In software development, code reviewers sometimes talk about smells – observations about a piece of code that, while not damning, are signs that the code may not be very good. I saw a presentation last week that suggested the idea of smells could be applied more widely. Presentation smells that I can think of include:
- Apologising for not having enough sleep due to being up all night preparing the talk
- Not having a narrative for your talk – why are you doing it? – why do you think it might be interesting to your audience?
- Suggesting that there is too much content to fit into the talk
- Reading your own (very dense) slides
- Not following time cues from the facilitator
I’m sure there are more. Any suggestions?
Half Decent 