PRESENTATION TIPS

1. Consider your audience!

 It is important to remember the background of your
audience and prepare your talk accordingly.

2. A general rule of thumb in preparing

PowerPoint slides is no more than one
minute, one idea per slide, and as few lines
of text per slide as possible.
 PRESENTATION TIPS

3. Use easily readable fonts such as Arial and

Comic Sans and font sizes that are 20 pt. or
greater

4. When possible, use a bright font on a dark

background, e.g. white and yellow are good
font colors on a dark blue background
 PRESENTATION TIPS
5. In making your presentation the aim is to
engage the audience, to make them feel like
they are part of a ‘conversation’ and not just
passive listeners.

 Changes in voice levels and appropriate gestures that illustrate

your energy and enthusiasm for the issues you are addressing
will assist with this.

 By engaging with the audience they are more likely to follow up

with questions and discussion, even after your session.
 PRESENTATION TIPS

6. Use pictures to complement your discussion.

 Picture slides are a good way to break up your presentation,

particularly after presenting a series of text or data slides.

7. Keep figures simple.

 Limit the number of curves. It is not always necessary to place a

regression equation beside every curve.
 PRESENTATION TIPS

8. Remember that the slides are there to

support your presentation, not to make the
presentation for you.

 Generally you do not need to read from your slides.

 If the audience can read everything you say there is no point in

you making a presentation as the audience will spend most of
their time reading what’s on your slides rather than listening to
and engaging with you as the presenter.
 PRESENTATION TIPS

9. Limit special effects as necessary.

10. Always check the equipment you

are going to use beforehand and
preview the show!
 FIVE PARTS TO A GOOD PRESENTATION:

1. Tell them what you are going to talk about

2. Tell them why it is interesting to you/them

3. Talk about it

4. Review what you talked about

5. Reiterate why it’s important

 POWERPOINT
PRESENTATION
ADVICE
 STRUCTURING YOUR TALK:

 Write a clear statement of the problem and its

importance.

 Research. Collect material which may relate to the

topic.

 Tell a story in a logical sequence.

 Stick to the key concepts. Avoid description of specifics

and unnecessary details.
STRUCTURING YOUR TALK:

 If you are making a series of points, organize them from the

most to the least important. The less important points can be
skipped if you run short of time.

 Keep your sentences short, about 10-20 words each is ideal. This
is the way people usually talk.

 Strive for clarity. Are these the best words for making your
point? Are they unambiguous? Are you using unfamiliar jargon
or acronyms?
PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Presentation Design

 Don’t overload your slides with too much text or data.

 FOCUS. In general, using a few powerful slides is the aim.

 Let the picture or graphic tell the story. Avoid text.

 PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Presentation Design
 Type key words in the PowerPoint Notes area listing what to say
when displaying the slide. The notes are printable.

 Number your slides and give them a title.

 Use the “summary slide” feature in slide sorter view to prepare an

Agenda or Table of Contents slide.
 PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Presentation Design
 Prepare a company logo slide for your presentation.

 You can add a logo and other graphics to every slide using the
slide master feature.

 Proof read everything, including visuals and numbers.

 Keep “like” topics together

 Strive for similar line lengths for text.

PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Visual elements

 A font size of 28 to 34 with a bold font is recommended for

subtitles. The title default size is 44. Use a san serif font for
titles.

 Use clear, simple visuals. Don’t confuse the audience.

 Use contrast: light on dark or dark on light.

 PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Visual elements

 Graphics should make a key concept clearer.

 Place your graphics in a similar location within each screen.

 To temporarily clear the screen press W or B during the

presentation. Press Enter to resume the presentation.
 PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Text

 Font size must be large enough to be easily read. Size 28

to 34 with a bold font is recommended.

 It is distracting if you use too wide a variety of fonts.

PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Text

 Overuse of text is a common mistake.

 Too much text makes the slide unreadable. You may

just as well show a blank slide. Stick to a few key
words.
PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Text
 If your audience is reading the slides they are not
paying attention to you. If possible, make your point
with graphics instead of text.

 You can use Word Art, or a clip art image of a sign, to

convey text in a more interesting way.
PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Numbers

 Numbers are usually confusing to the audience. Use as

few as possible and allow extra time for the audience
to do the math.

 Numbers should never be ultra precise: “Anticipated

Revenues of $660,101.83” looks silly. Are your
numbers that accurate? Just say $660 thousand.
PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Numbers

 “The Break Even Point is 1048.17 units. Are you

selling fractions of a unit?

 Don’t show pennies. Cost per unit is about the only

time you would need to show pennies.
 PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Numbers
 If you have more than 12-15 numbers on a slide, that’s
probably too many.

 Using only one number per sentence helps the audience

absorb the data.

 Use the same scale for numbers on a slide. Don’t

compare thousands to millions.
 PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:
Statistics

 When using sales data, stick to a single market in the

presentation. Worldwide sales, domestic sales, industry
sales, company sales, divisional sales, or sales to a
specific market segment are all different scales. They
should not be mixed.

 Cite your source on the same slide as the statistic, using

a smaller size font.
 PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Charts

 Charts need to be clearly labeled. You can make more

interesting charts by adding elements from the drawing toolbar.

