Category: Rick Enrico Blog

Presentation Tips: 5 Quick Steps to Audience Engagement

audience

audience engagement

audience interaction

audience participation

presentation tips

Sep 17, 2022

When delivering presentations, nothing is more important than connecting with your audience.

It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to close in on a deal or proposing a new project to the higher-ups. You can’t say that your ideas have been well-received if the audience can’t engage with your pitch. It’s not enough to pique their interest with a few video clips or anecdotes.

Before focusing on the spectacle, you must ensure your presentation is perfectly executed. Your ability to present with clarity and certainty is essential to audience engagement.

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Here are quick presentation tips to make sure your audience has an engaging experience:

Learn your presentation inside and out

I’m sure you’ve sat through a presentation where the speaker constantly stammered through their speech, trying hard to remember what to say next. No matter how attractive their material was, the uncertainty in their delivery probably proved to be distracting. To avoid being in a similar situation, you must learn every detail of your presentation.

Audience engagement rests in your ability to command attention. You can’t do that if you’re reading from your slides or fidgeting with note cards. The audience needs to see that you know what you’re saying. Take the time to rehearse your presentation as much as you can. You can also try the memory palace technique to memorize your key points.

Condense your PowerPoint deck

By now, we’re all familiar with “death by PowerPoint.” There’s no easier way to disengage an audience than by presenting them with slides loaded with too much information. If your slides are complete with indecipherable charts and text, take a step back and focus on your visuals.

Instead of filling your PowerPoint deck with bullet points and text, try to illustrate your points. Use images and other multimedia elements to articulate your ideas.

When dealing with data, you must decide which ones are the most relevant to your core message. Several online tools can help you with data visualization.

Tailor your presentation to the audience

Very few presenters consider the perspective of their audience. Their presentations often sound like generic spiels because of this.

How do you connect with something you’ve heard a million times before?  To stand out, you need to remember that the audience isn’t a homogeneous group. The people sitting in your audience are individuals with unique perspectives and opinions. In other words, audience engagement relies on your ability to personalize your message.

To get inside their heads, you need to ponder four important questions. Answering these will give you the necessary context to create a presentation that will pull your audience in:

  • Who are they?
  • Why are they coming?
  • What action do you want them to take?
  •  Why might they resist your message?

Keep everyone interested by creating soft breaks.

Audience engagement would be much easier if it weren’t for our short attention spans. With so many tasks begging for attention these days, it’s no surprise the average adult’s attention span is only a few minutes short.

As hard as you try to simplify your message and learn more about the audience, it’s hard to contend with everyone’s shifting attention.

That’s why presentation expert Carmine Gallo emphasized the importance of the 10-minute rule. If you lose the attention of your audience, you can re-engage them by creating “soft breaks” after every 10 minutes or so. Give them a chance to pause and digest new information by incorporating videos, demonstrations, and other activities.

Try to create an interactive environment by posing questions they can answer through polls or a show of hands. If you want to, you can also call up other people from your team to share a new perspective with the audience.

Deliver your presentation with passion and enthusiasm

Finally, lead by example. If your presentation delivery falls flat, your audience will quickly pick up on that. You can’t expect them to feel enthusiastic about the ideas you’re sharing if you’re mumbling through your presentation.

You need to show how passionate you are about your subject matter. That’s the only way to deliver a message that will make others feel the same way.

It isn’t hard to deliver a presentation that engages and connects with an audience. In five easy steps, you can easily ensure that your message sticks and stays with everybody.

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Featured Image: Steven Lilley via Flickr

5 Effective PowerPoint Delivery Methods for Presentations

experts

investor presentation

PowerPoint Experts

powerpoint presentation design

PowerPoint presentation design experts

ppt designs

presentation design

presentation style

Rick Enrico

SlideGenius

Sep 16, 2015

Most presenters barely notice what particular presentation technique they’re using whenever they take the stage. This is because they’re not fully aware of how it could influence both their performance and their audience. When you prepare your pitch, decide whether you want to use a fast-paced approach or spend more time discussing your main points.

