What factors should you consider when planning to use presentation technology in a speech?

PowerPoint presentations are a great way to support a speech, visualize complicated concepts or focus an audience’s attention. However, a bad presentation can achieve the opposite. Poorly designed slides with too much text or distracting graphics can lead the audience away from your message. Consider these tips to avoid common mistakes:

1.Create a simple design template.

Use the slide master feature or a provided template to create consistency in your design. The method of content presentation (list, image, text) depends on the content, but consistency with other elements such as font, colors, background, throughout the presentation is essential. Establish consistent contrasting colors (dark/light) for text and background.

2. Use appropriate font and size.

Choose your font and size carefully. Use sans serif fonts (such as Arial Rounded MT Bold) and 32 point font size for text. Anything smaller is difficult to read. Avoid all caps. Use color to highlight. Limit punctuation. Follow the 6×6 rule: No more than 6 lines of text per slide and no more than 6 words in each line of text.

3. Use good quality images.

Images should reinforce and complement your message. They should be impactful, not space-fillers. Empty space on the slide will actually enhance readability. Don’t clutter the slide with images unless they add value. Also, test your images to make sure they retain quality when projected on a larger screen. Clip art generally lacks emphasis. If you are willing to purchase quality images to enhance your presentation, try corbis.com.

4. Avoid too many special effects.

These features seem impressive at first, but they tend to distract from your message and get old quickly. Transitions, text fly-ins, animations and sounds may reduce the professionalism you desire to portray. Special effect are similar to graphics, they should impact the presentation not detract from the presentation.

5. Limit the number of slides.

Limit the number of slides according to the time you have available for the presentation. Flipping to the next slide constantly and rushing through the presentation not only distracts the audience, but typically does not get your message across. A good rule of thumb is one slide per minute.

6.Learn to navigate your presentation in a non-linear fashion.

PowerPoint allows the presenter to move forward and backwards without paging through interim slides. Practice moving forward and backward within your presentation. Your audience may want to see a previous slide or you may want to skip ahead to something of immediate relevance. Know these shortcuts:

7. Do not read from your slides or speak to them.

Don’t face the screen and read your slides. The bulleted information on your slides should be supplementary to what you are saying. Use the slides to trigger your comments or to pace yourself, but do not read them. The audience can read. Remember that your slides are only there to support, not to replace your talk! You’ll want to tell a story, describe your data or explain circumstances, and only provide keywords through your slides. If you read your slides, the audience will get bored, stop listening and not get your message.

This is a guest post written by Barry Mitsch.

While technology has created exciting tools for speakers, the fundamental elements of a presentation have not changed since the days of Aristotle. Any successful presentation must be well organized, delivered by a credible speaker, and customized to a specific audience. 

Customizing your presentation requires information gathering. Speak to the meeting planner to learn about who is expected to attend, and talk with colleagues who have presented to this group in the past. Ask questions related to audience expectations and the technical background of the typical attendee. It's also a good idea to know who is speaking before or after you as you may want to look for tie-ins with your subject matter. 

So what about the technology? Technology is simply a tool. YOU are the presentation, not the technology. Great technology will not overcome poor content.  A great presentation can be delivered without a single slide. Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy … they all crafted memorable speeches without a laptop computer. The key is using the technology correctly to enhance your spoken words.

A common mistake made by many speakers is to begin planning a presentation by first creating visual aids. Scientists often have data that are important to their talk and these data often drive the development of a presentation. The data for a given presentation should be selected only if it helps the speaker achieve the objective for a specific audience. Once the content of a presentation has been thoroughly developed, it is time to ask the question, “What data and supporting visual aids will enhance the audience's understanding of what I am saying?” 

Any visual aid needs to meet four criteria in order to be successful. First, it has to be necessary. In other words, you have reached the conclusion that a visual aid will be helpful in delivering your message.

Slide 1

Slide 1 is an example of an unnecessary slide. It contains statements that could be made during the introduction to a presentation.

Next, decide on the most appropriate format that will meet the criterion of clarity—the best way to show an idea. There are infinite ways to create effective visual aids, not all of which require technology. Demonstrations, displays, and photographs are all low-tech approaches. Be selective and continually ask if this is the best way to support your spoken words. The third criterion is simplicity—the best visual aids are simple. 

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 4 can be improved by showing the graphs on separate slides to improve its simplicity. Slide 5 shows only one of the graphs, adds a more descriptive title, and adds circles to direct attention to places on the slide having the most importance.

And the fourth criterion is visibility— they must be clearly seen. Obviously a visual aid must be visible to be effective but how many times have you seen a presenter display a computer-generated slide and say, “I know you can’t read this, but let me tell you what it says.”

Here are some tips to help you meet the criteria of simplicity and visibility while using computer-generated visual aids:

• Each slide should convey ONE main concept. Complicated slides lead to audience confusion.

• Try to avoid text slides but if you must use them, limit the number of words per line to 5 and the number of lines per slide to 5.

• If possible, limit the numbers of bars and lines in graphs, preferably no more than 5. Of course if your data require more than five, use only what is necessary to support your message.

• Use only sans serif type styles such as Arial, Helvetica, and Tahoma—they project more clearly than serif styles.

• Use the largest type sizes possible and try to avoid text that is less than 24 point.

• For computer projection, stick to dark backgrounds with light text to increase visibility.

• Limit the use of color—use color to direct attention to areas of a slide that are important.

• Use computer "builds" (sequentially revealing information) to maintain focus on points as you present, but be selective in using this tool. Builds can also be used for charts, graphs, pictures, and complicated scientific slides.

• Be consistent in using slide transition animations; varying the transitions from slide to slide can be distracting.

Computers are the most valuable presentation tool yet to be invented, but speakers need to realize that they are just a tool. There is no substitute for solid content delivered with confidence and conviction. By applying the ideas presented in this article, you will maximize the use of technology in achieving success with all of your presentations.

Barry Mitsch, of the Pyramid Resource Group, has been conducting presentation skills workshops for more than 25 years and specializes in working with scientists and engineers. He has worked with individuals and groups using video-based programs, classroom workshops, and virtual coaching. He holds a Master's of Science in Public Health and his research was in the field of radiation physics. He provides communication coaching to Sigma Xi members. If you have a question or comment about this post, you may post it below or email Heather Thorstensen, manager of communications, at . 

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