Presentation software, like PowerPoint or Keynote, can be wonderful tools if used correctly. They can also be a dangerous distraction that interferes with communication rather than facilitating it.
In my role as CEO of Thomas Nelson, I sit through scores of presentations. Most of these are on PowerPoint. Most of them are done poorly.
I often think the presenter would be more compelling if he would ditch the presentation software and just speak. Because of this, I’ve even thought of outlawing presentation software in our company. But alas, It has become a staple of corporate life. It is the ubiquitous prop that attends every presentation.
So if we can’t outlaw presentation software, at least we can regulate it and, hopefully, try to improve it. Here are my five rules for making more effective presentations.
Rule #1: Don’t give your presentation software center stage. This is the biggest mistake I see speakers make. They forget that PowerPoint or Keynote are tools designed to augment their presentation not be their presentation. Never forget: You are the presenter. You should be the focus. Not your slides. Not your props. And not your handouts. You are in the lead role, and you need to retain that role. No amount of “razzle dazzle” can overcome a weak presentation. If you don’t do your job, PowerPoint can’t save you. It only makes a bad presentation worse.
Rule #2: Create a logical flow to your presentation. Better yet, tell a story. (See Cliff Atkinson’s Beyond Bullet Points. [affiliate link] ) The absolute last thing you want to do is turn your presentation into a random assortment of bulleted lists, which is what often happens, especially when PowerPoint is involved. There must be a flow. Start with a good outlining or mind mapping program (e.g., I use both OmniOutliner and NovaMind) or just use the one built-into Microsoft Word. Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. If people understand where you are going to take them, they can relax and enjoy the ride. If they don’t, they will be distracted and frustrated.
Rule #3: Make your presentation readable. I constantly wonder, why is this so difficult? Memorize this sentence: “If people can’t read my slides from the back of the room, my type is too small.” Now repeat it over and over again while you create your slides. If people are squinting during your presentation, trying to make out what’s on the slide, you’ve lost your audience. In my experience you must use at least 30-point type. Obviously, it depends on the size of the room, the size of the screen, etc. This is precisely why you can’t afford to leave this to chance. You must test your slides and make certain they are readable.
In Really Bad PowerPoint (PDF file), Seth Godin also sets forth five PowerPoint rules. In the first one he says, “No more than six words on a slide. EVER.” I think this is too extreme, but you get the idea. The more words you use, the less readable they become. I have made some really effective presentations with no more than a word or two per slide. It can be done. Both Steve Jobs and Tom Peters are masters at this.
Here are some other things to remember regarding text:
- Avoid paragraphs or long blocks of text. If you really, really must use a paragraph, then whittle it down to the bare essentials. Use an excerpt—a couple of sentences. Emphasize the important words. Put the text block by itself on a single slide.
- Use appropriate fonts. I recommend a sans serif font for titles (e.g., Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, or—my personal favorite—Myriad Pro, etc.) and a serif font for bullets or body text (e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond, Goudy, Palatino, etc.). Most books are typeset this way because it make them more readable. The serifs help you recognize the characters (and thus the words) faster. It makes the text more readable. It’s also customary to use san serif fonts for chart labels.
- Avoid detailed reports. If you need to include a report in your presentation, hand it out. Don’t force people to try to read a ledger printout on a slide. It’s maddening! If you must show a report, use it as a picture and then use a “call out” to emphasize the part of the report you want people to focus on. Better yet, just fill up a whole slide with the one number you want people to take away from the presentation.
- Avoid “title capitalization” unless (duh!) it’s a title. Sentence capitalization is much easier to read. For example, “Sales are up 100% in the southeast region” is easier than “Sales Are Up 100% In The Southeast Region.” This is especially true when you have numerous bullet points.
Rule #4: Remember, less is more. Fancy slide transitions and fly-ins get old quickly. I strongly recommend that you keep things simple. A basic dissolve from one slide to another is usually sufficient. Have all your bullets appear at once rather than one at a time. Avoid sound effects—they serve no other purpose than annoying the audience and distracting them from your presentation. And finally, cut down the number of slides. You don’t need a transcript of your speech with every point and sub-point. Yawn! People are only going to remember the major points any way.