This provides a guide for organizing your ideas and translating them to your slides. While there are many presentation styles which work best for different speakers, there are also PowerPoint delivery methods that they can use to optimize their slides. Here, we’ll define some techniques introduced and practiced by popular presenters:

The Takahashi Method

Named after Masoyoshi Takahashi, this approach relies heavily on keywords with one main point placed per slide. Instead of using images, bullet points, or other visual elements, words are used as visuals.

This method requires many slides (depending on your content) since each one only has a few words displayed. Applying this method encourages your audience to pay more attention to you as the speaker, since you are the one explaining what’s projected on-screen.

The Kawasaki Method

Named after Guy Kawasaki, and also known as the “10-20-30” method (10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 font size). This approach is commonly used for investor presentations where a short yet impactful approach is needed to stand out among the competition.

This allows you to give brief but understandable messages within a limited time.

The Lessig Method

Used by Lawrence Lessig, this style has a limited use of images, relying more on words, similar to Takahashi’s style. Concise words or statements are used and slides are changed around, depending on the words the presenter delivers.

This focuses more on telling a story and injects a more synchronized approach, generating interest and allowing audiences to be more attentive.

The Godin Method

Seth Godin’s technique is a combination of texts and images, where the speaker uses striking photos to let the pictures speak for themselves. This lets him explain what he’s trying to point out and reiterate his main ideas through images.

This approach differs from Takahashi and Lessig’s, since they’re more focused on conveying their message primarily with text. The advantage? Using this appeals to the audience’s passions and establishes an emotional connection with them.

The Steve Jobs Method

Steve Jobs’ style concentrates on large images and texts, focusing on one statement per slide and combining it with visual elements. This gives the presenter the chance to offer demonstrations and allow a more interactive way of communicating his ideas.

This method enables your performance to be more interesting and powerful, allowing the audience to get the message easily for maximum impact.

In Conclusion

Let your objectives dictate your manner of presenting. Situations requiring brevity and conciseness might require the Kawasaki Method. The Takahashi and Lessig methods favor a confident presenting style to better focus attention on the speaker. The Godin and Jobs methods use strong images that create strong emotional connections.

The key is to understand and identify your objective as a presenter. Once you know this, you can then decide on what presentation style to use. Choose which one of the delivery methods suits you the most. Let SlideGenius experts help you out!

Making Your PowerPoint Accessible for the Visually Impaired

Power Point Tips

Powerpoint

visual impaired

May 01, 2015

Ensuring that your PowerPoint presentations are accessible to everyone, including individuals with visual impairments, is critical for creating inclusive content. By following best practices for accessibility, you can make your presentations more usable for a wider audience, improving their overall impact. Here are some key strategies for making your PowerPoint accessible to the visually impaired.

1. Use High Contrast Colors

One of the easiest ways to improve accessibility is by using high-contrast colors for text and background elements. This ensures that people with low vision or color blindness can easily read the content.

Why It’s Important:

  • Improves Readability: High contrast makes text easier to read for people with visual impairments.
  • Enhances Visual Clarity: Clear distinctions between text and background colors help improve comprehension.

How to Do It:

  • Choose a light background with dark text, or a dark background with light text.
  • Use PowerPoint’s built-in Accessibility Checker to identify areas where contrast may need improvement.

2. Provide Alt Text for Images

Adding alternative (alt) text to images allows screen readers to describe visual elements to visually impaired users. This is essential for ensuring that your images and graphs are accessible.

Why It’s Important:

  • Enhances Understanding: Alt text gives visually impaired users context for the images they cannot see.
  • Complies with Accessibility Standards: Providing alt text ensures that your presentation meets basic accessibility guidelines.

How to Do It:

  • Right-click on an image, select Edit Alt Text, and provide a concise description of the image.
  • Ensure that alt text conveys the meaning of the image, not just a literal description (e.g., “A chart showing sales growth” instead of “Chart”).

3. Use Descriptive Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are often used to link to external resources, but vague text like “click here” can be confusing for screen readers. Descriptive hyperlinks provide more context and clarity for all users.

