Death by PowerPoint, you have probably sat through it! You may have to have endure PowerPoint Poisoning. But it shouldn’t be like this.
In part 1 we looked at some common mistakes presenters make and you discovered some of the behaviours that turn audiences away from your presentation. You also looked at some design issues and found out just how images, font size, making the data on your slides discernable from each other, why it’s best to start your presentation on paper and all about one concept per slide.
In Part 2 you will discover some of the good things PowerPoint has to offer.
Leading on from some of the layout and preparation pointers, we will be dealing with some of the functionality of PowerPoint.
Anyone can use PowerPoint, but getting it right is a different matter. Your presentation is NOT FOR YOU it is for your audience. Believe me, they have not turned up so you can show how clever you are with PowerPoint. Normally they come because they want or need to know some of the information you will be speaking about. That’s why design becomes important. Let’s start part two with some simple design tips
1 Design
A follow on from part 1. I am now going to annoy just about every marketing and branding expert in the land. My number 1 tip is to lose your logo, in fact lose your template. This may sound drastic but it’s not. You logo, brand and template are often a hindrance to the audience understanding your message.
Take a moment to think about your presentation from the audience’s point of view. If a member of the audience has forgotten your name, no squiggle in the corner of your slide is going
to help. Secondly templates often get in the way of good slide design.
For lots more information on this subject read ‘Clear and to the Point’ by Professor Steven Kosslyn. In it he shows how the mind absorbs the information presented to it. This is often at odds to how we business presenters want to deliver the information. But the bottom line is this:- we present our ideas so we can move the audience to our point of view. The best way to do this is in a way our audience would like to receive them.
A good example of this is a film. When you areatn the cinema watching the latest blockbuster, there is no ‘Universal’, ‘Dream Works’ ,’Disney’ or ‘MGM’ logo in a corner of the screen. They understand that for their audience to get the most benefit from their product, it needs to be delivered in a way that helps them. Please lose the logo!
2. Slides with Charts
It’s common for people to present slides that contain a lot of data (not good) to help them, I see a lot of charts in presentations. A big mistake some business presenters make is to 
pack all the data on to their slide. It’s a case of take yourself away from your presentation and take a seat at the back of the audience. By doing this you’ll see what the folks on the back row see.
Two quick tips here: First show the smallest and largest bar chart, so your audience can be sure of the difference between the points you are making. Oh, and use simple charts that are easier for your audience to see.
Second, use verbs instead of nouns. If its sales figures if the Eastern Region has be the best performer, say East is best. That’s simple, and easy to understand. When I was in the corporate world I once saw a slide that had on it “The Eastern regions has again proved to be the most successful” I doubt anyone off the stage could read that. Use simple direct language to direct your audience to what is important.
3. Readable Slides
Following on from the less than readable charts, all slides need to be read from a distance. Let’s face it, it’s often the person at the back of the room you need to impress. The issue is that they may have forgotten their glasses! This is no issue if you have designed your presentation well.
Font Size: Here it’s a case of size matters! Too small and the person at the back can’t read it, too big and it dominates any images you are using. No smaller than 30 point. At the other end it depends on what else in on the slide- However I use no larger than 90 point.
Font Type: It’s best to use scalable TrueType fonts. If you vary from the norm, viewers may not be able to read your slides. Try to stay with Sans Serif fonts as they are they are easiest for people to read on screen.
The best for this is Veranda which was designed to be scalable from 5 point all the way to 500 point. Don’t worry if you prefer a serif font, once you get used to using a font size of over 30 point on a slide that should not be an issue.
4. Animation good or bad?
Let’s face it’ some animation is a good thing. The problem often appears when presenters get carried away with it. Let’s get to basics. There are two types of animation in 
PowerPoint. One is for elements and the other for transitions. DO you remember the old adage Keep It Simple Stupid or KISS! It really is the watch word for PowerPoint presentations. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. If I were you, I’d select dissolve for slide transitions if I were using them. I would definitely avoid the more graphic, and as a result, more confusing transitions.
