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Abstract

//www.inc.com/alison-davis/19-quotes-that-will-inspire-you-to-create-an-amazing-presentation.html"><i>Nancy Duarte</i></a></p></blockquote><h1 id="452d">Slides are Meant to Enhance, Not Distract</h1><p id="b647">Every single bit of a slide deck should be created in coherence with the script of your presentation. It essentially is meant to engage the sense of sight in addition to the sense of hearing beyond the presenter’s expressions and body language. Slides should act as something that visually represents what words cannot fully explain or is better remembered when seen vs. heard.</p><p id="a443" type="7">If something can be said in simple words, it shouldn’t be on a slide.</p><h2 id="df4c">The Implementation</h2><p id="7f3a">Here are some good and valid uses of a slide or presentation material.</p><ul><li><b>Statistics </b>— Data and statistics are most clearly communicated via tables and charts and can be done well via slides eg. “I believe the market for social media marketing will rise exponentially over the next five years.” A bar chart showing a trend projection is useful here to show the trajectory of the growth you are talking about, and a quick glance towards it will communicate the message.</li><li><b>Storyboards </b>— Often in marketing, or creative pitching, the story is best conveyed via images. Using stills or videos as presentation tools helps convey the message in a stronger way, and allows the audience to feel the emotion and depth of the communication.</li><li><b>Highlights or Summaries </b>— Putting short and punchy bullets simply as headers or placeholders on a slide can help summarize the overall message. This, when supplemented by the presenter’s explanation can often help the audience build a recall around the core of the messaging.</li></ul><h1 id="016a">Slide Decks Are Not Detailed Documents</h1><p id="2c31">Have you ever found yourself trying to reduce the font on a slide so you can just include that one extra bullet point?</p><p id="c2b6">I am sure you have at one point or another. That, in itself, is the biggest warning sign of a cardinal sin of presentation. We often are guilty of wanting to include every last bit of detail into a presentation deck.</p><p id="93c4">This is where we confuse presentation materials with longer, more detailed proposals or formal documents. A slide deck is NOT supposed to be a detailed document of information.</p><p id="c95c">If the audience is trying to read information from a slide during a presentation, you are wasting precious time for both parties and can often come across as ill-prepared.</p><h2 id="228b">The Implementation</h2><p id="0c9e">There are other formats and tools available for detailed information.</p><p id="5fa6">If you have a more detailed set of information that needs to be conveyed along with or post a presentation, use other means. If it is reading materials, the audience must be aware of before the discussion, send it via email or hard copies beforehand. Alternately, if there are more details to a proposal or a pitch you are presenting, prepare a separate set of documents for the audience that you can hand out or send to them via email later for further review.</p><blockquote

Options

id="2e42"><p>“The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.” —<i> Lilly Walters</i></p></blockquote><h1 id="80be">Creativity is Great, But Don’t Overdo It</h1><p id="37e9">“Killer Charts” are often critical elements of a presentation. And, why not! Who doesn’t like a bit of a wow factor to impress the audience?</p><p id="ed42" type="7">Yet, it is critical to remember that the point of the presentation is to put the point across and have the message clearly conveyed, and not really win an Oscar.</p><h2 id="9a77">The implementation</h2><ul><li><b>Simple color tones</b> — Consistent and simplistic color tones throughout a presentation will make sure the right things get noticed</li><li><b>Spot-on formatting</b> — The good and bad thing about presentations is that everything is on a large screen. This also means that the smallest of errors, misaligned text, inconsistent font sizes, everything is very visible.</li><li><b>Less is more</b> — The less information you have on a slide, the better. It helps the message stand out and makes it more memorable for the audience. Maximum of 4 charts, one in each quadrant, not too many words, bullet points only, and other such minute details.</li></ul><h1 id="285c">Lastly, Flow is Your Friend, Don’t Lose It</h1><p id="cd6c">Like any other content offering, the flow of a presentation is a critical element. You’re a storyteller and the story needs to have consistency to it to keep the audience engaged and to make it easy for them to grasp the communication.</p><p id="a14a">Deviating too much from the core of the messaging can often lead to the audience drifting and not remaining engaged throughout a presentation.</p><h2 id="6950">The Implementation</h2><ul><li><b>Executive Summary </b>— An executive summary at the start of a presentation serves the same purpose as the table of contents for a document and helps the audience understand what to expect.</li><li><b>Background/Opening</b> — Begin with setting the context for whatever it is that the presentation is supposed to communicate — history of a product, introduction to a concept, or whatever it may be.</li><li><b>Body/In-Depth Analysis </b>— The core of the presentation should be the details that the presentation is meant to convey. Any in-depth analysis, study or survey results, product specifications, or the meat of the discussion that should take the majority of the presentation time.</li><li><b>Summary/Closing</b> — A quick summary helping collate the core takeaways of the presentation and the things that you expect or want the audience to remember and take with them should be part of the final one or two closing slides.</li></ul><blockquote id="2e72"><p>“If you don’t know what you want to achieve in your presentation your audience never will.” — <i>Harvey Diamond</i></p></blockquote><p id="15f0">These may seem like very intuitive tips in hindsight, but when we’re in front of a computer working on that presentation, you tend to forget the basics and get carried away. Yet, following some of these simple tricks may help you make your next presentation not just a good, but a great one!</p></article></body>

5 Reasons Your Presentation Deck is Working Against You

And practical implementations on how to fix it

A major frustration that I have had right from school years to my professional career is the misuse and misunderstanding of slide decks as presentation materials. Whether you’re a PowerPoint junkie or a Keynote buff, chances are you are fundamentally misusing the powerful presentation tool that a slide deck is supposed to be.

