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Put The Power Back Into PowerPoint
Many people have discovered a new cure for insomnia: watching a boring PowerPoint presentation. However, the fault lies with the presenter, not the tool. When used properly, PowerPoint can be a highly effective way of driving home a series of messages. Few of us are charismatic presenters, so we need to use it well to help us to communicate more effectively. It’s essential that anyone in an Insight team is competent (and ideally expert) in its use.
Mastering PowerPoint involves many different technical and creative skills – and making the effort to develop these can really pay dividends. One of the key skills (which is often overlooked) is good planning. Ultimately, PowerPoint can never totally compensate for poorly planned or poorly executed material.
It’s vital to recognise that PowerPoint it isn’t just a speaker’s presentation support tool: it’s also a communication tool in its own right. For instance, presentation files can be emailed so that the recipients can view them on a PC or on paper.
Planning is therefore essential to establish the style and format of presentation to be used. Here are three questions to address:
- What is the presentation for? (Perhaps as an email attachment or printed material; to support training sessions; in a small intimate meeting; for a larger meeting; or at a very formal conference)
- What format should you use? (This will vary according to the audience)
- How will you use PowerPoint?
- As a speaker support tool – in which case it can be minimalist, and rely on visual impact to support what the speaker is saying
- As a reference document – in which case whatever appears on each page/slide must convey its message without a spoken narrative
In relation to this last question, the biggest problem is that PowerPoint is often used for both purposes – so it must be made to work in both roles without compromising its effectiveness in either. This can be achieved by:
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Using hidden slides – these aren’t visible during a formal presentation, but are present in the distributed or printed version to provide additional detail.
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Using multiple formats – the version distributed is different to that used for formal presentation, having been adapted for use as a reference tool.
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Making each slide stand alone – take care to ensure that all of the key messages are on the slide so that they make an impact even without the narrative.
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Using the notes pages facility – this provides explanatory narrative that would otherwise have been given by the speaker. Most people don’t view PowerPoint slides with the notes pages visible, and may be unaware of their existence. You therefore need to brief them to look at them, or put a small font reference to the notes pages on each slide to prompt them to view them.
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