The #1 Trick To Improving Your PowerPoint Presentation
Google "PowerPoint Presentation Tips" and you will get over 47 million hits.
There is some great content out there, ranging from slide design techniques to the classic Non-Verbal Communication tips (stand up straight, look at your audience, breathe, speak slowly etc.) Yet there is one basic, fundamental rule that I see broken all the time - and hardly anyone writes about it. It's simple.
Here is the Prime (PowerPoint) Directive:
"Review your PowerPoint from 40 feet (13m) distance using a standard overhead projector or on a wide screen (60" plus) HDTV".
One of the biggest attention killers is that people simply have to work too hard to read / understand your slides. That because while they may look great on your laptop - when viewed in a conference room setting (where >80% of PPT pitches take place) you have:
- Poor choice of colors. Red, Yellow, Green and even Light Blue may disappear with an old or underpowered projector. If they are your corporate colors then good luck.
- Font size is too small. Dinky "product marketing" 10 point font is illegible from that distance.
- Images are unclear. Usually because they are too small or poorly labeled.
- Animations and highlighting get lost.
You get the idea! And why 40 feet? The most important person in the room will often sit at the back of the room in the power position. They may also be one of the older folks in the room. If your VIP cannot read your slides - you are lost.
So - call to action. From now on review all your sides using the Prime PPT Directive. If they are slides produced by another division or department - send them back if they fail the test.
Let me know how this works for you.
Founder and owner of Private Drivers Online - personal transport the way you’ve always wanted it. Mental health advocate at BE UNSTOPPABLE FOUNDATION.
8 年I love the Prime PPT Directive. I would add that too many people use PPT as a crutch for knowledge transfer and that is the key cause of clutter.
Member of Board of Advisor to CassianRX
8 年Good thoughts...solid information and of course remember to avoid the trap of "clutter" of irrelevant information - focus on the key point that has to be made and make sure it adds to the story you plan to tell,
Driving Digital Transformation with Eviden Onecloud, RISEwithSAP, GROWwithSAP and the SAP Cloud Powerhouses - AWS, Azure and GCP
8 年2005: Guy Kawasakis 10/20/30 presentation rule is saying quite the same. In my pov his rule isn't just relevant for investors. You can apply it to many other types of presentations as well happy presentation :-) and best regards Wolfgang
Driving Digital Transformation with Eviden Onecloud, RISEwithSAP, GROWwithSAP and the SAP Cloud Powerhouses - AWS, Azure and GCP
8 年Follow the Guy Kawasaki 10/20/30 presentation rule. It is not just for investors relevante. You can apply it to many other types of presentations.
Senior Director, Go-To-Market at Notified | Product Marketing & GTM Leader | Driving Enterprise & Vertical Growth Strategies | Sales Enablement & Competitive Positioning | Scaling ARR, Pipeline & Market Share
8 年The Prime PowerPoint Directive should be don't use PowerPoint unless you really have to. If it is a customer meeting then the goal should be to have a discussion. The minute you start presenting you will dramatically decrease the probability of having a dialogue. If you absolutely must give a presentation, such as at a conference, then yes, "review your PowerPoint from 40 feet (13m) distance".