Rule #5: Distribute a handout. I have changed my mind on this over the years. I do not think that you should distribute a handout before you begin speaking. If you do so, people will start reading ahead instead of listening to you. It’s just one more distraction to keep them from focusing on your message. It also eliminates any surprises or drama you have built into your presentation. Instead, I tell people that I will distribute a handout of the slides when I am finished with my presentation. That way, they can take notes during my session, knowing that they don’t have to write everything down. This allows them to stay engaged without becoming distracted.
Finally, I would encourage you to hone your PowerPoint or Keynote skills like you would any other essential business skill. The more you work at it, the better you will get. And the better you get the more compelling your presentations will become. If you haven’t done so already, you might want to start with my newly updated list of Presentation Resources.
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“Imagine a widely used and expensive prescription drug that promised to make us beautiful but didn’t. Instead the drug had frequent, serious side effects: It induced stupidity, turned everyone into bores, wasted time, and degraded the quality and credibility of communication. These side effects would rightly lead to a worldwide product recall.”
Continue reading the ubiquitous Tufte PPIE article…
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
The article that Barry references above is definitely worth reading. It is Professor Edward Tufte’s critique of PowerPoint and the negative impact it is having on corporations. The article is subtitled, “Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.”
These rules are great in their potential for improving presentations, and Tufte’s Wired article on the negative impact of PowerPoint is dead on. I am torn between thinking that we need to maximize the quality of any PowerPoint presentation and wondering whether informational meetings should be banned—which would eliminate most of the need for PowerPoint.
I believe that meetings should only be used for brainstorming, debate, and celebrations (and possibly executions). As Tufte’s article points out, information is better shared in ways other than PowerPoint presentations in meetings (email and Excel serve much better in most situations). I also believe that the only reason for a “meeting” of more than 13 people is for celebrations (and executions) since brainstorming and debate are very difficult in larger groups.
It seems to me that the only valid functions that PowerPoint currently serves are 1) to communicate information that should have been provided and considered in advance of the meeting and 2) to provide an image that enhances shared understanding so that the quality of the brainstorming or debate is improved. The first function is remedial and only serves to reinforce the notion that advance preparation for meetings is not required. It may also cause participants to be less likely to read other forms of communication (company newsletter, blogs, etc.) since they believe the important information will be repeated at an upcoming meeting. The second function seems valid but would probably be rare in most companies and could probably be better served with handouts that allow for annotation.
Putting a loosely associated image on screen (which would seem to be a violation of Rule #1) only serves to distract from what is being communicated and seems to indicate that the presenter would prefer that the listeners avoid looking at the presenter or use their cognitive skills to try to figure out what the presenter had in mind when they chose that image. Is this really productive?
The only rule I disagree with is #5 in which presenters are discouraged from distributing a handout. As might be discerned from what I have said above, I believe the information should be emailed in advance so that the meeting time can be used for brainstorming and debate among equally knowledgeable participants (or at least participants who have had the opportunity to become equally knowledgeable). Advance distribution allows for preparation including additional research. Many times it seems that the presenter has avoided sending out their information in advance due to their inability to get it done or their desire to be the most knowledgeable person in the room. Is this really productive?
Now I must admit that I don’t personally give much credit to presentations in general and even less to those that try to be dramatic. I am not oriented that way and if I want a good show I will go to a movie or some other form of entertainment. Dramatic meetings seem to serve the needs of the presenter rather than the participants or the business. I don’t believe a dramatic presentation is as productive as brainstorming and debate among knowledgeable participants—and I believe that should be the primary objective of business meetings.
Pete,
You definitely need to start a blog. You have such a contrarian viewpoint, I think you would readily find an audience!
Mike
I think Pete’s comments would have been best communicated through a Powerpoint presentation, with, perhaps, bullets (I kid, I kid.)
“I tell people that I will distribute a handout of the slides when I am finished with my presentation.”
Genius!
Thanks for the pointers (a pun, I couldn’t help it), especially the one on giving out the handout at the end of the presentation. I only wish more college kids (and prof’s) would read this, it would make in-class presentations much more interesting.
“Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.”
This is exactly what I tell my students in English Composition (Freshman Comp by another name), and it is the perfect skeleton outline for remembering the five paragraph essay!
