Presentations People Forget

How to avoid the costly oversights — a practical guide for speakers, teams and slide-makers.

Practical Guide By Presentation Lab • October 2025

Contents

  1. Why we forget presentation basics
  2. Structure: not just slides, but story
  3. Design: clarity over decoration
  4. Preparation and rehearsal pitfalls
  5. Delivery: voice, pace and connection
  6. Technical checks and plan B
  7. Handouts, follow-ups and measurable outcomes
  8. Checklists & final reminders

Why we forget presentation basics

People often assume that making slides is the same as preparing a presentation. That assumption drives most problems: the slide deck becomes a document to store information, not a tool to guide an audience through a chosen path. When presenters rush, they forget three things: the audience's attention span, the single most