Top 10 cringeworthy presentation gaffes

10. Wailing like a banshee

Listening to this speaker gives me the heebie-jeebies. Her voice is screechy and quaky, and she bursts into high-pitched nervous laughter every few minutes. Maybe it’s anxiety; maybe it’s just her voice. Some deep breathing and relaxation might help this spooky speaker.

9. Creepy, crawly clichés

The problem with clichés is exactly the reason people like to use them: They express a popular or common thought or idea. Unfortunately, it’s a lot easier to use someone else’s decayed corpse of an expression than to come up with something fresh and original. Bury your clichés in the graveyard, and move on.

8. Frightful confessions

I’m terrified of what’s to come when this speaker tells us she’s sorry, she’s not very good at public speaking, or she didn’t have time to prepare, or she only got two hours of sleep. If her deep, dark secret stays locked in the upstairs room (along with that hideous portrait that ages and becomes disfigured while its subject remains young and beautiful) the audience will never know the difference.

7. The walking dead