Don't let your slide presentation slide

I am not a PowerPoint person.

When I’m invited to speak, organizers usually ask me why I don’t have a PowerPoint presentation. My answer and explanation is simple: some people have power, but they don’t have points; others have points, but they don’t have power. As for me, I don’t have both, so chill!

I would rather stir my audience to think and imagine. This has worked for me all these speaking years of my life. But there are times when I need PowerPoint to show tables and figures and pie charts and the like.

Business people make use of PowerPoint for presentations to the management, to their clients, to their peers or to their direct reports. More than communicating information, slide presentations, particularly how they’re done, also reveal the level of depth, professionalism and personality of the presenter. These slide presentations can also agitate, frustrate, erode meaning, disappoint and even cause confusion when not prepared well. And so I would like to offer a few suggestions in preparing effective presentations using PowerPoint:

1. Crafting your message is more important than crafting your slide.

Craft your message first before you do your slides. Don’t get too excited with your latest design template. Most presenters make this mistake, so they end up causing their slides to become speaker notes rather than visual help for their audience.

2. Stay away from slide cliché.

Generic slide template is to visual presentation as old, worn-out cliché is to speaking. You make your audience feel special and taken into great consideration with custom-made slides that address their needs.

3. Eliminate slides.

If you can explain something well then you don’t need a slide for it. Reading from slides or saying something that’s already in a slide is like double dribble in basketball. Redundancy is a waste of time and a sure way to turn off your audience’s interest.

4. Limit your slides.

Don’t put full and long sentences in your slide. Slides are visual not vocal. The ideal is nine words and below per line.

5. Let your slides connect.

Whether you are making a financial, design or marketing presentation, always remember that you are actually telling a story. Each slide should build your case, and each slide should connect and segue to the next one.

6. Focus on your audience not on your slides.

After a presentation, your audience should be happy because you have met their needs, not just because they found your slides and animation effects amusing.

7. Let your bullets hit their targets.

If you need bullet points (I personally hate them), limit them to just five or less. Bullet points do not stir the audience’s mind to think, dream and imagine. They are lifeless and quite boring. If you need to use them, keep them to a minimum, and make sure there is a logical consistency from one point to the next.

8. Cast out the devil in your slide.

The devil is in the detail, and this is so true when it comes to slides. Proof-read them many times because a misspelled word, a font that is too small, color combinations that contradict all turn off your audience’s attention and causes frustration. I have heard speakers say, “I know you can’t read this....” Then why in heaven’s name is it there in the first place? Do not allow this to erode your image.

9. Remember to make them remember.

Slides cannot make people remember so a summary of the major points at the end of the presentation is ideal. The last is always remembered.

Your presentation reflects you and your business. Be relevant, be interesting and most important of all, be honest and truthful. The moment you present your thoughts and ideas, you have to be accountable.

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