Assignment 5

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needs” or “By the end of the presentation, I want x members of the audience to request an onsite demo” or “By the end of the presentation, I want to have cleared the obstacles to partnering on this project.” Try to make your objective as active as possible, in order to avoid building a presentation that’s essentially an information dump. What do you want your audience to do as a result of seeing your presentation?

WRITE FOR YOUR AUDIENCE As you work on your slides, think from the point of view of the people who will have to look at them. What are they expecting from your presentation? What information do they need? How would you feel sitting through this presentation? How can you make the slides easy for the audience to read and ensure that they reinforce your main points? Let your understanding of your audience’s needs guide the preparation of your slides.

ORIENT YOUR AUDIENCE AT THE BEGINNING The opening of your presentation is an especially critical moment. Presumably you have everyone’s attention at the beginning. No one has had a chance to get bored, to get distracted by their phone, or to grow worried about the work they’re not getting done because they’re sitting in this presentation. Use this moment to let your audience know what will be covered in the presentation. Insert an outline slide at the beginning, and return to it throughout the presentation to help your audience with transitions and help them pace themselves in terms of energy and attention.

GET YOUR CONTENT RIGHT There’s a strong impulse when you’re preparing your slides to include too much content. Research has shown that people typically remember only four slides from a twenty-page deck.† That’s not very encouraging news if you’re putting your heart and soul into an informative presentation, but from a strategic point of view, it’s good to know. Rather than packing your presentation full of facts, you’re better off choosing a few key points you want your audience to remember, and organizing the presentation around those. Think of your PowerPoint deck as a set of prompts for your performance rather than as a repository for complete information.‡

Set up your slides as a visual aid for when you’re making a speech or presentation, not as a trove of data. When presented with a very text-heavy slide, people will typically space out or stop listening and read the slide (people can read faster than you can talk). If you want to provide detailed information to your audience, you can make and distribute a leave- behind deck that contains your entire talk. For the presentation itself, keep your slides concise and the focus on you.

USE VISUALS EFFECTIVELY Think visually as you create your slides.§ There’s no need to convey information only through words—think about how you can use images and graphics to get your points across. But be careful with graphs and charts: don’t present graphics that are too small or detailed for the audience to see easily or understand quickly. If you have an important chart or table that is complex, present a simplified version of it on your slide and give the audience the full version, printed on paper, to examine more closely.

IF SOMETHING FEELS WRONG, FIX IT Proofread your slides very carefully. Noticing a typo for the first time when you’re standing in front of a group is a ghastly experience, and it makes you look bad. If possible, ask someone who is not familiar with the content to proof the presentation for you.

Allow yourself time to rehearse the presentation and revise it, even if you feel pretty comfortable about the content. Notice transitions that aren’t smooth, areas where your content seems thin, sections that drag. Rehearsing can give you more confidence and will improve your audience’s experience by helping you improve your slides.

SLIDE REVISION CHECKLIST Choose readable fonts, and limit the number of fonts you use. Stick to a few basic, easy-to-read fonts, no more than two different fonts per slide. Use animation and sound sparingly and only if they support the message of your presentation. If they enhance the meaning and clarity of your presentation, use them. If they compete with your content, don’t. In bullet points, use parallel grammatical constructions to help your audience follow your ideas.

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