Most of us will have sat through a fair few PowerPoint presentations in our time. I know I have.
Of course, the success of them lies largely with the person giving the talk, but how often do their slides enhance their performance?
A well-designed slide deck can add impact to the spoken words, helping to illustrate concepts and fix the message in the minds of the audience whilst keeping the focus on the presenter at the same time.
On the other hand, there are those presentations where the speaker is effectively speaking just about every word that is crammed on to the slide.
- Bullet point after bullet point.
- As an audience member, you find yourself reading along with them…
- Or ahead of them, noticing whenever they skip, or change a word.
- At that point, maybe you start wondering what to have for dinner….
I went to a presentation at a college recently where the slides were crammed with text and to make matters worse, the text was black on a dark blue background. The audience naturally felt we should be reading everything in case we missed any crucial information. It made for a bit of a painful experience.
Often less is more. Boil information down to its most crucial points. Choose or create relevant, impactful imagery that supports the message. Use simple diagrams or graphs that back up your facts. All in a visual language that represents your brand, and remembering that as a presenter, the star of the show should be your message.