Why It’s Important:

  • Provides Clarity: Descriptive hyperlinks help visually impaired users understand where a link will take them.
  • Improves Navigation: Clear hyperlink text helps screen reader users navigate more easily through the content.

How to Do It:

  • Instead of using generic phrases like “click here,” use descriptive text such as “Download the full report.”
  • Right-click the hyperlink, choose Edit Link, and modify the text to make it more descriptive.

4. Use Large, Readable Fonts

Choosing fonts that are easy to read is crucial for accessibility. Avoid decorative fonts, and make sure your text is large enough to be legible to those with low vision.

Why It’s Important:

  • Improves Readability: Large, clear fonts help ensure that people with visual impairments can read the content.
  • Increases Accessibility: Readable fonts make your presentation more accessible to a wider audience.

How to Do It:

  • Use sans-serif fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Verdana, which are easier to read on screens.
  • Keep the font size at least 18pt for body text and 24pt for headings to ensure readability.

5. Avoid Using Only Color to Convey Information

Relying solely on color to communicate meaning can be problematic for individuals with color blindness. Instead, use patterns, text labels, or icons in addition to color to convey important information.

Why It’s Important:

  • Ensures Information is Clear: People with color blindness may not be able to distinguish between certain colors, so using other visual cues ensures they can understand the content.
  • Improves Data Accessibility: Adding text labels or patterns to charts and graphs ensures that all users can interpret the information.

How to Do It:

  • Use text labels on charts and graphs to describe data points.
  • Consider adding patterns or textures to differentiate between elements in diagrams or graphs.

6. Make Content Navigable with a Keyboard

Some visually impaired users may rely on keyboards, rather than a mouse, to navigate through presentations. Ensuring that your PowerPoint is fully navigable via keyboard improves accessibility.

Why It’s Important:

  • Increases Usability: Keyboard navigation is essential for users who may not be able to use a mouse.
  • Meets Accessibility Standards: Supporting keyboard shortcuts makes your presentation more inclusive and compliant with accessibility guidelines.

How to Do It:

  • Test your presentation by navigating using only the keyboard (e.g., using the Tab key to move between elements).
  • Ensure that key features like buttons, hyperlinks, and text boxes are accessible without a mouse.

7. Use Accessible Templates

PowerPoint offers a range of templates, but not all of them are designed with accessibility in mind. Choosing an accessible template ensures that your presentation is easy to navigate and understand.

Why It’s Important:

  • Simplifies Accessibility: Using a template that’s designed for accessibility reduces the amount of manual work required to meet accessibility standards.
  • Improves Layout Consistency: Accessible templates help maintain a clean, organized structure, making your presentation easier to follow.

How to Do It:

  • When creating a new presentation, select an accessible template from PowerPoint’s library.
  • Ensure that the template includes high contrast, large fonts, and simple layouts.

Final Thoughts

Making your PowerPoint presentations accessible to visually impaired users is essential for creating an inclusive and effective communication tool. By using high contrast colors, providing alt text for images, and ensuring keyboard navigation, you can make your presentations accessible to a broader audience. Remember, accessibility isn’t just a requirement—it’s an opportunity to make your message more impactful for everyone.

5 Tips to Help You Finish Your PowerPoint Deck on Time

powerpoint deck

Powerpoint tips

presentation tips

Mar 12, 2015

Here are five tips to help you finish your PowerPoint deck on time:

1. Use a Pre-Designed Template

  • Why it works: Using a professional, pre-designed template saves you time on design decisions, such as layout, colors, and fonts. Templates give you a structured framework to quickly fill in content.
  • How to apply: Choose a template that fits your content and branding. Platforms like SlideGenius or SlideStore offer ready-made designs for different presentation needs, from corporate decks to pitch presentations.

2. Prioritize Key Content First

  • Why it works: Focusing on the most important content first ensures you cover your core message, even if you’re running short on time. Filling in additional details or polishing the design can be done afterward.
  • How to apply: Create an outline of your main points and design those slides first. Once the essentials are in place, go back to add supporting details, visuals, or transitions.

