Successful MS Powerpoint presentations are both compelling and productive. They meaningfully progress a specific objective ... communicate topic, stimulate discussion, educate audience or drive a specific decision. But far too many presentations are dull, confusing and meander to no specific conclusion. Here's six tips to help shed some light ...
Tip 1: Determine where the presentation is being delivered
An excellent blog on best practice presentations, The Extreme Presentation, suggests that there are only two styles of presentation, being ballroom style and conference style. I wholeheartedly agree - with the 'two styles' and also with the 'only', at least within business environment.
- Ballroom style. One-directional delivery on a big screen to a large audience. It's all about communication and showmanship. Think Steve Jobs delivery at Apple events.
- Conference style. Print-led delivery to a small group in a meeting room. It's all about driving the objective of the meeting. So persuasive content, clearly communicated concepts. Think board meetings or investor pitches.
Best practice for 'ballroom presentations' are covered by Guy Kawasaki's 10-20-30 rule, or by the book Presentation Zen, or here. The remainder of this article covers conference room style presentations.
Tip 2: Storytelling is compelling and avoids irrelevance
Using the large-font header of a Powerpoint deck to crisply thread a story can be highly beneficial to both the presenter and the audience. Under this approach, each slide contains a story header; evidence-based content to support the story; plus perhaps some slide specific key messages. This helps the presenter at the time of preparation of the deck, as it ensures that all content in the presentation is relevant. It helps the audience on at least three levels - (a) rapid understanding of the overall presentation topic and how content topics fit together, (b) clarity on the content purpose of each specific slide, and (c) memorability of key messages after the presentation is complete. An excellent but simple exercise in preparing story-driven presentations is to lay out a printed copy of the entire deck. This technique often highlights weak or irrelevant slides within the context of the story.
Tip 3: The power of the appendix
Appendices are a fabulous tool. They contain information that does not directly drive the meeting objective (i.e. the storyline). Each appendix slide is a self-contained guide on a specific topic. Their purpose is to educate attendees (particularly when attendees have different levels of knowledge) and evidence key messages (additional info on complex topics simplified or summarised in main deck). Appendices are particularly handy for FAQ topics. Their informative content can also prevent presentation storyline coming off-the-rails on non-key topics.
Tip 4: Shapes and graphs communicate complex topics
Presentations often communicate complex issues. Perhaps target markets, industry trends, competitor profiling, scenario analysis, etc. Strategic consulting firms and corporate finance firms are highly skilled users of simple graphics - such as boxes, circles and rings - to express complex topics. Examples of
successful graphic layouts and downloadable
MS Office graphs and tables. Microsoft Office graph functionality is very strong, with lots of styles, formats and customisation. And remember that MS Office has a neat, customisable greyscale function - bear in mind that many presentations are printed on black and white printers.
Tip 5: Not a bullet point in sight
In my view, MS Powerpoint would be a superior application if the bullet point functionality were removed. Bullet point lists are the worst possible presentational sin. They are quick and lazy. Written for the benefit of the presenter rather than the audience, such slides are simply a to-do of topics that the speaker wants to talk about ... maybe even read aloud. No, no, no.
Tip 6: Forget 'snazzy' backgrounds and animations
Snazzy stuff can potentially be great for ballroom presentations. Remember that conference presentations are typically printed. Such effects are often used to mask lousy content; inevitably distract attention from key messages; and almost inevitably do not help progress the real objective of the presentation.
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