Powerpoint Tips and Techniques

It seems that many of us are in the process of writing or at least improving, the content of PowerPoint presentations. Additionally many of us are also giving these powerpoints, often to audiences that we can’t see. I’d like to offer some suggested “rules of thumb” that might help guide you as you create and give these presentations.

When we create a PowerPoint, our natural instinct leads us to cram our slides with tons of information and then to talk very quickly through that information so we get through it all on time. However, when you give so much and at such a rapid pace, it’s the old “drinking from a fire hose” effect: they end up with absolutely nothing. Focus on quality, not quantity. Less is definitely more! The “spray and pray” method is completely ineffective.

My suggestions would be along two lines: Simplify your Content and Engage you Audience.

Simplify your Content

First, do enough cutting so that you can get through your presentation on time in a natural and easy pace.

On each slide, ask yourself if this slide address something of importance from the audience’s point of view. Remember, you are giving this presentation for their benefit, not your own! Is it one of their pain points? Does it answer one of their questions? Does it separate Aldon from the competition in their minds? Is this information that will help them understand the demonstration? Knowing that they will retain only a very small fraction of the information you give them, is this point one that you want them to remember as they walk out of the conference room?

Also be cautious about putting too many words on slides. They will try to listen to you and read at the same time, but they can’t, so they shift between half-listening and half-reading. The net effect: they get little of your message. Pictures and graphs are fantastic if you have the time. If not, have your text limited to the primary speaking points. Let your voice explain the details. If you need to spell it all out for yourself to give the presentation, use the speaker notes section and print off the powerpoint before you give it.

Next, pay attention to how your presentation looks visually and follow the KISS method: keep it simple. Key points here include:

• Be consistent with font type and font size. Too many variations distract from your message rather than enhance it.
• Ditto with colors.
• Animation is a lot of fun to play with, for sure, but it adds very little and can distract a great deal. So use it with great caution and very sparingly.

Finally, don’t try to tell your audience how they should feel. It doesn’t work and it makes your entire presentation suspect. Instead, tell them about a key feature you know they’ll be interested in (i.e. from the discovery call) and tell them how our other clients feel about it. For example, instead of saying “here is a feature your developers will love”, say “our customers that have used CVS before tell us that they really love our private versioning functions.”

Involve and Engage your Audience

At the start of every presentation, you generally get about two minutes of “free time” from your listeners. If you don’t give them a reason to listen to the rest of your presentation in those two minutes, you will most likely loose them. Starting off by telling them how great you are isn’t going to get you very far! Instead, tell them what’s in it for them. Tell them what they will gain by listening to you. Tell them how you are going to get them there and how long it will take.

Even if you succeed here, you can still loose them as your audience as you go unless you involve them more often. You can do this visually and verbally.

To involve them visually, I like to use a pointer to point to what I am talking about on the screen. If you are presenting over the internet, you can tell powerpoint to keep your arrow pointer “always on” by clicking in the lower left corner as it is in play mode. This is effective as long as you don’t fidget about too much, then it gets distracting.

To involve them verbally, set a mental note to stop every other slide. Stop presenting, take a breath and ask them a question. Sometimes a simple close-ended yes/no question is all you need. At least you are taking a break, pacing yourself, checking in with them, keeping them awake. Most importantly, you give them the opportunity to interrupt you to ask for clarifications or questions.

Here are some sample close ended questions (I’m sure you can come up with a hundred more!):

• I remember from our discovery call that this area was of importance to you. Can you see how your shop can benefit from a feature like this?
• Do these concepts make sense to every one so far?
• Has your department faced any problem like this in the past?
• Could your developers use a feature like this?

A “yes” answer from them not only lets you know you’re on target and reaching them, but it reinforces in their minds that you are hitting good points. This keeps them engaged and, even more importantly, leaves them feeling generally satisfied with your solution. If you can associate these questions to pains that you already know that they have, then you get a great percentage of affirmative responses!

Conclusion

Powerpoint is a great tool, and, like any tool, it can either help you or hurt you. With a little attention and a little practice, it is possible to hit ‘em out of the park every time. You know you’ve finally arrived when someone in your audience says to you “Can you please send me a copy of that powerpoint? I’d like to show it to my boss.”