3. Set a Timer for Each Task

  • Why it works: Allocating specific time slots to tasks helps keep you focused and prevents you from spending too much time on one slide or element.
  • How to apply: Use a timer or productivity app to give yourself strict time limits for different tasks (e.g., 15 minutes for each slide). Stick to your schedule to avoid getting bogged down in unnecessary edits.

4. Limit Design Edits

  • Why it works: Spending too much time on slide design can slow down your progress. Focus on functionality and readability instead of obsessing over perfect aesthetics.
  • How to apply: Choose one font, stick to a simple color palette, and avoid overcomplicating your slides with excessive animations or transitions. Save design tweaks for the end if time permits.

5. Delegate or Automate Repetitive Tasks

  • Why it works: If you’re short on time, delegate tasks like data entry, formatting, or creating graphics to a team member or use automation tools. This frees up time for you to focus on critical elements like crafting your message.
  • How to apply: Use features like PowerPoint’s Design Ideas or SmartArt to quickly create layouts and visual elements. If working in a team, consider real-time collaboration through Microsoft OneDrive or Google Slides to divide tasks.

By implementing these strategies, you’ll be able to streamline your workflow and complete your PowerPoint deck efficiently while ensuring quality.

A Short Presentation Guide for Introverts

introversion

introverts

presentation guide

presentation tips

Mar 11, 2015

Presentations can pose more than the usual challenge for introverts. After all the preparation, an introvert presenter also has to worry about facing a large group of people.

It’s commonly believed that most introverts aren’t particularly inclined to group situations. However, it doesn’t automatically mean that introverts can’t handle pitching to a crowd. Best-selling author Susan Cain is a perfect example.

Unlike their counterparts, introverts are better with intrapersonal or “inward-turning” activities.

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An introvert will have little difficulty preparing the basic aspects of his presentation, like content and design. The real challenge is learning to be comfortable in front of a crowd and making sure all ideas are properly shared with the audience.

If you’re among the millions of people who identify as introverts, here’s a presentation guide that will help you command your presence in front of an audience:

Learn what you can about the audience

You might be better prepared to face a large crowd if you have enough information about them beforehand.

Because introverts are said to be better attuned to the needs of others, knowing that your presentation is exactly what the audience is expecting may put you at ease.

Of course, to get to that point, do some research first.

Learn what you can about the audience so you can tailor your presentation closer towards their expectations. In particular, answer these questions to identify the approach you need to take.

Don’t skimp on practice 

There’s no other way to feel comfortable about presenting than by practicing your skills.

It will take a little bit more time, but it can go a long way in making sure that your presentation is properly delivered and executed.

Even with a tight schedule, you can still set aside some time to practice your presentation bit by bit.

Practice how you want to say each part of your presentation, as well as how you plan to use your body language to emphasize your points.

Continue practicing after everything so that you’re ready when the next presentation opportunity heads your way.

Embrace your anxiety 

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, feeling nervous about a big presentation is completely normal.

Not everyone will feel fully confident about any task if there’s a lot of pressure to perform properly. The harder you try to ignore your anxiety, the more your discomfort will be evident to the audience. All you can do is accept how you feel and work to make sure it doesn’t get in your way.

Start by performing relaxation and movement exercises right before the presentation.You can also try to pump yourself up with some powerful music.

Try to get yourself excited so that you can start at a positive note.

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Presentations are hard work, especially for introverts who have to work outside their comfort zone. Use this guide to make sure you’re well prepared to face the audience and create a sustained connection with them.

 

References:

“4 Different Ways to Practice Your Presentation Skills.” SlideGenius, Inc. September 15, 2014. Accessed March 11, 2015.
“4 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Audience.” SlideGenius, Inc.. August 28, 2014. Accessed March 11, 2015.
Cain, Susan. “The Power of Introverts.” The Huffington Post. Accessed March 11, 2015.
“Introversion.” Psychology Today. Accessed March 11, 2015.
“Presentation Set Up: 5 Things to Do Before You Start Speaking.” SlideGenius, Inc. September 2, 2014. Accessed January 28, 2015.
The Power of Introverts. Susan Cain. TED, 2012.

