Powerpoint is a double-edged sword: in the right hands, it’s a brilliant selling aid, in the wrong hands, it’s a migraine-inducing onslaught of clip art, whirling colours, flashing stars and textured wallpaper.
Unfortunately most people get it wrong, says Seth Godin, author of Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Idea Virus (Hyperion). Instead of utilising PowerPoint as an effective means of selling an idea, they use it as a teleprompter, an opportunity to show off their artistic side or to avoid writing and sending out a report.
“PowerPoint could be the most powerful tool on your computer but it’s actually a dismal failure. And much of the fault lies with Microsoft, which has built wizards and templates into PowerPoint. “Those ‘helpful’ tools are the main reason that we’ve got to live with page after page of bullets, with big headlines and awful backgrounds. Let’s not even get started on the built-in clip art,” says Godin.
“Keep it visually simple,” suggests Alison Sparg, a financial coach, facilitator and trainer based in Cape Town. “The loads of special effects available on PowerPoint can be distracting to the audience. And don’t clutter the page with too much writing; rather include keywords which summarise the points you want to cover. Be consistent in your layout, font size and positioning.”
The most important rule of all, says Ana-Maria Valente of Career Success magazine in Johannesburg, is to make you, not your slides, the focus of the presentation. When your slides become a movie, you may as well leave the room. You — and your message — will be lost to the audience, who will be more intent on the visual fantasy you’ve provided.
Dan and Chip Heath, authors of Made to Stick: Why some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Random House) say questions on a slide — rather than answers — are more likely to hold an audience’s attention. “Curiosity must come before content. If a presenter’s first slide has eight bullet points and he starts by discussing the first one, he quickly loses the audience, which has already read all eight. What if there had been eight questions instead The audience would keep listening for the answers.” Godin’s golden rule is to make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them. A screen filled with text that you are merely reading is wasting an audience’s time — and your own.
HOT TIPS FROM POWERPOINT GURUS:
Get your spelling and punctuation right. Don’t rely on your computer’s spell-check as it’s probably American. Poor spelling indicates sloppiness and not enough attention to detail.
End the clip art (and stock photography) cult. A few well-placed images are enough. Show your audience an entire photo album and they’re either distracted from your message, or asleep.
The minimum font size should be around 24 points (and more for headings) or the people in the back of the room won’t be able to read your slides, warns personal technology columnist Amit Agarwal. Your presentation may look great in your 4m x 4m office, but once it’s up on a big screen in a room three times that size, you’ll have your audience squinting.
Save yourself personal embarrassment and turn off screensavers and new email notifications before running your slideshow.
Create a leave-behind document to hand out at the end (never before) of your presentation. Words only — print-outs of slides never work because they can’t evoke the same emotions as presentations.
Use universal fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman and restrict the number of words you use per slide. Godin says six and no more — ever!
Use professional images, not cheesy family photos, and avoid drop-ins, dissolves, spins or other transitions.
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