‘Death by PowerPoint’ is a well known phrase these days, but is it really PowerPoint’s fault? While after dinner speakers rarely use PowerPoint nor comedians or entertainers that does not mean that any presentation that uses PowerPoint or similar presentation software is at a disadvantage.
Personally, I believe Effective Business Presentations can be made even better by the right use of PowerPoint.
Surveys have shown that audiences remember up to 40% more if they have seen it as well as hearing it.
The trap many presenters fall into is using PowerPoint to build their presentation in the first place. This makes the slides more like speakers notes than visual aids.
PowerPoint slides should be “visual aids”, doing exactly what it says on the tin. That is being both visual (rather than textual) and helping to convey the message and make it more memorable. This medium is ideal for showing graphs, charts and images, which elucidate, compliment and reinforce your message.
Instead of a bullet saying the company was formed in 1969, why not have an iconic picture of something that happen the year the company started, in this instance, the first moon landing.
Once you have worked out what you are going to say and even written out your cue cards, that is the time to start thinking about using PowerPoint or a similar tool to create your visual aids. Think about what imagery you could have to illustrate each point. If you can’t find a substitute for the bullet points, even this type of text can be transformed by embedding the text into conceptual block diagrams.
Presentation Training and Coaching is available from the author of this blog. Please visit my presentation training website.
Give me a day and I’ll change your presentations, forever
Graham Young
A to Z of Business Presentations 