 

Featured Image: Paintings by Robert via flickr

A Guide to Making a PowerPoint Style Guide

PowerPoint Design

powerpoint style guide

Powerpoint tips

Mar 06, 2015

Corporations and organizations often use a style guide to ensure that all their visual materials maintain a consistent and cohesive look.

Because it’s impossible to keep track of every PowerPoint deck created in such an environment, a style guide guarantees that every presentation will correspond to your organization’s brand identity.

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Before starting on your style guide, familiarize yourself with PowerPoint’s Slide Master function to create and customize templates first. This makes it easier to accomplish once you begin distributing it throughout the organization.

Here are areas you need to focus on:

Leverage branding

Every design rule or suggestion that you put down should contribute to your branding efforts. As we’ve discussed in the past, an easy way to integrate branding into PowerPoint design is through the clever use of colors.

Set down some rules on the color scheme that everyone should use for presentations. Keep your brand’s logo and overall aesthetic in mind, making sure your rules for the color scheme goes well with both. Let your colors stand out so that the audience can see that your slides are part of a larger, unified whole.

Another way to leverage branding is by using visual metaphors that correspond to your brand identity. Include suggestions for images and illustrations people should use in their PowerPoint designs.

Establish rules following best PowerPoint practices

Aside from branding, a PowerPoint style guide also helps you maintain the quality of all the slide decks presented in your organization’s name.

As such, it’s important that you establish key rules that follow the best PowerPoint practices. Be strict about the use of bullet points and the amount of text included in a single slide. Establish pointers on how data should be presented. There are different ways to do it, but all in all, you should make sure that charts and graphs don’t get too overwhelming by inputting only the content that matters to your pitch.

Something else you can consider is making suggestions that can help manage the length of your company’s presentations.

In this PowerPoint style guide from the American Marketing Association, there’s a suggestion that a PowerPoint deck should match its length in number of slides. For example, 10-minute presentations should have no more than 10 slides.

Add reminders for presentation delivery

It might seem unnecessary, but you can also include a few reminders on how presentations should be delivered.

While a PowerPoint style guide may be focused on design, its overall objective should touch on improving presentations delivered throughout your organization. Also remind others to be more careful with the way they present their slides. After all, the point of creating PowerPoint slides is to enhance the message people are delivering with their presentations.

At the end of the day, what matters is what audiences are left with. If the delivery is improved, you can expect outcomes to improve as well.

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A PowerPoint style guide is a way you can make sure presentations are organized and consistent with the company’s overall message. Have a clear vision on how you want these presentations to look like, and what kind of impact you want them to leave on audiences.

These are the things you need to have defined and clarified in your PowerPoint style guide:

  • Use of logo
  • Color scheme
  • Font type and size
  • Use of bullet points
  • Use of images, icons, and illustrations
  • Presenting data in charts and graphs
  • Editing and cutting back on slides
  • Pointers on presenting slides to make the most of the visual aids

Keep these in mind and start establishing some rules and pointers to maximize your use of effective visuals.

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References:

Chapman, Cameron. “Why Your Brand Needs a Style Guide, and How to Create One.” Webdesigner Depot. Accessed March 6, 2015.
“Design Ideas: How to Improve PowerPoint Templates.” SlideGenius, Inc. December 9, 2014. Accessed February 4, 2015.
“Improve Your Presentations with the Power of the Metaphor.” SlideGenius, Inc. November 17, 2014. Accessed January 12, 2015.
“PowerPoint Style Guidelines.” American Marketing Association. Accessed March 6, 2015.
“The Top 10 Best PowerPoint Design Practices.” SlideGenius, Inc. November 18, 2014. Accessed March 6, 2015.

