While PowerPoint or Prezi often helps the presenter produce professional work with great visuals, too often we lose sight of the purpose of slides and “visual aids.” Presenters spend countless hours perfecting every bullet and transition, falsely assuming all eyes will be on the slides, not the speaker.
Keep these tips in mind before you deliver your next presentation:
1. Remember YOU are the presentation – not your graphics and visual support
2. Go easy on the text – words are better than phrases, phrases are better than sentences
3. Be judicious when adding multimedia components like streaming video, graphics and illustrations
4. Keep your explanation of each slide to under a minute
5. Focus only on the points you want to highlight – don’t try to discuss every point on the slide
6. Produce two “decks”. One is the live version. The other – with more text — is for those not in attendance