How to Give a Killer Presentation
By Steve Tobak | December 22, 2008
It’s hard to imagine your career going anywhere unless you can deliver an effective presentation. Unfortunately, most of us are born without the presentation gene. I have no idea why, but for most professionals, presenting is a real struggle.
They stand there, like they’re glued to the floor, with their 90-slide presentation with a dozen bullets and sub-bullets and a book of text on each slide. Then they complain that executives and salespeople make all the money.
I’ve sat through presentations that were so bad I wanted to strangle the guy just to put him and the audience out of their misery. I’ve also seen presentations that were so inspiring they changed my life.
Connecting with an audience, communicating your vision and passion for a subject, can be a beautiful experience. It’s also a rare opportunity to make an impression that might impact your future. It can either be a gateway or a roadblock to professional growth. Which one is entirely up to you.
As for me, I’ve been professionally trained, plus I’ve had a few decades of practice. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Ten Rules For Delivering a Great Presentation
Developing the pitch. Start with your main point of view and a handful of take-aways. Then build a storyboard around that, one slide per thought. Keep the number of slides down and allow a few minutes per slide.
The icebreaker. Start with something to break the tension (yours and theirs): a welcome gesture, engaging or humorous anecdote, graphic or video, or some combination. Keep it relevant and appropriate. Don’t tell a joke.
The old axiom. Old advice, but it works: First tell the audience what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them.
Don’t read what’s on the slide. Know the pitch cold (without having to look except for a brief cue) and speak in your own words. If you (rarely) want the audience to read what’s on a slide, look at it and read silently along with them.
Engage the audience. Ask questions. If they don’t respond, try offering an answer and asking for a show of hands or ask easier questions. Make the audience part of the experience.
Be accessible. Don’t stand behind a podium. Use a wireless mic if needed. Get close to the audience and move from place to place while maintaining eye contact, but only from time to time. Do not bounce around like a ping-pong ball.
Pause for effect and emphasis. Practice being comfortable with silence for two or three seconds. It’s the most dramatic way to make a point. Avoid ahs, uhs, and other fillers of uncomfortable silence; they’re annoying and detract from your presence.
Make eye contact. But only for a few seconds per person. Too short and you’ll fail to engage; too long and it becomes uncomfortable. Don’t bounce your eyes around constantly.
Use hand gestures. They’re engaging and interesting. But when you’re not, keep your hands at your sides. Don’t fidget, hold onto things, or put your hands in front of you, behind you, or in your pockets. Avoid nervous habits.
Don’t block the audience’s view. Don’t step in front of the screen or block it from view, except for the occasional walk-across. Gesture with your hand, but don’t touch the screen. Don’t use a pointer unless you must.
Remember, you weren’t born with this ability; it takes practice. Videotape yourself presenting to an empty conference room or get someone with experience to watch you and provide feedback. If your company hires a speech coach for executives and up-and-comers, get in on it.
Most importantly, be patient with yourself. Finding your own style where you feel comfortable comes with experience. It may take a few years, but it’s worth it. Nothing can boost your career like being able to give a killer pitch.
MY THOUGHTS
Killer presentations! Presentations that could kill - either the presenter or the audience. If it's part of your job, learn the art of presenting. yes, it can be learned. i know. i'm not the best in the field. but i'm a far cry from the tongue-tied college somphomore who cannot utter a single word during an extemporaneous exercise. i knew speaking in front of an audience is my weakness. but for some reason, God brought me into it. I got trained, taught myself, practiced and prepared like I'm the worst there is. God took care of the rest.
Showing posts with label powerpoint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label powerpoint. Show all posts
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
SmartDraw Reinvents PowerPoint at The Presentation Summit
Posted by marin2008
Saturday, 23 October 2010
SmartDraw has debuted key enhancements that make it possible for anyone to create more effective and engaging presentations to over 150 presentation industry experts, speakers and consultants during The Presentation Summit 2010 in San Diego, CA.
During a special participant reception, SmartDraw demonstrated how SmartDraw VP, the world's first visual processor™, enables the 95% of PC users who currently create only text-filled presentations to reap the benefits of communicating visually. The visual processor empowers them in three ways: 1) by making it possible to create and manage presentations visually, 2) by making it easy to replace bullets with powerful visuals, and 3) by ensuring visuals are presented in the most impactful way possible in presentations.
"Creating a truly visual presentation means more than taking an existing text-based presentation and replacing some of the bullets with visuals," said Paul Stannard, CEO of SmartDraw. "You need to think visually, plan and compose your presentation visually, and present it in a manner that engages your audience. Only SmartDraw makes this possible."
Numerous studies have shown that visual communication is up to six times more effective than words alone, but until now, less than 3% of business communication has included visuals like flowcharts, mind maps and other diagrams. This is because using traditional graphics software to create them is just too difficult and time consuming for the typical business person. The visual processor solves this problem by automating the creation of visuals to such a degree that anyone can do it. With today's announcement, SmartDraw showed how the program not only makes easy visuals possible, but also makes the creation of entirely visual presentations a reality for the everyday user.
"Since its introduction in 1987, PowerPoint has been optimized to make creating a slide of bullets the easiest thing to do," explained Stannard. "Even after two decades, creating a list of bullets is still the default action. That's why so many presentations consist of slide after slide of bullets. With SmartDraw's PowerPoint builder feature, you compose your presentation visually in a storyboard format. You can easily add visuals of all kinds to any slide. Once your presentation is ready, SmartDraw builds your PowerPoint deck with a single click. You never even have to open PowerPoint."
SmartDraw also ensures that the visuals in your presentation are displayed in the most effective way possible by revealing the information sequentially.
"Showing a visual, like a data chart, to your audience all at once can be overwhelming," said Rick Altman, speaker and organizer of The Presentation Summit 2010, and author of the book, Why Most PowerPoint® Presentations Suck and How to Make them Better. "They will be too busy trying to absorb all the information to focus on the specific point you are trying to make. A much more effective way is to reveal the visual step-by-step with sequencing. SmartDraw does this for you automatically."
