The more your meetings are interesting the better your employees can relate to them and come back next time looking forward to them. Wondering why this on the HR Blog... Well key to any organizations success is ability to sell ideas, points of view, thoughts and products / services. The better you are able to do it the greater the chances of turning out winning presentations.... those that translate to decisions (be it buying your product, joining your team or accepting your proposal) As a key influence of talent development HR should drive significant capability building on this important facet in day to day life. The substance behind the form your presentations take is more important than the form itself. Read on....
Blah Blah...Blah, Do you remember the last meeting you attended where the presenter was reading away from the slides and you really did not understand what he / she was trying to say. Happens Quite a Lot these days and with each new updated version of PowerPoint it seems to be getting more and more common.
Perhaps the reason does not lie in PowerPoint itself but in how it is being used. When PP is used as a cheat sheet for the speaker to read off all that is written on the slide. I remember many a presentation where the presenter was showing his back to the audience and probably looking almost all of the time at the screen behind him as he did not have a reading off screen or window in front of the podium.
Yet another reason is: having too many slides and the speaker moves back and forth from topic to topic without any seeming connection between the messages or themes being discussed. You might get a feeling of randomness all through the presentation.
Here are a few tips to make presentation more effective.
1. Stick to the Essentials, Put the Rest In Hand outs. Now I'm not the nature hater.. but the hand outs don't have to be physical copies but they can be soft copies too that are mailed to the participants. This way you avoid information overload.
I recently read about how Amazon decided to do away with PowerPoint presentations in all their meetings and managers come for the meetings with notes and action items all written down and not on digital formats.
2. Remember the default Font Size on PowerPoint: In case you could not remember the default size is generally 32. Keep your slides restricted to about 3 to 4 points (bullets) per slide spreading over not more than 6 lines. This makes it more easy for readability and also for aesthetic appeal to audience. Clutter and Verbose slides only distract or put off your audience.
3. Plan to Use a Simple Structure and Stick To It: There has to be some logic to what you want to say in your presentation. Let the main idea come out first. This should lead to sub ideas or arguments based on the main idea. Then elaborate those sub ideas and go back at the end to the sub ideas and the main idea. Try to recollect the best presentations you have been through. In essence the best presenters actually tell you what they want to tell you, then tell you and finally tell you what they told. Simple isnt' it. There is a powerful concept called the Pyramid Principle which was written about many years ago by a ex McKinsey & Co Consultant named Barbara Minto which gives a simple way to make your presentation structure more impactful and communicate message right in the way the mind can comprehend. That will give you some food for thought.
4. Take a Step Back To Reinforce Understanding: Ladies and gentlemen... please listen for next 60 minutes and when I am done you can ask me all the questions you have in your mind. It never happens that you have loads of questions at the end of a 60 minute monologue. Instead keep the demand on the attention spans small. Stop for moments every 8 to 10 minutes and look for questions, thoughts and any feedback from listeners in order to keep it high impact.
5. Use Graphics Liberally, Be Wary of Visual Aids: People come to your presentation to hear you, your ideas, arguments or thoughts. Too many bullet points distract and drive down the interest and enthusiasm levels. However a few graphics where appropriate does increase the effect of the ideas being shared. When you make use of visuals make sure that what you speak is in sync with what you show and both are complementary and not using one as a replacement for the other.
6. Summarize, Summarize: that is very important part of closing your presentation. A well stated summary and key points made during the presentation is something which has highest probability of getting across with the audience beyond the walls of the presentation room.
Blah Blah...Blah, Do you remember the last meeting you attended where the presenter was reading away from the slides and you really did not understand what he / she was trying to say. Happens Quite a Lot these days and with each new updated version of PowerPoint it seems to be getting more and more common.
Perhaps the reason does not lie in PowerPoint itself but in how it is being used. When PP is used as a cheat sheet for the speaker to read off all that is written on the slide. I remember many a presentation where the presenter was showing his back to the audience and probably looking almost all of the time at the screen behind him as he did not have a reading off screen or window in front of the podium.
Yet another reason is: having too many slides and the speaker moves back and forth from topic to topic without any seeming connection between the messages or themes being discussed. You might get a feeling of randomness all through the presentation.
Here are a few tips to make presentation more effective.
1. Stick to the Essentials, Put the Rest In Hand outs. Now I'm not the nature hater.. but the hand outs don't have to be physical copies but they can be soft copies too that are mailed to the participants. This way you avoid information overload.
I recently read about how Amazon decided to do away with PowerPoint presentations in all their meetings and managers come for the meetings with notes and action items all written down and not on digital formats.
2. Remember the default Font Size on PowerPoint: In case you could not remember the default size is generally 32. Keep your slides restricted to about 3 to 4 points (bullets) per slide spreading over not more than 6 lines. This makes it more easy for readability and also for aesthetic appeal to audience. Clutter and Verbose slides only distract or put off your audience.
3. Plan to Use a Simple Structure and Stick To It: There has to be some logic to what you want to say in your presentation. Let the main idea come out first. This should lead to sub ideas or arguments based on the main idea. Then elaborate those sub ideas and go back at the end to the sub ideas and the main idea. Try to recollect the best presentations you have been through. In essence the best presenters actually tell you what they want to tell you, then tell you and finally tell you what they told. Simple isnt' it. There is a powerful concept called the Pyramid Principle which was written about many years ago by a ex McKinsey & Co Consultant named Barbara Minto which gives a simple way to make your presentation structure more impactful and communicate message right in the way the mind can comprehend. That will give you some food for thought.
4. Take a Step Back To Reinforce Understanding: Ladies and gentlemen... please listen for next 60 minutes and when I am done you can ask me all the questions you have in your mind. It never happens that you have loads of questions at the end of a 60 minute monologue. Instead keep the demand on the attention spans small. Stop for moments every 8 to 10 minutes and look for questions, thoughts and any feedback from listeners in order to keep it high impact.
5. Use Graphics Liberally, Be Wary of Visual Aids: People come to your presentation to hear you, your ideas, arguments or thoughts. Too many bullet points distract and drive down the interest and enthusiasm levels. However a few graphics where appropriate does increase the effect of the ideas being shared. When you make use of visuals make sure that what you speak is in sync with what you show and both are complementary and not using one as a replacement for the other.
6. Summarize, Summarize: that is very important part of closing your presentation. A well stated summary and key points made during the presentation is something which has highest probability of getting across with the audience beyond the walls of the presentation room.
No comments:
Post a Comment