Seven Deadly Sins of Presentations
Everyday throughout the country, educators and men and women in the business community stand before real live people with their slides, PowerPoint presentations, and flip charts that are just plain bad. You do not have to be one of them.
There are so many aspects to a dynamic presentation that, indeed, volumes have been written. But you can do nearly everything right and still fail if you commit one of the following.
Sin #1 It was too long
- Just because you are allotted 20 minutes, you don't have to fill it up. The less time you take giving people what they want, the better they will like it. Most speakers eat up time with a windy introduction that only serves to warm them up to what they really want to say. Since you are using visual aids, use short, vigorous sentences. It is difficult for an audience to follow a long winding sentence when their attention is divided between what you are saying and what they see on the screen.
Sin #2 Bad visuals
- Bad visuals fall into two categories: Ugly and Illegible.
- Ugly visuals are not just a matter of subjective aesthetics, but rather of good taste and generally accepted standards for professional graphics. Bad visuals give a bad image in the minds of your audience of you and what you represent. Like seeing a photo of your hairstyle in the 70's or 80's, dated visuals are easy to spot so try to keep up-to-date with the visual styles of the current decade.
- Illegible visuals are often presented, but are not actually seen, especially by the people in the back row. The most common sin is to place too much information on the image. Here's a simple test. Put your image on the computer full-screen as you have designed it. Then step back from the screen at least 10 feet. Imagine that it is now the size of the screen at the front of the room and you are now in the last row. If you have difficulty reading it, chances are your audience can't read it either. There are font styles, font sizes, and color combinations that enhance legibility. We have artists on staff to help you.
- Use a spell checker and a human proff-reeder if necessary. Your credibility evaporates when you're audience seas a presentation featuring typpos.
- Finally, if you are using overheads...Shame on you!
Sin #3 Not sticking to the main points
- No one is going to remember everything you say or show. The best you can hope for is that they retain a few of your key points. Your visuals are not for decoration, but communication. Make sure they support your key points. Look at each one and decide whether it is closely relevant to your point. Any that aren't, should be eliminated. That's one way to avoid Sin #1.
Sin #4 Too many numbers
- Numberitis--the leading cause of presentation death. Numbers are unavoidable. The trick is to use them sensibly and in forms your audience understands. Think of the significance of the numbers and their relationship to each other. Charts and graphs symbolically illustrate the numbers to give your audience a clear, concise view of the numbers. Avoid the use of tabular charts--endless rows and columns of numbers--they're illegible anyway.
Sin #5 Technical failure
- Technical glitches are not only embarrassing, but they can also be disastrous. Even though you may be at the mercy of technocrats at the place you are making your presentation, it is ultimately your responsibility. Protect yourself by advance planning, good communication with the event planners, and thorough preparation. Begin your part of the event with this simple idea, "Don't assume anything."
Sin #6 Not summarizing
- Help your audience keep up with all this new information you are presenting to them. Help them retain more of it by using periodic summaries throughout not just at the end. While this may seem redundant to you, it is really an excellent method of reviewing and "sticking" those main points you want remembered.
Sin #7 Inadequate rehearsal
- Inadequate rehearsal happens for two reasons. The first is your materials are not ready in time to allow you to rehearse. The second is not rehearsing enough. Even though you may know your material inside and out, unless you can synchronize your words with the visual aids you are using, you can blow it.
This information has been compiled through the years by Michael Poe, ANR CS producer/director, with heavy reliance on a premise used in an article by Michael F. Breslin in Technical Photography, April 1988.