Over the past twenty five years, I've had the chance to participate in and plan several presentations. what I'm going to include in today's blog entry are a couple of things that will help out the novice presenter.
1. Too many words on a slide
The simple adage, k.i.s.s., holds true in this case; keep it simple stupid. When presenting, specifically with PowerPoint, novice presenters tend to put every single word on the slide that they intend to say. This makes for a very predictable presentation and often confuses the audience which will spend more time looking at all of the details to every single slide insted of paying attention to what the presenter has to say. If key topics or talking points are highlighted in a simple way, the audience will glance at the slide and continue to liste.
2. Do not read the slides
Again this happens quite often with novice presenters. If a person reads the slides word for word, it makes for a very predictable presentation and lulls the audience into complete boredom. It is best to highlight the key points on the slide and then explain them in greater detail. This way, the presenter is engaging the audience and keeping the attention on him or her. However, one must be extremely careful when taking this approach to stay away from the dreaded "um" monster. When there is more flexibility in a presentation this terrible creature likes to show his ugly head in the breaks and pauses. He has been known to show himself during some presentation over 20 times! Please be careful.
Of course there are many things that we were unable to discuss today that go into an effective presentation. I hope that my two "pointers" will help someone avoid these preventable pitfalls and assist them on his or her way to an effective presentation.
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