Canned Slideshows
I presented at the Hartford, CT public Library last night. One of the questions from the audience was "How do I improve a canned slideshow?". For example, if you receive a slideshow from Head Office and are expected to deliver this presentation to many clients, what do you do?
This question is only relevant if the slideshow was created by someone not yet enlightened to the Pow'Rful Process, as defined in Dodging the Bullet Points. If the canned slideshow consists of slide after monotonous slide filled with text, text, and more bullet points, then here is what you can do:
1. Advocate to your manager that you need to reduce the amount of text. Reproduce the text on the slides onto a handout which you make available in your presentations, and remove some of the bullet points on the slides. Aim for no more than three bullet points on a slide as a guideline.
2. Craft your own slideshow that conveys the intended message and use the canned slideshow as handouts to complement your own presentation.
3. Try to enlighten the creator of the canned slideshow to the fact that text on slideshows is boring, and not appropriate in today's professional circles. Offer your carefully crafted presentation as a replacement.
When you are asked to deliver a canned presentation that is below the level of a presentation you would create yourself, then work to improve it. Don't willingly continue to deliver slideshows which negate the effort you have invested in learning how to craft memorable presentations.
This question is only relevant if the slideshow was created by someone not yet enlightened to the Pow'Rful Process, as defined in Dodging the Bullet Points. If the canned slideshow consists of slide after monotonous slide filled with text, text, and more bullet points, then here is what you can do:
1. Advocate to your manager that you need to reduce the amount of text. Reproduce the text on the slides onto a handout which you make available in your presentations, and remove some of the bullet points on the slides. Aim for no more than three bullet points on a slide as a guideline.
2. Craft your own slideshow that conveys the intended message and use the canned slideshow as handouts to complement your own presentation.
3. Try to enlighten the creator of the canned slideshow to the fact that text on slideshows is boring, and not appropriate in today's professional circles. Offer your carefully crafted presentation as a replacement.
When you are asked to deliver a canned presentation that is below the level of a presentation you would create yourself, then work to improve it. Don't willingly continue to deliver slideshows which negate the effort you have invested in learning how to craft memorable presentations.
Labels: PowerPoint Tips
posted by Wayne Botha @ 5:18 AM
1 Comments:
At April 30, 2008 11:23 PM ,
Terry said...
I think everyone in business has been in in this situation: an important but overly boring presentation, which makes it hard to pay attention and absorb the information. Whether it was passed down from on high, or self-written, here is my advice if power-point must be used:
1: Close Outlook
Close Outlook when you are showing PowerPoint slides. Otherwise, email alerts pop up.
2: Slideshow Mode
Always use the slideshow mode: it makes your slides easier to see.
3: Standing in projector beam
Always avoid standing in the projector beam, as it is distracting.
4: Bullets as hooks
Think of the bullets on your slides as hooks. By that I mean that the bullet should remind you of your talking points but also incite curiosity in your audience. Use questions, alliteration (repetition of consonants) or juxtaposition of ideas to intrigue the audience. For example:
· Why Automate Processes?
· License to Fail
· Magnet Markets
· Customers: Faithful or Fickle?
· Plan or Wing It?
· Tragedy or Triumph?
5: Use more images
Incorporate images and negative visual space. Break up all the linear text on your slides with stories, examples, images & metaphors. Otherwise, you are not engaging your audience’s right hemisphere, the brain’s center of imagination. That’s when our minds start to drift, in spite of the fact that the data may be important for us to learn and understand. Use more imagery coupled with metaphor. The image search engine that I use is image.google.com. You can save the image files you find to your hard drive and insert them into PowerPoint. Use files that are between 30 – 100K for good clarity without bloating your PowerPoint file.
6: Simplify text
Most PowerPoint slides are loaded with way too much text. Distill your slides down into simple bullet points with 4 or 6 words per bullet max. Instead, think of the bullets as hooks.
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