Powerpoint presentations – what your audience wants to see

by: Ellen Egan

Geetesh Bajaj

Death by PowerPoint.  It’s a term we have all heard before, representing the excruciating feeling of being bored to death by a too-long presentation, delivered in monotone and at its foundations is a set of PowerPoint slides containing too much text, too many ideas and too much clip art.

PowerPoint was designed as a presentation software that would aid the presenter by providing an easy way to create slides and move away from the dreadful overhead transparencies.  However, people who lacked the skill to present and the desire to create an interesting presentation began to use PowerPoint as a crutch, a flashy way to distract from the fact that they didn’t know or care enough about their topic to make an effective presentation.

Let’s talk about how to use PowerPoint (or any presentation software) properly.  After all, presentation greats like Steve Jobs  use presentation software.  They just do it well.

people want to see presentations that are:

Short:  No matter what type of presentation tool you are using or what topic is at the center of your presentation, stick to the 10- 20-30 rule that Guy Kawasaki promotes.  Your presentation should be no longer than 10 slides.  Keep it short.  If you can’t get your ideas across in 10 slides, then you need to have someone else edit it down to 10 slides.  The “20″ part of the equation is that you should speak for 20 minutes at the most.  We all get distracted after 20 minutes.  This allows time after your presentation for Q & A.

Simple: Keep the ideas focused.  This is true for the overall theme of your presentation and for each slide.  Within the general theme of your presentation, you should have about 3 main points (no more than 5).  you should be able to get 3 main points across in 10 slides.  Keep the slides simple as well.  long gone are the days when audiences will put up with slides filled with text at a 10 point font.  Keep it to a few words per slide,  that express the ideas that you are presenting.

Understandable: Here is where the “30″ part of the equation comes in. Use a 30 point font. Then, even the person at the back of the room has a chance to read the words on your slide.

Appealing: Use words that capture people’s attention, trigger their emotions, mean something to them.  As I always say, keep your audience in mind.  Think of what would mean something to them and build your presentation from that standpoint.

If you follow these rules, your audience will thank you.  You will also find that you are much more effective at presentations  and you enjoy public speaking a lot more.

To your success,

Ellen

PS.  Here is one of the best books that I know of on creating great presentations Garr Reynolds Presentation Zen:

Powerful public speaking – adding meaning to your preasentation

By: Ellen Egan

Photo by Robert Scoble

Guy Kawasaki – Make Meaning in Your Company

I was just watching a video with Guy Kawasaki where he was talking about one of the keys to starting a business.  And, his message resonated with me as one of the keys to a good presentation.  He said that the core of anything that you start has to be about “meaning”.  It can’t be all about money, it has to be about meaning.

This, of course got me thinking about what is at the core of a good presentation.  It also has to have meaning at the center.  When you speak about something that has meaning for you, that you are passionate about, your audience will feel your enthusiasm and , if you put some effort into the presentation, they will join your enthusiasm.

But Ellen, my topic is boring….what do I do?  Find the meaning behind the topic.

Guy Kawasaki says in his talk that there are three fundamental ways to bring meaning to what you do and I will use these as examples.

1.  Increase the quality of life.  We have discussed audience analysis in this blog.  If you have done your audience analysis, you will understand your audience’s interests, needs, expectations, etc.  How can your topic increase their quality of life.

2.  Right a wrong Perhaps your audience is struggling with a particular problem, and you can provide the solution.

3.  Prevent something good from ending Perhaps your audience needs information on how to prevent something good from ending.

I have delivered presentations to bankers, teachers, entrepreneurs, stock brokers, leaders of industry, school children, etc.  Whether I was talking about the recent sales figures, personal development, the latest software or High School History  I always focused on increasing the quality of life for my audience.

When you can use meaning as the core of your presentation, your audience will listen more attentively, they will leave with a greater understanding of your presentation and you will have a much more enjoyable experience.

Public speaking tips – Breaking down the barriers with your audience

By: Ellen Egan

One of the critical things that we can do with public speaking is to use communication to bring people together despite their differences.  When we bring people together, we can move forward as a team and achieve loftier goals.  As a public speaker, you can motivate people to work together by breaking down the barriers between them.

One of the ways to do this is to first break down the barriers between you and your audience.  I often see public speakers who create barriers between themselves and their audience in order to establish themselves as the “expert”.  There is no need to do this. One obvious barrier comes immediately to all of our minds – the podium. Please come out from behind the podium, it creates a physical and psychological barrier. Being at the front of the room and being the one speaking, already sets you up as the expert, you don’t need a podium for that.

