Free Power Point Templates

The fear of public ranks right up there with death and an IRS Audit for most of the population. What I will attempt to do here is give you a few tips & techniques and a bit of support when it comes time to make a presentation. What do I define as a presentation? In the broadest sense, it’s every encounter you have with every person you ever meet. It’s when you sit squirming in an interviewer’s chair trying to be eloquent when you are asked why you left your last job. More specifically, however, I’m going to talk about the business presentation. Whenever you are asked to appear in front of one or more people for the purpose of explaining, educating, convincing, or otherwise conveying information to them, you have a presentation. Compressed to its essence, a presentation consists of three basic elements: you, your audience, your message and your tools.In this series, we’ll look at each one, starting off with planning for your visuals and support materials. Later, we’ll look at presentation and speaking techniques, attitudes, travel disasters and other problems faced by both the professional and the occasional presenter.

With the script developed and the audience research completed, this decision should be simple. A five minute presentation to a three person audience is probably best made with handout material alone, or even simple flip charts. Larger audiences might be effectively reached by using a few simple overhead transparencies. (Yes, they still have their purpose)The 35mm Slide - R.I.P.At a Management Graphics User group meeting around 1990 I gave the 35mm Color Slide about another ten years or so maximum as a viable profit center for most graphics productions companies. I didn’t miss it by much. The resolution, brightness and price of LCD Computer/Video projectors mean that home-brew laptop based video projector presentations are now the norm. The design workstations of the 90’s running suites of complex four and five-figure software on five and six-figure computers gave way to laptops with PowerPoint and the free software that came with your three-figure digital still/video camera. To help justify the purchase of your projector, keep in mind, most of these accept input from a TV, DVD or other video source. When not serving as a presentation tool you can have a huge-screen TV, limited only by the size of the wall onto which it’s projected. (Can we say Super Super-Bowl Party?)Major presentations at annual meetings, trade shows, sales conferences, and presentations to stockholders or client proposals might still dictate an all out effort with professionally produced special effects, video and all manner of glitz and expense. Good presentation visuals, however, do not have to be expensive. When properly planned and produced, simple, well designed graphics add professionalism and impact to virtually any show. The proper use of text images, charts and graphs as well as the correct type of chart or graph to use in various circumstances is the subject of another article in this series. I will, however, touch on a few of the deadly design sins of presentation visuals a bit later.

Know yourselfWe all must push our limits and willingly bite off more than we may be comfortable swallowing on occasion — this is how we learn and grow. Knowing a few of your limits, however, might avert disaster, or at least embarrassment. Intimately related to Know Your Audience above, your ‘limits’ are just where you may or may not tread, depending on the makeup of your audience and your relationship with them.Just because the Mormons laughed when Whoopee Goldberg said or did something doesn’t mean you can pull it off. The Presbyterians might think it amusing while the Baptists call it blasphemy. In fact, I’m certain the mere mention of specific ‘denominations’ here will generate angry E-mail. (See also, the Devil is in the Details later on)George Carlin, Tom Peters, Billy Graham, Al Sharp ton and a host of others can get away with and even receive praise and applause for saying or doing things that would get you or me tarred, feathered, sued or booed by their respective audiences.  DEVELOP A THEME All presentations, regardless of their complexity, are designed with a single purpose. Whether that purpose is to sell, educate, or for pure entertainment, state that purpose to you at the beginning of the development process. Keep this purpose in mind always. PREPARE YOUR SCRIPT The script does not necessarily have to be a work of literary excellence. For some, simple notes on 3 x 5 file cards are sufficient. Other presenters and presentations require a carefully composed, professionally developed script. The exact form of the script depends on the formality of the presentation, the make up of the audience and who will be presenting it. Any presentation script, regardless of complexity is like any other business correspondence. It should consist of the same four basic parts, an opening, body, summary and closing. THE OPENING 
The opening of the presentation sets the stage for what is to follow. Participants are introduced and the purpose of the presentation is stated. You should also present a VERY BRIEF summary or outline of the points to be covered. This helps keep your audience oriented properly within the framework of your script.
  BODY 
This is the part of the script in which the bulk of the subject matter is presented. The body of a long presentation should be separated into smaller, easily assimilated modules. Each module or sub-section should make a single point or convey one idea. These sub-sections should each have their own simple opening, body and summary. 
  SUMMARY 
This portion should be very brief and simple. Here is your chance to reinforce the central theme and purpose of your presentation. Briefly emphasize the key points and main ideas of your script in this section. 

The central purpose of any presentation, written, oral or visual, is communication. To communicate effectively, you must state your facts in a simple, concise and interesting manner.  It is proven that the people learn more readily and retain more information when learning is reinforced by visualization. You can entertain, inform, excite and even shock an audience by the proper integration of visual images into virtually any exchange of information.  Meetings which might normally be considered dull, or a chore to be avoided, can be transformed into exciting productions that grab the attention of the viewers.  This kind of presentation maximizes the audience retention of the subject matter. The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” has existed since the New York Post discovered the value of visuals in the news business. This remains true to this day. Simple, clear, concise visual images, briskly paced and sprinkled with attention-grabbing graphics will lend support to your spoken words. This leaves your audience with a positive attitude toward you and your product, service or proposal. Visuals in business should be used in support of the spoken or written word, and not in lieu of it. A well-developed concept and effective script are the essential elements of any presentation. Regardless of their form, they should be the first and most important phase of its development. When the concept begins to take final form, the visuals are developed around it.  This is not to imply that A-V design should be placed near the end of the project. You must begin mentally planning your visuals at the beginning of the design process. Hastily designed and produced visuals can doom a presentation (and a presenter,) where well planned and executed images add tremendous strength. Concepts that are difficult to grasp can be communicated quickly and easily through the intelligent use of professionally produced visuals. This allows you the freedom to communicate more complex subject matter in a more efficient manner, adding support and impact to your script.  Finally, your presentation should be entertaining. Leave the audience feeling better and more relaxed when they leave and that impression will carry over to both your subject matter and yourself. There is no logical reason that the presentation of routine sales figures and financial reports should not be as exciting as the unveiling of a new product or a first rate service proposal.  

Instructional presentations can be richly substantive or vacuous. They also can be clear or obscure, captivating or stultifying. Application of the following “Rules” will help make the substance more clear and interesting.

These “Rules” apply to mediated instruction, as well as to traditional classroom lectures and discussions.

The Rule of 3

Good instructional presentations have three parts, no more, no less. These are (1) an introduction, (2) a discussion, and (3) a conclusion.

Implications: Whatever else a presentation should do, it should (1) start somewhere, (2) go somewhere, and (3) end somewhere. A simple but effective strategy is “tell them what you’re going to tell ‘me, tell them, and tell ‘me what you told them.” Oral signposts and clocks can help your audience know where and when you are in this sequence

The Rule of 6

Clarity of structure is the key to clarity of content. Whatever the substantive parts (content) of an instructional presentation, there is a limited number of ways to organize that content. Six structures or patterns that work well are

1. Chronological (”in the beginning. . . .”)
2. Spatial (left-to-right, outside-to-inside, bottom-to-top)
3. Problem-solution
4. Cause-effect
5. Question and answer

Topical (anything other than the first five Implications: Announce the structure of your presentation at the beginning of your talk and refer to that structure during the presentation. Make ideas more clear by indicating how they relate to each other (major, minor; subordination).

  The Rule of 7

The great experimental psychologist George Miller summarized thirty years of research on human memory and attention in a celebrated paper entitled, “The Magic Number 7, Plus or Minus 2.” Miller found that this number described the maximum quantity of ideas, facts, or issues that people are able to actively attend to at any one time.

Implications: Limit the number of main points in a presentation to 7 or less. Less is better. This suggestion also applies to lists of ideas used in visual aids and handouts. Methods such as progressive disclosure of elements in a list can help focus attention

  The Rule of 20

Research on human attention suggests that the attention span of a normal motivated adult is about 20 minutes. In practice, attention span is probably less. Other research indicates that the key to attention is variety.

Implications: Change what you are doing (or how you are doing it) at least every 20 minutes. Use variety in language, voice, motion, rate, color, and interaction with the audience to maintain attention. Remember, in order to emphasize an idea, it is necessary to de-emphasize other ideas.

  The Rule of 10

here are 10 common mistakes to avoid in instructional presentations. Any one can lead to frustration.

Two or more can produce really spectacular failure.

1. Start with an inappropriate joke.
2. Go on. And on. And on.
3. Use poor visual aids or auditory aids.
4. Overload your audience with “too much” or “too fast”.
5. Ignore audience interests.
6. Talk at an audience, instead of with them.
7. Look at your notes instead of the audience.
8. Try to be something you’re not.
9. Don’t bother to practice out loud.