The Tribune

By Deidre Bastian

Presentations, designed by PowerPoint or other applications, are a great way to support a speech or visualise a complicated concept. But a bad one can achieve the opposite effect, distracting or irritating an audience.

Microsoft’s PowerPoint application is a powerful tool for creating multimedia presentations using clip art, fancy fonts, animations, charts, graphics, sound and an array of dazzling colour schemes.

Yet it is all too easy to produce the equivalent of a Hollywood flop and lose your message. Here is a channel that will help you create professional and concise content, avoiding the most common mistakes.

The first thing that gives a professional touch to any PowerPoint presentation is design and content:

• Compose slides.

• Restrict the room and don’t ever let the design restrict your message.

• Pick an easy-to-read font face.

• Leave room for highlights such as images or take home messages.

Use Consistency:

• Use the same font face and sizes on all slides.

• Match colours, since a poor choice of colours can shatter a presentation.

• Each slide should address a single concept and follow a logical progression, building on the other.

Use Contrast:

• Black text on a white background will always be the best choice but the most boring.

• Keep it easy on the eyes to ensure that your viewers do not have a difficulty reading your slide.

KISS:

• Keep It Straight and Simple using keywords only, no sentences.

• Never read your slides, talk freely.

Take Home Message:

• Always express a ‘Take Home Message’ and make it stand out. Tell a story and include a beginning, middle and end, so that your audience can feel like they received a better understanding of your message.

• Balance your images, but do not use them merely to decorate. Images should only be used to reinforce, explain or complement your message.

• If you do not have your own images, you can browse Bing, Flickr or Google’s image search for material, but keep copyrights in mind.

Animations & Media:

• In animations, there is a fine line between a comic or professional impression. However, animations can be rather powerful tools to explain complicated matters and improve understanding, so use them sparingly.

Often, there is a tendency to overcomplicate a presentation slide with flashy images and quirky transitions, which is unnecessary. Moreover, focus on the key points and let handouts or packets outline the minutia.

Target and

Content:

• Keep your audience in mind ,as they define the content of your presentation. Know what you want to convey and allow the preceding slides to support the final outcome. Such as: What do you need to tell them? What will be interesting to them? And what will keep them focused?

Do not lose the attention of your audience, as every other effort will be insignificant regardless of your creative and brilliant designs.

Moreover, as an added bonus and to offer further insight into this topic, I sought the expertise of a friend who is a respected ‘Toastmaster Guru’, Anthony J. Longley, past Division I Governor, District 47, Toastmasters International. He offered six of the most common mistakes he has observed with “inexperienced”, and sometimes “experienced”, presenters.

Here is what he listed:

a) Try to avoid illustrating more than six points per slide.

b) Be mindful of persons sitting further back in the audience by ensuring that you use a font size, style and colour that is easily visible to all.

c) Always have a hard copy of your presentation in the event there is a technical difficulty with the audiovisual equipment.

d) If you find that the remote clicker is not functioning, you are possibly pointing it at the screen instead of the projector where the sensor is.

e) Do not put supporting details in the slide. If the audience can read the entire presentation then you need not be standing before them.

f) To maintain courtesy, avoid turning your back to the audience. Instead, turn at a 45 degree angle to maintain eye contact.

Overall, remember that your slide’s only purpose is to “support”, not to “replace”, your talk. Nevertheless, only provide keywords through your slides. If you verbatim every slide, the audience will become bored, stop listening and use their cell phones or start yawning...possibly even falling asleep.

In the end, the presentation and the speaker should work together, meaning the slides should complement the speaker and the speaker should complement the slides.

Ultimately, always practice and know your slides inside out, and speak freely..... with confidence. Remember, a good speaker can convey information well, while an organised speaker is always prepared. Good luck, and go get them.

Until we meet again, fill your life with memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game!

NB: Columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com

Ms Bastian is a trained graphic designer who has qualifications of M.Sc., B.Sc., A.Sc. She has trained at institutions such as: Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of the Bahamas, Nova Southeastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas