Present with Pizzazz
– How to Present with Power & Panache with your PowerPoint Slides
“Not another PowerPoint slide …”, cursed someone under his/her breath.
A cacophony of sighs “argh…” then broke loose…
We have all been in that situation. A coffee in hand, a pack of mints in another and your pen trained on your handouts as you prepare to keep awake for that long, arduous presentation. The initial resolve you had immediately melted away as you see the presenter starts to set up his laptop; you try to glance at the number of slides prepared for an idea of your journey ahead. You know that focusing on the next 15 – 20 minutes is going to be an uphill task. Now, reverse that situation, and you find yourself as the presenter, looking out at your audience. How do you keep them focussed on you and your presentation?
When starting as a speaker, I had the initial impression that an effective speaker never has to rely on PowerPoint slides. This impression soon changed as I met speakers and presenters who were able to present effectively and powerfully with slides. I realise that the key point is not to make the PowerPoint slides work for you but to have the slides work with you. In this article, I will share three brief tips on how you can energise your presentation and engage your audience with PowerPoint slides.
Tip #1: Start with Your Self and not Your Slides
Stop focussing on what your slides are saying and start zeroing in on what you want to say. In working with our clients who want to improve their PowerPoint slides presentation skills, I spend a substantial part of the consultation by asking the speaker about himself/herself instead of zooming in on the slides directly. Asking my clients to reiterate the key points about their presentation without the slides forces them to re-focus their attention on the main message they wish to deliver.
It may be tempting to set out an inch-perfect animation routine to match your next sentence. This is nothing more than a presentation gimmick – a flashy, extraneous tool that tends to steal attention from you as a speaker. Instead, bring yourself back to your main message and content, and ask yourself at every stage – what is my point? If your slides at that point mirrors the exact answer to this question, you have taken the first step in creating a deck of slides that will work with you.
Tip #2: Give the Audience Your Treasure Map to Success
Fancy animations and vivid pictures may bedazzle your audience members for a few seconds but all those bells and whistles will come to nothing if your audience finds it a hassle to follow you. PowerPoint slides tend to move in the extreme – either they form a wall of text the audience must navigate, or they are bereft of details (and accordingly lack purpose).
Start thinking of your PowerPoint slides as a treasure map you want your audience to follow – let that guide your design process for your main message. For example, using signposting in your delivery, setting out transition phrases or specifying an agenda will ensure that your audience knows what is coming up next and maintain a consistent focus. I recall a successful presentation I sat through where the presenter wanted to elaborate on a complex concept. Instead of going through walls of text or jargon, the presenter smartly introduced check-in slides at key points of his presentation. These check-in slides posed questions to the audience to recap their understanding of the concept before moving on to the next topic. That was one fruitful and navigable presentation!
Tip #3: Create a Narrative, Tell a Story
Finally, it doesn’t hurt to add a narrative element to your slides – by this, I don’t necessarily mean having to come up with countless stories to force into your PowerPoint slides. Instead, think of structuring your PowerPoint slides as an open book – with an attention-grabbing introduction or a satisfying and all-rounded conclusion. Reframing your content in the form of a narrative also allows you to consider the logical link between the various aspects of your presentation. Aside from holding on to your audience attention, this is one definite method to maximise memory retention.
So, the next time you are tasked to deliver a set of PowerPoint slides, start looking inwards to think about what your main message is – you too will be able to make your PowerPoint slides work with you!
Check out our YouTube video on “How To Raise Your Value As A Speaker”:
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