Do not do this to your audience!
by Karen Adamedes
Yep…’Death by PowerPoint’ is a thing.
It’s that thing that happens when you slowly lose all interest in the presentation you are watching, the content and worst of all the presenter.
It often occurs when you are attending a presentation where there are slides that you can’t read, are too busy, are being read from word for word or there are just way too many of them (slides, that is!). This is often accompanied by the speaker saying, “It might be a bit hard for you to read this slide but…”
If you’re in the audience there is probably little you can do other than look for the closest exit, take a nap or suddenly have some emergency on your smart phone that you need to turn your attention to.
But if you are a presenter there is plenty you can do to make the experience worthwhile not only for your audience but for your career and credibility.
Presentations are a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate what you know, what you have achieved and what you are capable of contributing. You want to make sure that all aspects of it are as high quality as they can be – and this includes the supporting media you use.
The use of slides that do not help you tell or sell your message to your audience are a waste of time, for you and for them. Best case your audience doesn’t listen and are bored. And you have lost an opportunity to achieve whatever your objective was for the presentation.
Worst case they think less of you as a result of the presentation, you lose credibility and don’t achieve your business objective.
And you don’t want to be responsible for the, figuratively speaking, murder of your audience’s interest in what you have to say!
If you are going to use slides make sure that they help you tell your story, engage the interest of your audience and enhance your credibility.
Here’s 11 tips to avoid ‘death by PowerPoint’ and help you make a great presentation:
1. Dark backgrounds – they are easier to read on a screen.
2. 5 or less bullet points – punchy, informative and you won’t fall into the trap of reading them word for word.
3. No more that 14 words per slide – great rule to make sure you don’t put too much content on a slide and that your audience can read it.
4. Use graphics – ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ as they say. And as your audience figure out the message of the picture they are getting actively involved in your presentation.
5. High quality graphics – are required to expand to the size you need and to look good from the back of the room.
6. Use a variety of visual aids – show examples of what you are talking about, don’t just rely on the slides.
7. Vary your media every 6 to 8 minutes – which is about the ‘average’ person’s attention span. This will help maintain audience interest.
8. Charts and tables should be easy to read – if they are not and people can’t see what you are talking about – you lose their interest.
9. Use handouts – to provide details of lots of information that your audience needs to know. It will be easier to read and help keep your slides ‘clean’.
10. Talk to the slide don’t just read it – you need to be providing information, commentary or analysis to what is on the slides. Otherwise you could just email the presentation and save all the bother of actually presenting.
11. Rehearse – know what slide is coming up and what you are going to say when it does. It will be a lot less stressful for you and a lot more enjoyable for the audience.
You need to be essential to your presentation…make sure your slides support you!
There is a lot of competition for the attention of your audience, even when they have come to see you – text messages, emails, Facebook the list of things people can be doing whilst they sit in your audience is endless.
Good quality, interesting slides can help make your audience want to listen to you and hear what you have to say…..and that will give your presentation life!
Career Tip to Go: Keep your audience alive and interested with good quality slides that support your presentation!
Like more career tips to go?
[mc4wp_form id=”1429″]
Karen Adamedes is an experienced executive, author and career-tipster. In her most recent book ‘Professional in Pajamas: 101 Tips for Working from Home’ Karen shares many of the insights she has gained during a decade of working from home, where she has negotiated multi-million dollar deals, led national teams and delivered major projects. She does admit to sometimes working in her pajamas.
Leave a Reply