I have a big-time problem with
PowerPoint. Let me clarify something at the outset…PowerPoint is a great presentation tool
…probably the greatest invention of the digital era! However, the problem is that
,for people with attention-span challenge like me, the focus goes on “decoration” aspect of each
slide rather than the content itself. As a result, I keep adding content only
to delete later and even after an hour I would be nowhere with the slides. I would
then be feeling as much helpless & forlorn as the Hero ditched
by his Lady Love in a Bollywood Cinema.
Fortunately, It looks like there is
a solution…To deliver an effective PowerPoint presentation ,worry less about
the PowerPoint !. Before you get perplexed further, let me jump straight to the
point...
Content is King ! : So you have a
presentation to be delivered…Think about the following and note down the
following on a piece of paper (Okay Okay…I can allow you to do it an MS-Word
not on the PowerPoint though!)
What do you want to convey ?:
At the end of a presentation, what do you want
the audience to take away ? Is it an Information, Update ,Call for Action, Persuasion
/ Influence ,Coaching or Pure entertainment ? For a 10 minute presentation , I
would prefer a maximum of 2 take away. So, write the purpose boldly on the piece of
paper. Every time your mind wanders, the Purpose should be screaming back at you …
Who is the Audience ?
You should also be aware of whom
you are going to deliver the presentation. Obviously , the content of your talk
would be different for an expert group vs the learner group. If you do not know
the audience, better run away to an Island without single cell phone tower
rather than delivering a presentation.
What is the time allotted ?
I was at a Technical conference long time back where in the Presenter(a man of
substance) overshot his allotted time of Half-an-hour by 100%. As any
sportsperson would say, you should know when to quit, in this case,a presentation, before the
Organizers are planning to introduce squeaky noise in the audio system.
Prepare the Speech
Imagine that the Supreme Force banned
the PowerPoint from Earth & you well know that we all still need to deliver presentations to earn a
living. So, behave like Socrates who did not have the PowerPoint …write out the
speech you want to deliver the audience; with an Opening, Body and Conclusion. If
you nailed this step, You have crossed half-the Ocean. You should also rehearse this speech for the way to deliver to the audience.It will also be a good exercise for time check. If you are way over the allotted
time, you have to cut down some points. This is important, also because, these
are the words that Audience would be hearing not the ones on the PowerPoint
slide…
Now Open the the PowerPoint
Now it’s time to open the Pandora’s
Box …or time for the Face-off with Fire…or simply put, time to open a new PowerPoint
document. Based on your Opening, Body & Conclusion of the speech, create
each slide with just the Title of sub-points you want to discuss on the major
purpose. This would be your outline of the presentation.
Now add the Glamour to the
slides:
Add bullet points in each slide
about which you want to talk ; Add pictures / Graphs as much as possible. Add
your speech for that slide into the Notes section. This may take sometime, but
should hopefully be not so painful as you know what you want to talk about !
At the end of this exercise, your
Visual Aid should be ready…You would absolutely
need to rehearse your speech along with the PowerPoint presentation. As you may
see, the PowerPoint cannot replace the presenter .If you want to make it stick
on the mind of the audience, the Animation or the Cartoon capability of the
PowerPoint wont help…only your Ideas will !
As I heard a CEO say to the Presenter,
“Let us focus on the Power of your Point, rather than the PowerPoint” !!
Happy Presentations !
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