 

Featured Image: Death to the Stock Photo

Sound Slides: A PowerPoint Tutorial on Music and Sound Effects

PowerPoint Design

Powerpoint tips

powerpoint tutorial

Mar 05, 2015

Adding background music or sound effects to your PowerPoint presentation can enhance the mood, create emphasis, and keep your audience engaged. PowerPoint allows you to add various audio files to your slides, which can be played automatically, on a loop, or triggered by a click.

Here’s how to add music or sound effects to your PowerPoint slides:

Step 1: Prepare Your Audio File

Before adding music or sound effects, ensure that your audio file is ready. PowerPoint supports audio formats such as MP3, WAV, and WMA.

How to Do It:

  • Save the audio file to a location you can easily access from PowerPoint.

Step 2: Insert the Audio File

Inserting audio into a PowerPoint slide is a simple process.

How to Do It:

  • Go to the slide where you want to add the audio.
  • Click on the Insert tab in the PowerPoint ribbon.
  • Select Audio, then choose Audio on My PC from the dropdown menu.
  • Navigate to the location of your audio file, select it, and click Insert.

Step 3: Customize Audio Playback Settings

Once the audio is added, you can customize its playback options.

How to Do It:

  • Select the audio icon that appears on your slide.
  • In the Audio Tools tab, go to the Playback section and choose how you want the audio to play:
    • Start Automatically: The audio will play as soon as the slide is shown.
    • Start On Click: The audio will play when you click the icon.
    • Play Across Slides: The audio will continue to play even as you transition to different slides.
    • Loop Until Stopped: The audio will keep playing on repeat until you manually stop it.

Step 4: Hide the Audio Icon

If you don’t want the audio icon to appear during your presentation, you can hide it while still allowing the sound to play.

How to Do It:

  • Select the audio icon.
  • In the Playback tab, check the box next to Hide During Show.

Step 5: Preview the Audio

Before presenting, make sure the audio plays correctly by previewing the slide.

How to Do It:

  • In the Playback tab, click the Play button to test the audio.
  • If you’re playing music across multiple slides, test the transition to ensure it flows smoothly.

Final Thoughts

Adding music or sound effects to your PowerPoint slides can make your presentation more engaging and dynamic. Just make sure the audio enhances your message without overwhelming or distracting the audience. Test the sound quality and volume before your presentation to ensure it’s balanced with your spoken content.

Are Your Online Presentations Working For You?

online presentations

Powerpoint tips

presentation tips

Mar 02, 2015

There are many advantages to reaching out and connecting with your audience online. Consider integrating online content marketing as part of your strategy for optimal audience engagement.

What better way to pique your target audience’s interests than providing them with content that’s both useful and relevant to their interests?

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That said, online presentations can significantly improve your brand’s visibility online.

As you know, a presentation is both a visual and informative medium. Take note of the ways you can cut back lengthy PowerPoint presentations and turn them to more SEO-friendly slides. In the process, don’t forget to check if the end product lines up with your objectives.

Ask yourself these questions to make sure your online presentations are working for you:

How relevant are your online presentations? 

According to NN Group co-founder Jakob Nielsen, majority of online users spend only about 10 to 20 seconds browsing through a web page to find what they’re looking for. If the page doesn’t have that information, they’ll skip over to the next link.

Don’t let the same thing happen to your online presentations. If the audience skips past the thumbnail of your online presentation, they might never scroll back to have a second look.

Make sure you’re relevant to what they might be searching for.

Create a presentation offering to give them tips or advice, but don’t make it too generic.

Business consultant, Mark Evans, stresses the importance of fitting the needs and interests of your target audience by learning as much as you can about them.

From that knowledge, create a headline and title slide that will surely catch people’s attention.

Can your content sustain interest? 

Now that you’ve caught your audience’s attention, the next step is figuring out how to engage and keep them interested.

Keep them on your page by highlighting your core message and key takeaways.

Don’t present your online pitch in a roundabout way. Define your presentation’s premise from the get go and put your main points forward.

This lets your target audience tell that your ideas are in line with what they’re looking for.

They’ll keep clicking to see what’s on the next slide.

Do you have a clear Call-to-Action?

After making a compelling argument, leave your audience with one last powerful statement. Before they move on to find something else to read, don’t forget to make your pitch.