SmartDraw's PowerPoint builder also makes presentations easier to manage because, no matter how many visuals are added, the entire presentation is always contained in a single SmartDraw file. This eliminates the problem of trying to find the original source files for charts, for example, when last minute changes need to be made.
By enabling everyone in the organization to create visual presentations quickly and easily, SmartDraw VP allows an enterprise to cut through today's information overload and communicate more effectively by distilling complex information into an easy-to-digest visual form.
SmartDraw VP automates the creation of 70 different types of business visuals including flowcharts, data charts and graphs, mind maps, Gantt charts, timelines, floor plans, and more. Built-in integration with Microsoft Office® and Adobe PDF allows users to create and then share SmartDraw visuals with a single click.
For an overview video and white paper by Stannard and Altman describing in detail how SmartDraw reinvents PowerPoint, and to download a free trial, visit www.SmartDraw.com/ppt.
About SmartDraw
SmartDraw helps businesses increase their bottom line by improving communication, refining operations, completing projects on time, and successfully implementing their plans through the everyday use of visual communication. Creators of SmartDraw VP, the world's first visual processor™, SmartDraw enables business professionals to easily and automatically create more than 70 types of common business visuals, including flowcharts, project charts, mind maps, org charts, timelines and more. SmartDraw lets anyone achieve professional-quality results in just minutes. SmartDraw is used by more than half of the Fortune 500, as well as thousands of law firms, police departments, health systems, government entities, educational institutions and private enterprises of all sizes. Founded in 1994, SmartDraw is privately-held, with headquarters in San Diego, California. For more information or to download a free trial of SmartDraw, please visit www.SmartDraw.com.
About The Presentation Summit
The Presentation Summit is organized and hosted by Rick Altman, prominent presentations consultant and author. Altman services an international client base and has authored 15 books on presentations and graphics, including his current one with the inflammatory title, "Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck." www.BetterPresenting.com
.
MY THOUGHTS
heaven! need to check this out
Posted by marin2008
Saturday, 23 October 2010
SmartDraw has debuted key enhancements that make it possible for anyone to create more effective and engaging presentations to over 150 presentation industry experts, speakers and consultants during The Presentation Summit 2010 in San Diego, CA.
During a special participant reception, SmartDraw demonstrated how SmartDraw VP, the world's first visual processor™, enables the 95% of PC users who currently create only text-filled presentations to reap the benefits of communicating visually. The visual processor empowers them in three ways: 1) by making it possible to create and manage presentations visually, 2) by making it easy to replace bullets with powerful visuals, and 3) by ensuring visuals are presented in the most impactful way possible in presentations.
"Creating a truly visual presentation means more than taking an existing text-based presentation and replacing some of the bullets with visuals," said Paul Stannard, CEO of SmartDraw. "You need to think visually, plan and compose your presentation visually, and present it in a manner that engages your audience. Only SmartDraw makes this possible."
Numerous studies have shown that visual communication is up to six times more effective than words alone, but until now, less than 3% of business communication has included visuals like flowcharts, mind maps and other diagrams. This is because using traditional graphics software to create them is just too difficult and time consuming for the typical business person. The visual processor solves this problem by automating the creation of visuals to such a degree that anyone can do it. With today's announcement, SmartDraw showed how the program not only makes easy visuals possible, but also makes the creation of entirely visual presentations a reality for the everyday user.
"Since its introduction in 1987, PowerPoint has been optimized to make creating a slide of bullets the easiest thing to do," explained Stannard. "Even after two decades, creating a list of bullets is still the default action. That's why so many presentations consist of slide after slide of bullets. With SmartDraw's PowerPoint builder feature, you compose your presentation visually in a storyboard format. You can easily add visuals of all kinds to any slide. Once your presentation is ready, SmartDraw builds your PowerPoint deck with a single click. You never even have to open PowerPoint."
SmartDraw also ensures that the visuals in your presentation are displayed in the most effective way possible by revealing the information sequentially.
"Showing a visual, like a data chart, to your audience all at once can be overwhelming," said Rick Altman, speaker and organizer of The Presentation Summit 2010, and author of the book, Why Most PowerPoint® Presentations Suck and How to Make them Better. "They will be too busy trying to absorb all the information to focus on the specific point you are trying to make. A much more effective way is to reveal the visual step-by-step with sequencing. SmartDraw does this for you automatically."
SmartDraw's PowerPoint builder also makes presentations easier to manage because, no matter how many visuals are added, the entire presentation is always contained in a single SmartDraw file. This eliminates the problem of trying to find the original source files for charts, for example, when last minute changes need to be made.
By enabling everyone in the organization to create visual presentations quickly and easily, SmartDraw VP allows an enterprise to cut through today's information overload and communicate more effectively by distilling complex information into an easy-to-digest visual form.
SmartDraw VP automates the creation of 70 different types of business visuals including flowcharts, data charts and graphs, mind maps, Gantt charts, timelines, floor plans, and more. Built-in integration with Microsoft Office® and Adobe PDF allows users to create and then share SmartDraw visuals with a single click.
For an overview video and white paper by Stannard and Altman describing in detail how SmartDraw reinvents PowerPoint, and to download a free trial, visit www.SmartDraw.com/ppt.
About SmartDraw
SmartDraw helps businesses increase their bottom line by improving communication, refining operations, completing projects on time, and successfully implementing their plans through the everyday use of visual communication. Creators of SmartDraw VP, the world's first visual processor™, SmartDraw enables business professionals to easily and automatically create more than 70 types of common business visuals, including flowcharts, project charts, mind maps, org charts, timelines and more. SmartDraw lets anyone achieve professional-quality results in just minutes. SmartDraw is used by more than half of the Fortune 500, as well as thousands of law firms, police departments, health systems, government entities, educational institutions and private enterprises of all sizes. Founded in 1994, SmartDraw is privately-held, with headquarters in San Diego, California. For more information or to download a free trial of SmartDraw, please visit www.SmartDraw.com.
