Power of the Point

             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 !