Executive Presentation Training - The Seven Deadly PowerPoint Sins
Business executives everywhere know the power of a PowerPoint® presentation. PowerPoint® is the predominate presentation tool used in the world today. It can also be the most assured way to lose an audience's attention and kill your message.
Why? Because PowerPoint® is the most misused presentation tool used in business today.
When used correctly, PowerPoint® can enrich a presentation and make the message more memorable. The problem is most people don't use this terrific invention even remotely effectively.
With proper executive presentation training, you can avoid the common mishaps many executives make when using PowerPoint®.
Below are the top seven mistakes people make when using PowerPoint®. If you are guilty of any of these, make changes to your presentations immediately. Your reputation as a speaker will improve and your message will be more memorable.
1) Too much content on a slide. Use only a few key words or phrases on each slide. Think 4 X 4: No more than four words per line, no more than 4 lines per slide.
2) All words, no images. Use fewer words and more images. Use an interesting picture or a key word on a slide to launch your talk about each topic or message you want to deliver.
3) Too many slides. Do not use a slide for every point you want to make. The main focus should be on you, not the slides.
4) Wild and crazy animations. Swooshing sounds and flying words are distracting to the audience and weaken your presentation.
5) Using the slide presentation as the handout. Sorry, but that is the lazy way out. Prepare separate handouts with as much detail as you want. Use simple PowerPoint® slides to enhance your oral message, not serve as the leave-behind.
6) Reading from the slides. Don't turn your back to your audience and read the slides. Instead, maintain eye contact with your audience while delivering your key points in a conversational tone.
7) The Star Wars "laser saber" show. Leave the laser pointer home. The piercing red beam probably won't really take an aircraft down, but it will definitely kill your audience's attention.
Carmie McCook, the president of Carmie McCook & Associates, is a nationally recognized expert on effective communication skills, specializing in media interview, public speaking, presentation, crisis communications, and executive media training For more information, visit http://www.carmie.com |
Picture Perfect PowerPoint - Presentations That Sell
When it comes to putting together the PowerPoint slides for sales presentations, presenters usually sit down and type in everything they want to say. When it's all there in black and white, they pass their slides on to a colleague or team member who will also share the stage. That person adds a few slides--making sure to include all the text, all the graphs, all the charts, and all the bullet points they don't want to forget.
But that's not all. Marketing is alerted and they send you a few more essential slides. Then your manager reminds you to please include the one you used last summer at the meeting that everyone loved. Before you know it, you've got a presentation that grew like Topsy--without consistency, without flair, and without a coherent message.
PowerPoint slides are a visual aid intended to support your oral delivery--not to replace it. Good slides are good pictures. They are a visual representation of what you are saying, attractive to look at and easy to understand just by glancing at them. They are an enhancement, a simplification or an addition. They don't require interpretation, explanation or reading.
A presentation is a performance and you are the star. Your slides should help you tell your story--not tell your story for you. That means you must cull your slides; eliminate all but the most essential. Any slide that is just a bunch of text must go. Any slide you've included "just in case" must be discarded. Delete any slide that needs a long explanation, a slow read or a magnifying glass. If you must include some text, eliminate full sentences and use key words only. Use bullets sparingly and make sure they are grammatically parallel.
The fact is, you are the presentation; your slides are not. If everything you want to say is on your slides, you lose your animation, your spontaneity and your ability to connect with your audience. What's worse, your audience loses you--so you lose the sale.
Of course, it's important to pick an appealing background and here are some suggestions to help you get it right.
Professional tips for high-impact slides:
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