About The Presentation Summit
The Presentation Summit is organized and hosted by Rick Altman, prominent presentations consultant and author. Altman services an international client base and has authored 15 books on presentations and graphics, including his current one with the inflammatory title, "Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck." www.BetterPresenting.com
.
MY THOUGHTS
heaven! need to check this out
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Every Great Presentation Needs These 3 Elements
Every Great Presentation Needs These 3 Elements
Bill Rosenthal
Looking for the perfect words to use in your presentation? Put the words aside for a minute and let's create an avatar of a really persuasive presenter. It has three main characteristics:
The audience likes the presenter. “I'd like to know him,” they're thinking. “I trust her; she shares my values.” “He knows what he's talking about.” It all starts with the speaker being liked. Once the speaker establishes an emotional bond with the audience, they'll give him the benefit of the doubt on being trustworthy and knowledgeable about the subject.
The speaker is generating a high level of energy and it’s energizing the audience. He's holding their attention all the way to the end of the presentation.
The audience buys what the speaker’s saying because they understand its payoff for them. An audience won't do anything or believe anything unless there’s a what's-in-it-for-me there.
The words the speaker uses are important, of course. You have to be clear, concise and use persuasive language. Too bad that it's the aspect of the presentation that speakers spend most of their time planning. What you need is more attention to the characteristics that really count: like the avatar, you have to be liked, generate energy and provide a payoff. That will get you a standing ovation.
MY THOUGHTS
we all know how it is - the message gets lost because of the messenger.
Bill Rosenthal
Looking for the perfect words to use in your presentation? Put the words aside for a minute and let's create an avatar of a really persuasive presenter. It has three main characteristics:
The audience likes the presenter. “I'd like to know him,” they're thinking. “I trust her; she shares my values.” “He knows what he's talking about.” It all starts with the speaker being liked. Once the speaker establishes an emotional bond with the audience, they'll give him the benefit of the doubt on being trustworthy and knowledgeable about the subject.
The speaker is generating a high level of energy and it’s energizing the audience. He's holding their attention all the way to the end of the presentation.
The audience buys what the speaker’s saying because they understand its payoff for them. An audience won't do anything or believe anything unless there’s a what's-in-it-for-me there.
The words the speaker uses are important, of course. You have to be clear, concise and use persuasive language. Too bad that it's the aspect of the presentation that speakers spend most of their time planning. What you need is more attention to the characteristics that really count: like the avatar, you have to be liked, generate energy and provide a payoff. That will get you a standing ovation.
MY THOUGHTS
we all know how it is - the message gets lost because of the messenger.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Modify Microsoft Clip Art Pictures In Powerpoint Secrets
Modify Microsoft Clip Art Pictures In Powerpoint Secrets
Busying looking for pictures for your Powerpoint presentation slides? It is not ethical to use unauthorized pictures from other people’s website without owner’s consent. Common alternative is that you can purchase pictures from online picture distributer. You are require to pay some amount of money in order to get free-royalty pictures.
If you are in a tight budget, you can opt for pictures in the Microsoft Clip Art. Most of the Clip Art pictures are extremely lame. So now, you can start producing new and refreshing pictures by using simple picture modifying technique in Powerpoint presentation. These modified pictures are free for non-commercial use only.
To start modifying one Clip Art picture, let’s us begin with step 1.
Step 1: Do a Clip Art search for pictures with suitable keywords.
In this case, I want to show audiences about “The Fate of A Successful Person”. I did a Clip Art picture search with the keyword “Questions” earlier. Look at what I chose.
Step 2: Enlarge the chosen picture.
I’ve chosen a picture of a guy who’s wearing a tie with a dark brown suit. The picture is indeed small and then, I enlarge it to make it look clear enough for audiences to see.
Step 3: Picture modification.
Now, the picture is quite dull and it need some modification. You need to “Ungroup” the picture as shown in the picture above.
Just right-click the picture, then choose ‘Grouping” following by “Ungroup”.
Right after you have clicked “Ungroup”, a menu suddenly appears as shown in the picture above and click “Yes”.
I feel that the guy’s face is quite unclear that makes it quite unappealing. Then I carefully click the face area. Please refer the picture below. A small selection box appeared at the guy’s face. After that, just right-click the small selection box and choose “Format AutoShape”.
Then a “Format AutoShape” menu box appear. Choose any colors from “Fill” row. Finally just press “OK” to confirm changes that you’ve made.
Repeat the selection on your desirable areas including (eyebrows, eyes or the brown colored suit) and change the colors according to your preferences.
Voila! You have successfully learn how to produce your own brand new Clip Art picture! You can enhance your newly modified picture by flanking them with related Clip Art pictures.
From now on, your audiences will be mesmerized by your Powerpoint presentations with your brand new modified pictures.
MY THOUGHTS
very helpful. love this article. will try this soon.
Busying looking for pictures for your Powerpoint presentation slides? It is not ethical to use unauthorized pictures from other people’s website without owner’s consent. Common alternative is that you can purchase pictures from online picture distributer. You are require to pay some amount of money in order to get free-royalty pictures.
If you are in a tight budget, you can opt for pictures in the Microsoft Clip Art. Most of the Clip Art pictures are extremely lame. So now, you can start producing new and refreshing pictures by using simple picture modifying technique in Powerpoint presentation. These modified pictures are free for non-commercial use only.
To start modifying one Clip Art picture, let’s us begin with step 1.
Step 1: Do a Clip Art search for pictures with suitable keywords.
In this case, I want to show audiences about “The Fate of A Successful Person”. I did a Clip Art picture search with the keyword “Questions” earlier. Look at what I chose.
Step 2: Enlarge the chosen picture.
I’ve chosen a picture of a guy who’s wearing a tie with a dark brown suit. The picture is indeed small and then, I enlarge it to make it look clear enough for audiences to see.
Step 3: Picture modification.
Now, the picture is quite dull and it need some modification. You need to “Ungroup” the picture as shown in the picture above.
Just right-click the picture, then choose ‘Grouping” following by “Ungroup”.
Right after you have clicked “Ungroup”, a menu suddenly appears as shown in the picture above and click “Yes”.
