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Power Point Presentations
Dos and Donts
Daniela Munca, ALC
May 2010
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Have you experienced that
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5 top Power Point Mistakes
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1. T. M. I. (Too Much Information)
You know so much about the topic!!! no one can follow the thread of the
presentation
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The K.I.S.S. principle
Keep It Silly Simple)
Stick to three, or at the most, four points
about your topic and expound on them.
The audience will be more likely to retain the
information.
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2. Poorly Chosen Design Template
or Design Theme
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Background Bad
Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or
difficult to read from
Always be consistent with the background
that you use
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3. Colour - Bad
Using a font colour that does not contrastwith the background colour is hard to read
Using colour for decoration is distracting
and annoying. Using a different colour for each point is
unnecessary
Using a different colour for secondary pointsis also unnecessary
Trying tobe creativecan alsobe bad
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4. Poor knowledge of the subject
Do it only if your are ready,
Use the cue cards,
Dont give the handout at thebeginning,
Dont read word
by word,
Be confident!
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5. Too many bullet points
avoid too many bullet points avoid too many bullet points
Avoid too many bullet points
Avoid too many bullet points Avoid too many bullet points
avoid too many bullet points
Avoid too many bullet points Avoid too many bullet points
Avoid too many bullet points
This is bad
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Solution: The Three Presentation
Essentials
- Use visual aids where you can
- Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse - The audience will only remember
three messages
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Why should you use visual aids?
Professor Albert Mehrabian: 55% of the information we take in is visual and only 7% is text
Use visuals (pictures, graphs, tables, props) whenever you can
In a speech you are only using 38% of the communication medium
Ditch the bullet points
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Making the presentation
memorable
Study at the Wharton Research Centre
Using visual slides had a dramatic effect on
message retention. The effect of using visuals is truly staggering!
A picture is worth a thousand words" is as truetoday as it has always been.
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"If you fail to prepare, you are
prepared to fail"
Rule 1. Rehearse against the clock
Practice your presentation
against the clock. Allow extra time for questions
Watch out for nerves
Take in a clock or take off your wrist watch
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Rule 2: Video or tape record
yourself
Some immediate feedback
will enable you to fine tune yourperformance
a rehearsal is the staple of manypresentation training companies - sowhy not save time and money and doit yourself?
Does it work?
Students feedback
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Rule 3: Memorize your script
Winston Churchill is widely attributed as
being one of the great speakers.
It took him six weeks to prepare his
Maiden Speech in the House of Commons
and he learnt it word perfect.
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Rule 4: Use the rule of three
People tend to only remember three things
Work out what the three messages that
you want your audience to take away
Structure your presentation around them
Use a maximum of three points on a slide
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Rule 5: Tell stories
All presentations are a type of theatre.
Tell stories and anecdotes to help illustrate
points
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Rule 6: Know what slide is
coming next
You should always know when presenting
which slide is coming up next.
It sounds very powerful when you say On
the next slide [Click] you will see
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Rule 7: Have a back-up plan
Murphys law normally applies
during a presentation.
Technology not working, power
cuts, projector blowing a bulb,
spilling coffee on your front, no
loudspeakers
When you have back-ups you
seldom need to use them.
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Rule 8: The Takahashi Method
Masayoshi Takahashi (Japan) developed asystem of presentation that uses only text.
But not just text; VERY LARGE TEXT.
The audiences brains are fried trying to readand listen at the same time.
The advantage of the Takahashi Method - Nolong words or complex phrases and nodistractions.
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Once Takahashi, a programmer, had togive a short presentation at a conference
He first used the method and found ithelpful, at least with Japanese.
Takahashi never used PowerPoint
He uses only text in his slides. The words or phrases resemble Japanesenewspaper headlines rather thansentences which must be read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPointhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint7/27/2019 PowerPoint Do and Donts
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Rule 9: The three parts rule
You should break this down into
at least three sections.
Introduction
Tell your audience what you will be talking about and
why you have chosen the topic.
Main Body
For this section you need to sort through your notes, andpick the main points:
Three main points for five-minute presentations Four main points for ten-minute presentations
Five main points for fifteen-minute presentations
Wrapping up
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Rule 10. Know Your Audience
Take full control of your audience,
Speak out,
You should be the main attraction notthe PowerPoint,
Control your voice
Eye contact
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Smile!
[email protected] Munca, PhD
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
