10 Bad Presentation Techniques and Their Remedies:
- the reader
- the unprepared
- the mumbler
- and the ever popular animation wizard
1) I Thought You Were Bringing the Extra Lightbulb:
Corrected Presentation Technique #1
Check all the equipment and rehearse your presentation, using this projector long before your time to present. Carry an extra projector bulb. If possible, check the lighting in the room you will be presenting in, prior to your time in the limelight. Make sure you know how to dim the lights if the room is too bright.
2) Information Underload:
Corrected Presentation Technique #2
Know your material so well, that you could easily do the presentation without an electronic enhancement such as PowerPoint. Use key words and phrases and include only essential information to keep the audience focused and interested. Be prepared for questions and know the answers.
3) What's It All About, Alfie?:
Corrected Presentation Technique #3
Use the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple Silly) when designing a presentation. Stick to three, or at the most, four points about your topic and expound on them. The audience will be more likely to retain the information.
4) This is Not a Book Club:
Corrected Presentation Technique #4
Simplify the content, keeping the most important information near the top of the slide for easy reading in the back rows. Focus on one topic area and use no more than four
bullets per slide. Speak to the audience, not to the screen.
5) When You Don't Have Content, Dazzle Them With Complicated Diagrams:
Corrected Presentation Technique #
"Time is Money" is really true in today's world. No one wants to waste their time sitting through a presentation with no substance. Use
photos, charts and diagrams only to illustrate key points of your presentation. They add a nice break to the material, and when used correctly, can only enhance your oral presentation.
6) Did You Bring Your Magnifying Glasses, Martha?:
Corrected Presentation Technique #6
Stick to
easy to read fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman. Avoid script type fonts which are hard to read on screen. Use no more than two different fonts -- one for headings another for content and no less than a 30 pt font so that people at the back of the room can read them easily.
7) Divine Design:
Corrected Presentation Technique #7
Choose a design template that is appropriate for the audience. A clean, straightforward layout is best for
business presentations. Young children respond to presentations that are full of color and contain a variety of shapes.
8) Yawn -- HOW Many More Slides Are There?:
Corrected Presentation Technique #8
Ensure your audience stays focused by keeping the number of slides to a minimum. 10 to 12 is plenty. Some concessions can be made for a photo album, since most pictures will be on screen for only a short time. Be kind though. Think how much you enjoy everyone else's vacation pictures!
9) Oh No! Now I Have a Crick in My Neck!:
Corrected Presentation Technique #9
Animations and sounds, used well, can heighten interest, but don't distract the audience with too much of a good thing. Design your presentation with the "less is more" philosophy. Don't let your audience suffer from animation overload.
10) Save the Christmas Colors for Holiday Parties
You love unusual color combinations together. Your PowerPoint presentation is not the time to use them. An orange and blue combination is unsettling to an audience and there may be people present who cannot see red and green due to color blindness.
Corrected Presentation Technique #10
Use good contrast with the background to make your text easy to read.
- Dark text on a light background is best, but avoid white backgrounds -- tone it down by using beige or another light color that will be easy on the eyes. Dark backgrounds are very effective, but be sure to make text a light color for easy reading.
- Patterned or textured backgrounds make text hard to read.
- Keep the color scheme consistent.