Most of you are probably too young to know that slide shows were never an invention related to the computer. The magic lantern or Laterna Magica was an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.

Lantern slides were introduced in 1849, ten years after the invention of photography. It was a transparent image on glass that could be projected. This new use for photography expanded its use, making photographic images available to a larger audience for education and entertainment.

A “slide deck ” was hence a stack of such transparent sheets of glass or film that were projected on a screen or a wall using traditional projectors. However, what we today most commonly know as presentation decks, are made using software such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple’s Keynote.

However, the ease and appeal of these tools have meant their constant misuse and overuse. Here are some of the common reasons why these “slide decks” can often work against you instead of working for you.

The Slide Deck is a Tool, Not the Presentation Itself

“I think I’ve just prepared the most amazing presentation.”

How often have you had a fellow student or a colleague make that claim after putting the finishing touches on their slide deck?

This is the most common misconception that people have. Your slide deck or presentation material is only a tool meant to aid and enhance your presentation, and it is not the presentation itself.

The presentation is about the presenter and the message that is conveyed. An amazing presentation is most often the result of a very engaging and convincing delivery of a message by a person, rather than a bunch of well-formatted, catchy looking slides.

The Implementation

Make sure that your slide deck is serving as a tool to help emphasize points you are looking to make to your audience. Your presentation relies on your marketing and pitching skills and not on the words and images you have on your slide deck.

“A great presentation gives smart ideas an advantage.” — Nancy Duarte

Slides are Meant to Enhance, Not Distract

Every single bit of a slide deck should be created in coherence with the script of your presentation. It essentially is meant to engage the sense of sight in addition to the sense of hearing beyond the presenter’s expressions and body language. Slides should act as something that visually represents what words cannot fully explain or is better remembered when seen vs. heard.

If something can be said in simple words, it shouldn’t be on a slide.

The Implementation

Here are some good and valid uses of a slide or presentation material.

Statistics — Data and statistics are most clearly communicated via tables and charts and can be done well via slides eg. “I believe the market for social media marketing will rise exponentially over the next five years.” A bar chart showing a trend projection is useful here to show the trajectory of the growth you are talking about, and a quick glance towards it will communicate the message.
Storyboards — Often in marketing, or creative pitching, the story is best conveyed via images. Using stills or videos as presentation tools helps convey the message in a stronger way, and allows the audience to feel the emotion and depth of the communication.
Highlights or Summaries — Putting short and punchy bullets simply as headers or placeholders on a slide can help summarize the overall message. This, when supplemented by the presenter’s explanation can often help the audience build a recall around the core of the messaging.

Slide Decks Are Not Detailed Documents

Have you ever found yourself trying to reduce the font on a slide so you can just include that one extra bullet point?

I am sure you have at one point or another. That, in itself, is the biggest warning sign of a cardinal sin of presentation. We often are guilty of wanting to include every last bit of detail into a presentation deck.

This is where we confuse presentation materials with longer, more detailed proposals or formal documents. A slide deck is NOT supposed to be a detailed document of information.

If the audience is trying to read information from a slide during a presentation, you are wasting precious time for both parties and can often come across as ill-prepared.

The Implementation

There are other formats and tools available for detailed information.

If you have a more detailed set of information that needs to be conveyed along with or post a presentation, use other means. If it is reading materials, the audience must be aware of before the discussion, send it via email or hard copies beforehand. Alternately, if there are more details to a proposal or a pitch you are presenting, prepare a separate set of documents for the audience that you can hand out or send to them via email later for further review.

“The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.” — Lilly Walters

Creativity is Great, But Don’t Overdo It

“Killer Charts” are often critical elements of a presentation. And, why not! Who doesn’t like a bit of a wow factor to impress the audience?

Yet, it is critical to remember that the point of the presentation is to put the point across and have the message clearly conveyed, and not really win an Oscar.

The implementation

Simple color tones — Consistent and simplistic color tones throughout a presentation will make sure the right things get noticed
Spot-on formatting — The good and bad thing about presentations is that everything is on a large screen. This also means that the smallest of errors, misaligned text, inconsistent font sizes, everything is very visible.
Less is more — The less information you have on a slide, the better. It helps the message stand out and makes it more memorable for the audience. Maximum of 4 charts, one in each quadrant, not too many words, bullet points only, and other such minute details.

Lastly, Flow is Your Friend, Don’t Lose It

Like any other content offering, the flow of a presentation is a critical element. You’re a storyteller and the story needs to have consistency to it to keep the audience engaged and to make it easy for them to grasp the communication.

Deviating too much from the core of the messaging can often lead to the audience drifting and not remaining engaged throughout a presentation.

The Implementation

Executive Summary — An executive summary at the start of a presentation serves the same purpose as the table of contents for a document and helps the audience understand what to expect.
Background/Opening — Begin with setting the context for whatever it is that the presentation is supposed to communicate — history of a product, introduction to a concept, or whatever it may be.
Body/In-Depth Analysis — The core of the presentation should be the details that the presentation is meant to convey. Any in-depth analysis, study or survey results, product specifications, or the meat of the discussion that should take the majority of the presentation time.
Summary/Closing — A quick summary helping collate the core takeaways of the presentation and the things that you expect or want the audience to remember and take with them should be part of the final one or two closing slides.

“If you don’t know what you want to achieve in your presentation your audience never will.” — Harvey Diamond

These may seem like very intuitive tips in hindsight, but when we’re in front of a computer working on that presentation, you tend to forget the basics and get carried away. Yet, following some of these simple tricks may help you make your next presentation not just a good, but a great one!