Planning PowerPoint Presentations

Most people start making a PowerPoint presentation by opening PowerPoint, but a better way to make a presentation may involve some planning time first before you jump in and get started. The idea of planning a PowerPoint presentation may seem like a waste of time, especially when you know your subject matter well. At the same time, presentation planning can save time and effort, and can result in a superior finished product.

How do you plan a PowerPoint presentation? Most people start with an outline. It's a great way to organise your thoughts, identify your major points and eliminate the unnecessary thoughts and words from your presentation. An outline allows you to re-arrange your slides, add and subtract discussion subjects, and think about your presentation without becoming distracted by slide designs, special effects, and color schemes. Outlines can be created in Microsoft Word and then imported into PowerPoint, or created directly in the Outline tab in Microsoft PowerPoint. To bring up the Outlining toolbar in PowerPoint 2003 choose View - Toolbars-Outlining. You can promote or demote topics by choosing the relevant green arrow at the top of the Outling toolbar.

Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points offers a novel approach to creating PowerPoint presentations. Atkinson starts with a storyboard, under the assumption that your slide presentation is going to tell a story. He offers tips and resources for telling your story and making a compelling slide presentation. He also offers online support to assist you with transforming creative ideas into a working presentation.

Some readers will not be comfortable with Atkinsons' approach to presentation-making, but his approach is interesting and will help you create a visually distinct presentation. The book is a worthwhile read if you're looking for some inspiration for an upcoming presentation.

Hot Game !!!

Professional PowerPoint Presentations With the Rules of Six and More

PowerPoint and all the bells and whistles that come with are being used more and more in business and other presentation venues. Before presenters became so attached to computers for visual aid production, a few rules existed for proper visual design that was often adhered to by the graphic design folks who built slides in the days before the personal computer. Now with everyone having access to a computer, those rules are often ignored during slide design. The result an unprofessional look and information overload. A return to some of the old rules, referred to as the rules of six, is in order. Also new rules are needed with the computer to keep slides with graphics and animations appropriate for professional use. Below are a few rules to consider when designing slides in PowerPoint.

Rules of Six for Slide Creation

Use meaningful titles as introduction and summary of slide contents. Be sure to limit the number of words in title to no more than 6.
Have no more than 6 bullets per text slide. Sub-bullets should be included in this count. Also it is preferable to have no more than 6 words per bullet.
For tables of data, plan no more than 6 rows of data on a table to make it easier to read. However, for most audiences charts or graphs are better than tables. No more than 6 data points (bars, slices, lines) should be on a graph or chart.
In relation to talk time on each slide consider for a 30 minute presentation to use 6 (5 minutes of talking per slide) slides or less that only highlight the key points of presentation. Or no more than 12 slides (averaging 2- 3 minutes talk time per slide) where you want to provide some details that might be hard for audience to capture in notes.

Rules for Graphics and Animation

Only use images and graphics that summarize key points as a replacement for text, such as charts and graphs. Mixing too much on a slide only makes it crowded and confusing. Remember cute cartoons, silly photos, or movies typically don't add much to a professional presentation.
Use animation and sounds wisely and sparingly. A consistent transition between slides does not fall under the animation caution. Transitions help the audience get ready for what is coming next. Also consider design template to get a more professional look with little effort. If the template has a distracting movement in it or the color is not desirable, go to the master slide view to remove the animation or change the background.
Remember when it comes to a professional presentation, less really is more. The less the slide has on it, the more the presenter can illuminate on key points. The less words used, the more white space included, which marketing folks say readers find pleasing to the eye. The less the audience has to try to read on the screen, the more attention they can give to the presenter. If that is not convincing enough, consider that note-taking by audience, to supplement the slide contents, actually increases their retention of presented points by as much as 40%.
Presenters should consider the black screen option for discussion or activity times, which do not require referencing a slide. To turn black screen on, press the letter B on the computer keyboard during a PowerPoint presentation, the screen will go dark. When ready to continue with the slide show, press B again and the show will return to where it was before.

Please consider utilizing the above rules when designing slides in PowerPoint on the computer to give a more professional appearance to slides and presenter. Remember, just because the makers of PowerPoint include lots of bells and whistles with the software, that doesn't mean that you have to use them. Reduce the chance of information overload on the audience by returning to the old rules of graphic design and adding the new rules offered here.

Hot Game !!!

PowerPoint Presentations - 7 Steps to Writing Killer Scripts For Online Business Presentations

"Easy reading is damn hard writing." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

With travel budgets slashed and off-site meetings at record lows, the demand for online presentations is stronger than ever. Whether delivering live presentations using webinar technology such as WebEx or Citrix, or recording them with tools like Brainshark or Macromedia Breeze, a good script is not only critical to an effective presentation, it is the foundation.