I feel that the guy’s face is quite unclear that makes it quite unappealing. Then I carefully click the face area. Please refer the picture below. A small selection box appeared at the guy’s face. After that, just right-click the small selection box and choose “Format AutoShape”.
Then a “Format AutoShape” menu box appear. Choose any colors from “Fill” row. Finally just press “OK” to confirm changes that you’ve made.
Repeat the selection on your desirable areas including (eyebrows, eyes or the brown colored suit) and change the colors according to your preferences.
Voila! You have successfully learn how to produce your own brand new Clip Art picture! You can enhance your newly modified picture by flanking them with related Clip Art pictures.
From now on, your audiences will be mesmerized by your Powerpoint presentations with your brand new modified pictures.
MY THOUGHTS
very helpful. love this article. will try this soon.
Monday, August 30, 2010
How To Create Worst Powerpoint Slides
How To Create Worst Powerpoint Slides
Look at these common mistakes that actually turn off audiences attention when presenters use powerpoint slides in their presentation:
1. Too much text-content in one single slide
You couldn’t put too much texts in one single page. Audiences will not read every single word from it. If presenters opt to follow this presentation method, they might as well distribute handouts to audiences to read rather than giving any presentations at all. Delivering information should be made simple and clear – not to make it hard to transcend to the audiences.
2. Unrelated themes and backgrounds
When you first saw this powerpoint slide, it’s very hard for you to relate with “chocolate” when the themes and backgrounds are not related to the main topic. First, there’s no chocolate in background thus the audiences couldn’t even feel the impact of delicious and alluring taste of chocolate.
3. Unmatched text and background colors
Obviously, text-contents are not totally visible to audiences. If they cannot see things clearly, how could they pay extra attention to your speech delivery? The picture used as slide background is excellent but it is such a waste when you couldn’t get the content clearly from the slide.
4. Over-shadowed Text-contents
Not all fonts require shadows. Over-shadowed text contents will only cause difficulties for audiences to read it. Audiences are more reluctant to read the distorted text-contents even though the slide has a well-organized list.
5. Unmatched fonts
This powerpoint slide can be enhanced with suitable fonts. In this jovial theme, the fonts used are indeed formal and dull. Fonts have played a vital role in slide enhancement. In other words, you need to choose suitable fonts according to the slide layouts or the topic of the presentation.
6. Dull graphical presentation
Using the wrong graphical presentation such as graphs, tables and charts will only make things even complicated. These graphical presentation need to be standalone in every powerpoint slides. It means you couldn’t put to much words along with the graph as shown in the picture above.
MY THOUGHTS
guilty! will take note of this tips for my next presentations
Look at these common mistakes that actually turn off audiences attention when presenters use powerpoint slides in their presentation:
1. Too much text-content in one single slide
You couldn’t put too much texts in one single page. Audiences will not read every single word from it. If presenters opt to follow this presentation method, they might as well distribute handouts to audiences to read rather than giving any presentations at all. Delivering information should be made simple and clear – not to make it hard to transcend to the audiences.
2. Unrelated themes and backgrounds
When you first saw this powerpoint slide, it’s very hard for you to relate with “chocolate” when the themes and backgrounds are not related to the main topic. First, there’s no chocolate in background thus the audiences couldn’t even feel the impact of delicious and alluring taste of chocolate.
3. Unmatched text and background colors
Obviously, text-contents are not totally visible to audiences. If they cannot see things clearly, how could they pay extra attention to your speech delivery? The picture used as slide background is excellent but it is such a waste when you couldn’t get the content clearly from the slide.
4. Over-shadowed Text-contents
Not all fonts require shadows. Over-shadowed text contents will only cause difficulties for audiences to read it. Audiences are more reluctant to read the distorted text-contents even though the slide has a well-organized list.
5. Unmatched fonts
This powerpoint slide can be enhanced with suitable fonts. In this jovial theme, the fonts used are indeed formal and dull. Fonts have played a vital role in slide enhancement. In other words, you need to choose suitable fonts according to the slide layouts or the topic of the presentation.
6. Dull graphical presentation
Using the wrong graphical presentation such as graphs, tables and charts will only make things even complicated. These graphical presentation need to be standalone in every powerpoint slides. It means you couldn’t put to much words along with the graph as shown in the picture above.
MY THOUGHTS
guilty! will take note of this tips for my next presentations
Friday, March 5, 2010
19 things you should never do in a powerpoint presentation
And Now, a Powerpoint Presentation, Redux
Category: Academia
Posted on: August 17, 2009 1:05 AM, by Scicurious
Sci was at a conference last week. It was a REALLY good time. As Sci advances in grad school, I feel I am beginning to come into my own, and it's a good feeling, esp when you can walk around feeling like you have a posse of fellow grad students and post-docs who all want to collaborate.
It's an exciting time, learning the latest stuff, seeing the newest methods, and meeting famous people. It's the craziest thing running into some of these professors. I've read all of their papers, I desperately try to meet all their grad students and postdocs, and my only goal is to see the famous person and say something GENIUS, something that will make them remember me and think that I've got promise. And then I meet them, and I say...I say...oh CRAP. Once in a while, though, the genius does come out, and then I feel that verily, Sci has BLINDED YOU WITH SCIENCE this day.
Last year at a similar conference, I ended up compiling a list of things that one should REALLY try to avoid if at all possible when giving a conference talk. There are more to add, every single time. Behold, the bad, the ugly, and the presentations guaranteed to give your eager listeners a headache:
The 19 things (and counting) you should NEVER do in a powerpoint presentation.
1) Do NOT spend your entire presentation with your back to the audience (I cannot tell you how many times Sci see this, presenters spending the entire time staring up at their powerpoints, gesturing vaguely with their arms).
2) Never use pale green on a white background to emphasize a point, unless you want to emphasize our eyestrain. Similar for neon yellow with pink. YIKES.
3) There is no reason to give a "I will talk about intro, methods, data, and conclusions" outline when you talk will be 20 minutes or less.
