Transcript Tips on How to Avoid Problems with PowerPoint Presentations

Tips on How to Avoid
Problems with PowerPoint
Presentations
Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP)
Chicago Chapter
PowerPoint presentations are:
 A common part of meetings, rising to the level that
you can assume that each presenter will have one
 Are second only to room temperature as a source
of attendee complaints
Why presenters create a PowerPoint:
 An effective way of using technology to
visualize their ideas and to deliver
information to their audience,
 A great way to make a good impression
and,
 Does not take long to make, only a minute
or two per slide.
To avoid problems, planners should communicate
with presenters by:
 Providing presentation guidelines for a PPT which
can serve as a template
 Coordinating logistics in advance
 Setting firm deadlines
Why presenters need guidelines:
The presenter’s slides might be:
 Disconnected from the presentation and not
highlight the key points
 So busy that they don’t add to the audience
understanding of the subject matter
 So small or washed out that they become a
meaningless take-away for the audience
Additionally, presenters might:
 Crowd their slides with too much text
 Fit too much on a screen
 Use unnecessary multimedia content
 Overuse slide transitions
 Use hard to read color combinations or fonts.
I. Provide Presentation Guidelines:
Presenters are subject matter experts, but not necessarily
producers of effective audio-visual aids, therefore, you
should ensure that your presenters:
 Select or create a theme that will grab the viewers attention
and will clearly communicate their information
 Stay in control of their message by only using graphics to
emphasize key points and by using animations and
transitions wisely.
 Provide examples of how to apply their own theme:
Remind presenters that they automatically get slide
layouts, colors, fonts and graphic effects that go together,
and that they can format content with just a few clicks.
 Another example:
The simple graphic below can replace much of the text
and makes a stronger point.
 Advise presenters to use graphics to emphasize key points
A well-chosen chart or diagram can often convey much
more to your audience than can boring bulleted text. In
Office 2010 and Office 2007, Office graphics coordinate
automatically with the Active theme in your presentation.
If Excel is installed on your computer, you automatically
get the power of Excel charts when you create a chart in
PowerPoint. Just click the Chart icon on any content
placeholder in the PowerPoint presentation to create a
chart.
 To use animations and transitions wisely
Overdoing animation can detract from your
presentation’s content. Animations should only be
used to:
• Emphasize your points without overwhelming your audience
(limit animation to key points and use consistent animation
choices throughout the presentation).
• Consistent or complementary choices in slide transitions can
also provide a professional touch and help prevent
distractions.
 To clearly communicate information
Start by outlining your presentation knowing that
presentations can make a world of difference, and
PowerPoint provides a host of tools for keeping your
slides:
•
•
•
•
Consistent
Precise
Professional
Clear
 To customize any of the nine layouts individually to present
information and even create your own custom slide layouts.
 Two Versions of the same content: The version on the
right uses the slide master and layout formatting in
the presentation theme for a more organized, readable
slide
 To use note pages and handouts to deliver your story:
• Use the Notes pane that appears below the slide in Normal view
to write notes to yourself for your presentation or to create notes
that you can print for your viewers instead of crowding your
slides with text. You can also format and print handouts that
contain up to nine slides per page.
A Green Idea...
• Before printing notes pages, consider viewing your notes in
Presenter View. You can view your notes as you deliver your
presentation on a second monitor, and this will help to conserve
paper and printer ink.
 You’ve provided guidelines: What could go wrong
 The PowerPoint never arrives
 Can’t be run when you get them
 Requires resources that you didn’t know you
would need
II. What you should do: Coordinate Logistics
 Communicate early with presenters to determine if
they will use their own computer or one provided at
the meeting and whether they will need audio from
the computer
 Determine what software they are using to produce
the presentation. Although Microsoft PowerPoint
dominates the market, there are other competing
programs such as Apple’s Keynote
 Find out what version of PowerPoint your presenter is
using, some of which are not compatible
II. Coordinate Logistics (Cont’d)
 Request presentation prior to presenting in
an electronic format, not PDF
 Review Presentation in Presentation Mode
 Run it on the computer that will be used to
present from
 Review all formatting
II. Coordinate Logistics (Cont’d)
 Video (YouTube) – Determine if presenter properly
embed any video files in the correct folder and if all
of the files are included
 If video is embedded – Determine if the PPT will run
with Internet connected or not because different
situations require different approaches.

Web access – download or burn to CD/DVD to
avoid internet issues
II. Coordinate Logistics (Cont’d)
 Sound or no sound – Determine if presenter
properly embedded audio files in the correct folder
 Hyperlinks – ensure that all of the links in
the PPT are working and that they link to the
right place
 Timing – will PPT be automatically run or will
presenter advance slides
II. Coordinate Logistics (Cont’d)
 If presenter allows – put on Website in PDF
format for viewing or downloading
 Where will computer physically be placed
 Do not Assume the Presenter knows
III. What else should you do: Set firm deadlines
• Communicate deadlines for submitting
presentations early and stick to them so that,
• You will have a chance to review presentations for
readability and have time to request changes, if
necessary and,
• You can also test readability by printing handout
pages. Three or six slides per page is a good ratio.
Anything hard to read on the handout will be hard
to read when projected for attendees
Comments
Questions?
Thank you!