PowerPoint Presentation Nightmares

Six PowerPoint Nightmares (and How to Fix Them)
By Lincoln Spector, PCWorld

You're giving a speech in front of an audience, and suddenly you realize that you're naked.

Even if you've never experienced that particular nightmare, you've probably heard of it. Luckily, it will probably never happen to you in real life (and if it does, you work in a very interesting industry). But if your PowerPoint presentation goes wrong in front of a gathering of your peers--or worse, a gathering of your bosses--you have a real, waking nightmare on your hands.

Here are solutions to six PowerPoint nightmares. The first two deal with problems that may arise when you're designing a presentation. The remaining four focus on avoiding disasters that you might otherwise not see until your audience saw them, too.

These tips will help you save face when using either PowerPoint 2007 or PowerPoint 2010.
1. I Can't Format Text Around an Image

Why doesn't PowerPoint handle pictures and text as well as Microsoft Word does?

Whatever the reason, it doesn't. So if you want to place an image in the middle of a paragraph, you have to work around PowerPoint's limitations. Here are two ways to do that:

If you want to put the image in the middle of an otherwise normal paragraph, you have to create a space for it manually: Place the text box and image on the same slide. Then move the picture into the middle of the text block and resize it to your liking. Right-click the picture and select Send to Back. Now, starting with the first line of text that overlaps the picture, insert spaces or tabs until the text surrounds but doesn’t block the picture.

You've probably already guessed the problem with this solution: Any changes you make after adding all of the spaces will throw things off and require you to redo much of the work.

If instead you want text to curve around an image, you can use WordArt. Select the text box, and click the ribbon's Drawing Tools/Format tab. Click Text Effects (if you don't see the words 'Text Effects', look for the softly glowing blue letter A). In the resulting pull-down menu, select Transform, and then choose the most promising shape. Move, resize, and reshape the circle by dragging it.

2. I Hate That Font

Don't like the font that you (or a coworker) used throughout a lengthy presentation? Want to change it to something else?

In the Home tab's Editing group, pull down the Replace menu and select Replace Fonts. Select the appropriate fonts and click Replace.

3. PowerPoint Won't Open My Presentation

You bring your presentation on a flash drive, plug it into your host's computer (connected to a projector), double-click the file--and get the fateful error message.

You may have checked ahead to confirm that the host computer had PowerPoint loaded on it, but did you ask which version? The file format changed with PowerPoint 2007.

The easiest way to avoid compatibility issues is to use the old file format. Your files will be significantly bigger, but you probably won't run into other problems.

You can make the old format your default in the PowerPoint Options dialog box. To get there in PowerPoint 2007, click the Office orb in the upper-left corner, and then click the PowerPoint Options button. In version 2010, click the Ribbon's File tab, and in the left pane click Options.

Once you're in the dialog box, click Save in the left pane. For the 'Save files in this format' option, select PowerPoint Presentation 97-2003.

The owner of the computer can fix the problem by installing either the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 file formats or the PowerPoint Viewer 2007. Both are free. But that's their decision to make, not yours.

4. The Audience Can't Read the Text

Your slides can be completely legible in the office, but projected on the big screen they may be difficult for your audience to read.

You can't assume that the projector you'll be using during the presentation will exactly replicate the colors on your monitor. Subtle--or not so subtle--differences in shade, brightness, and contrast are common.

The solution is to avoid subtle color differences when choosing your font and background colors. Think in terms of color opposites:

Black and white
Red and cyan
Green and magenta
Blue and yellow

Of these four pairs, yellow text on a blue background is probably the most pleasing to the eye. White text on any truly dark color will also be readable.

If you want to experiment but ensure that your results will be readable, try Dave Paradi's Color Contrast Calculator. For a design tool, this Web page is surprisingly text-heavy and unfriendly, but it can tell you whether your two colors will produce legible results.

The calculator requires you to enter the three numbers that define each color. To obtain these numbers for the background color, right-click a blank spot on the slide and select Format Background. In the Fill section of the resulting dialog box, pull down the Color menu and select More Colors. You'll see Red, Green, and Blue values below the colorful graphic. (If you don't, change the Color model to RGB.)

For the text color, select some text and then click the Ribbon's Home tab. In the Font section, click the pull-down arrow by the color icon (an A with a thick, red underline) and select More Colors. You'll get the same dialog box.

5. That's Not the Font I Picked!

So you replaced an ugly-looking font with an attractive one (see problem #2 above), and then you got the colors right (see problem #4). But when you launched your presentation, the font onscreen wasn't the one you picked.

