Always check and recheck your spelling and grammar.
Don’t just rely on the computer spellchecker as spellchecking tools can miss some very obvious and potentially embarrassing mistakes.
Instead make sure to have someone else proofread your slides and handouts, a fresh eye can usually find mistakes quicker.
Bad spelling and grammar can have two undesirable effects:
- It’s distracting. It’s going to distract your audience away from listening to you, they may be confused by the word or phrase that you miswrote and try to work out what you meant or they may get irritated by the mistake and lose interest in what you’re saying. However they react, they won’t be listening to you and if that happens while you are telling them the reason why they need to buy your product then the sale is lost.
- It shows a lack of preparation or lack of professionalism. If you’re a prospective client or investor and you’re interested in buying or investing with a company, ask yourself this: if they don’t take the time to check something as important as their slidedeck for spelling mistakes then where else might there be a lack of focus or attention to detail? Would you want to buy from or invest in that company?
Put simply, spelling mistakes can cost you money.