Note: I am not a professional speaker, but I have given many successful presentations to a wide range of audiences, and I’ve attended presentation training. A presentation to a national software users’ conference (Software AG UK) was voted the best of that conference. The following tips show what works for me, as a Myers Briggs ISTJ personality type.

As “they” say, your mileage may vary.

Introduction

The phrase “Death by Powerpoint” is well-known, if not clichéd by now. A presenter shows a slide containing 300 words and proceeds to read it. Then he or she moves to the next slide, which contains 299 words and reads that. Then he or she moves to the next slide, which contains 301 words (301 because the average of 300 words per slide needs to be maintained) and reads that.

Quick readers will read the slide and turn off. Slow readers will miss the last 83 words (on average) of each slide. No one is listening to the drone at the front—they don’t need to.

So what makes a good presentation—and a good presenter? Here are a few clues.

Speakers and Audiences

Experts Aren’t Good Speakers

That heading is a sweeping generalization—we all know that there are lots of compelling speakers who are experts in their field. But I used the heading because it would have made a good bullet point in a presentation. It grabs the attention—it makes them react mentally. They agree or disagree. They want to hear the speaker’s views (and then destroy them in Q&A!). Most importantly, it’s more effective as presentation slide content than the 257 words in these three paragraphs.

People who speak to the general public and who are experts in their subject are more likely to be charismatic speakers than people who speak to the department heads of their corner of the corporation. In the former scenario, these people are speaking to the public because they possess expert knowledge and superior speaking skills. In the latter scenario, the presenter is likely to be a head chemist or systems administrator or accountant, but the kind of people who hold those positions tend to be introverted and uncomfortable speaking to a large group. So they use the slides as (pick your metaphor from: security blanket, armour, force shield). I know—I was one of them (database systems software programmer, DBA, etc.)

If you’re not a gifted speaker, and you can’t wriggle out of giving the presentation, follow the tips below, read up on relaxation techniques, voice projection techniques and body language, then, remembering Nietzsche’s famous quote (“What doesn’t destroy(kill) me makes me stronger”), get out there, present, and feel that new burst of spiritual strength!

Captive Audience? Hostile Audience?

Was your audience instructed to attend (e.g., all staff pep rally) or will they be there because the topic really does relate directly to their job (e.g., department managers learning about a new data warehousing system)? WIll they attend because they crave the information you have or because their jobs are on the line? Will you be presenting on the latest and greatest toys (e.g., all the photo-journalists are getting drones capable of carrying something better than a GoPro) or on the rationale behind company smartphones being replaced by old-fashioned pagers?

The kind of audience and their receptivity will affect the content and style of your presentation. My personal preference is for a total lack of “fluff” under any conditions, but then I’ve never had to explain the smartphone/pager decision to a large group of Millennials. A snowstorm of only-faintly-relevant statistics won’t impress many people either—they’ll suspect you of having bad news and stalling for time.

Presentation Content

Beginning, Middle, End

“Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them.” It’s simple. It’s tried and trusted. It’s stood the test of time. Do it.

Beyond that, make sure that your material is sequenced logically. Start with the figurative satellite image of the situation and zoom in to as close as you need to go (figuratively!) to get the message across.

To extend the satellite image metaphor, do you really need to be able to read the newspaper that the guy in his backyard is holding? If not, then don’t present that level of detail.

Another level-of-detail consideration—how much background knowledge will your audience have of the topic? What do they need to know in order to understand the “meat”? Consider getting the audience to a common start point in your “beginning” part. Ask questions—skip over material everyone already knows.

So start with an overview—novices might use the slide titles of their “middle” as bullet points for their “beginning”: get into the nitty-gritty: finish with a summary of the main points and what you want your audience to do with them.

Humour: Tool, Not Weapon

There’s a time and place for humour. A departmental re-org that’s really a downsizing is not the time or place. The rollout of a company-internal social-media app probably is.

In jokes are great if everyone’s “in”, otherwise avoid them. Topical allusions can be fun too. Knowing your audience is also key. I once acted as “link man” at a celebration of the life of a friend-of-a-friend. Fortunately I knew well enough the individual, his family, and the kind of friends he had to know that I could get away with humorous introductions; without that knowledge I might have been lynched!

