I. Effective PowerPoint Presentations Welcome to ICS 101. You are listening to the presentation module. Our topic this time is delivering an effective presentation. Some people are born presenters. They just love getting up in front of a crowd. They don't sweat if they drop their note cards at the last minute and they don't stress about not having the audio-visual equipment they need. I'm not one of those people. That's why I use presentation software. It helps me prepare presentations that are easy, smooth, and professional. Here are some practical tips I have found helpful. There are essentially two types of presentations—those that are delivered in front of a live audience and those that are created to run without a human presenter. Since you will most likely be using your presentation skills in college in front of a live audience, I will emphasize this type of presentation. But much of this module will apply to both types. To begin with, know your audience. Who are the people you will be connecting with? Will they be your peers, children in a pre-school, managers in a company…well you get the picture. You will want to choose your words geared to your audience. It has been said that the first 30 seconds sets the tone for the entire presentation. If you want to connect, this is the time to do it! Next, it helps to know yourself. Should you start off with a joke? Well, that depends on you. Are you good at telling jokes? Is it relevant to the presentation? And once again, who is your audience? That being said, how many programmers does it take to change a light bulb? Give up? None, that’s a hardware problem. Hmmm… I rest my case. Having a sense of humor is definitely not the same as telling a joke. Most importantly, know your subject matter. To avoid any opening jitters, practice your presentation over and over. You don't have to say it the same each time, just practice the beginning. This way, when the "real" start comes, it seems much easier. Time your presentation: go through the whole thing out loud at least once without interruption. You will then have a realistic idea of how long it will take. If you are speaking from notes, you will take longer than you plan.
If you are reading (which I don't recommend, but it works for some people) you will probably be under your rehearsed time. Concentrate on knowing the content of your presentation--don't think you can just "wing it". Go through all the material at least once. People usually speak at a rate of about 2-3 minutes per slide. If you have 30 slides to give in 15 minutes, you aren't going to make it. If something goes wrong, laugh with it. Things will go wrong, and audiences appreciate and are relaxed by presenters who can roll with it. I once had a student who was extremely nervous. Even before he had started he was drenched with perspiration. As he picked up his notes, the cards slipped from his hands and of course they were not numbered. Somehow he managed to put them in order and carry on. He simply smiled and said, “Obviously I am having a bad hair day.” He had no hair at all. He put his audience at ease and was able to finish his presentation without further interruption. Remember that everyone has at least one really bad presentation, so when you have one, just think "well, I'm glad that's out of the way!" Remember that the audience is on your side--they want to know what you have to say (unless, of course, you're lecturing in a prison, in which case you shouldn't worry because you have the proverbial "captive audience"). Don't put change in your pockets--if you're nervous there's a good chance you'll start jingling it. This makes you look both nervous and well, …enough said about that. Remember all the things your mother taught you like-- wash your hair, wear clean clothes, and spit out that gum! Going a step further, leave trendy clothes for casual places. Dress professionally. Fred Astaire, the famous dancer—boy am I dating myself—once observed that if you want to tell how successful someone is, look down. He was referring to their shoes. Something as insignificant as this can have an impact on your presentation. Once I sent a group of students to make a presentation to a doctor in downtown Honolulu. Despite the fact they were excellent programmers and quite good at presenting their ideas, the comments I got back from the doctor had to do with things like rubber slippers and faded jeans. Did I mention that you should know your audience? Don't read from your slides. Remember that people can't read and listen at the same time. Plan your slides and talk accordingly. Before you start
making slides, ask yourself: if my audience remembers only three things, what do I want them to be? Then make slides that explain and support these points. If people want more information, they'll ask. Create slides that focus on the points you want people to remember. This sounds silly, but in reality it isn't done very often. Use each slide to drive home ONE point--the bullet points should reinforce this one point. Define all acronyms (DAA). Recently a young man went to India to train potential airline reservationists. He used the acronym RBI thinking he was referring to runs batted in. Several weeks later he was asked why he referred to the Reserve Bank of India in his presentation. Ah, once again, it helps to know your audience. This concludes our topic on making an effective presentation. By now you should see that most of this was just common sense. It is by no means a conclusive list but it should give you something to think about. Our next topic is creating a presentation. Here are some tips that will make a big difference. Begin by developing your presentation to do one of four things: Decide if your presentation is to inform your audience? Are you providing information that will be used in decision making? Or is it to request specific action by the audience? Maybe your intention is to persuade the audience or change their belief about a topic? Or is it to build relationships between you and them? Trying to combine more than one purpose may leave the audience confused. I once made a presentation at a large conference in New York City. I wanted to present a software application that I developed for my college. When it was over, members of the audience asked if I was selling the application or just showing what I had developed. Perhaps I hoped to do both things but it left my audience somewhat confused. Next, prepare your script, keeping these four basic parts in mind. The opening of the presentation sets the stage for what is to follow. Participants are introduced and the purpose of the presentation is stated. You should also present a VERY BRIEF summary or outline of the points to be covered. This keeps your audience oriented properly within the framework of your script.