That’s what a Call-to-Action is for. Should they contact you for inquiries? Should they follow you on social media?

End with a clear-cut statement that lets the audience know what you want them to do next.

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We can’t emphasize enough how much online presentations can help your brand in the long run. Engage your target audience and gain the leads you need by keeping these 3 things in mind. If you want help with designing an online presentation audiences will never forget, contact us to schedule a conversation with our PowerPoint experts.

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References:

“5 Steps To An Integrated Approach To SEO-Friendly Content Marketing.” Marketing Land. March 11, 2014. Accessed February 27, 2015.
Evans, Mark. “The Importance of Really Knowing Your Target Audiences.” Forbes. March 20, 2013. Accessed February 27, 2015.
“How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages?” Nielsen Norman Group. Accessed February 27, 2015.
“Perfecting Your Presentation Title Slide.” SlideGenius, Inc. October 16, 2014. Accessed February 27, 2015.
“Why Your Presentations Need Better Slide Headlines.” SlideGenius, Inc. November 3, 2014. Accessed February 27, 2015.

Be a Presentation Virtuoso with Deliberate Practice

deliberate practice

presentation skills

presentation tips

Presentations

public speaking

Feb 27, 2015

Delivering an effective presentation requires skills that you need to work on and develop. While some might seem to have a natural knack for it, no one is immediately born a great presenter. Your colleague might be more inclined to it than yourself, but excellent presentation skills still come from constantly exerting effort to improve. Just like musicians playing in concert halls and orchestras, you can’t skip steps if you really want to improve presentation skills.

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There are no shortcuts to becoming a better presenter, but there’s a way you can hone your skills and become an expert. Andrew Ng, a professor from Stanford University, wrote about this in LinkedIn Pulse. He borrowed a term called “deliberate practice,” from the field of music and sports, and elaborated how you can do the same to improve your presentation techniques.

What is deliberate practice? 

Have you seen a pianist or gymnast in practice to improve their skills? When preparing for a big rehearsal, a pianist would focus on perfecting challenging passages from his score. He will play these parts repeatedly until he can play the entire piece perfectly. A gymnast will practice her routine the same way. She will repeat specific parts of her routine until she can do the whole thing flawlessly. This is deliberate practice. You focus on the most difficult and challenging parts.

As Ng had put it in his brief article, “[deliberate practice is] hard work—you focus in every attempt, try to figure out what you’re doing wrong, and tweak your performance to make it better.”

For professionals looking to improve their public speaking, deliberate practice means setting aside time to rehearse presentations and focusing on areas that they need to improve. It could be your body language or your ability to project your voice and speak clearly. Whatever these pain points might be, you should spend at least 30 minutes in rehearsal to iron out the kinks. Do it even if you’re not preparing for a big presentation. After all, these skills play a vital role in the professional world. Whether you’re in sales, marketing, or looking for investors, improving your ability to communicate and share a message will help you go a long way. All you have to do is dedicate a few minutes of your day.

Improve your presentation skills with deliberate practice

Now that you’re familiar with deliberate practice, it’s time to put it into action. Take note of the following steps to make sure your next presentation comes out flawlessly. Repeat this process over a course of several days until you see results and are satisfied with your improvement.

Step One: Select a portion in a presentation you had difficulty with

Go over the presentation you just finished preparing or review an old you made recently. Select a short, 60-second portion that you’re having trouble with. It can be a part where you just can’t pronounce the words right, or hold yourself right on stage. It can also be a part where you’re having a hard time expounding some points eloquently.

Step Two: Record your practice

After you’ve decided, record yourself rehearsing the particular portion you chose. You can use the webcam on your laptop or the camera on your phone. Just make sure the set-up is arranged in a way that you can see and hear much of yourself in the recording.

Step Three: Take down notes

After you finish rehearsing the 60-second portion, watch your recording and take note of the parts you’d like to change. List down comments about how you would want to change how you say certain words or move in a certain way. If you think you look awkward in the recording, try to figure out why that’s so and think of ways you can improve.

