Tag Archives: Power Point

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Escape From Power Point Purgatory

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Presentations are an excellent way to sell yourself and your product or service.  The late Steve Jobs of Apple Computer was famous for delivering presentations that  never failed to inform,  educate,  inspire and entertain his listeners.

Overwhelmingly,  presentations mean Power Point,  no matter the number of obituaries written on its behalf.  Power Point continues to dominate,  despite the presentation capabilities of the iPad tablet  (sorry, Steve).  The challenge is to avoid the tendency to use Power Point as a teleprompter and leverage its advantages.

The secret to working with Power Point is to keep things simple.  Venture capitalist and author Guy Kawasaki  (“The Art of the Start”, 2004)  says  “A Power Point presentation should have no more than 10 slides,  should last no longer than 20 minutes and should contain no font smaller than 30 points.”  Communications coach,  author and popular keynote speaker Carmine Gallo likewise advises that 20 minutes is the ideal maximum length of a presentation,  based on research by neuroscientists from the University of Kentucky,  who found that attention spans drop precipitously after that time.

Every presentation is a story,  a narrative that has a beginning,  middle and end.  When invited to present to a client,  frame the story that is your presentation as a challenge.   After you’ve told your listeners who you are and established your expertise,  begin your talk by describing that challenge.  Next,  highlight any major obstacles that might impede success and then explain the solution you will deliver to resolve the matter.  In conclusion,  give a concise summary to reinforce the key take-away points.   Ask for the business and take questions.

Regarding the design of your slides,  experts recommend that you keep those simple,  too.  Janet Bornemann,  who designs Power Point presentations for corporate clients and is the creative director at PowerPoint Studio in Acton, MA,  recommends that when making slides,  think 5 x 5:  five lines per slide and five words per line. “It is very important for the mind to be able to rest on an idea or thought,  so if it’s a constant flow of words,  people will grow tired”,  she observes.

Treat your slides and the presentation overall as an extension of your brand,  your image,  like any of your marketing collaterals.  There shall be no clip art and no jazzy slide transitions.  Your presentation convey that you are capable, trustworthy,  confident and professional.  Bornemann says,  “Be consistent with colors and fonts.  Focus on the message—everything has to have a reason.”

Jim Confalone,  founder and creative director of ProPoint Graphics cautions against the overuse of charts and graphs and advises that any art and charts you include must be integral to the story and move the narrative forward.   Some presentation experts feel that the first slide should show a startling fact about the challenge the client is facing,  some attention-grabbing adverse outcome that the client must overcome and that captures the reason for hiring you.

Do not bury your listeners with minute details.  They will probably remember only three or four key points.  Leave your audience of decision-makers with a sense of your expertise,  your ability to produce the deliverable; describe the primary benefits derived by the organization if your solution is chosen to resolve the challenge that is the project; and let them know that you give excellent customer service and will respond to their needs and fulfill or exceed expectations.

Finally,  muster the discipline to rehearse your presentation and then rehearse some more.   Jim Confalone says that the number of hours it takes to create the presentation equals the number of hours you’ll need to adequately rehearse.  In order  to shine,  you’ve got to know the thing cold.  One does not read from the slides, ever.  Know your material,  be enthusiastic and connect with your audience and exude confidence.  You might even enjoy yourself!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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Get Power Point Right

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All right,  we’re concluding the  “make the most of summer”  theme by taking a look at Power Point and how we can buff up our expertise.  As we all know,  a vital ongoing business goal for Freelancers is staying visible within our client and referral pool.  That means one of your objectives as we approach September and the fourth quarter is to nail down a speaking gig at a business or professional association that is frequented by potential clients and referral sources.  That could cause you to use Power Point.

The technology has been around for 20 years but most people,  including frequent users,  still get Power Point wrong.  We put too much stuff on our slides.  Someone tells us we should liven things up and recommends that we use Clip Art,  so we throw that in plus some cheesy slide transitions,  too,  to make sure that our audience stays awake.  We use too many slides because we depend on Power Point like a crutch to move our presentation along,  rather than using our words and insights to create the flow.

I understand that when teaching a course there will be perhaps many slides and more text than in a presentation for a meeting or conference.  Nevertheless,  instructors and presenters need to unchain themselves from Power Point tyranny and learn to use the technology to its full advantage.  Here are a few guidelines that will help you to finally get Power Point right:

  • Tell a compelling story that the audience will value and understand.  The story must have a beginning,  middle and end.
  • Frame the big issue that you must address at the beginning; then discuss the major challenges and opportunities that will impact that challenge; state the solution at the end.  Conclude with a summary of key points to wrap things up.
  • Distill the major points: give broad strokes and avoid complex details.
  • Sprinkle in a few relevant charts and graphs that support your story.  They also provide visual interest.
  • Use bullet points.  Communicate in short and powerful statements,  not paragraphs.
  • Do not clutter your slides with text.  Do not use  “busy”  charts or graphs.  Make the slides clear and easy to read.
  • Check your spelling and grammar.
  • Keep the fonts consistent and background colors and designs appropriate to your topic and audience.  Avoid Clip Art and distracting slide transitions.
  • Practice your presentation and ensure that your dialogue and slides work together smoothly.
  • Be enthusiastic,  be confident and engage your audience.  Have fun!

 

Thanks for reading,

Kim