“Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.”
Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. co-founder
Okay. I use PowerPoint and love it.Here are 5 tips that work for me and connect with my participants:
1. Keep the lights up. It’s not a romantic dinner. The slides are only back-up to your message. They anchor points for visual learners. Let your group see you.
2. Stay away from boring lists. If you’re have to list, at least make it interesting. Instead of listing: Checking email on the weekend is a result of an email addiction (the point you’re trying to make), the bullet point could say: “Go Cold-Turkey.” Intrigue your listeners. Give them a reason to pay attention to you.
3. Don’t read what they can. Why would anyone read aloud what attendees can read themselves? Seems to me the presenter must believe:
- their chosen font is too small
- their group can’t read
- their listeners could care less about what is being presented.
The only exception is if, by reading the slide, you can create drama or a message they might miss by reading it silently to themselves. If the word “fine” is on your slide, for instance, you may have to read it to be sure the right message is conveyed as in: Fine (You’re so fine), Fine (Happy to go along with it), Fine (no way I’m doing this without a fight).
4. Use great photos that fill the screen. Try Dreamstime.com. Their photos are interesting and inexpensive. Oh and if you tell them SpeakerSue sent you, I get a free photo download! (I’m always honest!)
5. Make it fun!
Want more great ideas? Here is what a VP at the New Orleans CVB said about my recent presentation skills presentation to them:
Sue, Thank you for coming to New Orleans and encouraging us to do something different. I have used your techniques in three presentations so far … it really works! …The audience loved it …You are the best! Thank you!!!
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Excellent post. Could not have said it any better myself. Hat’s off to a post well said….
Sue, I love your comment, “It’s not a romantic dinner.” I might have to borrow that in my next presentation!
PowerPoint is a lovely tool when used well; I enjoy the creative exercise of finding great photos for my image-based slides, and I know that I’m not just informing and educating my audience, but entertaining them as well.
I think everyone in business has been in this situation: an important but overly boring presentation, which makes it hard to pay attention and absorb the information.
Here is my advice if power-point must be used:
1: Close Outlook
Close Outlook when you are showing PowerPoint slides. Otherwise, email alerts pop up.
2: Slideshow Mode
Always use the slideshow mode: it makes your slides easier to see.
3: Standing in projector beam
Always avoid standing in the projector beam, as it is distracting.
4: Bullets as hooks
Think of the bullets on your slides as hooks. By that I mean that the bullet should remind you of your talking points but also incite curiosity in your audience. Use questions, alliteration (repetition of consonants) or juxtaposition of ideas to intrigue the audience. For example:
· Why Automate Processes?
· License to Fail
· Magnet Markets
· Customers: Faithful or Fickle?
· Plan or Wing It?
· Tragedy or Triumph?
5: Use more images
Incorporate images and negative visual space. Break up all the linear text on your slides with stories, examples, images & metaphors. Otherwise, you are not engaging your audience’s right hemisphere, the brain’s center of imagination. That’s when our minds start to drift, in spite of the fact that the data may be important for us to learn and understand. Use more imagery coupled with metaphor. The image search engine that I use is image.google.com. You can save the image files you find to your hard drive and insert them into PowerPoint. Use files that are between 30 – 100K for good clarity without bloating your PowerPoint file.
6: Simplify text
Most PowerPoint slides are loaded with way too much text. Distill your slides down into simple bullet points with 4 or 6 words per bullet max. Instead, think of the bullets as hooks.
Thanks for the post!
Lisa,
I love the idea of entertaining them. Without that, they might as well read a (boring) book! Thanks so much for taking the time to post! Sue
Terry,
Wow! Great ideas! Intrigue that’s what it’s all about. In the perhaps 40 image-only slides that I might use for a 60 min presentation, I might have maybe, 2-3 bullet point slides. I find that often the bullet points are for the use of the presenter more than they are for the participants. I choose not to use any words on my photo slides – or maybe one key point (words – not bullet points). Participants have handouts with key points, but I talk to the photographs to engage every type of learner. Thanks again! Sue
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.