Putting together a successful PowerPoint presentation

• By: Admin
• On: 16/10/2007 14:54:18
• In: PowerPoint Presentations
• Comments:

Context
Who are you speaking to you? If you are speaking internally in your organization giving a sales report for example, it's most likely that your audience are colleagues and maybe your boss. In such a situation your colleagues aren't looking to be dazzled with fancy effects, wipes, and zooms. They simply want facts. Information. Putting great effort into "dressing" these up is simply wasted energy.

However, if you were for example presenting at a conference, or trade show. It's easier to understand why you would need the "WOW" factor in order to gain attention and get the "draw" of the attendees to your stand.

Imagine you were one of several speakers at an event, if everyone's presentation screamed for attention how tired the audience would be of dazzling graphics. A quiet and minimalistic presentation would be in complete contrast to your fellow speakers and therefore gain attention.

Understanding the context of your presentation can help you understand the requirements of your presentation.

Content
I've seen too many presentations packed with text and been a part of too many audiences who simply don't listen to the presenter because they are too busy reading the text on the presentation slides. 

As an opportunity to engage yourself with your audience why fill slides with large amounts of text? Why force your audience to disconnect and stay focused upon a screen rather than you?

I've a very simple rule of thumb when it comes to creating content for a presentation which works for any presentation subject or theme.

1. Launch PowerPoint and create a New presentation.
2. Write the theme of the presentation on the first slide.
3. Now insert a new slide and cut and paste the text from the previous slide onto the newly inserted slide.
4. Beneath the pasted text list the main points of your presentation no more than 5 or 6 words per point. For example:
   • Third Quarter Sales Presentation
   • First Month
   • Second Month
   • Third Month 
   • Overall trend (positive or negative)
   • Trend compared to third quarter 2006
5. Now insert a new slide for each of the main points and cut and paste the text from each point onto their corresponding slide.
6. On each main point slide begin to make sub points. For example:
   • First Month: First Week
   • First Month: Second Week
   • First Month: Third Week
   • First Month: Fourth Week
   • First Month: Conclusion

Working like this enables you to build up the structure of your presentation in a logical manner and more importantly also limits the amount of content you provide pre slide. It's important to keep your slides lean of text and certainly no more than 4 bullet points per slide. If you are using more than this then you are trying to say too much about one topic that should have been broken down into smaller sections.  

Layout
As much as I hate PowerPoint Templates I'm afraid that you can't get away from them. You see even a blank  presentation is actually a PowerPoint Template. It simply has white a a background colour.

The trick is always to use a PowerPoint Template that looks good. For important meetings and conferences use a professionally designed PowerPoint Template, such as the ones from the leading online PowerPoint developer, 123PPT.com.

If it's a business critical presentation then make sure you employ PowerPoint professionals to assist you. For exmaple 123PPT.com also provide professional custom PowerPoint services, creating everything from your own uniquely designed PowerPoint Template, to structuring, and creating. Images, illustrations, animations, music, sound effects. etc. etc.

Bascially if you have a lot to gain from your presentation then don't be afraid to invest a little in it. Your audience sees your presentation. They listen to you.

There are a lot of companies out there providing custom presentation services but I've used 123PPT.com before and recommend them basically because unlike for example organizations such as Crystal Graphics and PoweredTemplates who don't create the templates they sell, 123PPT.com is a dedicated presentations company, and the results second to none. I'm always a bit uncertain of companies selling other people's products or services. You have to deal with the middle man who of course isn't working for free and isn't the creator of the product. At 123PPT.com, you can actually talk to the designers themselves. They're extremely creative and helpful, and in my experience have always delivered before deadline, and surpassed my expectations.

Respect
Many people make the mistake of believing that their PowerPoint presentation is for them. I say people because a presenter would never think this way. A good presenter knows that their PowerPoint presentation is designed to provide the audience with an overview or highlights of important facts and details as the presenter speaks.

A PowerPoint presentation is not a means of providing notes for the lazy or busy presenter who simply hasn't used enough time to prepare their presentation and instead use PowerPoint to provide notes as they speak as a preferred alternative to speech cards.

So to summarize, remember the context of your presentation. Create content in a logical way. Once you're finished creating content apply a suitable PowerPoint Template or employ the services of a professional presentations company to create one for you if it's a business critical presentation.

Then remember above all else your audience. Remember they've come to hear you speak not to read your slides. Practise your presentation and rehearse it before hand so that the slides are merely points you can point at when necessary, not things you must turn to in order to read.