Management
Issue No. 51 - February/March 2010
PowerPoint isn’t to die for
STOP! Your PowerPoint is Killing me!
PowerPoint is an invaluable, powerful and exciting tool for transforming average speakers into masterful presenters. Or is it? You have probably noticed PowerPoint slides have become so content-heavy and difficult to read that the phrase, ‘death by PowerPoint’ has been coined.
While the typical audience is used to seeing a plethora of tables, you still have a responsibility to yourself, your company and your audience to deliver information so that key messages are easily perceived and your audience says ‘yes’ to what you want. Your slides must reinforce your key messages for your audience. You may have impressive technical skills and expertise in your profession, but your slides may well be preventing you communicating with your audience, might well be causing your audience to ‘switch off’ and think about their own concerns and challenges - not good for achieve your desired outcome!
So, what should slides do? What should they look like? Slides should reinforce your key messages for your audience. They can stimulate audience thinking in a variety of ways that will help listeners remember your content. An ideal presentation doesn’t cause ‘death by PowerPoint’; it is delivered with confidence and charisma and ensures your audience doesn’t disengage.
10 tips for designing beautiful slides 1. Dark text on a light background. This is so you can keep the lights on and increase the engagement levels o...
