Presentation Tips

I've just spent some time reviewing a friend's presentation they are giving tomorrow at a job interview and realised how much I take for granted when using powerpoint.

Here are a few tips for great powerpoint presentations:

• The brain likes to be provoked into thinking, so use questions in the title of your slides, this will involve the audience
• Don't use yellow - it's difficult to read when projected onto a big screen. The most effective colour format I have found is a dark blue background and white writing (although I tend to use pale purple background and black writing to match my Aspire 2 logo!!)
• Use bullet points - no punctuation and these are not meant to be grammatical sentences
• Keep the animation simple - yes, there are loads of whizzy things you can do, but the simpler the better to allow the audience to concentrate on your message. I use "appear" rather than have anything fly in!
• Noises can be distracting - it's a personal thing, but I don't use any noise on my presentations (does anyone like the typewriter sounds for when the letters appear one by one?? I wonder......)
• Use the slides as prompts for the audience - not for yourself
• When presenting look at the audience, your notes or the pc - not at the screen behind you!
• "Magic Button B" - when in slide show mode B is a toggle button and blanks the screen, fab!

For more tips on powerpoint or details of forthcoming presentation skills courses, email me at Kate@aspire-2.com