 Numbers in tables are both hard to see and to understand. There

is usually a better way to present your numerical data than with
columns and rows of numbers. Get creative!
PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:
Charts

 PowerPoint deletes portions of charts and worksheets that are

imported from Excel, keeping only the leftmost 5.5 inches. Plan
ahead.
 PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Backgrounds
 Backgrounds should never distract from the presentation.

 Using the default white background is hard on the viewer’s eyes.

You can easily add a design style or a color to the background.
PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Backgrounds
 Backgrounds that are light colored with dark text, or
vice versa, look good. A dark background with white
font reduces glare.

 Colors appear lighter when projected. Pale colors often

appear as white.
PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Backgrounds
 Consistent backgrounds add to a professional
appearance.

 For a long presentation, you may want to change

background designs when shifting to a new topic.
PREPARING YOUR SLIDES:

Excitement
 Slides for business presentations should be dull! You don’t want to distract
the audience.

 Sounds and transition effects can be annoying. Use sparingly.

 Animation effects can be interesting when used in moderation.

1. Too much animation is distracting.

2. Consider using animated clip art
3. Consider using custom animation

 You can insert video and audio clips into PowerPoint.

 You can also insert hyperlinks.

HINTS FOR EFFICIENT PRACTICE:

Timing - Practicing Your Presentation,

 Talk through your presentation to see how much time you use
for each slide.

 Set the automatic slide transition to the amount of time you want
to spend discussing each slide.

 Are you using the right amount of time per slide? Decide which
slides or comments need alteration to make your presentation
smoother.
HINTS FOR EFFICIENT PRACTICE:

Timing - Practicing Your Presentation,

 Change the automatic slide transition settings for

individual slides to fit the amount of time needed for
that slide and practice again. Are you still within the
time limit?

 Decide if you want to remove the automatic slide

transition feature before giving the presentation.
 HINTS FOR EFFICIENT PRACTICE:

Content

 Make a list of key words/concepts for each slide

 Read through the list before you begin.

 Don't attempt to memorize your text;

 Your words will probably be different each time you practice.

 Think about the ideas, and your words will follow naturally.
 DELIVERING YOUR TALK:

Pre-Talk Preparation

 Plan to get there a few minutes early to set up and test the
equipment.

 Dress appropriately for your audience.

 Turn off your cell phone.

DELIVERING YOUR TALK:

Handouts:

 Edward Tufte, the leading expert on visual presentation

techniques, advises speakers to always prepare a handout when
giving a PowerPoint presentation.

 Make about 10% more handouts than you expect to use.

 Distribute handouts at the beginning of your talk.

DELIVERING YOUR TALK:
Opening:

 Jump right in and get to the point.

 Give your rehearsed opening statement; don't improvise at the

last moment.

 Use the opening to catch the interest and attention of the

audience.

 Briefly state the problem or topic you will be discussing.

 Briefly summarize your main theme for an idea or solution.

DELIVERING YOUR TALK:
Speaking

 Talk at a natural, moderate rate of speech

 Project your voice.

 Speak clearly and distinctly.

 Repeat critical information.

 Pause briefly to give your audience time to digest the

information on each new slide.

 Don’t read the slides aloud. Your audience can read them far
faster than you can talk.
DELIVERING YOUR TALK:

Body Language

 Keep your eyes on the audience

 Use natural gestures.

 Don’t turn your back to the audience.

 Don’t hide behind the lectern.

 Avoid looking at your notes. Only use them as reference points to

keep you on track. Talk, don’t read.
DELIVERING YOUR TALK:
Questions

 Always leave time for a few questions at the end of the talk.

 If you allow questions during the talk, the presentation time will be about
25% more than the practice time.

 You can jump directly to a slide by typing its number or by right-clicking

during the presentation and choosing from the slide titles.

 Relax. If you’ve done the research you can easily answer most questions.

 Some questions are too specific or personal. Politely refuse to answer.

 If you can’t answer a question, say so. Don’t apologize. “I don’t have that
information. I’ll try to find out for you.”
 DELIVERING YOUR TALK:

 Length:

 To end on time, you must PRACTICE!

 When practicing, try to end early. You need to allow time for
audience interruptions and questions.
 DELIVERING YOUR TALK:

Demeanor:

 Show some enthusiasm. Nobody wants to listen to a dull presentation. On the

other hand, don’t overdo it. Nobody talks and gestures like a maniac in real
life. How would you explain your ideas to a friend?

 Involve your audience. Ask questions, make eye contact, use humor.

 Don’t get distracted by audience noises or movements.

 You’ll forget a minor point or two. Everybody does.

 If you temporarily lose your train of thought you can gain time to recover by
asking if the audience has any questions.
 DELIVERING YOUR TALK:

Conclusion:

 Close the sale.

 Concisely summarize your key concepts and the main ideas of your
presentation.

 Resist the temptation to add a few last impromptu words.

 End your talk with the summary statement or question you have prepared.
What do you want them to do? What do you want them to remember?

 Consider alternatives to “Questions?” for your closing slide. A summary of

your key points, a cartoon, a team logo, or a company logo may be stronger.