5 Important Guidelines for Using PowerPoint

I'm going to open this blog with Seth Godin's words.

"The point of PowerPoint is to communicate with your audience."

On this note, it's important to consider that if you were really just giving the audience a surplus of facts on whatever you're talking about, you should've just printed out a report for them. Depending on the topic, this could be more appropriate but consider it's a presentation that you're using Powerpoint to make. So,

Guideline #1 : Put a bit of yourself into the slides so you can better present yourself and your topic.

When you put yourself into the presentation, it's easier to hold the attention of your audience because they'll sense your genuity if you do so. Presentations are about trust because they are hardly ever about just the facts. Presentations consist of a number of ideas that you're trying to sell to the audience. If you want them to read it for themselves, they can, but after the presentation.

Guideline #2: If you want the audience to pay attention, type out everything you're going to explain, and give them a copy of that after the presentation.

Think about it. Would you pay attention to someone talking in front of a room if they gave you a hard copy of everything they were going to say beforehand? No. You'd be reading. I know I'd be reading if they were either a) talking about something I didn't care for or b) I didn't like their voice or their face. That could just as easily happen to me if I was giving a presentation,

so I wouldn't give a hard copy beforehand because if you want someone to listen to what you're saying, they have to first like how you hold their attention.

On the note of holding attention is the third guideline:

Guideline #3: Don't type everything you're saying on the slide. It's not a teleprompter.

I like these two examples from the Garr Reynolds webpage :

The one to the right is the good example, and the one to the left is even better. Something simple like that will not only stick with the audience, but it'll be easier for you to remember as well or see out of your peripheral vision in case, whatever cue cards you have are mixed up.

The last two guidelines I have are about showing that you know what's going on.

Guideline #4 : Know when to use what types of charts.

Knowing what kind of chart to use will help all kinds of learners, be they visual or auditory because explaining the visual graphs is easiest when everyone knows why they're being used.

The Garr Reynolds website explained it very well:

Pie Charts

Used to show percentages. Limit the slices to 4-6 and contrast the most important slice either with color or by exploding the slice.
Vertical Bar Charts

Used to show changes in quantity over time. Best if you limit the bars to 4-8
Horizontal Bar Charts

Used to compare quantities. For example, comparing sales figures among the four regions of the company.
Line Charts

Used to demonstrate trends. For example, here is a simple line chart showing that our sales have gone up every year. The trend is good. The arrow comes in later to underscore the point: Our future looks good!

Guideline # 5 : Use the master slide view or slide sorter to go over your presentation beforehand.

If you go over your slide and know what part comes after what in your presentation, people will likely be more attentive due to the coherency or flow of the presentation from one topic to another. Having cue cards with both information and transitions is the last thing I recommend for using Powerpoint. What you say to the audience will click with whatever it is you're showing them in your presentation.

Au revoir.

- Adain