4) Make sure you can pronounce brain areas better than our recent president. It is not pronounced "nuke-ulus accumbens" (AUGH, REPEAT OFFENDERS!!!)
5) You have a WHOLE SCREEN! All to yourself, you lucky guy! Use it! Do not make your graph a tiny square in the middle that no one can see from the third row back.
6) If you don't know what to do with your hands, do NOT use then to wave your laser pointer at the screen all the time. You end up with the dreadful, circling laser pointer, like a buzzard over your data. It's one thing to circle the data your talking about, and that's good. It's quite another to have it circling your entire slide, slowly, over and over and over. Use when you need to, and the rest of the time, PUT IT DOWN. BACK AWAY SLOWLY.
7) There is NEVER an excuse for a semicolon in a powerpoint; Ever.
8) If you must use a screen capture, have the grace to crop the image so that we don't have to see the remnants of your Google toolbar.
9) Check your powerpoint for misspellings before you talk in front of several hundred people. If you screwed up it might be "extreem".
10) Try not to leave your mouse arrow hanging out in the middle of the screen for 3/4 of your talk.
11) Avoid the happy trigger finger for your slide advancer. Damn! You just gave away that really cool graphic on the next slide! For the fourth time.
12) DO NOT write it down, read it aloud, and follow it with your pointer. Honestly, at this point you might as well not be there at all.
13) If your hand is shaking, don't try to hold the pointer still over your slide, we're all going to see it and realize how incredibly freaked out you are. Or, being neuroscientists, we will try to diagnose you will Parkinson's.
14) I realize that you might have a monotone voice in your normal daily life, but TRY to vary it up when you give a presentation. We're exhausted, and all the caffeine in the world is not going to make us alert when you sound like the teacher from 'Peanuts.'
15) There are things called 'crutch-words'. You should...um...know what your...um...crutch...um...words are...um...they can be really...um...distracting.
16) There is such a thing as too much animation. Just because *flash* your powerpoint *fly in* can do it *underline* doesn't mean *wave like a flag* that it SHOULD *spin*. Also, if you have animations, know where they are so they don't catch you by surprise and make it obvious to everyone that you're giving a talk that was actually written by your post-doc.
17) I realize that big bad famous profs give a lot of presentations, but please have the courtesy to prep a little. I'm saying, if the presentation is 20 minutes, give a 20 minute talk, not a 40 minute talk that you won't make it through and have to skip through the last 20 slides worth of data. We will either assume that, despite your experience, you can't manage your time, or (more likely) that this is your "stock" talk, that you give all the time, and you (or your post-doc) couldn't be bothered to put something new together. It's not THAT hard. And here's a hint: you know it's going to be too long when you start giving your outline and you're already 10 minutes in.
18) Even if you did it at the last minute, KNOW your SLIDES. I actually heard a "hey, how did THAT get in here..."
19) And never, never, please never, begin or end your talk with a variation on "it's my first talk, and I'm totally nervous". *eyeroll*. In the best case scenario, we should not be able to TELL it was your first talk. We should assume you've got lots of experience. Being told that you don't know what you're doing doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Statements like that don't earn you sympathy.
MY THOUGHTS!
Guilty! Guilty!Guilty! These are really valuable tips. As we gain experience in presentations and public speaking, we become confident and sometimes fail to take note of the little details that are actually not "little" to some audiences. So, pay attention. What have we got to lose?
Category: Academia
Posted on: August 17, 2009 1:05 AM, by Scicurious
Sci was at a conference last week. It was a REALLY good time. As Sci advances in grad school, I feel I am beginning to come into my own, and it's a good feeling, esp when you can walk around feeling like you have a posse of fellow grad students and post-docs who all want to collaborate.
It's an exciting time, learning the latest stuff, seeing the newest methods, and meeting famous people. It's the craziest thing running into some of these professors. I've read all of their papers, I desperately try to meet all their grad students and postdocs, and my only goal is to see the famous person and say something GENIUS, something that will make them remember me and think that I've got promise. And then I meet them, and I say...I say...oh CRAP. Once in a while, though, the genius does come out, and then I feel that verily, Sci has BLINDED YOU WITH SCIENCE this day.
Last year at a similar conference, I ended up compiling a list of things that one should REALLY try to avoid if at all possible when giving a conference talk. There are more to add, every single time. Behold, the bad, the ugly, and the presentations guaranteed to give your eager listeners a headache:
The 19 things (and counting) you should NEVER do in a powerpoint presentation.
1) Do NOT spend your entire presentation with your back to the audience (I cannot tell you how many times Sci see this, presenters spending the entire time staring up at their powerpoints, gesturing vaguely with their arms).
2) Never use pale green on a white background to emphasize a point, unless you want to emphasize our eyestrain. Similar for neon yellow with pink. YIKES.
3) There is no reason to give a "I will talk about intro, methods, data, and conclusions" outline when you talk will be 20 minutes or less.
4) Make sure you can pronounce brain areas better than our recent president. It is not pronounced "nuke-ulus accumbens" (AUGH, REPEAT OFFENDERS!!!)
5) You have a WHOLE SCREEN! All to yourself, you lucky guy! Use it! Do not make your graph a tiny square in the middle that no one can see from the third row back.
6) If you don't know what to do with your hands, do NOT use then to wave your laser pointer at the screen all the time. You end up with the dreadful, circling laser pointer, like a buzzard over your data. It's one thing to circle the data your talking about, and that's good. It's quite another to have it circling your entire slide, slowly, over and over and over. Use when you need to, and the rest of the time, PUT IT DOWN. BACK AWAY SLOWLY.
7) There is NEVER an excuse for a semicolon in a powerpoint; Ever.
8) If you must use a screen capture, have the grace to crop the image so that we don't have to see the remnants of your Google toolbar.
9) Check your powerpoint for misspellings before you talk in front of several hundred people. If you screwed up it might be "extreem".
10) Try not to leave your mouse arrow hanging out in the middle of the screen for 3/4 of your talk.
11) Avoid the happy trigger finger for your slide advancer. Damn! You just gave away that really cool graphic on the next slide! For the fourth time.
