Making Eye Contact

• The conventional wisdom when giving a speech or presentation is that you should look over the heads of the audience, rather than make eye contact, to avoid losing your train of thought. However, a number of communication experts believe you should make eye contact with some members of the audience to form a connection that can help you focus and create a sense of trust. It's best to limit eye contact to only a few people, or you might end up calling too much attention to the technique.
  
  

Using the Lectern

• A common mistake made by people giving a speech or presentation is to stay locked behind the lectern. This reinforces the fact that you're nervous, and affects how the audience responds. You should start your presentation behind the lectern, then feel free to use the space around you. You don't want to make the audience jumpy by moving around too much, so keep your movements within several feet of the lectern. Other mistakes to avoid are leaning, grabbing or pounding on the lectern, which can distract the audience, and leaving the lectern before the person who introduced you returns to resume his duties.
  
  

Memorizing

• Memorizing your speech is a mistake to avoid because it can make the presentation feel stilted and lacking the natural rhythm of a strong speaker's tone. It's much more effective for you to have a complete understanding of all the concepts and topics that constitute your presentation, and use small note cards or an outline to keep you on track. Another problem with memorization is that forgetting even a small section of your presentation, or saying it in the wrong order, could throw everything off and make it impossible for you to recover.
  
  

Telling Jokes

• Many people use jokes to ease their nerves or help banish their fears, but unless you're giving a presentation about the history of jokes or some other kind of comedic topic, you should avoid this. Even the most innocent joke may offend members of the audience, and because humor is subjective, your joke can bomb and cause embarrassment and awkwardness. However, if in the course of your presentation, something unexpected happens such as you trip or bump into the lectern, you can make a quick reference to it, as this can humanize you to the audience.