Why, then, do we spend most our time dreaming up fancy visuals?

It's easier. It's more fun. And a mistake. The element more likely to make or break your success is the script itself-your choice of words, the sequence of arguments, how you make your message stick.

Visuals are important, indeed. But the script even more so. In fact, some of the most persuasive presenters-in person-use no visuals at all. They know that PowerPoint can be PowerPoint-less. When delivering online, however, they follow this secret: The ratio of time invested on scriptwriting versus visuals should be at least 3:1.

Scriptwriting may look easy, but, like any craft, it's a specialized skill that can take years to perfect. This 7-step scriptwriting process will shorten your learning curve and help you close that deal or promotion you so well deserve.

Step 1: Set Clear Objectives.
Is it to inform, educate, persuade, or motivate? Talk to 3-5 viewers directly and ask them what they need. The more explicitly your script addresses those needs, the better it will be received. Nothing kills a good presentation like extraneous information.

Step 2: Analyze the Audience.
Who are they? What is their experience with the subject? Do they know a little bit? A lot? Nothing? Find their sweet spot. Get too technical and you'll lose them. Too basic and they'll be bored. Remember, every audience member is always wondering, WIIFM - What's in it for me?

Step 3: Brainstorm Content.
Old fashioned yellows pad and white boards work best. Electronic brainstorming tools may suit you as well. Using index cards and sticky notes this early allows your logical left brain to bleed into the process, which can slow the flow of ideas. Save those for step 4. Let your mind work freeform.

Step 4: Create an Outline.
Next, identify your best ideas. Add some, delete some. Consolidate into main points and sub-points. This is where index cards and sticky notes come in handy. Spread them out on your desk. Put them in a compelling sequence. A brilliant decorator friend once told me his secret to success: "Move the furniture around until it looks good." Do the same with your ideas.

Step 5: Write a Sloppy Copy.
Turn off your editor. Open the spigot. Write fast. Don't stop to edit and second-guess yourself or your best ideas may never come. I recommend writing in Word first and pasting into PowerPoint (notes section) later, after the script is finished.

Step 6: Edit, Edit, Edit
Richard North Patterson said, "Writing is rewriting." Review your sloppy copy. Keep the good parts. Delete the rest. Then expand, shape and clarify. Refine. Say things in the fewest words possible. William Zinser, author of the bestselling book, On Writing Well, said, "Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it."

Step 7: Polish
The best way to polish is to first test it on your audience. Deliver it as if it were the final performance and get their candid feedback. Writers often find that entire sections can be deleted. Remember, with every word you cut, your impact increases exponentially. Hold off on writing your intro and summary until the very end, as it's impossible-and frustrating-trying to write those when you haven't yet figured out what you're going to say.

Hot Game !!!

How To Make Non-Linear PowerPoint Presentations

One major knock against PowerPoint is that it only allows linear presentations. Detractors say there is no room for creativity or going in different directions during the presentation. They claim that PowerPoint only allows for presentations that move from one slide to the next in a forward manner with no deviations. And they are wrong.

PowerPoint can be used to make non-linear presentations if you know how to use its features to your advantage. Here are some ideas for using PowerPoint to make a presentation that can jump to whatever idea you need to present at the time.

1. Design Your Presentation in Modules
When you are creating your presentation, design modules that you can present in whatever order you need that day. For example, I have modules on outlining a presentation, selecting colors, selecting fonts, adding text, using pictures, using graphs and many more. I can go through a certain module and then decide what module would fit next based on the audience feedback. Then I can jump to the next module as if it was meant to be done that way all along. An advanced tip is to have a module introductory slide at the start of each module and a module summary slide at the end of each module so the presentation looks completely seamless when you present.

2. Jump to Any Slide
The key to moving between modules is to use PowerPoint's feature of easily moving between slides with only keystrokes. To jump to any slide, type in the slide number using the number keys on your keyboard and press the Enter key. To use this feature, have a list of the slide numbers of the first slide of each module in your presentation easily visible when you present. Then, at the end of each module, go to your laptop and type in the correct slide number for the module you want to present next. This makes the presentation look seamless to the audience.

3. Link to Other Programs
By using the Custom Action Buttons within PowerPoint, you can set up a link to another file, such as a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet. This means that you can add a segment of audience participation where you capture their ideas in a Word document that is then available for everyone after the presentation. This allows for many different directions to be taken when getting out of PowerPoint. Then, you can save and close the other program and continue with the presentation.

By using these techniques, you can make your PowerPoint presentation as linear or non-linear as you want. If you want to proceed straight through from slide 1 to the end, you can. If you want to jump between ideas as the audience directs, you can do that as well. All within PowerPoint by using the power that it already has.

Hot Game !!!