By Gilda Bonanno LLC
PowerPoint (and Keynote) presentations have become very common whether you are an executive, entrepreneur or educator.
While these slide presentations can be very effective, often they end up going horribly wrong and interfering with the presenter’s ability to communicate a clear and coherent message to the audience.
Here are the 12 most annoying – and most common - mistakes that I see and what you can do to avoid them:
1.
Your slides are crowded
When there are too many words or numbers on the slide, I
can’t figure out what’s important or what the core message is. If everything is jumbled together, nothing
makes sense.
The fix: Use more slides with less information on each. Use fewer words and more high-quality
images.
2.
Your
slides are illegible
Your slides can be unreadable in person if the font is too
small or there is not enough contrast between the font color and the slide
background. Slide legibility is also
affected by the lighting in the room (but please don’t make it too dark in the
room or you’ll put everyone to sleep).
The fix: Since the slides will look different on each
computer, run through your slides using the projector and computer in the actual
room you’ll be presenting in and make adjustments to font and background color
as needed.
3.
You breeze through the slide too fast to
be understood
Even if the slide is legible, I still need time to
comprehend it, particularly if it’s a complex graph or table. If you put up a complex slide, say “as you
can see…” and then rush to the next slide, I don’t have time to absorb the
information and reach the same conclusion you did.
The Fix: When showing
a complex slide, give the audience time to digest it. Provide an orientation to the information –
explain what the x and y axis represent, for example, and which line is most
important. Highlight key data points by
circling them on the slide or extracting them into a callout box in larger
font.
4.
You include everything you know in your
slides
If everything you know about the topic is in your slides,
then I am overwhelmed with information.
Also, I wonder why I need you to present it – just email me the
presentation and call it a day.
The fix: Remember, you are the presentation and the slides
should be there just to help you, not replace you. Use them to highlight key
information or provide additional support rather than provide a full script of
your presentation.
5.
The bottom of your slide is illegible
from the back of the room
Depending on the room layout, if the screen is too low, it’s
possible that the people in the back of the room won’t be able to read the
bottom half of the slide, especially if there are people sitting in front of
them.
The fix: Practice in the actual room to determine if people
in the back will be able to read the bottom of the slide. If not, elevate the projector if it’s on a
table. If it’s mounted in the ceiling or
wall or otherwise immoveable, include more empty space on the bottom of the
slide (remove the company brand or logo if needed). And make sure your key information is at the
top of the slide.
6.
You block the screen
If you stand directly in front of the screen, I can’t see
the whole slide – instead, I see part of the slide and your silhouette.
The fix: Stand to the side of the big screen and use a
remote control to advance your slides so you don’t have to be tethered to your
computer.
7.
What you say doesn’t match the slide
If you say one thing and something entirely different is on
the slide, I am confused.
The fix: Practice your presentation so you are comfortable
with your content. You don’t have to
memorize every word, but you should be comfortable enough with the material
that what you say matches what’s on the slide.
8.
You face the big screen instead of the
audience
If you are looking at your slides on the big
screen, then your back is to the audience.
But, you need to make eye contact with me, not the big screen.
The fix: Position your computer as a “confidence monitor” so
you can see the slide without having to turn around and look at the big
screen. Then you can make eye contact
with the audience.
9.
You use lots of pause words between
slides
If you use a lot of pause words like “um” and
“ah” to get from one slide to the next, you undermine your credibility and
sound unsure about your content.
The fix: Practice your
transitions between slides; how are they related to each other? Your transition
can be as simple as, “And the second reason… ” or, “Moving on to my next
point…”
10.
Your slides have more animation than a
Disney movie
If each line of your slide flies in from the
side or top, while bells ring and trumpets sound, I am more focused on your
animation than your content.
The fix: Just because the program allows you to use a
variety of animation techniques doesn’t mean you should use them all. Simple – meaning little or no animation - is
best and keeps the focus where it belongs – on your content.
11.
Your audio/video files and external links
don’t work
While it can be useful to include audio, video or a link to an
external website in your presentation, it doesn’t help if you can’t get it to
work and you spend all your time troubleshooting the problem.
The fix: Test out all audio and video files on the actual
computer you will use for the presentation.
If you are linking to an external website, verify that you can access
the internet over a high-speed connection.
Have a backup plan if the video doesn’t play or the link doesn’t work. And decide ahead of time how many attempts
you will make before you move on to your backup plan.
12.
Your computer power dies
While this may seem obvious, I’ve seen this happen enough
times to make it worth mentioning: you’re in the middle of your presentation
and suddenly the computer powers down because the battery is dead or the wire
came unplugged. Now you have to waste
valuable time trying to figure out what happened and you may even have to crawl
under the skirted table to get to the power strip.
The fix: Plug in the computer and make sure the power strip
is turned on. Do a final check right
before you present to make sure your computer wasn’t accidentally unplugged by
an A/V technician or another presenter. And if you insist on using your
battery, make sure it has enough power to last the entire presentation, even if
you have to present later than originally planned. And bring the power cord
with you just in case. (A double back-up
would be to email the presentation to yourself and the meeting organizer, and
also bring it on a thumb/flash drive, or have it accessible remotely from the
cloud).
The next time you have to give a presentation using slides,
avoid these 12 common mistakes, so you can deliver a clear and compelling
message without making your audience suffer.
What other annoying PowerPoint mistakes have you observed or fixed?
© 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