The body is the part of the script in which the bulk of the subject matter is presented. The body of a long presentation should be separated into smaller, easily assimilated modules. Each module or sub-section should make a single point or convey one idea. These sub-sections should each have their own simple opening, body and summary. A summary should be very brief and simple. Here is your chance to reinforce the central theme and purpose of your presentation. Briefly emphasize the key points and main ideas of your script in this section. There is an old axiom that says ... "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them." This pretty well sums it up. Finally, the closing is well structured. Points raised during the question and answer session (if any) are summarized and any handout material that was not required during the presentation is distributed. Handout material which emphasizes each key point or idea permits your audience to review the subject and assures that your words will remain fresh in their minds. Handout material should not be distributed before a presentation unless it is critical to the theme since it invariably leads to audience distraction. With careful, timely planning, the only task remaining is the mechanical process of production. The complete and accurate planning that you have done to this point assures a smooth production cycle without the need for unnecessary last minute changes. This is true whether you use Magic Markers to prepare flip charts on a newsprint pad or require a nineprojector slide presentation with live video. There it sits in the middle of the PowerPoint window: a big, blank slide. "Click to add title," says the text on the screen. It sounds easy, but you've never done this before, and the blank canvas is daunting. Yet you have to start somewhere. Here are some guidelines to help you create dynamic presentations. • Be brief and keep it simple • Start with the big picture • Present your points • Keep it simple
• Don't overload the slide • Break up the information you're sharing with your audience into digestible chunks. • As a rule, about seven words across and eight double spaced lines represent the limit for information density. • USE A BIG ENOUGH FONT • A combination of upper and lower case text is easier to read than all capitals. All caps should only be used for emphasis. Try this simple test. Write a short sentence using all capital characters. Then write the sentence using upper and lower case characters. Now divide the first sentence into two parts…the top part and the bottom part. Ask a friend if they can tell you what the sentence is from viewing only the top of the words. Try it again using the sentence you wrote using both upper and lower case characters. Was it any easier to guess the sentence? Our eyes do so much more than simply read. • Bold, non-serif fonts like Helvetica or Arial work better than serif fonts. And why is this you might ask? Well, non-serif fonts do not have the little ‘feet’ that connect one letter to the next. In this way the eye sees each word—one by one. This differs from printed books where speed-reading might be important. • As a rule, a 1” letter is readable from 10’, 2” from 20’, 3” from 30’. However, if you are in doubt, test it for yourself prior to your presentation. • One popular rule of thumb is the "8H" rule of legibility. In a nutshell, if you can see an image from eight times its height, odds are your audience will be able to see it when projected. • Just because you have access to 35 fonts does not mean that you are required to use them. A single font throughout an entire presentation is usually quite sufficient. Use bold, italic, underline, quotations and/or color changes to emphasize or subdue key points or words. Be careful not to have the ‘ransom note’ effect with too many colors, sizes and fonts. • Use color appropriately • Make sure the color you use for your text has "pop" -- that is, that it jumps off the background color • Avoid reds if your presentation will be displayed on a television monitor or projection screen. Often colors like red and green will appear to be gray to those who are colorblind.