Unless you're sure that you'll be running your presentation from your own laptop, you should embed your fonts to avoid font overrides from the host machine. You can do the embedding from the PowerPoint Options dialog box.

To get to that box in PowerPoint 2007, click first the Office orb and then the PowerPoint Options button. In 2010, click the Ribbon's File tab and then click Options in the left pane.

Once you're in the dialog box, click Save the in left pane. Then check Embed fonts in the file.

6. Audio Plays Only on My PC

Fonts aren't the only components of your slideshow that may fail to follow your PowerPoint file to another PC. If you've added music or other audio to your presentation, it may play flawlessly on your computer, but elsewhere leave you with the sound of silence.

First question: Does the presentation PC have speakers attached to it, and are they powerful enough to fill the room? If you have sound with your presentation, you need to answer this question in advance.

But what if the setup is capable of blasting Beethoven's Fifth through the audience, and yet the song in your presentation doesn't make a peep? Unless you're sure that you'll never have to run the presentation off anything except your own laptop, you need to set up your slideshow in a way that avoids this particular embarrassment.

There are two ways to add sound to a PowerPoint presentation: You can link the audio, which tells PowerPoint to play a particular audio file, or you can embed the audio information inside the PowerPoint file itself.

You might expect, in view of the advice I gave earlier about fonts, that the better approach is to embed the audio into your PowerPoint file. But that's not the case here because PowerPoint will let you embed audio that it may not be able to play. For instance, if you embed an MP3 file in PowerPoint 2010, you may not be able to play it in PowerPoint 2007.

A better approach is to link to the audio file in a way that eliminates all path issues. Before inserting any sounds into your slideshow, create a separate folder for your presentation. Put the PowerPoint file there, along with any audio files that you'll be using. (If you're playing songs from your audio library, be sure to copy--rather than move--the files. Otherwise, you'll have trouble enjoying them later.)

When it's time to insert audio, be sure to link rather than embed:

In PowerPoint 2007, click first the Office orb in the upper-left corner and then the PowerPoint Options button. Click Advanced in the left pane. Scroll down to the Save section. Make sure that the value of the 'Link sounds with file size greater than' option is smaller than the size of the smallest audio file you'll be using.

There's no such setting in PowerPoint 2010. In the Insert Audio dialog box, select but don't double-click the file; then pull down the Insert menu near lower-right corner, and select Link to File.

Take the folder, rather than the file, with you to your presentation.

After you're done with your technically flawless presentation, you can go home and have a good night's sleep--assuming, of course, that everyone in the audience stayed awake during the presentation.

Articles of Related Interest: For a review of non-PowerPoint presentation-software options available online, see "PowerPoint Alternatives: Presentation-Tool Showdown." For a Mac-centric discussion of how to improve a PowerPoint presentation, see "Five Favorite PowerPoint Tips." And for examples of what not to do under any circumstances, see our slideshow, "The World's Worst PowerPoint Presentations."

Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes PC World's Answer Line column and blog, as well as the movie blog Bayflicks.net. Follow Lincoln on Twitter.

MY THOUGHTS

Great tips. I still need to check the color contrast thing but the rest of the tips seem easy to work on.

EASY STEPS TO DYNAMITE PRESENTATIONS

EASY STEPS TO DYNAMITE PRESENTATIONS

from the article Create a Dynamite Presentation in 6 Easy Steps
By Geoffrey James | April 19, 2010

This post describes a foolproof and easy way to craft a presentation that causes an audience to ACTUALLY AND TRULY MAKE A DECISION.

I’m not talking about those stupid bullet point lectures that put people to sleep.

I’m talking the real deal here. The kind of show-stopper presentation that makes things happen. Like closing a big sale.

Interested? If so, let’s get started…

Note: Except where otherwise noted, this post is loosely based on an interview with G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa, authors of “The Art of Woo.”

STEP #1: Decide on the Impact

STEP #2: Understand How an Audience Decides

STEP #3: Research the Audience

STEP #4: Craft The Story

STEP #5: Compose Your Slides

STEP #6: Rehearse, then Go For It

MY THOUGHTS

looks easy? it will be if you read the coming posts on each step

CONQUER YOUR FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

Conquering Your Fear of Public Speaking
By Steve Tobak | January 26, 2009

http://www.bnet.com/blog/ceo/conquering-your-fear-of-public-speaking/1690

People fear public speaking more than anything else. You probably knew that, but did you know that a significant percentage of accomplished professionals, managers, and executives suffer from this debilitating fear? That’s right, people just like you.

Apparently, career-minded, achievement-oriented people are more likely to worry about performance and appearances - the source of most speaking fear - than others are.