Step Four: Adjust your performance

Review the notes you made and adjust your performance accordingly. Repeat your performance with the feedback you gave yourself and record the whole thing again.

Step Five: Repeat steps until you see results

Keep rehearsing the 60-second portion of your presentation until you’ve improved on all the points you took note of. Once you’re satisfied with the results, move on to a different 60-second portion that you think also needs work. Stick to this routine until you’ve covered the entire length of your presentation. If it’s possible, you can enlist the help of a friend or family member so you can receive feedback from them. This will make the whole process go a lot faster.

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You can be a virtuoso in the field of presentations with some deliberate practice. Just set aside a few minutes in a day to fix the pain points you encounter when facing an audience. Follow this routine and see a marked improvement in your delivery and performance. All it takes is some hard work and determination.

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Reference:

Ng, Andrew. “Learn to Speak or Teach Better in 30 Minutes.” LinkedIn Pulse. March 20, 2014.

 

Featured Image: picjumbo.com

3 Ways to Cut Back Your Text-Heavy PowerPoint Slides

PowerPoint Design

powerpoint slides

Powerpoint tips

presentation content

presentation tips

Feb 24, 2015

The most effective PowerPoint slides are often simple and concise. As branding experts TRAY Creative put it: cluttered slides will only put your audience to sleep.

Effective decks help the presenter discuss a topic with memorable and arresting visuals. In other words, a PowerPoint presentation isn’t there to act as your script or teleprompter.

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If your presentations are always burdened by text-heavy PowerPoint slides, it’s time to dial back and strip your deck bare.

Try the following suggestions to make sure you don’t have walls of text blocking the audience’s interest in your discussion:

Strip your content down to its essentials 

Cutting back on text-heavy PowerPoint slides rely on your ability to edit your own content.

Before you start making your PowerPoint deck, review the draft you’ve prepared and see how you can simplify your points even more. Your goal is to strip down your content to the bare minimum.

You don’t have to waste space on your slides to elaborate particulars. Your slides are there to highlight the main points and takeaways.

Everything else that needs to be discussed or described is for the presenter to do on his own.

Use multiple slides to split up bullet points

Bullet points are often maligned in PowerPoint design because of constant misuse. A lot of presenters insist on presenting text through a bullet point list, even if the text requires a lengthy paragraph description.

Bullet points are meant to simplify content and list down key information. If you’re going to use it to cram several paragraphs on a single slide, you’re not utilizing bullet points properly.

Split up your content across multiple PowerPoint slides. Even if you end up with 10 more slides than you originally planned, your deck won’t look poorly designed.

Spreading out your PowerPoint to tackle one point at time will help you make sure your slides aren’t dragged down by too much text.

Represent content visually

I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Remember to keep it in mind when making PowerPoint slides, because it’s extremely crucial to presentation design.

Sometimes, it can be hard to cut back on content because there are things that require several sentences to describe.

Luckily, PowerPoint is a visual tool. Instead of using up slide space on lengthy descriptions, you can represent certain parts of your content through pictures or graphics instead.

Turn a discussion on a particular process into a flowchart. Find pictures that represent your brand values. Think visually and use images to relay what might need several sentences to say.

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In general, try to keep your PowerPoint slides visual. Use text to enhance the meaning of particular images or graphs, and do it by using the simplest sentences or phrases. Remember, a PowerPoint deck is a visual aid. It shouldn’t overwhelm your audience with too much information. As the presenter, it’s your job to take the stage and discuss your presentation accordingly.

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References:

“Visual Storytelling: How Stories Are Told in Pictures.” SlideGenius, Inc. October 27, 2014. Accessed February 24, 2015.
“PowerPoint Insight: Reconsidering the No Bullet Points Rule.” SlideGenius, Inc. August 21, 2014. Accessed February 24, 2015.
“7 PowerPoint Mistakes That Put Audiences to Sleep.” TRAY Creative Seattle Marketing Branding Web Design. Accessed February 24, 2015.

 

Featured Image: Hernán Piñera via Flickr