How can you avoid common PowerPoint mistakes?

To avoid common PowerPoint pitfalls, keep slides simple: use minimal text and high-quality visuals. Stick to a cohesive color scheme and font style for a professional look. Don’t overcrowd slides; aim for one main idea per slide to keep your audience focused. Use animations sparingly to maintain attention on your message, not the effects. Practice your presentation to ensure smooth delivery and timing, making sure not to read directly from slides but to engage with your audience. Remember, PowerPoint supports your talk; it's your storytelling that captivates.

I am a masterclass speaker for the world's largest digital marketing conference. I speak in keynotes, workshops, and masterclasses. I have spoken at many conferences. One thing I have learned is to keep it simple! You don't need too many words on each slide. Your audience is probably more visual, so they like to see images. As for how many slides to use, this is a good question. Some prefer to use 15 others will use 50. I would stick with 30 for masterclasses. If it's not a masterclass and just a general presentation where you will be speaking only for like 15 to 30 minutes keep your slide count under 20. Focus on high quality slides! Just keep in mind, less can be better if presented correctly.

Keeping it simple also means consider your audience, the slide background, pictures or clip art, font type and size and transition. I prefer the less is more concept with no transitions on the slides. The only exception to this is if the slide is designed to prompt audience participation with questions and answers are included on the slide. Avoid changes in fonts, unnecessary bold and italics and punctuation!!!!

Power point I believe is one of the most effective tools created The way to the heart ?? of audience is to keep it simple and easy to remember : keep the animations to minimum customise the according to brand colours team likes and keep the length to minimum. Reach out in pictures and keep world's to power words use less acronyms or simply explain them Keep audience skills and tailor the PowerPoint check and recheck spellings use designer options to generate ?? ideas

I completely agree. Adding too much to one slide does not do justice to the information provided. A crammed slide looks sloppy and discrediting. Adding simple slides with easily digestible data points will keep audience engagement. Having simple slides also allows you to keep cadence and time of the presentation.

I've given several PowerPoint talks to college students over the last few years. My favorite way to keep everyone engaged is to have one giant image per slide! I click through slides as my talking points progress. My goal is to never need to glance backwards to remind myself of what to say. The images should provide context for my words, not the other way around. Many Ted Talks operate this way. James Veitch, although a comedian, is a great reference for this kind of PowerPoint design.

Ask yourself what you would put on your slides if you could only use images and were not allowed to use text. Once you've figured this out, the next step is to ask, "If this were my presentation, what would the audience miss?" That's where you fill in the missing text. Only use a graph or a chart if it drives a point home in a single glance (such as a pie chart where 90% of the pie is one color/category). All other charts and formulas belong in a handout. Finally, what is the call to action or the one key point you want to drive home? Put this in bold, stark text wherever it's appropriate, especially at the end.

PowerPoint should be a prompt for the speaker and not the entire presentation. A speaker should not just read a slide and move on to the next one. There should always be something the speaker can add.

Ok - I would prefer to create more of a “TedTalk” presentation - than just “only a PowerPoint.” You have to really know your audience & TOPIC & truly practice. Thanks - Sheila

In my experience this goes both ways. Too much jargon can cause confusion. Too many layman terms and you begin to over explain and start running into time constraints or losing audience interest. It’s a fine line you have to walk and as stated tailor it to your audience.

In addition, use images and icons your audience can relate to easily. For example, if your presentation is for people in Nigeria don't use a dollar sign as a currency symbol when you can use Naira.

The audience does not want to see only generic off the shelf PowerPoint graphics. This is suppose to not only be informative but fun. It’s professional arts and crafts. BE CREATIVE and INFORMATIVE!!!

This is what has helped me when checking for errors: -displaying the presentation on a large screen helps find spelling, grammar, and design errors. -taking a break from creation and returning to it later gives you a fresh perspective. -presenting it to others or having others present it to you can help with adjusting the flow of information. -using consistent language is important so the audience can follow you through the information.

I totally agree! As an audience member, spelling and grammar errors distract me from the presentation. After creating a presentation I take a break from it and come back a little later to review it. By doing this, I catch more of the errors that are there. If I have a coworker around who is able to be a "second set of eyes" for me, I ask for their help as well. In addition, this helps to uncover any unclear verbiage in the presentation.

Don’t just read information directly off the slide shown. More than likely your professional audience can read. Use presenter notes and practice them. Notes are not shown so you can write them as you speak. Use the shown information as bullet points of info that highlights what your communicating. Speak NATURAL.

In my experience, I find that my presentation always goes better if I've run through it beforehand with a family member, colleague or manager. They usually ask questions when things are unclear and help me to refine the message, keeping it to the point. It also gives me a better idea of how much time the presentation is going to take and how much time I need to ask for on the meeting agenda to include time for questions/interruptions.

In my experience, I find that my presentation always goes better if I've run through it beforehand with a family member, colleague or manager. They usually ask questions when things are unclear and help me to refine the message, keeping it to the point. It also gives me a better idea of how much time the presentation is going to take and how much time I need to ask for on the meeting agenda to include time for questions/interruptions.

Consider making paper copies of the presentation so audience members can take notes as they follow along. Consider creating handouts for audience members to take.

?? The best advice about using Power Point: Don't! Your audience wants to engage with: ?? Your heart The first question your group is asking is not, "What slides will she show us?" They want to know: WHO is this speaking? So show them Who you are...reveal your heart. ?? Your conviction A great message is not the transfer of information, it's the power of transformation. Your audience wants to know: WHY should I care about this message? They will care when your conviction comes through. ?? Your stories Human beings are wired for story. Transport them with the images you paint in their minds via your stories and metaphors. It's fine to use PowerPoint of course But be careful you don't rely on it. Afterall, YOU are a speaker. So Speak!

When I make a Ppt presentation I try to link the references I used and give a read only copy of the presentation on a memory drive. That way clicking on the references opens the source and allows the reader to continue study on the topic. It also adds credibility to your presentation.

I always prefer to provide note versions of my PowerPoints with 3 slides to a page. This way attendees can take notes right next to the slide for future reference. The only downside is that some may be more focused on how many more slides there are left.