A manager at SAS (the business analytics/software company) once said at the beginning of a presentation of his that I attended: “many of those who use PowerPoint have either no power, or no point”. I thought this was a great quote! If used well PowerPoint can make a difference (and if not used well it also makes a difference, but one you might not like …). We are all guilty of poor presentations.
Training, experience, desire to do better, and willingness to think like the participant instead of having the arrogant “they will listen to me” viewpoint all help in having better presentations, as well as scheduling time to pause and then re-read presentation and then shorten it, all help. I keep reminding myself “less is more” and “leave myself something to SAY (verbally)” (otherwise I can just write a book and post it to the participants …).
I try to help college faculty redesign their PPTs for use in classes. It is quite a chore and the problem isn't the tool (PPT in this case) it is the presenter and they way they have chosen to provide info to their students. Imagine a 3 hour long class that has slide after slide full of 10-12 bullet points on EACH SLIDE! This is what they (instructors here) know and they don't want to change.
Many of the problems with bad presentations are not strictly as a result of use of PPT or Keynote. Rather, I see these bad presentations as a result of a series of missteps in preparing for the show (poor design choices, trying to cram too much info into slides, distracting colors, small fonts, etc.). PPT is not to blame because the presenter choose to use a script font at 30 point. Someone had to click it and apply it to the slide. Same is true of color use, random graphics, etc.
End of my comment above:
We will all still use the same tool, but we need to learn how to appropriately and effectively use the tool. Again, the tool is not the problem; the presenter is (same is true of the college professors I try to assist here). If they didn't present 10-12 bullets per slide using PPT to their classes, they'd be doing it with an overhead projector instead.
THANK YOU!!! I have to give a major group presentation in my Tech. Writing class in 2 wks. Haven't had to do one in 10 yrs…. SWEET TIPS
Thanks to your twitter post mentioning this old article. In my best high school cheerleader voice…"like, OMG, that Seth Godin guy is so right on with his powerpoint book thingy. I read that once and like ever since, my ppt files have been just kickin in during my mondo presentations."
wow, I think I've had too much coffee today.
I explain powerpoint like this – use charts and graphs if necessary…but it's better to show a slide with a photo of a starving child than the numbers in each country. Slides give you the ability to get the emotional appeal. You could show a chart with numbers, but get that photo in their as well.
This article is right to the point. And it shows how important the presenter is. This person choose the tools technically, other tools, the wording and pictures.
The presenter creates the outline of the presentation & the way how to present. And the presenter influence the outcome by the way of presenting, voice, gestures and bodylanguage, interaction with the audience. This are some important points anybody should carefully add to the preparation. The better you can use this and the more aware you are about it when giving a presentation the better the outcome.
The Presenter should know the circumstances and pecularities of the room and act accordingly to them.
Will their be a shadow, because the presenter has to be in front of the projector for some time? Have an assistat who turn it of and on when neccessary.
How is the acoustics? Does it need special preparation to be well heard by the audience?
The thing with the handout is tricky. If it is for a meeting with discussion and people should prepare it is good to handout it upfront.
If you want the audience to embark on the journey you are telling with surprising twists or insights it is better to hand it afterwords to the audience. as people tend to read when they have something in front of them.
Also the handout upfront might be usefull sometimes, I opt for additional information by the speaker. This way the speaker can create a situation the audience has to connect the presentation content to the handout.
It is quite boring if the speaker just deliver it as it is writen.
Larissa
Kathy Carlton Willis [Kathy Carlton Willis Communications, Raymondville, TX] was our Word Weavers Retreat guest speaker on Marketing at Lake Yale, Florida. She must have read your "Five Rules for Better Presentations," because she did a terrific job. She broke the components of marketing into small, comprehensible, and attainable goals and presented her ideas with charm and skill. She also made her notes available to attendees after the retreat was over.
Thanks for a great article. Terri Rhoden, Orlando, FL
Great post, though I do not think you should make all the bullets appear at once. Usually, when giving a presentation, I elaborate for several seconds (or longer) on each bullet. Having them all appear at once distracts the audience and allows them to read ahead rather than focus on what I am saying. I am therefore a big fan of having each bullet appear as I hit the arrow key, so that I can move through my points and make sure the user stays with me.