Who hasn't seen a presentation disaster of one sort or another? At nearly every business conference, sales meeting or product launch event, there is a public speaker or two who fail to convey their message and mess things up really badly. Since most presentations nowadays involve Powerpoint slides or equivalent tools, the largest source of trouble is a bad command of these supporting technologies. Common sins include putting two much text on one slide, typically in print too small to read from even the front rows of the auditorium, overestimating the appeal of fancy designs or transitions and gross missteps in presentation delivery. In fact, most of them can be weeded out with relative ease, but speakers need to reconsider their attitude to making and giving the presentation. Here are some tips which all revolve around the notion of banking on simplicity.
It is tempting to let your imagination do the talking when you choose background colors, font styles and contrasts. Even for a fairly serious talk on business matters, why not pepper things up a little bit with eye-catching color choices, setting blazing yellow lettering against the backdrop of intense purple or some other impressive combination. It does look good on a small computer display, doesn't it? And it might stand a change of setting your presentation apart in a string of others, might it not? Well, the truth is that what looks good on your computer does not have to look that fantastic while projected for a big audience. Pale backgrounds, like faint pink, salmon or even white, do a much better job, especially in combination with black, simple font. Their biggest advantage is immediate readability, which is exactly what you need. And as far as making impressions is concerned, it is not a best presentation design you take part in, so you are more likely to be remembered for what say.
Another temptation is to sprinkle a presentation with fancy designs, skins or transitions between slides. Some rotating elements or other impressive extras may create a feeling of greater dynamics, but more often than not they simply distract the audience and complicate the whole process of presentation delivery. Unless you have mastered these skills and have a clear idea why you want to use them, go for the standard, basic set-up.
A common trap presenters fall into is trying to squeeze too much information into a single slide, so they end up showing plenty of unreadable text. Again, they might be misled by the comforts of viewing it from short range at their computers, but experienced speakers and executive training gurus recommend cutting down the amount of content on a slide to bare minimum. It can be very, very little, like a keyword or two, and probably everyone has attended conferences or executive training programs during which speakers relied on this minimalism. In private conversations, they often admit that their style is motivated by a natural human ability to concentrate well on one thing at a time and unwillingness to see too much supporting material that they anyway will hear.
About the Author:
Michał Sadowski is a professional writer on business education related topics. Privately, his great passion is law firm web design.