I love responding to reader's questions. Recently, a colleague who teaches in an MBA program emailed me the following question about moving in the front of the room while presenting slides:
"Several
students have walked across the room in front of their slides [while
presenting], and it has caused them to be bathed in "slide light." I
have suggested that they only move purposefully, for example, to shift to their
next point or tell a story. I also suggested that they black out their slides
when they do so, if they are using slides.
Anything else you would add on moving from one side of the room to another?"
This is a great question - here's how I responded:
"You're "right on the money" regarding walking in front of the room! Presenters should move with purpose - to walk to the flipchart, to move to the other side of the room so they can face that part of the audience more comfortably, etc. Most of the time they should "stand and deliver" (as I was told by one of the Toastmasters World Champions of Public Speaking, Mark Brown).
Blacking out the screen is a great idea to avoid
being "bathed in slide light." (I love the way she phrased that!). Your
PowerPoint remote usually has a blackout key that you can use.
Another option is to insert a black slide into your presentation that will remind you when it's time to move (for example, to hand something out or tell a story from the other side of the room). Just create a blank slide and format it with a solid-fill black background - I learned this tip from Garr Reynolds and his wonderful Presentation Zen blog www.presentationzen.com.
And if you are emailing the presentation to people or it will be posted on a website, remember to remove the black slides or they will confuse people and use up a lot of ink if printed.
Do you have any additional suggestions or horror stories of "slides gone bad"? Post them here on my blog - and feel free to post additional questions for me to answer.
© Gilda Bonanno LLC - Gilda Bonanno serves as a trusted advisor to executives and entrepreneurs to transform their communication, presentation and leadership skills. She has worked with companies on 4 continents, from Chicago to Shanghai and Rio to Rome. The instructional videos on her YouTube channel have received over 2 million views and her e-newsletter has reached subscribers in over 45 countries since 2008. For other articles or to receive Gilda's e-newsletter, visit www.gildabonanno.com