To make matters worse, sufferers are typically embarrassed and reluctant to admit they have a problem. They hide a deep concern about the phobia’s affect on their careers in an industry that values presentation skills so highly.

One particular experience at an executive conference sticks with me. While a senior Microsoft executive and I sat in the audience, sharing techniques for calming our own nerves, we watched the president of a large Japanese company present. His hands were trembling and his voice was shaky. He had a rough time, but he got through it.

My heart went out to him, not just because I was scheduled to present the following day and shared his fear, but because he had the courage to confront it.

What’s the cause?

In short, it’s part of the fight or flight response that generates adrenaline, an ancient survival mechanism that lives within each of us. That’s what accounts for the nerves, anxiety, and panic. The underlying cause may be a single unpleasant event or something deeper. In any case, it’s a learned response, and as such, it can be unlearned.

How do you conquer it?

The worst thing you can do is ignore it or avoid public speaking. This is no different from any other challenge you’ve addressed in the past. Deal with it logically and methodically and improvement will follow.

Here are five steps to Conquer Your Fear of Public Speaking:

1. Face your fear. Admit that you have a problem, seek to understand it, and have faith that you will eventually conquer it. You’re far from alone and in very good company. Isolation is a big part of this fear. Talk about it with friends and family. Get it out. Then be brave and determined. You can conquer this and you will.

2. Know your material cold. When you do present, put your best foot forward by knowing your material backwards and forwards. Don’t memorize, just be clear on the key points you want to get across and be prepared to converse intelligently on the subject. Ability to think on your feet is really about confidence, knowledge, and preparation.

3. It’s not all about you. You worry that all eyes are on you and everyone can see how nervous you are. Well, guess what? They may be looking at you, but they’re either thinking about themselves or the content. And if you consider that half your audience has the same fear you have, they’re likely to be empathetic.

4. Interact with the audience. Relieve the feeling of isolation by interacting with the audience. Draw them into your presentation by asking leading questions and encouraging interaction. You’ll instantly feel more comfortable, and so will your audience. Side benefit: you’ll be a more dynamic and engaging speaker.

5. What’s the worst that can happen? That question can diffuse most life problems and it certainly applies here. What if your hands shake, you screw up, or you panic? First, that’s not likely to happen; it’s all in your head. Second, so what if it does? You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again. Failing is part of life and business; this is no different.

Also, check out How to Give a Killer Presentation; it’ll help build your confidence and reduce your fear.

If you have a fear of public speaking, have addressed your fear in the past, or have coached others, please share your feelings and experiences. It’s anonymous, a good way to start, and will help thousands of others.

MY THOUGHTS

i avoided speaking in public for years. then i ended up in training. i used to think numbers cause my nerves to get all tangled up. not so. it's who. not how many. i can get away with 500 employees in the audience. but 10 board members make me want to call in sick.

i don't think i've really conquered my fear. i just learned how to live with it. yes, preparation is the key. prayer can get you through it. and so what if i foul up? that won't make me a lesser person.

PART 3 - HOW TO BE A GREAT STORYTELLER

How to Be a Great Storyteller and Win Over Any Audience - Part 3
By Steve Tobak | January 12, 2011

Part III: The Delivery

While research and content are key, so is delivery. If you really want to engage your audience in an experience they’ll remember - which means they’ll remember your story - here are eight tips to follow:

1. Don’t read what’s on the slide. If you’re pitching from a slide presentation, don’t read words off a slide. Instead, know the pitch cold (without having to look except for a brief cue) and speak in your own words.

2. 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.

3. Engage the audience by asking 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Don’t overuse props. Frankly, the most important thing for engaging an audience and telling a memorable story is you, the story-teller. So don’t do too much to distract the audience from you. I know it’s a little scary at first, but you’ll improve with practice and experience.

Part IV: The Close (wait for the last blogon this topic)

MY THOUGHTS

deliver it from the heart. that's all i can say. preparation is key. but presenting what you have prepared from the heart have been known to touch and impact even an unfriendly audience.

PowerPoint Presentation Tips: 10 Tips on Becoming a Better Presenter

10 Tips on Becoming a Better Presenter
Improve Your Presentation Skills and Be a Better Presenter
By Wendy Russell, About.com Guide

Make this year the one that defines you as a wonderful presenter. These ten tips will help you to make a lasting impression as a skilled presenter using PowerPoint or other presentation software.

1. Know Your Stuff
Your comfort level with presenting will be high if you know everything about your topic. After all, the audience is looking to you to be the expert. However, don't overload the audience with your complete toolkit of knowledge about your topic. Three key points is just about right to keep them interested, allowing them to ask questions if they want more.

