The Dreaded PowerPoint Presentation

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Visible aids is usually a highly effective instrument for grabbing and sustaining the eye of an viewers. If we evaluate recall statistics of people that attend conferences, it’s stated that most individuals can recall round 60% of what they see and listen to; simply 40% in the event that they solely see a presentation; and a mere 25% in the event that they solely hear what’s offered. So we all know visible aids are useful, whether or not they’re utilized in one to 1 gross sales conditions or when presenting to teams massive and small. It’s also apparent that essentially the most used medium for establishing and delivering the visible factor of a presentation for the overwhelming majority of audio system is PowerPoint. But the very best PowerPoint presentation in the entire world is not going to compensate for a poorly delivered presentation.

When you make a presentation with out visible aids, it turns into very troublesome for the viewers to stay centered on the messages inside your presentation. Not solely do visible aids contain the viewers, however additionally they assist to cut back the quantity of preparation mandatory for a profitable presentation. Many individuals start with establishing the slides first then add the script later.

Visible aids can inform the viewers many issues about you and your message. A presentation is infinitely more practical when it’s partnered by visuals, as they assist to faucet into the feelings of the viewers. They will reinforce your topic, stimulate larger understanding amongst the viewers, focus consideration, and make clear complicated factors. There are nonetheless some potential downsides to utilizing and even counting on PowerPoint.

Know-how failure
It might simply occur: You’ve all the pieces deliberate on your presentation, however there’s an electrical energy reduce; you might have copied all the pieces onto a reminiscence key however if you try to repeat it to the venue’s laptop, the file is corrupt; you handle to repeat all the pieces to the pc you might be utilizing, however the model or setup is completely totally different, and all your graphics have modified for the more severe.

It is advisable have a contingency plan. On the worst, you need to be capable of ship your presentation both with out visuals, or organize to have a flip chart accessible in case you want it.

Keep away from something which is technologically sophisticated, resembling net connections or dwell video hyperlinks. Extra occasions than not, they go improper.

The viewers switches off
Most good and extremely skilled presenters know when the presentation is just not working, and are in a position to change mid-stream so as to have interaction the viewers. Poor presenters, together with the extremely nervous, in all probability do not even discover the viewers and keep on regardless. Why do audiences swap off? Causes embody:

They see your opening slides, which don’t have any graphics however comprise rows of bullet factors. Make the font dimension massive and try to maintain the variety of bullet factors all the way down to three per slide. In actual fact, for those who can keep away from bullet level altogether, it might be even higher.
Folks get irritated, as a result of regardless of having all of the phrases on the display you insist on studying all of them out. Do not learn out all the phrases on the slide – it would drive the viewers mad! The slide is meant to help the phrases you utilize – not be the identical.
The slides have a background color and font colors that make the phrases troublesome to learn: pink, orange and yellow are troublesome to learn on a display.
Your discuss is meant to final 20 minutes and you’ve got 40 slides to get via. Giving a presentation takes longer than you assume. The less slides you might have, the extra the viewers will thanks.
Do not take a look at the display. It’s best to face the viewers always. Each time you look away from the viewers in direction of the display, the pitch of your voice modifications and people who depend upon a mixture of your voice and your lips turn into completely confused. Through the use of a laptop computer you need to be capable of have the presentation in entrance of you, with the display behind you. You do not want to have a look at the display.
By no means get another person to function the slides for you. It is twice the danger, and other people get irritated for those who frequently ask the operator to maneuver the slides ahead or return. When you’re no good with know-how – do not use it.
Do not use clipart – it is naff. Use actual photographs. Keep in mind – an image tells a thousand phrases! However be certain that they’re of high quality and do not pixilate on display. The extra you stretch an image the extra it would blur. When you’re presenting figures, use a chart, however do not overcomplicate it. Much less is extra.
Hold the transition of slides easy. Having results like ‘flying in’ are distracting and might be annoying.
Do not use a laser pointer. The pink dot is all the time so tiny that it can’t be seen and controlling it is extremely troublesome. If you wish to level to one thing, use the curser, which might be elevated in dimension.
Put together your presentation slides weeks prematurely of the particular presentation and practise and time your presentation for ten occasions as many minutes because the presentation is meant to final. Through the intervening interval commonly return to them and take into account lowering the variety of phrases and the variety of slides.
Do not hand out a duplicate of your slides previous to your presentation. Folks must be coming to listen to the audio system, to not acquire notes. As well as individuals will all the time undergo the handouts while you are talking and very often could have reached the top lengthy earlier than you are completed talking. Not solely will they miss what you are saying however additionally they be irritated that you simply’re nonetheless going via your discuss once they have already got reached the top.
No matter you do – maintain to the timing. There’s nothing annoys an viewers greater than having anticipated a presentation to final fifteen minutes for it to take half an hour.