(HINT: It doesn’t start with slides!) Lots of folks are going to disagree with me about this, but I think PowerPoint (or Keynote, the Mac equivalent) is a wonderful tool for mapping out a presentation. Used correctly, PowerPoint helps you: Capture your ideas, Shuffle them into sections, Flesh them out with (minimal) words and images, Read More
PowerPoint
Don’t “Deliver” Your Slides, Add Value to Them!
A common misconception is that slides are the core of a presentation. In fact, lots of people describe giving a talk as “delivering their slides,” as if the slides are what matter, and they’re just onstage to click through them. This is totally backwards! Wonderful though slides can be (and yes, they can be wonderful), Read More
What If PowerPoint Isn’t the Problem??
Is bad PowerPoint to blame for all the world’s public speaking ills? Well, to paraphrase the National Rifle Association’s infamous claim that guns don’t kill people, people kill people… Bad PowerPoint Doesn’t Put Audiences to Sleep. Bad Presenters Put Audiences to Sleep! Think about the leading causes of bad PowerPoint: Too much information (the presenter doesn’t Read More
Public Speaking Tip 76: Public Speakers, Avoid Common PowerPoint Mistakes
In Bill Cunningham New York, a documentary about the great street fashion photographer, someone notes that Bill never took a mean photo in his life. So with Bill in mind, I’m posting this example of bad PowerPoint, not to ridicule mistake-makers (I’ve made some beauts myself!), but because it can be helpful to know “what Read More
Public Speaking Tip 71: To Get POWER from Your PowerPoint…Transition, Click, and Pause
NOTE: This post is about how to transition between SECTIONS of your slide deck. But the technique it describes is also perfect for transitioning BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL SLIDES. Just leave out the recap, and go straight to teasing your next slide by saying something like, “What is X? [pause, click, pause] It’s…” —————————————————– Why Are So Many Read More