Five Ways Your Presentation Style Could Be Holding You Back

Most people don’t realise how much their presentation style affects the way they are perceived professionally.

Not just during formal presentations, but in meetings, webinars, pitches, interviews, panel discussions, and everyday workplace communication.

Because when people hear you speak, they aren’t just listening to your information.

They’re also forming impressions about your confidence, credibility, clarity, leadership, and how comfortable you appear under pressure.

And interestingly, many of the communication habits that quietly undermine presentations don’t happen because someone lacks intelligence or expertise.

They usually happen because pressure changes behaviour.

The good news is that once you become aware of these habits, they become much easier to improve.

ONE: Over-explaining instead of landing the point

One of the most common ways presentations lose impact is through over-explaining.

A speaker answers a simple question with a five-minute response. A presentation point becomes overloaded with context, caveats, and additional detail. Someone continues speaking long after the audience already understood the message.

This is especially common amongst highly capable professionals who care deeply about accuracy and want to make sure they are understood properly.

Ironically, the more pressure someone feels to sound credible, the more likely they are to over-talk.

But audiences rarely need more information. Usually, they need more clarity.

Strong communicators understand that simplicity is not a sign of less intelligence. It’s often a sign of clearer thinking.

If this sounds familiar, you may also find ‘Why We Ramble When Presenting, Even When We Know Our Subject’ helpful.

TWO: Speaking too quickly when pressure increases

Many people don’t realise how dramatically nerves can affect speaking pace.

As pressure increases, thinking speeds up. Breathing changes, delivery becomes faster, and before long, someone is halfway through a sentence before they fully know where it’s heading.

Fast speaking is often an attempt to manage nerves, but professionally it can have the opposite effect.

When delivery becomes rushed:

• Ideas become harder to follow
• Key points lose emphasis
• Confidence can appear reduced
• Audiences stop absorbing information properly

Slowing down doesn’t mean sounding robotic or overly controlled.

It simply gives your audience more time to process what you’re saying, whilst also giving your brain more time to structure thoughts clearly.

Three: Filling every silence

Silence makes many people uncomfortable, particularly when they feel visible, judged, or under pressure.

As a result, some speakers fill every possible pause with extra words, repeated explanations, or unnecessary detail because silence feels risky.

But pauses are often where communication becomes easier to absorb:

• They help audiences process information
• They create emphasis
• They make speakers appear calmer and more controlled
• And they reduce the feeling of verbal overload

One of the biggest shifts strong communicators make is realising they don’t need to continuously prove themselves through constant talking.

Four: Over-performing energy instead of creating connection

This is becoming increasingly common in modern workplace communication.

Some professionals feel pressure to sound highly energetic, constantly enthusiastic, or visibly animated because they believe this makes them appear more engaging.

But energy and connection are not the same thing.

In practice, this can sometimes lead to:

• Talking over other people
• Speaking without listening properly
• Forced enthusiasm that feels unnatural
• Rushing through points too quickly
• Over-performing rather than communicating naturally

Audiences usually respond far better to speakers who feel genuine, grounded, and comfortable in themselves than people who appear to be performing confidence.

This is particularly noticeable during webinars, panels, podcasts, and virtual meetings where communication can quickly start to feel forced or overly rehearsed.

Five: Letting physical distractions undermine your message

Physical communication habits matter more than many people realise.

Things like:

• Fidgeting constantly
• Avoiding eye contact
• Looking at yourself continuously on Teams or Zoom
• Repetitive gestures
• Constant movement
• Over-reliance on notes

These behaviours are usually linked to self-awareness increasing under pressure.

The challenge is that audiences often notice physical discomfort before they fully absorb the actual message being communicated.

This doesn’t mean you need to become perfectly polished, but becoming more aware of how you physically communicate can make a significant difference to how calm, credible, and confident you appear professionally.

Remember: strong communication is rarely about perfection

Most communication habits develop for understandable reasons:

• Nerves
• Pressure
• Overthinking
• Wanting to sound credible
• Trying to avoid judgement
• Wanting people to like or respect us

But once you become aware of these patterns, they become much easier to improve deliberately.

Strong communicators are rarely perfect communicators.

More often, they’re people who understand how they come across, know how to structure their thinking clearly, and don’t allow pressure to completely take over when visibility increases.

If you’d like practical help communicating more clearly and confidently under pressure, the Brand Champion Bootcamp combines on-demand public speaking, presentation skills, and media training guidance with live coaching designed for real professional situations.