12) DO NOT write it down, read it aloud, and follow it with your pointer. Honestly, at this point you might as well not be there at all.
13) If your hand is shaking, don't try to hold the pointer still over your slide, we're all going to see it and realize how incredibly freaked out you are. Or, being neuroscientists, we will try to diagnose you will Parkinson's.
14) I realize that you might have a monotone voice in your normal daily life, but TRY to vary it up when you give a presentation. We're exhausted, and all the caffeine in the world is not going to make us alert when you sound like the teacher from 'Peanuts.'
15) There are things called 'crutch-words'. You should...um...know what your...um...crutch...um...words are...um...they can be really...um...distracting.
16) There is such a thing as too much animation. Just because *flash* your powerpoint *fly in* can do it *underline* doesn't mean *wave like a flag* that it SHOULD *spin*. Also, if you have animations, know where they are so they don't catch you by surprise and make it obvious to everyone that you're giving a talk that was actually written by your post-doc.
17) I realize that big bad famous profs give a lot of presentations, but please have the courtesy to prep a little. I'm saying, if the presentation is 20 minutes, give a 20 minute talk, not a 40 minute talk that you won't make it through and have to skip through the last 20 slides worth of data. We will either assume that, despite your experience, you can't manage your time, or (more likely) that this is your "stock" talk, that you give all the time, and you (or your post-doc) couldn't be bothered to put something new together. It's not THAT hard. And here's a hint: you know it's going to be too long when you start giving your outline and you're already 10 minutes in.
18) Even if you did it at the last minute, KNOW your SLIDES. I actually heard a "hey, how did THAT get in here..."
19) And never, never, please never, begin or end your talk with a variation on "it's my first talk, and I'm totally nervous". *eyeroll*. In the best case scenario, we should not be able to TELL it was your first talk. We should assume you've got lots of experience. Being told that you don't know what you're doing doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Statements like that don't earn you sympathy.
MY THOUGHTS!
Guilty! Guilty!Guilty! These are really valuable tips. As we gain experience in presentations and public speaking, we become confident and sometimes fail to take note of the little details that are actually not "little" to some audiences. So, pay attention. What have we got to lose?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
powerpoint mistakes
PowerPoint Training Mistakes
From the Impact Factory
The following article was contributed by Gareth Butler
Ten Mistakes Not To Make In Your Next PowerPoint Presentation
PowerPoint Skills
Love it or hate it, PowerPoint is used all over the world, every day, to create presentations.
If you're getting ready to design a deck of slides for your next presentation, here are ten mistakes you need to avoid to create an interesting speech your audience will love.
Mistake #1: Don't Cram Too Much On One Slide!
Your audience has to listen to your speech, and read your slides at the same time. When they're doing one, they're not likely to be doing the other. It's essential to keep the slides simple.
Don't have a twenty bullet points on one slide. Or a couple of hundred words. Or four or five pie charts. Or a bar chart full of specific detail.
The best presentations make one clear point on each slide. Less is more!
If you say something during your speech that is clearly backed up by a fact on your slide, it adds authority to the point you're making.
For your next presentation, try limiting yourself to a maximum of five words per slide, including the title. Or can you ditch the words all together and illustrate your point with a photo? Try dropping all the numbers from a chart and just showing the trend.
Mistake #2: Don't Use Bullet Points On Every Slide!
I'm sure you've had to sit though one. You know, a presentation with endless slide after slide of bullet points. I've sat through many. The only good thing about them is they offer a chance to grab 40 winks.
There's nothing interesting about bullet points. They just encourage you to read from the slide, which insults an audience, and they take the audience's attention away from what you're saying.
There are much better ways to illustrate a point rather than bullets. Why not find a good photo that works as well (try BigStockPhoto.com or iStockPhoto.com). Or an interesting quote. Find a chart that shows the trend you're talking about. Show a simple table with raw data. Show logos of companies using the products you're selling (try BrandsOfTheWorld.com). Show newspaper clippings. Or don't show anything – sometimes, you need your audience to focus clearly on what you're saying.
Mistake #3: Don't Make Your Font Size Too Small!
When you're designing slides at your computer, it's easy to forget how your slides are actually going to be used. While 14pt text may look large enough sat in front of your computer, will it be visible from the back of a room when you present?
Just because you're projecting on to a 12' x 9' screen doesn't mean it's going to appear huge to everyone in the room. In fact, it's the opposite. Sat close to a PC, the screen almost fills your vision. From the back of a conference room, however, even a huge projected screen seems tiny.
My tip: when you've designed your slides on your PC, stand up, take five steps back and view your presentation. (You'll find a remote mouse useful for this.)
Can't read your slides now? Neither will your audience. Go into your master template, and double the text size. Now try again.
Mistake #4: Don't Use PowerPoint's Clip art!
I can only think of unprintable comments to make about the clip art supplied with PowerPoint. It's amateurish. It's badly designed. And there's such little choice, you see people shoehorning images into their slides which really don't fit the message or theme of their presentation.
My solution: use professional stock photography.
My favourite suppliers are www.BigStockPhoto.com and www.iStockPhoto.com. Both have almost a huge variety of photos ranging from animals to landscapes, landmarks to technology. Go to both sites and have a look around.
Is it expensive? Not at all. You pay between a couple of dollars per picture, which is nothing.
Tip: find a photo on a white background. In PowerPoint, click the transparency tool on the white area of the photo to cut the object out so it merges seamlessly with your presentation's background.
Mistake #5: Don't Use Sound Effects In Your PowerPoint Presentation!
Yes, PowerPoint does include exciting sound effects like (wait-for-it) a race car! A typewriter! A pane of glass being smashed! Gravy!
OK, I made that last one up.
Just resist all temptation and don't use any of them in your presentation.
They'll make you sound like an amateur who has just discovered some new features in PowerPoint and want to do everything possible to make them fit into your presentation whether they help or hinder.
And, believe me, they hinder.
There's not a lot more I can really say about sound effects. Just please, if you get nothing else from this article, understand this: never, never, use sound effects in PowerPoint.
