|
Last week, I saw a speaker commit every sin imaginable using PowerPoint in his presentation. The audience sat around a large conference table, and at each chair were printouts of his presentation. Before the speaker opened his mouth, every one of us lost ourselves flipping through the packet of slides, printed one per page on expensive paper, making it virtually impossible for him to get our attention.
He then turned the lights off, a particularly dangerous tactic when giving an early-morning talk. Next, he positioned himself behind us, that he addressed the backs of our heads. He picked up his remote and began the show.
The slides were packed with text. Line after line of statistics and information in tiny yellow font that proved impossible to read in the allotted time. Words flew in from all directions, spinning, twisting and dropping from the sky, all of it accompanied by machine gun and car-screeching sound effects.
Not once did he stray from the text on the slides. Not once did he see if we had any questions about what he was saying. Not once did he try to connect the content on his slides with our needs or interests.
Instead, he read each slide to us word for word. He had so much content to cover (he admitted in the beginning that he was going to attempt to deliver a day of content in one hour) that there was no time at the end for any interaction, feedback or questions.
Somewhere in the middle of his lecture, he realized with horror that he had neglected to plug his laptop in. His battery was dead.
During the interminably long time it took to dig out his plug and fire his machine back up, he glanced back and forth between laptop and screen, laughing nervously. There was more tension in the room than a seventh grade dance as we watched the technical debacle unfold before us.
Once he was powered up again, he advanced the slides–one at a time–to get back to slide #65 where he had left off. In one hour, he showed us 85 slides.
To cap off his performance, when he was (finally) done with his slides, his screen saver slide show kicked in to reveal a rather lascivious set of photos that I’m pretty sure he hadn’t intended for this professional audience.
It was a disaster.
PowerPoint can be a tremendous addition to your presentation. It can also, as in the example above, cause the wheels to fall off your talk and strongly encourage the meeting planner to never invite you back.
The most important thing to remember when using PowerPoint–or any visual aid–is that YOU are the presentation. The reason that most PowerPoint presentations go awry is that the speaker relies too heavily on his slides. He never connects with his audience, doesn’t include them in his presentation and insults the attendees by reading to them what they could have read in the comfort of their own offices.
Before you set foot in the presentation room, look at each slide you have prepared and ask yourself these two critical questions:
- “Do I REALLY need to include this slide?”
- “How can I simplify it or make it better?”
Chances are, you can throw out at least a quarter of the slides right away. ALWAYS err on the side of too few slides vs. too many.
Next, to save you from committing the sins above and to empower you to deliver an interesting and effective PowerPoint-based talk, follow the 11 rules below:
GrahamComm’s Eleven Rules for PowerPoint Mastery
- Remember that You are the presentation. Use your slides as a complement to you, not the other way around.
- Keep your slides simple, intriguing and readable at a glance (the more visual, the better). Cartoons work great.
- Use the 6x6 Rule: No more than 6 lines with 6 words per line.
- Plug your computer in. Don’t count on your battery being charged.
- Disable your screen saver and wireless connection. There’s nothing worse than an inappropriate instant message, pop-up ad or R-rated photo appearing in the middle of your talk.
- Speak to people’s eyes, not the visual. Avoid the tendency to speak to the screen, your notes or your laptop. Your main objective is to connect with the people in your audience–NOT overload them with content.
- Pause (stop speaking) to let your listeners digest each slide. Don’t fight for your audience’s attention. When they are done reading your slide, they’ll look back at you and you can resume speaking.
- Bring backups and hard copies, because things always go wrong. I do several things to hedge my bets against the inevitable disasters:
- Email my presentation to the meeting planner
- Bring my own laptop with the presentation loaded
- Bring a backed-up copy on a flash card
- Bring hard copies of the slides
- Embrace The “B Key.” This could be the big take-away from this article, so pay attention. There are times when you no longer need the slide that is showing (when someone asks a question, during an aside, when telling a story, or otherwise addressing a topic unrelated to the slide). This is a great time to black out the screen so that the attention once again is on you. Hit the B key on your keyboard, and your screen will magically go black. When you are done, touch B again, and the slide will reappear. Or hit return, and it will go on to the next slide. I did a workshop with a group from Microsoft a few years ago, and they didn’t know this trick!
- Practice using your slides. Go through your talk–out loud–and know what you are going to say for each bullet or slide. Under the “Slide Show” tab, there are tools that allow you to time your talk while practicing and view the upcoming slides. Practice your talk out loud several times before ever showing it to an audience.
- Don’t do anything the guy in the opening story did.
PowerPoint Exercises
- Try giving your next talk without any slides. Just try it and see how much better you connect with your audience and how grateful people are to not have to watch another boring presentation.
- The next time you do use PowerPoint in a presentation, spend as little time on the visuals as possible and as much as you can talking with your audience. Black the screen out three times using the B key and watch the impact you will make.
The most important thing about using PowerPoint is to keep in mind the reason it is called a “visual aid.” It can be a tremendous complement to your presentation if you follow the rules above.
You will rarely differentiate yourself because of your fantastic PowerPoint presentation. But you will stand out if you use a minimalist, visual style and focus on connecting with your audience while using PowerPoint to enhance your message.
Just remember: your slideshow isn’t your presentation. You are.
Robert Graham
Robert Graham is the Principal of GrahamComm (www.grahamcomm.net), a consulting and training company that helps clients increase their sales and deliver outstanding presentations. He can be reached at 415-652-0763 or Robert@grahamcomm.net.
Re-Print Conditions
We offer this article on a nonexclusive basis. You may reprint or repost this material as long as Robert Graham’s name and contact information is included. Robert@grahamcomm.net, 415-652-0763, www.grahamcomm.net.
Back to Articles
 |
