I recently spoke to a group of students at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. While I was there, I started thinking about some of the presentations I’ve sat through over the years. Not all of the memories were pleasant.
According to the Wall Street Journal, over 30 million PowerPoint presentations are done each day. Yep – 30 million. If that many presentations are happening it only seems logical to me that, somewhere along the way, people would spend some time to learn how to use PowerPoint as an effective presentation tool. Because that’s what it is…a tool.
PowerPoint is not a substitute for learning the material before you present, not a stand-in for handouts, and not an alternative for taking meeting minutes. PowerPoint is something that can add polish to your presentations and make them come alive . . . but only if solid content and presentation skills are already there in the first place.
Want to make the most of your next PowerPoint presentation? Here are 4 tips to consider.
- Guy Kawasaki offers a great suggestion for using PowerPoint called the 10/20/30 Rule. No more than 10 slides, that last no more than 20 minutes and contain no smaller than 30 font.
- Gordon Smith from The Conglomerate says lesson numero uno is ‘minimal text.’
- Mike Freeman tells us in MaineBusiness.com to add lots of photos.
- And, Andrew Ferguson dot NET pleads with us to use appealing backgrounds and themes.
The key to developing a PowerPoint presentation is to put yourself in the seats of your audience. That is, if you had to sit and listen to you…with your PowerPoint. Would you be sitting up attentively listening and taking notes? OR would you be slouched over tweeting your peeps about how your left cheek is starting to fall asleep?
Companies, and the designated presenters within them, could really do themselves a favor by adhering to the ‘less is more’ philosophy when it comes to PowerPoint. If you aren’t going to put time and thought into your PowerPoint, then I recommend you follow Seth Godin’s advice and don’t use it at all!
0
Richard French says
It’s always been my contention that the Powerpoint should only be used for visual stimulation and to accentuate the material that is being covered verbally by the speaker. The only thing worse that attending a presentation where the speaker reads off the Powerpoint is actually being the speaker reading off the Powerpoint screen.
Great topic…thanks Sharlyn!
Simon Morton says
Hi Sharlyn,
Excellent blog… Guy and Seth’s comments are particularly valuable and highly recommended!
Can I add one more? One of the key things that people forget is that PowerPoint should be the CULMINATION of the presentation development process. Start planning on paper and only make the transition to PowerPoint at the final stage (who knows…you might even get away with no PowerPoint at all – what a impact that would have!).
I recently presented on some of the pitfalls of PowerPoint (notably standalone presentations) at a conference. An edited version of this presentation can be found here: http://www.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/riba – I hope you find it helpful.
Keep up the good work!
Simon
HR Maven says
I have seen this referenced on several sites and have used this model from the moment I saw the presentations.
http://www.identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/ is hand’s down the very best PP presentation that I have ever seen. I watch it once in a while just for entertainment. It’s spectacular.
There is hope for PP and the rest of us.
hr bartender says
Thanks for the link to the Identity 2.0 presentation. It’s a great example of ‘less is more’ when it comes to PowerPoint.
Jessica Pyne says
Great closing statement – akin to ‘if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly’.
I don’t, however, agree with all the points you cite entirely. Sometimes (in fact, a lot of the time!) it is necessary to include more than 10 slides in a presentation; and number of slides actually bears no resemblance to length of presentation. It is better to include a few more slides in your deck than to attempt to put too much information on one slide.
Also, I’d like to argue that diagrams and graphs work better than photos – photos may look nicer than bullet points, but in terms of explaining a message, they are no more effective. A diagram can help to demonstrate an idea in a visual way.
But yes – more presenters should place themselves in the audience’s shoes!
hr bartender says
Thanks for the comment Jessica. It’s funny that I’m reading your comment after spending the afternoon in a workshop. 3 hours – and the presenter had 224 slides in his deck. I agree that he might not have been able to limit it to 10…but crazy to think he could get through that many. Of course, he didn’t and the audience is left wondering if they were cheated somehow.
I think the point here is that most presenters go overboard with their decks. Maybe it’s a crutch or compensation for marginal speaking ability. People need to remember that they are the ones who are giving the presentation . . not their deck.