Mistake #6: Don't Hack Together A PowerPoint Presentation At Random! Structure Gives Meaning
A presentation with no structure is like listening to someone ramble on about nothing in particular. It has no meaning, no message, and five minutes after the ramble has finished, you've forgotten everything about it anyway.
Which is why a good presentation should have a clearly defined structure. And by structure, I simply mean a beginning, a middle and an end.
Beginning: introduce yourself, your topic, why it matters and why you're the right person to talk about it.
Middle: the meaty substance. Talk pros and cons. Talk benefits. Talk features. Show them over and over why the message you're selling is essential. Repetition is good.
End: wrap it all up by referencing back to the beginning of your presentation. Give your audience a call to action – tell them what to do next.
Remember the saying "tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em you just told 'em."
Mistake #7: Don't Read Your PowerPoint Slides Aloud!
Occasionally, I see presenters who bring a slide on-screen, then read it, word-for-word aloud to their audience.
It's such a bad thing to do. Your audience will be insulted, and you're missing the chance to use your slides to back-up and give authority to what you're saying.
If you think you have a habit of doing this, the secret is all in the preparation. If you use a script to speak from, write the script first, then create your slides second, without copying chunks of your script into PowerPoint. If you prefer to speak from notes, then create a list of notes using different wording than what's on your slides.
Then practice in front of a live audience. Maybe a partner, or a colleague. Get them to stop you every time you start reading from your slides. You'll soon loose the habit.
Mistake #8: Don't Loose Your Audience With Ambiguous PowerPoint Slides!
All slides need a clear, simple path for the audience's eye to follow. When slides are filled with content that looks the same (for example, a long list of bullet points in the same type, colour and size) they get lost in the detail.
By making the importance of different parts of your slide clear, you'll instantly improve your audience's understanding of the message you're communicating.
Here's three of my favourite ways of improving the clarity of your slides.
Contrast: make more important items stand out. Make the font size bigger or brighter. Allow lots of space around the most important items.
Highlights: highlight important items with a different colour. For example, highlight rows in a table as you talk about them.
Simplify: reduce the number of words or bullets or pictures in a slide. Split one complex slide into several simpler ones.
Brainstorm your own ideas for more!
Mistake #9: Don't Irritate Your Audience With Annoying PowerPoint Animations!
Yes, PowerPoint does include lots of flashy effects in its custom animations palette.
Yes, you can buy add-ons if you want even more.
No, you shouldn't use them!
Like sounds and clip-art, over used animations in your presentation look amateurish.
They distract the audiences attention away from what you're saying as they focus on the screen. And do lots of random effects impress your audience? No, never.
Stick with one or two that you like. I tend to use Wipe Right and Box Out. That's it.
It's the same with slide transitions. Find one you like and use it throughout your presentation.
Concentrate your efforts on giving a great presentation, not experimenting with all out PowerPoint's animation styles!
Mistake #10: Don't Use The Amateurishly Designed Templates Supplied With PowerPoint!
Like most of the artwork supplied with PowerPoint, it's awful. Why didn't Microsoft hire someone to create some decent templates to bundle in with the software. Hey, Microsoft, I'm for hire if you want me!
The second-worst habit is finding free ones on the web. I can't remember ever seeing some nicely designed PowerPoint templates that someone is giving away for free. The quality is usually around about Microsoft's level!
The solution? Do it yourself, or hire a pro.
Try creating something simple. A graduated background, maybe, with your company's logo in the bottom corner. Or a good royalty-free stock photo with a semi-transparent tinted box laid over the top. Both solutions could look good.
Avoid these ten mistakes and you'll give a much better presentation the next time you speak.
MY THOUGHTS
Ugh! Ouch. It does pay to update yourself from time to time. You've prepared thousands of slides for probably a hundred presentations and you find out (by reading this article) that you're over using this and that or not using this and that. Whew! The biggest mistake I ever made was not having an lcd! Ha!ha! Well, I didn't know the talk was to be at an open space in one of the biggest malls. When my friend said 'hall', I assumed a hall with four walls! Well, the talk turned out pretty well without the slide presentation. So I guess, the best tip should be to know what you're talking about - with or without your slides.
From the Impact Factory
The following article was contributed by Gareth Butler
Ten Mistakes Not To Make In Your Next PowerPoint Presentation
PowerPoint Skills
Love it or hate it, PowerPoint is used all over the world, every day, to create presentations.
If you're getting ready to design a deck of slides for your next presentation, here are ten mistakes you need to avoid to create an interesting speech your audience will love.
Mistake #1: Don't Cram Too Much On One Slide!
Your audience has to listen to your speech, and read your slides at the same time. When they're doing one, they're not likely to be doing the other. It's essential to keep the slides simple.
Don't have a twenty bullet points on one slide. Or a couple of hundred words. Or four or five pie charts. Or a bar chart full of specific detail.
The best presentations make one clear point on each slide. Less is more!
If you say something during your speech that is clearly backed up by a fact on your slide, it adds authority to the point you're making.
For your next presentation, try limiting yourself to a maximum of five words per slide, including the title. Or can you ditch the words all together and illustrate your point with a photo? Try dropping all the numbers from a chart and just showing the trend.
Mistake #2: Don't Use Bullet Points On Every Slide!
I'm sure you've had to sit though one. You know, a presentation with endless slide after slide of bullet points. I've sat through many. The only good thing about them is they offer a chance to grab 40 winks.
There's nothing interesting about bullet points. They just encourage you to read from the slide, which insults an audience, and they take the audience's attention away from what you're saying.
There are much better ways to illustrate a point rather than bullets. Why not find a good photo that works as well (try BigStockPhoto.com or iStockPhoto.com). Or an interesting quote. Find a chart that shows the trend you're talking about. Show a simple table with raw data. Show logos of companies using the products you're selling (try BrandsOfTheWorld.com). Show newspaper clippings. Or don't show anything – sometimes, you need your audience to focus clearly on what you're saying.
Mistake #3: Don't Make Your Font Size Too Small!
