The golden rule for all presenters is to imagine that you are in the audience.
— David Martin
When PowerPoint arrived it changed the face of presentations and quickly became the norm. Make a presentation. Get out the PowerPoint. In many ways this has helped presenters and audiences alike.
But… there is always a but. For some reason – lack of knowledge or experience coupled with the worry many people have of making a formal presentation – habits, and in many cases bad habits, together with sheer laziness, have become a ubiquitous part of its use. The world is full of people firing off bullet points and reading overlong sentences, muttering into their shoulder as they turn backwards to look at the screen. Too much of this sort of presentation is based on imitation. Inside organizations, and externally too, people see presen- tations being done and copy how they are made. This is a good way of picking up good practice too, of course, but it is the bad habits that seem to be passed on most easily.
Never forget: do not fall foul of a case of the bland
leading the bland.
Precisely because so many presentations are poor – why else would the phrase ‘death by PowerPoint’ have entered the language so firmly? – there is an opportunity here. This book does not suggest throwing the baby out with the bath water, it does not suggest approaches that will cost the earth and take forever in preparation. Small but signifi- cant changes can turn many lacklustre presentations into something better and perhaps something special.
There are things here to avoid, in some cases very much to avoid, and a host of ways of strengthening what you do to make your visual aids clearer, more able to strengthen and enhance what you say and make your whole presentation more likely to achieve its objectives.
What next? Well, if you feel there are changes you can make, begin to make them. Experiment, try things in different ways and, above all, switch off that automatic pilot and really think about the slides you create. Do not be put off. Arnold Bennett said, ‘Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.’ Perhaps this fits here. The next presentation you prepare may take a bit longer than usual but you may be surprised by how much you can improve what you are doing, and how quickly this can be done.
Is change worthwhile? Without a doubt it is. The ability to make a good presentation is vital to so many people (it is reckoned there are more than 450 million users of PowerPoint worldwide – that’s right!). For many of them it’s vital to their jobs and to their careers too. If this is true of you, then detoxing your current ways and trying something else could be the best thing you ever do regarding your presentations. Ask those you speak to. Check how well you are achieving your inten- tions. Powerful presentations don’t just happen, but if you make sure they do the dividends can be huge.
One more thing: thank you for buying this book (if you did), for taking the time to read it and… no, that is not a good conclusion, and nor are slides that say:
‘Thank you’
Slides that say ‘thank you’ amidst a mass of verbiage are particularly to be avoided; especially if they are designed to be read out (as Figure 6.1).
In many circumstances it is fine, often necessary and polite to say ‘thank you’. But not as the last thing you say. Presentations should finish on a high note, the nature of this depending on the nature of the occasion. So, starting the last few minutes of a presentation with thanks – ‘Thank you for the invitation and for your time. Perhaps I could just take a couple more minutes and make a final point…’ – does make sense. Then, with courtesies catered for, you can speak on and conclude with a call to action or whatever is suitable. That said, and with my ‘thank you’ intentionally placed at the end to make a point, I need another way of finishing.
And now …
One last slide: as we come to the end of the main text, over the page you will find an Appendix. I’m not sure… did I say?… this last section is designed for those readers who may want a little guidance on the more personal skills of preparing and making a
presentation. It summarizes the process and… but I did make this clear at the beginning so… perhaps you began with this first. Never mind… Thank you.
George Bernard Shaw said, ‘I am the most spontaneous speaker in the world because every word, every gesture and every retort has been carefully rehearsed.’ I bet if PowerPoint had been around in his day he would have given careful thought to every slide too. So should we all.