Very often, technical professionals (i.e., engineers, scientists, IT people) are frustrated with delivering technical presentations.

Below are the three biggest frustrations technical professionals (i.e., engineers, scientists, IT people) face in each phase of a technical presentation—creating, practicing, and delivering—with practical solutions for each.

Overloading Content and Struggling with Simplification

Technical professionals often include excessive technical details, complex charts, and in-depth background explanations in their technical presentations.

Fear of leaving out critical information or being challenged later often leads to “data dumps” that overwhelm the audience.

Including excessive technical details, complex charts, and deep background explanations can obscure the main point of your delivery. Always ask yourself if the point you are making and the details on your slides are adding to your message.

Apply the BLUF method (Bottom Line Up Front): start with the key conclusion, then add supporting points as needed.

Never add more detail than is needed to make your message take hold. Excessive detail is boring to your audience and will only distract them from your message.

Limit each slide to one key message supported by visuals, not text blocks.

Put the least amount of text needed on your slides. Use images, graphs, and other visuals to make your point. When you do this, you keep your audience’s focus on you and not your slides. Remember, you are the message.

Use analogies or simple models to explain complex concepts without diluting accuracy.

Using the familiar to explain the complex is always an exemplary method for presenting a point to your audience.

So, one of the biggest frustrations for technical professionals delivering technical content is the struggle with overloading and simplification.

Another is the difficulty of tailoring their content and narrative to different audiences

Difficulty Tailoring to Different Audiences

Technical professionals often struggle to adapt technical depth for varied audiences, such as executives, peers, or non-technical stakeholders.

Risk of oversimplifying for experts or overcomplicating for general audiences reduces engagement and clarity.

Create an audience profile before building slides: identify your audience’s technical background, priorities, and decision-making needs.

A technical professional creating, practicing, and delivering a technical presentation without an audience profile is like being in a rowboat in the ocean without a paddle. You are unsure about the direction to take in your presentation. You are at the mercy of the “winds” of your audience.

Prepare a “layered” presentation—high-level summary first, with optional deep-dive sections available if interest warrants it.

Whenever I create a presentation, I always put high-level slides in the main part of my slide deck. On these high-level slides, you’ll find hyperlinks to lower-level slides in the backup part of my slide deck. Doing this allows me to instantly shift to lower-level slides if the audience wants more detail.

This requires you, as the speaker, to realize the audience wants more detail.

Sometimes you will get a question that makes it obvious the audience wants more detail. But this is not often the case. You must become a master at reading the body language (i.e., audience posture, facial expression, interest) of your audience.

If you have the opportunity, rehearse in front of both technical and non-technical colleagues to test comprehension.

You can then compare notes from each audience to determine a middle ground for your content.

So, two of the biggest frustrations for technical professionals delivering technical content are the struggle with overloading and simplification, and the difficulty of tailoring your content and narrative to different audiences.

A third of the biggest frustrations for technical professionals delivering technical content is performance anxiety and delivery issues.

Performance Anxiety and Delivery Issues

Stage nerves, monotone delivery, and reliance on reading slides undermine audience trust. Never, ever read your presentation, whether from a script or on your slides.

Fast speech, lack of eye contact, and unplanned pauses make technical talks harder to follow.

Technical glitches or forgotten points can derail momentum. But remember, 99% of what you view as a technical glitch or forgotten points will not be noticed by your audience. You will have to fight so that these technical glitches or forgotten points do not distract you.

Practice in simulated conditions—stand, project your voice, and run through slides as if live.

Although not always available, practicing in the actual room where you will deliver your presentation can significantly reduce your performance anxiety.

Use planned pauses to control pacing and allow audience absorption. Pauses will also enable you to think about what is logical to say next before you say it.

Some speakers think that there will be no time to pause because you have so much material to cover. If this is the case with your presentations, you have too much material in your presentation. Less content will be more powerful. Believe it or not.

The purpose of your technical presentations is not to present all the details about your topic to your audience. The purpose of your presentations is to provide enough detail to pique the interest of audience members, encouraging them to delve deeper into the subject after your presentation.

Have a backup plan for tech failures (e.g., printed slides, offline copy, summary notes). During your presentation creation and practice, identify potential technical issues that could arise during your presentation.

Then, take a moment to mind storm (brainstorming by yourself) all the ways you can recover from these tech failures. Then, during your presentation, be ready to invoke the appropriate backup plan if a technical issue occurs.

Record practice sessions (using video recording if possible, as we all have smartphones with this capability) to review pacing, tone, and body language.

Recording and evaluating your technical presentations is one of the fastest ways to improve your presentations.

So, three of the biggest frustrations for technical professionals delivering technical content are (1) the struggle with overloading and simplification, (2) the difficulty of tailoring your content and narrative to different audiences, and (3) performance anxiety and delivery issues.

Being technically correct in your presentation is not enough to convey your message to your audience.

You must know your audience to determine the appropriate level of information for your slides and presentation narrative.

Remember, practicing your presentation many times will make it a better presentation, reduce your level of anxiety, and get your message across to your audience.

Take as much care in how you present your technical material as you do with its accuracy.

Armed with the foregoing information, go forth and wow your audience!

Call to Action

• Apply the BLUF method (Bottom Line Up Front) for organizing your presentation: start with the key conclusion, then add supporting points as needed.

• Prepare a “layered” presentation—high-level summary first, with optional deep-dive sections available if interest warrants it.

• Have a backup plan for tech failures (e.g., printed slides, offline copy, summary notes). During your presentation creation and practice, identify potential technical issues that could arise during your presentation.

References

• Brown, B. (n.d.). Engineer Presentation? Read This to Avoid the 3 Most Common Failings. Speak With Impact. Retrieved from https://www.speakwithimpact.com

• Engineers Rising. (n.d.). How to Give Mind-Blowing Engineering Presentations. Retrieved from https://www.engineersrising.com

• IEEE Spectrum. (2023). 5 Tips for Technical Presentations. Retrieved from https://spectrum.ieee.org

• MIT Communication Lab. (n.d.). Technical Presentation Toolkit. Retrieved from https://mitcommlab.mit.edu

• ESILV Graduate School of Engineering. (2023). How Can Engineers Overcome Presentation Anxiety? Retrieved from https://www.esilv.fr

Being a confident, engaging, and effective technical speaker is a vital personal and professional asset. With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.

Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent technical speeches and presentations. Let’s connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be. Please reach out to me at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation. Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks