10 things your visuals are doing wrong.
You don’t have to be a graphic artist to create great visual aids – aids for the audience, that is. Unfortunately, most of us don’t realize how detrimental bad visuals can be to the success of our presentation. At the very least avoid these 10 things the next time you’re using PowerPoint (or Keynote or Prezi) and you’ll have a much better shot of NAILing IT.
1) You’re using too many words. Humans process language via the phonological loop; a processor in working memory that makes sense of language – both written and spoken. Thus when you have a visual that requires reading, and you’re talking at the same time, your causing cognitive overload. You’re short-circuiting your audience’s processor of language. Not a good thing.
2) Your text is too small to be easily read. If your text (words or numbers) is smaller than 18 points, odds are good it can’t be easily read in the back of the room. There are fewer statements more ironic than, “You can’t really see this, but…” spoken by a presenter as he shows a visual aid. HOW IS IT A VISUAL AID IF THE AUDIENCE CANNOT SEE IT?
3) You put all of the information on the screen at once. There’s a reason God created animations; so that you can give the audience the information one bite at a time. When you put up 7 bullets at once (even if there are very few words), you’ve lost control of your audience. Some will read faster than others. Virtually no one will only read the first bullet and wait for you to explain it. (And heaven help you if all you’re doing is reading what they’re seeing. They’ll simply read the slide themselves and then surf their cell phones – completely tuning you out.)
4) You put a complicated chart or graph on the screen all at once. If you’re telling the story of multiple years of growth, have the years animate one at a time. Build the suspense. Don’t let the audience get ahead of you, or lose you all together.
5) You’re using different, random, animations. Animating text, shapes and charts and graphs is great, but their needs to be a thoughtful application of their movement. Things should appear in order to draw attention to them being there, they should move upward to show growth or improvement (and down to indicate the opposite). Things should animate left to right to indicate steps, a time line, etc. PLEASE do not use every kind of animation provided. Just because you can does not mean you should. Animation should never distract from the message.
6) Your photos are distorted, blurry, still have a watermark … To alter the size of a photo, either tug on the corner or change it in the photo editor menu. PLEASE do not stretch it horizontally or vertically. If you do enlarge it and it looks blurry, use another photo! And for the love of everything professional, pay for photos you’re using; don’t think no one will notice the watermark. We all see it. And we’re embarrassed for you…
7) You’re using pointless clip art. Visuals should have a point. In fact, they should be a synergistic component, helping you explain something your narrative alone cannot. Decoration has no place in a serious presentation.
8) Your pointless clip art is moving about. Why? Really, just why?
9) There’s not enough contrast between your background and your text. This is a rooky mistake. Some colors show clearly on a laptop screen, but are hard to see via projection. Always err on the side of caution. The more contrast the better. Oh, and avoid florescent colors – they never show well.
10) You’re using random colors, hard to read fonts, and complicated templates. Ideally, the colors of your presentation should be the colors of your logo. you should use a sans serif font (Arial, Calibri, Lucida, Tahoma, Verdana, are all good, easy –to-read sans serif fonts.) Likewise with a template. I know that Microsoft provides dozens of options. This is not a time to be artsy. Stick with boring. Boring is good.
Avoid these 10 mistakes when creating slides for your next presentation and you’ll have visuals that are truly aids for your audience. You’ll be heard, and you’ll be NAILing IT.
The ‘Stumble Through’: a critical part of any successful presentation prep.
You’ve built your presentation, you’ve created your slides, you’ve clicked through them a few times figuring out what you’ll say, you’re thinking you’re good to go. Right? Uh, not so fast. There’s only one way to know if you’ve got your presentation where you want it, and that is to talk through it OUT LOUD. Clicking through your slides and thinking about what you’ll say DOES NOT COUNT. In order to give a successful presentation you must have what I call a ‘stumble through’.
Why a ‘stumble through’ rather than a ‘practice’? Because the first time through any presentation out loud is never a smooth experience. In the hundreds of presentations I’ve helped build, (including my own) I have yet to see one delivered uninterrupted the first time through.
Here’s what happens when you run through your presentation the first time. Most likely you’ll end up coming to a screeching halt right after the intro – (once you’ve figured out the intro). The screeching halt is caused by a completely common phenomenon; you don’t have a transition between your intro and your first big point. What to say? How to get from the intro to this first big point? The best way to figure this out is by experimenting.; try things out – see how they sound. Got something that works? Good, now you can move on.
Uh oh – stopped again. This time because you’ve got a slide (or idea) in the wrong place. You simply cannot get from point A to point F. No worries, you move point F to where it belongs, after point E, and you’re moving forward again.
Until you get to point E, which you now realize doesn’t really belong in this presentation at all. It’s a digression, one you don’t have time for. But now what about point F? Turns out that one is unnecessary as well. OK, you delete and move forward.
As you get to your third big point you realize it’s a little thin. Where is your proof of this point? Good thing you realized this now (instead of in front of a real live audience!), better add a chart or two to solidify your argument.
On this goes until you’ve stumbled to the conclusion. Now you have (most of) the pieces in place, and you’ve got a presentation that’s ready to be practiced OUT LOUD. You only need to practice a few times – no more than four. You simply want to know your transitions, be super familiar with the animations (the clicks) so you know what’s coming next. A good night’s sleep and you’re ready!
After you’ve built your next presentation take the time and energy (and lots of patience) to ‘stumble through’ it. You’ll see and hear where things are missing, what’s in the wrong place and what doesn’t belong. Then you’ll easily be heard, and you’ll be giving presentations that NAIL IT.