• The higher the contrast, the better the image will look. Maintain a consistent design throughout the presentation. What is the best combination of colors for readability? That depends on whether you are viewing the text on a monitor, displayed on a screen or simply on paper. Each of these depends on the light source. On a monitor, the light is coming from behind the slide. Blue with white text works well in this case. Displayed slides on a screen have the light coming from the projector. Here a light background with dark text works nicely. Printed text is most visible when the background is a golden color with black text. So when practicing your presentation, be sure to check for color and readability. • Avoid busy backgrounds. • Keep the colors to a minimum. A single background color throughout a presentation lends an air of continuity. You can separate broad sections of a presentation by changing background colors, but keep the changes to a minimum. Unless your purpose is to shock or grab serious attention, try to keep all background colors within the same color family. • You should not mix your metaphors when you speak, so please don't mix them in your graphics without specific purpose. You would not use warm colors in an image whose subject was ice hockey unless you wanted to emphasize the warm comfortable environment of the arena. • Clip art can add a lot of visual interest to your presentation. • Avoid a lot of animated gifs or clip art that does not relate to your message – it is distracting • Images should be designed to please the mind as well as the eye of the viewer. If an image has no specific place or purpose in a presentation other than "it is pretty", it should probably be removed. • Most people are easily bored, and one generally accepted rule of thumb states that if an image remains on the screen longer than 7 to 10 seconds, you begin to lose viewer attention. • Closely related to clipart, "chartjunk" is a phrase coined to identify confusing elements which really have no place on the image. Many presenters insist on having a glaring colored logo in the corner of every image. While a common element can add continuity to a presentation, blazing logos and distracting objects
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can detract from the message -- after all, isn't the message what it's all about? A first cousin to chartjunk, "chartoons" are overly cute attempts to make a presentation appear more professional by adding lots of distracting, tacky, aggravating symbols and such. These usually appear right after a presenter has discovered a clip art library. Slow down • If you think you are speaking at the right speed, you are probably speaking too fast. Turn off ScreenSavers and Standby PowerManagement • This will interrupt the flow of your presentation. Nothing is more annoying than to have the screen go black with flying toasters appearing at random. Don’t use the mouse as a pointer • Use a pen, a pointer, or an LED light as a pointer on the screen. But don’t use your finger if at all possible. Fingers can be distracting. Avoid placing information at the edges of your slides • Some projectors crop slides and you will lose valuable data or graphics. Using the edges is an indicator that you probably have too much on the slide anyway. Above all, keep trying • The more presentations you create, the easier it becomes. • REHEARSE--REHEARSE--REHEARSE • If you'd like to really test yourself, drag out the camcorder and record your rehearsal. Just keep in mind, no one expects you to be Winston Churchill. When I worked for Wang Laboratories we were routinely asked to present concepts to our peers. These presentations were taped and we took them home to watch ourselves in action. I can’t begin to tell you how valuable these tapes became. Over time I could actually see an improvement. • On the day of the presentation, arrive and set up early. Have spare projector bulbs and extra copies of the handout material close at hand. You have your visuals, you are well rehearsed, the room is set up and the participants are all prepared. Speak clearly and with authority. A little humor if tastefully added can help break the tension of the moment. There should be no surprises. Make certain that the audience questions have been addressed, and of course, thank everyone for attending.
By keeping these suggestions in mind throughout the design and development process, you can dramatically improve the quality of your presentation. The production process will go more smoothly, your budget will not be broken, and your nerves can take a well deserved rest. This concludes our module on presentations.
