You’re in a team meeting. The presenter calls up his PowerPoint slides. The graphics are blurry. The slides themselves are disorganized, unclear, and verbose. The speaker is so wrapped up in reading the text on his slides, it doesn’t seem to matter whether you’re there or not.
You find yourself disconnected from what’s being said. You want to pay attention, but between the slides and presenter’s skills…no way.
You can’t answer your e-mail or text messages without appearing rude—not a good idea.
Suddenly, time seems to have no meaning. It would have been better had the speaker just sent the notes and cancelled the meeting.
It’s important to make PowerPoint your ally, but not your master.
We all know the importance of presenting well, and how it makes a difference in your life. But when it comes to using PowerPoint effectively, not everyone saw the slides, so to speak, on using PowerPoint effectively.
Follow these tips when preparing and giving your PowerPoint presentation:
- Rehearse and know your presentation so well that you can speak without the slides. “Prior preparation prevents poor performance” is a cliché, but it is also true.
- Speak to your audience, not to the screen. Use notes if you must read a quote or particular point.
- Let your audience see the slides. Don’t stand in front of the screen.
- When preparing your presentation, ask yourself if the slide itself is really necessary.
- Beware of cluttering a slide with too many graphics, too much text, or both.
- Keep your text brief. Use no more than four bullets with one or two lines each.
- Keep your text large enough to be read. Use 24-point text, in a common font (for example, Arial or Times New Roman).
- Put dark text against a light background for good contrast.
- Make sure your graphics are clear, and any labels or callouts are equally clear.
We all must give our share of presentations. Follow these tips and make yours among the better ones.