When you're designing slides at your computer, it's easy to forget how your slides are actually going to be used. While 14pt text may look large enough sat in front of your computer, will it be visible from the back of a room when you present?
Just because you're projecting on to a 12' x 9' screen doesn't mean it's going to appear huge to everyone in the room. In fact, it's the opposite. Sat close to a PC, the screen almost fills your vision. From the back of a conference room, however, even a huge projected screen seems tiny.
My tip: when you've designed your slides on your PC, stand up, take five steps back and view your presentation. (You'll find a remote mouse useful for this.)
Can't read your slides now? Neither will your audience. Go into your master template, and double the text size. Now try again.
Mistake #4: Don't Use PowerPoint's Clip art!
I can only think of unprintable comments to make about the clip art supplied with PowerPoint. It's amateurish. It's badly designed. And there's such little choice, you see people shoehorning images into their slides which really don't fit the message or theme of their presentation.
My solution: use professional stock photography.
My favourite suppliers are www.BigStockPhoto.com and www.iStockPhoto.com. Both have almost a huge variety of photos ranging from animals to landscapes, landmarks to technology. Go to both sites and have a look around.
Is it expensive? Not at all. You pay between a couple of dollars per picture, which is nothing.
Tip: find a photo on a white background. In PowerPoint, click the transparency tool on the white area of the photo to cut the object out so it merges seamlessly with your presentation's background.
Mistake #5: Don't Use Sound Effects In Your PowerPoint Presentation!
Yes, PowerPoint does include exciting sound effects like (wait-for-it) a race car! A typewriter! A pane of glass being smashed! Gravy!
OK, I made that last one up.
Just resist all temptation and don't use any of them in your presentation.
They'll make you sound like an amateur who has just discovered some new features in PowerPoint and want to do everything possible to make them fit into your presentation whether they help or hinder.
And, believe me, they hinder.
There's not a lot more I can really say about sound effects. Just please, if you get nothing else from this article, understand this: never, never, use sound effects in PowerPoint.
Mistake #6: Don't Hack Together A PowerPoint Presentation At Random! Structure Gives Meaning
A presentation with no structure is like listening to someone ramble on about nothing in particular. It has no meaning, no message, and five minutes after the ramble has finished, you've forgotten everything about it anyway.
Which is why a good presentation should have a clearly defined structure. And by structure, I simply mean a beginning, a middle and an end.
Beginning: introduce yourself, your topic, why it matters and why you're the right person to talk about it.
Middle: the meaty substance. Talk pros and cons. Talk benefits. Talk features. Show them over and over why the message you're selling is essential. Repetition is good.
End: wrap it all up by referencing back to the beginning of your presentation. Give your audience a call to action – tell them what to do next.
Remember the saying "tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em you just told 'em."
Mistake #7: Don't Read Your PowerPoint Slides Aloud!
Occasionally, I see presenters who bring a slide on-screen, then read it, word-for-word aloud to their audience.
It's such a bad thing to do. Your audience will be insulted, and you're missing the chance to use your slides to back-up and give authority to what you're saying.
If you think you have a habit of doing this, the secret is all in the preparation. If you use a script to speak from, write the script first, then create your slides second, without copying chunks of your script into PowerPoint. If you prefer to speak from notes, then create a list of notes using different wording than what's on your slides.
Then practice in front of a live audience. Maybe a partner, or a colleague. Get them to stop you every time you start reading from your slides. You'll soon loose the habit.
Mistake #8: Don't Loose Your Audience With Ambiguous PowerPoint Slides!
All slides need a clear, simple path for the audience's eye to follow. When slides are filled with content that looks the same (for example, a long list of bullet points in the same type, colour and size) they get lost in the detail.
By making the importance of different parts of your slide clear, you'll instantly improve your audience's understanding of the message you're communicating.
Here's three of my favourite ways of improving the clarity of your slides.
Contrast: make more important items stand out. Make the font size bigger or brighter. Allow lots of space around the most important items.
Highlights: highlight important items with a different colour. For example, highlight rows in a table as you talk about them.
Simplify: reduce the number of words or bullets or pictures in a slide. Split one complex slide into several simpler ones.
Brainstorm your own ideas for more!
Mistake #9: Don't Irritate Your Audience With Annoying PowerPoint Animations!
Yes, PowerPoint does include lots of flashy effects in its custom animations palette.
Yes, you can buy add-ons if you want even more.
No, you shouldn't use them!
Like sounds and clip-art, over used animations in your presentation look amateurish.
They distract the audiences attention away from what you're saying as they focus on the screen. And do lots of random effects impress your audience? No, never.
Stick with one or two that you like. I tend to use Wipe Right and Box Out. That's it.
It's the same with slide transitions. Find one you like and use it throughout your presentation.
Concentrate your efforts on giving a great presentation, not experimenting with all out PowerPoint's animation styles!
Mistake #10: Don't Use The Amateurishly Designed Templates Supplied With PowerPoint!
Like most of the artwork supplied with PowerPoint, it's awful. Why didn't Microsoft hire someone to create some decent templates to bundle in with the software. Hey, Microsoft, I'm for hire if you want me!
The second-worst habit is finding free ones on the web. I can't remember ever seeing some nicely designed PowerPoint templates that someone is giving away for free. The quality is usually around about Microsoft's level!
The solution? Do it yourself, or hire a pro.
Try creating something simple. A graduated background, maybe, with your company's logo in the bottom corner. Or a good royalty-free stock photo with a semi-transparent tinted box laid over the top. Both solutions could look good.
Avoid these ten mistakes and you'll give a much better presentation the next time you speak.
MY THOUGHTS
Ugh! Ouch. It does pay to update yourself from time to time. You've prepared thousands of slides for probably a hundred presentations and you find out (by reading this article) that you're over using this and that or not using this and that. Whew! The biggest mistake I ever made was not having an lcd! Ha!ha! Well, I didn't know the talk was to be at an open space in one of the biggest malls. When my friend said 'hall', I assumed a hall with four walls! Well, the talk turned out pretty well without the slide presentation. So I guess, the best tip should be to know what you're talking about - with or without your slides.
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