. They are essential.

It’s not just about what you say. It’s about how you say it.

In more than 26 years of running over 1000 Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclasses, I’ve seen the same pattern again and again. Once someone knows how to analyse their audience, structure their message for influence, and deliver with authority, everything changes. They are taken more seriously. Their ideas land. Their impact grows.

Here are three quick stories of real professionals who transformed their skills and saw immediate results:

Case Study 1: The Analyst Who Became a Leader

Jo was a technical analyst in a large insurance firm. Her data was always accurate, but in meetings, people rarely listened to her ideas. After attending my masterclass, Jo applied my 13-step Persuasion Blueprint to a major project update. Instead of busy slides and reading it out line by line, she led with audience-focused messaging, used inclusive language, and made her recommendations clear and actionable.

The result? She was asked to present to the senior leadership team the following quarter and promoted six months later.

Case Study 2: The Manager Who Got the Budget

Raj was a middle manager in professional services who struggled to get funding for his team. He was known as hard-working and knowledgeable, but his pitches were waffly and lacked clarity. In training, he learned how to stick to the winning formula I teach called the Persuasion Blueprint. He can now open with empathy, structure his arguments, handle objections with confidence and ask for what he wants.

Soon after attending training, Raj pitched a new initiative using the formulas he’d learned. The entire budget was approved. His manager thanked him for his brevity and clarity!

Case Study 3: The Consultant Who Was Finally Heard

Linda was a Senior consultant who felt invisible in client workshops and was struggling to make Partner. She had been told she was soft-spoken and lacking executive presence. In an attempt to upskill privately, she paid for herself to attend my presentation skills training. After getting clear on her presentation aims, structuring her content so she knew deep down she’d achieve her needs, and reframing her fear as excitement (amongst other things), Linda found her voice.

Two weeks later, she led a client meeting for a major client and received glowing feedback. A couple of years later, she’s now a Partner and mentors junior consultants in her firm on how to communicate with impact.

Poor presenting could be holding you back

Whether you are in finance, consulting, health, technology, government or sales, the ability to persuade is a career-defining skill. Without it, even your best ideas can be ignored or misunderstood.

The good news? Once you know how to craft your message and deliver it with purpose, people sit up and listen.

Ten common mistakes to avoid

If you want to become a persuasive presenter, the first step is to stop doing the things that undermine your credibility. Here are ten of the most common mistakes I see in presentations:

1. It’s not about YOU! – most presenters are boring, unstructured and nervous because they think they are there to say what ‘they’ want to say. Always remember it’s ALL about the audience.
2. Winging it – Failing to prepare is the fastest way to lose your audience’s trust. Make a serious decision to take your workplace communication seriously!
3. Opening with background – Please start with something that captures attention and makes them care, not with your housekeeping or resume.
4. Talking too much about yourself – Again, make it about the audience. Use “you” and “we” more than “I.”
5. Using too much jargon – If your audience needs a dictionary, you’ve lost them.
6. Overloading your slides – Less is more. Your slides should support you, not compete with you. Make your slide beautiful and memorable for all the right reasons.
7. Split attention – Split attention is when the audience doesn’t know where to look, so they switch off. Know your message and speak to your audience with a blank screen or picture behind you. When you want them to really look at the slide move to the side and look at it yourself.
8. Fake your eye contact – Your vocal variety is linked to your eye contact. Be super sure to really look at people in the eye and connect so your vocal variety keeps people engaged and helps your message land.
9. Ignoring the audience’s emotions – Empathy is a game-changer in persuasion. Acknowledge how they feel.
10. Failing to ask for what you want – Be clear about your call to action. What do you want your audience to do next?

The great news? These little boo boos are all fixable!

If you’re ready to be taken more seriously, have your ideas heard, and get the results you deserve, it’s time to invest in your presentation skills. Read How to Present. Or better still, join me for a presentation skills training online or one of my presentation courses. I’ll help you find your voice, own the room, and present with power and polish.

Happy presenting!

MICHELLE BOWDEN is an authority on persuasive presenting in business. She’s run her Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclass over 1000 times for more than 13,000 people over the past 26 years and her name is a synonym for ‘presentation skills’ in Australia. She’s the best-selling internationally published author of How to Present: the ultimate guide to presenting live and online (Wiley). Visit www.michellebowden.com.au