Planning, Preparation and Photos put Power in PowerPoint
Today I presented a speech from the Toastmasters Successful Club series at my home club - CIGNA Lunchtime Toastmasters. This is a scripted speech from Toastmasters International and I took some liberties with the presentation instead of just reading the script.
I created a slideshow for my presentation using, of course, Microsoft PowerPoint. I followed the 5.5 steps laid out in Dodging the Bullet Points because it these are the correct steps to follow when presenting with PowerPoint.
Afterwards, I completed the final 1/2 step of the Pow'Rful process with a review of the presentation. If you follow the results of my research, you know that bullet points and text on slides are bad, bad, bad. Well, not having bullet points or text on your slides forces you to prepare better. You are forced to present your speech because you cannot rely on the slides as a crutch. Ideally, you only have photos on your slides, which means that you speech has to bring the presentation to life. Although powerful supporting props, photos on slides don't communicate your message. You communicate your message.
No text on the slides means that you have to put more planning and preparation into the presentation. The slides take more time to create and you will invest more time rehearsing your presentation.
The payoff for your planning and preparation is huge. Believe me. As I presented today I again experienced the joy of knowing that high-quality photos set the right atmosphere for my message and all eyes were on me because there was so little text for the audience to read. This is also known as a Pow'Rful Presentation.
Bottom line: Look at the slides that you plan to use in your next PowerPoint Presentation. How much text do you have? How can your replace 75% of your text with photos that get your point across? How many bullet points do you have? How can you remove them, while increasing the effectiveness of your communication at the same time with a photograph?
Remember - "Planning, Preparation and Photos put Power in PowerPoint". Not bullet points. Keep on Dodging the Bullet Points, my friends.
I created a slideshow for my presentation using, of course, Microsoft PowerPoint. I followed the 5.5 steps laid out in Dodging the Bullet Points because it these are the correct steps to follow when presenting with PowerPoint.
Afterwards, I completed the final 1/2 step of the Pow'Rful process with a review of the presentation. If you follow the results of my research, you know that bullet points and text on slides are bad, bad, bad. Well, not having bullet points or text on your slides forces you to prepare better. You are forced to present your speech because you cannot rely on the slides as a crutch. Ideally, you only have photos on your slides, which means that you speech has to bring the presentation to life. Although powerful supporting props, photos on slides don't communicate your message. You communicate your message.
No text on the slides means that you have to put more planning and preparation into the presentation. The slides take more time to create and you will invest more time rehearsing your presentation.
The payoff for your planning and preparation is huge. Believe me. As I presented today I again experienced the joy of knowing that high-quality photos set the right atmosphere for my message and all eyes were on me because there was so little text for the audience to read. This is also known as a Pow'Rful Presentation.
Bottom line: Look at the slides that you plan to use in your next PowerPoint Presentation. How much text do you have? How can your replace 75% of your text with photos that get your point across? How many bullet points do you have? How can you remove them, while increasing the effectiveness of your communication at the same time with a photograph?
Remember - "Planning, Preparation and Photos put Power in PowerPoint". Not bullet points. Keep on Dodging the Bullet Points, my friends.
Labels: PowerPoint
posted by Wayne Botha @ 7:23 PM
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