Some research done in Germany earlier this year gives some surprising insight into the best ways of using PowerPoint for business presentations. Business presentations with poor visuals -whatever the ‘religion’ (Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Prezi)- is better read by the audience, than talked over by the presenter. Yup. Audiences retain more from a bad presentation accompanied by…
Here it is. In all of the detail about slide design, visual and verbal channels, psychology, and blah, blah, blah; I’ve finally found the image that cuts through all the crap. This is how every one of us should use PowerPoint- You’ve got an audience who are interested. You’ve got some complex terrain to get…
In developing our skills as presenters, it’s important to understand that we are using 2 ‘channels’ of information in our attempts to make the points we want to make- The visual elements of our presentation- which tend to dominate our audience’s perception of the moment, and The verbal elements to support to the visual impressions…
I get a bit frustrated with the ‘PowerPoint is evil’ brigade. They’re out in force on the internet, and they have their right to a point of view. I just think they’re wrong. PowerPoint, Prezi, Articulate or whatever, are evil or good in precise proportion to the person using them. The ‘go naked’ idea seems…
In an earlier post, I discussed the skills and knowledge which every presenter needs. I talked about the importance of visual and verbal ‘channels’ for speakers, and suggested that the visual leads our audiences’ response to us, and the verbal only really confirms or denies the impression that we and our images make. How to apply…
I’ve seen a lot of business presentations – and given almost as many. I often get asked by clients, the people I coach, and guests at speaking engagements: what are the presentation skills I need to have? I talk elsewhere about designing effective presentations, and what is involved with skillful presentation delivery. But there is one simple…
You can’t ‘guild the lily’, you shouldn’t put a bling earring on a baby, and a dog is never improved by a leather coat. It’s already got one, hasn’t it? Yes, these are matters of taste, and taste is a very personal thing, but there are some things you should just know. If you’ve got…
We’ve already written about the power of images in designing effective PowerPoint Presentations (and how to change the size of an image for PowerPoint); if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. This is where the design element comes in. If your image is so small you can hardly see it, what’s the point?…
Slides are always saying something about you. Busy and dull. Cliched and generic? Simple and interesting? What ‘brand’ would you rather have? As Leonardo da Vinci said, and who are we to argue with the man who changed the way we see the world – “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” Short and to the point,…