Because you have the opportunity you sometimes feel the urge to use everything. Don’t. The more elaborate transitions, you may think are fun once, but can grate on your audience. And what will your audience think after twenty slides?
In Part 1: we looked at the sometimes excessive use of animation but some animation can be good for a presentation.
With PowerPoint it is often a case of Less is More. Therefore for the sake of your audience Keep It Simple or KISS, there is a lot more on simplicity in part 3.
Related Blogs
- Do you have the ABC of presenting?
- Why some people worry when they have to present
- Seven ways to make your presentation amazing
- How to write an Elevator pitch
5. Quickly locate the slides
This works when you get questions that you would like to answer and use your slide to reinforce your point. It maybe you want to go back to a particular slide to help your augment. Here is a tip that has saved me several times. I do hope you find it useful.
If you want to go back to a slide perhaps from slide 15 back to slide 8. You may need to do this if you get a question relating to that slide. There is a simple function that allows you to go there quickly. Select the slide number say 5 to get there quickly simply by pressing the ‘5’ key, and then press the return key.
To get back to the start of your presentation while you are in ‘Slide Show’ mode press the ‘1’ key followed by ‘Enter’ .
6. Hide your pointer
If you get caught and the mouse pointer is visible on screen, there are times when you want to hide the pointer as you present.
There is a simple short cut for this
Press the ‘U’ key when you are in ‘Slide Show’ mode and in 15 seconds the pointer will simply fade from view.
7. Short cuts when presenting
OK sometimes everything does not go according to the master plan and you need help. Here are just a few shortcuts you can use when presenting in ‘Slide Show’ mode. These are the ones I find can be most useful:
It may be useful to display a blank black slide, or return to the presentation from a blank black slide. To do this, select the ‘B’ key
Similarly you may wish to use a blank white slide, or return to the presentation from a blank white slide. To get there select the ‘W’ key
If showing hyperlinks you can move back and forward to them. To move first or next hyperlink select ‘TAB’. To move back to the last hyperlink in your presentation select ‘SHIFT TAB’.
Both of these have helped me in the past.
8. Time out to a blank screen
When you have to spend quite a bit of time on one concept, it can be distracting for your audience to look at the same slide for a period of time. Here is a great tip to help. First up time how long you will speak for, say 9 minutes on this concept.
Select from the ribbon marked ‘Animation’ you will see advance slides. In this field there are two check boxes. The check mark will probably be in the one labelled ‘On Mouse Click’ Un check that field. The check box below ‘Automatically After’ allows you to select a time. I use something around the 2 minute mark. Now when you are in ‘Slide Show’ your slide will move on without any interference from you!
But what do you want to move on to if you are still talking? I use a plain dark, blank screen. This does not distract your audience and allows you time especially if you expect questions.
9 Automatic slide change
In some PowerPoint presentation styles, notable Pecha Kucha, slides have a set time and the change is automatic. The presenter has no say in when they change so has to prepare their 
presentation accordingly. The idea for Pecha Kucha came from overlong presentations and a desire to have 6 or 8 presenters make presentations in an hour or less.
Pecha Kucha is a timed presentation style that allows each presenter 20 slides, each slide being displayed for 20 seconds. This means your presentation will last for 6 minutes and 40 seconds only. Key to your success is rehearsal, you’ll find much more about Pecha Kucha in this blog.
Remember poor presentations are not PowerPoint’s fault!
A Recap –
- Design
- Slides With Charts
- Readable Slides
- Animation good or bad?
- Quickly locate your slides
- Hide your Pointer
- Shortcuts when presenting
- Time out to a blank screen
- Automatic slide change
PowerPoint is BS
Next Time: PowerPoint Presentation Secrets
To your Speaking Success
Paul M Johnstone is a Management Communications Speaker; Public Speaking Coach, and The Public Speaking Expert. He’ll help people Overcome their fear of Public Speaking. He is n Executive Coach and Communications skills mentor.
Paul is the founder of the On The Money© an easy to master presentation system allowing you to deliver Killer Presentations every time.
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