2. Make it Clear What You are There to Share With Them
Use the tried and true method that skilled presenters have used for eons.
- Tell them what you are going to tell them. Outline briefly the key points you will talk about.
- Tell them. Cover the topic in depth.
- Tell them what you told them. Summarize your presentation in a few short sentences.

3. A Picture Tells the Story
Keep the audience's attention with pictures rather than endless bulleted slides. Often one effective picture says it all. There is a reason for that old cliché - "a picture is worth a thousand words".


4. You Can't Have Too Many Rehearsals
If you were an actor, you would not be performing without first rehearsing your part. Your presentation should be no different. It is a show too, so take time to rehearse -- and preferably in front of people -- so that you can see what works and what doesn't. An added bonus of rehearsing is that you will become more comfortable with your material and the live show will not come off as a recitation of facts.

5. Practice in the Room
What works while rehearsing at home or the office, may not come off the same in the actual room where you will present. If at all possible, arrive early enough so that you can become familiar with the room setup. Sit in the seats as if you were an audience member. This will make it easier for you to judge where to walk about and stand during your time in the spotlight. And -- don't forget to test out your equipment in this room long before it's show time. Electrical outlets may be scarce, so you may need to bring extra extension cords. And -- you brought an extra projector light bulb, right?

6. Podiums are Not for Professionals
Podiums are "crutches" for novice presenters. To be engaging with your audience you have to be free to walk among them if you can, or at least vary your position on stage, so that you will appear to be approachable to everyone in the room. Use a remote device so that you can change slides easily on the screen without having to be stuck behind a computer.

7. Speak to the Audience
How many presentations have you witnessed where the presenter either read from his notes or worse -- read the slides to you? The audience doesn't need you to read to them. They came to see and hear you speak to them. Your slide show is just a visual aid.

8. Pace the Presentation
A good presenter will know how to pace his presentation, so that it flows smoothly, while at the same time he is prepared for questions at any time -- and -- going back to Item 1, of course, he knows all the answers. Make sure to allow for audience participation at the end. If no one asks a questions, have a few quick questions of your own ready to ask them. This is another way to engage the audience.

9. Learn to Navigate
If you are using PowerPoint as a visual aid to your presentation, get to know the many keyboard shortcuts that allow you to quickly navigate to different slides in your presentation if the audience asks for clarity. For example, you may wish to revisit slide 6, which contains a wonderful picture illustrating your point.

10. Always Have a Plan B
Unexpected things happen. Be prepared for any disaster. What if your projector blew a light bulb (and you forgot to bring a spare) or your briefcase was lost at the airport? Your Plan B should be that the show must go on, no matter what. Going back to Item 1 once again -- you should know your topic so well that you can make your presentation "off the cuff" if need be, and the audience will leave feeling that they got what they came for.

MY THOUGHTS

No. 1 tip is the best. Know what you're talking about. No matter what happens, you'll know how to adjust. Your presentation will be free flowing,each slide presented to tell an interesting story.

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
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MY THOUGHTS

heaven! need to check this out

Protect Your Flash Drive from Viruses

Flash Drive 101: Protecting Your Drive from Viruses
Rick Broida
PC World
Sunday, October 24, 2010; 12:19 AM

Flash drives are virus magnets. This is a generally accepted truth, but today I learned it firsthand.

As you may recall from my previous post on copying files to flash drives, my wife needed to take a PowerPoint presentation with her to school. The drive was malware-free when it left here--but it came home with a virus!

I found this out when I popped the drive into my PC--and Microsoft Security Essentials immediately detected (and removed, thankfully) an extremely dangerous worm. No doubt it had landed there when the missus plugged the drive into one of the school machines.

This was a catastrophe barely averted. This particular worm propagates over network connections, so it could have spread very quickly to every system in my house. That's why it's crucial to have reliable anti-virus software installed on all your PCs.

Okay, but how do you protect your flash drive when it's "out and about"? How can you keep it from getting infected in the first place--or at least remove any sneakyware before it comes home with you?

My tool of choice: SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner. The program requires no installation; you just copy it to your flash drive (see the aforementioned post if you don't know how to do that), then run it whenever you want to check for and remove infections.


You should also consider running Panda USB Vaccine, which disables a flash drive's Autorun.inf file--a common carrier for malware (including the one that hit me today). Doing so will prevent the drive's Autorun box from appearing when you plug it into your PC, but that's no biggie--you just have to open the drive manually.


MY THOUGHTS

i try to do away with flash drives as much as i can. i go for sending thru email even if i need to send a file to someone who's right beside me. these suggested downloads are worth a try though.

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.

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