To make good power point presentations we only have to take care of some details; the fundamental idea is to capture the attention of our audience, not to bore people, and to convey the information, analysis or opinions that we want to express with it.
Let’s see some basic concepts.
make it all work
It seems a bit silly to have to say it but it is essential; if we are going to make a presentation in public through power point we should be focused on what we have to do and say and not on whether the connections and computer equipment are going to give us problems.
For this reason, in addition to the normal work of writing our presentation, choosing the slides and rehearsing, we must make sure and check that everything is going to work well, and that in the place where we are going to make the presentation there are the appropriate equipment and connections, computers, projectors, screens etc.
For this, we will go beforehand to check what we are going to find in the conference room where we are going to do them, if possible a few days before and, if not, arrive very early to have everything well adjusted when starting and, above all, to have time to solve technical problems if they arise.
We already have the presentation in mind, we don’t need more emotions.
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The little you like and the much you tire… and the repetitive bores
I have always thought that this saying is very wise.
The presentation that we make must, of course, contain all the data and important information that you need and can, as we will see below, be enlivened with examples and small touches of humor, but what is not necessary is to include unnecessary things or repeat things repeatedly.
We must find our ability to synthesize to present the information in a logical and orderly manner, without repetition or superfluous data.
The idea is that we have control over the duration of the presentation so as not to make it unnecessarily long.
The same must be applied to the slides that we project: it is clear that they will contain images, diagrams, and some text, but it is not necessary to write on the image what we are already saying in words, it is forcing the audience to read and listen to the same which can be quite tiring (and is a very common mistake). In this case, the written texts should be limited to the titles of the exhibition we are doing.
be nice
Avoiding superfluous information does not mean that we cannot include in our presentation well-chosen examples that are explanatory of what we are saying, anecdotes and even some humor or joke.
We must always keep in mind that we are addressing people and that we want to capture their attention and that they receive the information that we are exposing, for this we must try to do it in the least arid or boring way possible.
The fluidity in our story is very important, we must expose it with clarity, order and system; what cannot happen in any case is that we lose the thread, we get blocked or we are not clear about what we want to expose to our audience.
It matters a lot, here, our personal presence, our image and postures and physical movements, that we address the public directly and that we are not looking the other way, that our voice is heard well and what we say is well understood…
Nor should we limit ourselves to reading a written text, it is good that we have a script or a scheme so as not to leave things in the inkwell, but listening to someone who limits himself to reading something is not a good experience for the audience, we must be the ones who Let’s talk with a certain degree of spontaneity.
It is a good idea to carry out one or more rehearsals of the exhibition alone or, even better, in front of other people who can help us or, also, in front of a mirror and always accompanied by the images that we are going to use in the exhibition.
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order and seriousness
It is clear that the way of presenting must be adapted to the place, the topic and the type of hearing, a lawyer reporting to the Supreme Court is not the same as someone who makes a timeshare talk.
But, wherever it is and whatever we are talking about, we must always project an image of solvency and seriousness.
This does not refer only to the contents, the forms are also very important; from how we express ourselves and address our audience, how we dress and our postures, and movements and also the design of the images we project.
The slides will normally contain text and images; your layout should be neat, with everything well-aligned and visible. It is not bad to be creative but you have to set certain limits to excessive creativity.
The background of the slides should be very simple, that does not distract or affect the perception of the images or texts and the same happens with the designs of the schemes that we add.
