Last week, I was doing some research for a workshop on PowerPoint and presentation tips. I thought that I would share the tips and information that I found. There may be some tips that you already know. Hopefully, you’ll come away with a few new worthwhile nuggets after reading this post. I know I sure did!
I found an article in Business Week about PowerPoint. The authors were reminding the reader that just having a great PowerPoint presentation is not enough. You need to have a great presentation to go along with the PowerPoint presentation. The ideas the author gave were to bring an expert on stage with you to explain and/or demonstrate, to pass around samples of the product that you are discussing, and to pause and ask questions of your audience during the presentation. I really liked the idea of passing around samples. We are taught that the more senses there are involved with learning, the more likely the content will be remembered.
On a Microsoft Office users blog, I found some other great tips. The author suggested starting and ending a slide show with a blank slide with a dark background (no text, etc.). You would start your show before the audience arrived but would have the dark blank slide up on screen. I thought this would work well if you didn’t want your opening information up on the screen right away but also didn’t want to show everyone your desktop.
The blog author also discussed the reasons for using a dark versus light background. She suggested you used a dark background (with light font color) if you are in a large room with artificial lighting. If you are in a small room or one with mostly natural lighting you should go with a lighter background and darker font.
Another writer mentioned some tips about converting a PowerPoint for uploading to a web page. He noted that since you are not actually giving the presentation in person that you would want to include voice narration or extensive notes in the speaker notes area. One disadvantage to the presentation on the web is that in one view, the viewer doesn’t see the animations. If the user switches to see the animations, the notes are not visible. Fortunately, Office 2010 is addressing this issue and should improve how PowerPoint works on a web page.
There are also a couple of excellent books to consider as you prep for your next PowerPoint presentation. Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds and slide:ology by Nancy Duarte are two books that can help take your presentations to the next level.
My favorite tip that I ran across in researching presentations is a fantastic video. The author is Jennifer Austin and the presentation was at the University at Buffalo (part of SUNY). It is a very simple but pointed 22 slide presentation on the do’s and don’ts involved in presenting. Check it out here: http://www.slideshare.net/jhaustin/presentation-tips.
I hope these tips help you on your next presentation! I know that I will be editing and updating several of my PowerPoints and adjusting how I give my presentations.