But, let’s talk about the ways you can use the content of your presentation to break down the barrier. Because, if you are able to draw the audience together  and to have them see that you are “one of them”  and have their best interests at heart, your chances of success increase dramatically. One of your goals early on in the presentation should be to unite the audience with a sense of shared goals.

So, how do we do this?

1. Focus on commonalities. We have already discussed the importance of audience analysis – in a nutshell – understanding who your audience is, what they want and need, why they are there and how to best present information to them. Now, use this information to focus on the common ground between them -and you (e.g. they are all parents, they are all taxpayers, they are all rising stars in the industry, etc. with common dreams and concerns).

2. Acknowledge perceived barriers. Acknowledge sources of perceived discomfort early on (i.e. the elephant in the room). For example, “Yes, I am new here and many of you have years of experience with the company…” If you feel comfortable with using humour, then address the issue with humour. Once the issue is out on the table you can get back to the important task of bringing people together.

3. Identify common ground where everyone can agree. For example “we can all agree that we provide important services to our clients”. These statements can provide strong ties between audience members and then to you.

4. Using shared experiences. Highlight shared experiences to build camaraderie. For example “we all remember how hard we worked to get version 2.0 of our software to our clients”.

Lel4nd

These are all techniques you can use within your speech to build rapport with your audience. Another important thing to remember is to Smile. Smiles are very powerful when trying to connect with your audience. It also makes you feel better (honestly, there has been research into the chemical reaction in your brain when you smile – and just smiling really does make you feel better).

To your success,
Ellen

Public speaking essentials – It’s all about your audience

by: Ellen Egan

I have been in public speaking for many years.  I have coached countless peole on how to improve their public speaking skills and how to develop individual classes, seminars, short presentations, etc.  I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still am.  I am suprised at how often peole forget what is at the core of their presentation/speech/seminar.

The Audience.  What your audience wants and/or needs to hear should be the foundation of what you present.  You can have the most well researched, fantastic, captivating, etc. presentation that the world has ever seen. But, if its not what the audience wants or needs to hear, it’s no good.

Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox.  I have done a set of articles on the subject of Audience Analysis (please see www.ezinearticles.com) and a series of blog posts breaking down the aspects of audience analysis and how important it is to developing a strong presentation. Please see blogs starting around end  July 2009.

It all comes down to four big questions.  Who, What, Why and How.

1.  Who -  Who are they?  Your audience- what age, sex, education, background, etc. Get a clear picture in your mind of your audinece and who they are and you will be much better able the understand their perspective and what they need from your presentation.

2.  What -  What is the topic?  What is it about this topic that is important to your audience?  What is the problem that this topic presents and what information are you going to provide that will offer a solution?  What do you specifically have to offer them (e.g. a solution, a service, information)?

3.  Why - Why are they there.  Why are they bothering to spend the time to listen to you?  Do they need this course for a degree or a certification?  Did thier boss require that they are there?  Are they trying to find the answer to a perplexing problem?  Why are you there and what do you want to get out of the experience?

4.  How - How are you going to deliver your presentation so that they can get what they need from it (e.g. Will you use graphs and props.  Will you do a song and dance.  Will you bring in other experts)?  How are you going to customize your presentation, based on the answers to the Who, What and Why, to ensure that they get what they want and need from your presentation.

If you can step up on stage with the full understanding of the perspective of the people sitting in the audience.  And, you have built your presentation based on the understanding of their wants and needs.  You are are 90% or more on the path to success.  No dog and pony show needed.

Keep coming back to these questions as you develop your presentation, and you are sure to prepare a successful presentation.  The added benefit is that you will feel much more confident as you step on stage because you will know that you are presenting something that your audience wants/needs to hear.

To your success,

Ellen

Public speaking tips – PowerPoint essentials

by: Ellen Egan

I saw this great video by Guy Kawasaki where he gives a quick list of rules for PowerPoint presentations and I had to share it with you.  For those of you who don’t know him, Wikipedia says “Guy Kawasaki was one of the Apple employees originally responsible for marketing the Macintosh in 1984. He is noted for having brought the concept of evangelism, initially focused on creating passionate user-advocates for the Apple brand, to the high-tech business.”

So, here is Guy’s very straight forward approach to public speaking and avoiding “death by PowerPoint”.  Enjoy!

Guy Kawasaki 10-20-30 Presentation Rule

Guy really adhears to the rule of keep it simple.

I read his book, “Selling the Dream” back in 1993 and it changed my view of of working in Corporate America, how to be a better manager, and many other things.  I highly recommend it .

To your success

Ellen