Speaker Savvy
No More Death by PowerPoint
Professional speakers use PowerPoint selectively — to set themselves apart
You're sitting in a breakout session at a large conference. Which person would you prefer as the presenter? Speaker No. 1 uses a PowerPoint show consisting of bulleted text that he reads aloud. Having a lot to say, he has innumerable slides, all of which have lengthy sentences in a small font. Speaker No. 2 keeps the focus on himself and his message, using PowerPoint only at significant moments to show effective visuals that immediately help the audience "get it."
Clearly the poor souls doomed to hear Speaker No. 1 will suffer from death by PowerPoint. Poorly designed, constructed, and delivered PowerPoint slides not only drain participants' energy, but also prevent them from grasping the speaker's message. We know from cognitive scientists that the mind processes information in two channels - visual and verbal. When a speaker uses both words and images to reinforce each other, participants get the point more quickly, understand it more clearly, and retain the information longer.
Here are five techniques that savvy speakers use to set themselves apart:
1. Customize PowerPoint templates. Speakers who create a template around their branding - rather than using popular Microsoft templates - help the audience to identify with them. By using special backgrounds for specific kinds of information (for example, a quotation from an expert prominently centered in the middle of the slide), you provide visual interest and make each slide stand out.
2. Skip the speaker notes. Speakers don't hand out a copy of their speaker notes to the audience, do they? Then why put their notes up on the screen? Instead, speakers should determine the three to five main points they want to make and create one slide for each, with a headline at the top. When presenting the slide, the speaker should elaborate on the headline.
3. Words alone are not enough. Incorporate visuals, such as pictures, charts, or other graphics to drive home each headline. For example, one of my PowerPoint design clients mentions a special sauce that should be used to enhance her money-generating techniques. We created a custom illustration of a special sauce bottle, then animated it to show the bottle filling up with her techniques.
4. Stop using clip art and start using photos. One speaker addressed how office workers are overwhelmed with paperwork. We located a picture of a woman sitting at a desk with papers stacked up to her ears, spilling off the desk, and piled behind her all the way to the ceiling. Point made. Free photos are easily available from Microsoft Clip Art Gallery - and, yes, they have more than clip art! You can also find inexpensive photos at www.iStockPhotos.com and www.PhotosToGo.com.
5. It's not just the content, it's the delivery. Audiences tend to judge the speech and speaker by the quality of the presentation. Good speaker, bad slides: poor rating. Good speaker, good slides, but fumbled with the equipment, made the audience dizzy with the laser pointer, and annoyed them by not knowing the show or walking in front of the projector: poor rating. Good speaker, good slides, good delivery: great rating!
Speaker Savvy Take Away
A well-designed PowerPoint presentation engages the audience with:
- slides developed on a custom template
- minimal verbiage in a readable font
- meaningful visuals that help tell the story.
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