10 Tips for better Powerpoint
As promised, here are 10 PowerPoint tips:
- If you can put it on two slides, rather than one, then do.
Most people put far to much information on a single slide. - If you need notes, put them in the notes section.
That is what it is for. You can then print and use the notes. Don’t force your audience to look at your notes or prompts. - If you need lots of punctuation, something is wrong.
Bulleted lists aren’t great, but comma separated lists are definitely hard to read, difficult to follow, tricky to parse, tough to digest, easily lost, fairly ugly, you get the idea… - Try to have no more than 5-7 lines of text per slide, if any.
- Stick to one key idea per slide.
This stops concepts becoming muddled and also makes the deck more ‘usable’ when it is printed. - Slides are there to focus the audience’s mind.
Design them to do that, ensuring that they don’t accidentally distract from the message you are trying to get across. - Builds control the rate of information delivery.
This is good, as makes it easier for people to follow, but excessive animation will just distract from the content. Too many builds indicates too much on the slide. Strike the balance, err on the conservative side. - Slide transitions are good.
A nice slide transition beats a straight cut. We are the movie generation and our eyes and brains have expectations. A transition reminds the audience that you are moving on to the next idea, just as a cut does in a move. Consider using a different transition to mark key sections of a presentation. Once again, be conservative, if the transition is too noticeable, it will distract and detract. - Remember your point and ensure your audience does too.
If you can’t remember it, how will your audience? Powerpoint was designed to make points. Make yours and make them clear and memorable. - There are no country laws or legal requirements for you to use Powerpoint slides.
If you are better off without them, then don’t use them. Many of the best ‘presentations’ I have seen were done without slides.
Can someone add another 91 to make it 101! Happy presenting!
Other posts that you might enjoy: 3 Things Not to Forget in a Presentation, A Presentation Lesson from Al Gore.
I think #10 should have been #1 – If you don’t need to use PP then don’t!
True! Although being a poor presenter, with no slides, isn’t much better than being a poor presenter with poor slides. The real shame is when you see a good presenter made into a poor presenter with poor slides. Can good slides rescue a poor presenter?
5-7 lines of text! Too much. 1-2 max.
Hi Tim! You are right. I was being kind, 5-7 would be a big leap forwards. 1-2 is close to perfection, if anyone has seen a Steve Jobs presentation, you’ll know what this looks like. I think it is a big ask for a non-professional presenter, but if you can get there, then do it! One word on a slide is VERY powerful – add notes for the handouts though! That reminds me of a funny story, but for another time…
Great tips. I used the Beyond bullet points approach when putting together a six-hour 130-slide PP presentation. Of the six hours, over 1/2 is interactive exercises. Total # of bullets: 7 (I couldn’t resist a few). I *do* have some “visual bullets” – small pictures in a row (no more than 5) for my own memory.
#11 Use Creative Commons pictures from Flickr to tell your story. Just attribute them (ie provide a URL link at the end of the presentation). Telling a visual story is critical
#12 Post your presentations on Slideshare.net (as long as its not corporate secrets)
#13 Listen to a Steve Jobs or Guy Kawasaki speech on YouTube
#14 Give yourself a digital education. Watch the best Slideshare.net presentations for ideas about design and excellence in presentation.
#15 Ask the “why is this significant?” to my audience question
Great tips Nathan! A word of caution on Flickr photo use in commercial presentations: Creative Commons is not the same as copyright cleared. For example, if you use a photo of the Eiffel Tower taken at night, you might have copyright permission from the photo owner, but do you have copyright permission from the copyright owner of the Eiffel Tower light show? I have seen a number of small companies end up with large legal bills over this sort of thing recently.
I’d put 15 at no.1 for presentation creation – I think it is a subject deserving a post all to itself.
More tips?
Read “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds and/or subscribe to his blog, visit his website at http://www.presentationzen.com. Garr has excellent advice on making an impact through presentation materials.
His advice (paraphrased by me):
The slides should tell a story to your audience. All other purposes and priorities are below this one.
Great advice, a very readable book with good examples. Now if I could only get his advice to work in a scientific context!!! Aargh!
Also, check out Seth Godin’s advice – http://www.sethgodin.com/freeprize/reallybad-1.pdf.
Hi Mike! I’m trying to remember the chronology, I think i wrote this when Garr was still blogging, and before his book, otherwise I would have mentioned it. A good pointer! Likewise, Seth’s really bad powerpoint (mentioned at the end of 10 things not to do in a business powerpoint presentation) is a must-read classic for any presenter.
Looking back on this, and having done more competitive speaking, I’d say that there are different sorts of presentation. You aren’t always telling a story, sometimes you are trying to persuade or inspire. In that context, story is just a part of the equation. I’m sure you’ll make it work, and make it interesting, even if it is presenting stats 😉
Benjamin – I think Garr would argue that you’re ALWAYS telling a story, even if you’re trying to persuade or inspire. The story makes it STICKY (stickiness being a good thing in making what you’re saying stick in people’s minds). http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2007/07/make.html
Yes – always telling a story, and you might tell multiple stories in one presentation. Thanks for the reminder about “made to stick” – a very good book!