Unless your knowledge of the audience tells you otherwise, steer clear of any humour that could be considered politically incorrect in any way. Coming out with a line about “them darned Newfies taking all our oilpatch jobs” even though your best friend hails from St. John’s and you were “screeched in” in the presence of ten others in your audience might get you in some bother if the bulk of your audience isn’t aware of these facts.

Slide Content: Keep It Lean

I was taught “four bullets per slide; four words per bullet” as a goal, not a hard limit. Aim for the goal, but a near-miss is good enough (unlike in soccer or hockey!) If Powerpoint is auto-fitting your text, take it as a sign that your slide is overloaded!

Try to keep the bullets on a slide parallel and consistent with each other.

• Start them all with either a verb or not—don’t mix.
• Use the same verb forms—don’t use “Initiate” followed by “Maintaining” for example (use either Initiate/Maintain or Initiating/Maintaining).
• Decide if you’re going to abbreviate bullet text like news headlines (missing out “a”, “the”, etc.) or not.

I’ve tried to make the headings in this article fit the style I’d use in a presentation.

Visuals (Pictures, Charts, etc.)

“A picture paints a thousand words.” So the saying goes. But if you choose the wrong pictures, or worse, if you litter your presentation with thoughtlessly-chosen clipart, those thousand words might include, “The guy that put this presentation together has no taste, no pride, no clue”.

Remember the stick men in this style? They were very popular around Y2K, but to me at least, they feel like they’ve “had their day” even though one or two of them still appear in Powerpoint’s Clipart gallery.

Speaking of the Clipart gallery; bear in mind that Microsoft is providing clipart to customers from all walks of life; from Stock Exchange workers to Quilters, from Nuclear Scientists to Scout Leaders, from… (don’t labour the point, Reg.) The selection of clipart reflects that huge cross-section. This is why you can find quilt images, share price graphs, fleurs-de-lys and radiation warnings in the gallery. That doesn’t mean that it’s okay to use a friendship quilt image to show that nuclear power is safe.

Effects

Colours

Be careful with the colours you use. If your organization has a corporate template, use it. If not, use one of the supplied themes and make changes to the colour scheme judiciously. If you’ll be printing the presentation out for handouts, check that the colours print well; low-contrast colours may not show text well enough on a black-and-white printer.

Transitions

Oh boy! Toys have to be played with, don’t they!

No they don’t. You don’t need to use checkerboard to go to slide two, clock to go to slide three, and so on with a different transition for each slide. Neither do you have to tumble text in from the top then the right and then spiral it in and…

Keep It Simple. If you must use transitions, choose one and don’t overdo it. If you’re transitioning your bullets in one by one, make sure the transition doesn’t take too long, or your audience may miss what you’re saying during the transition.

Sounds

Despite being a professional videographer when I’m not being a technical writer, I’m not a fan of sound effects on presentations. Explosions, cash registers and lasers just don’t feel right in most corporate settings (and I write as someone who used “red nose” images in a national software conference presentation that I won an award for, so don’t think I advocate “straight” presentations!)

Other Considerations

Speaking Notes

I started this article by warning against reading the slides to the audience. That means you need something else to prompt you. Don’t be tempted to write a script. The presentation will not flow particularly well, you’ll struggle to look at your audience for more than fleeting glimpses, and you’ll probably stumble. In addition, you’ll need to rehearse a lot more. Having said that, I know that my speaking notes are still too detailed, even after all these years.

3in x 5in index cards are a good medium for your notes. Try to limit yourself to one card per slide, and write key phrases that will trigger the thought process that will lead to you saying what you need to. Remember to number your cards, in case you drop them. And rehearse with them so you can catch any bugs in your notes that cause you to stumble.

Other Other Considerations

This article isn’t intended to be an exhaustive guide to perfect Powerpoints. We haven’t even touched on use of the voice, body language, embedded video/audio, links to websites, and a host of other elements. However, we’ve hit the biggest culprits in the “Death by Powerpoint” epidemic, and if you use the above information to prepare and give your next presentation, I can guarantee that you will not be the cause of any “expiries”!