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How to give a PowerPoint
presentation? |
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Question: |
Dad - I have to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for my class. Can you give me some tips? |
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Dad's response: |
Presentation skills are essential for all knowledge workers if they want to avoid getting stuck somewhere in a
back office. There are a few simple rules: |
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Never speak for more than 15-20 minutes! The duration of a presentation can vary depending
on the subject and the context in which it is given. Presentations at scientific conferences usually should not be
longer than 15 to 20 minutes. In the business world some bosses actually require you to make your point in
three sentences. Whatever it is, if you can't say it in 15 to 20 minutes you probably
are unsure of what you really wanted to say in the first place. |
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Concentrate on only
two or three arguments! No one can remember more than
three things in verbal communication! Also, people are increasingly
conditioned to absorb only short info-bites. US-style TV,
which slices and dices everything into 2 minute info-packages
(with 3 minutes commercial "breaks") has ruined
peoples' attention spans. The famous "short attention span
disorder" has now become the prevailing mode of operation in many
business environments. No one has the ability to listen for more
than a few minutes. |
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You must (hear me:
you must!) rehearse your presentation. Everyone, except perhaps the most experienced presenter, is initially preparing
far too
many slides. So you must go through all your slides in a
rehearsal. As a rule of thumb, you have to throw out at least half
of all your slides during the rehearsal because the presentation is
usually twice as long as you thought. |
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Speak out loud - with a firm
voice! Especially women must train their vocal
techniques! Most women are genetically programmed to have a
soft, soothing voice. This is why professional female speakers have all
systematically learned how to
speak much louder and at a lower-pitch. If
nervous, women speakers often talk very fast and in a
high-pitched tone, which communicates insecurity or even hysteria.
See some excellent female speakers below: |
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Prepare thoroughly, especially test
the presentation equipment - and
then test again!
Nothing is more distracting than a speaker who fumbles around
with the overhead projector, the laptop or the USB stick. You
probably know these people who are proud of themselves
that they "don't know anything about technical details" and
have no clue how to maximize their PowerPoint window so that
anyone can see their five skimpy slides. They want to
communicate the message that they just deal with the
"high-level" issues and would leave the technical details to
some clerk. But in reality they are just pathetic jerks or too lazy
to learn how to use the "tools of the trade". You better learn
how to use the PowerPoint software and how to set up your laptop and video
projector if
you want to make a professional impression. |
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Speak slowly! Speaking too
fast is a typical mistake of inexperienced presenters.
Particularly when you start your presentation, don't start
talking immediately like a machine gun. Make a pause! Wait a few
seconds and take a deep breath until you have everyone's
attention. Nothing can calm down a room more quickly than a
speaker who doesn't say anything for the first few seconds. The best
speakers have a natural talent to strategically put pauses into
their presentation - just before they make an important point. |
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Know your subject! You may
be surprised that this is just number seven of my recommendations - but
in my experience real substance is only a secondary priority
for giving a successful speech. I have seen more than enough
"bullshitters" who delivered brilliant presentations and
received roaring applause. Only later the audience realized that
it was all "hot air". However, in the long run you will not get away
with "hot air"! Bluffing your audience may work
once or twice - but then people will start asking questions and
you will stand exposed as an idiot if you don't know your
subject. |
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Look the people in your audience
in the eye! To
be really successful in a presentation you must connect
with your audience. They must feel your passion for the subject. Don't talk over their heads! My advice: Pick out two or
three members in the audience and talk to them directly -
like in an intimate one-to-one conversation. This has a very subtle
effect: The rest of the audience gets the impression they would
be watching a very private conversation between you and someone
special among them. They become curious and listen up more
closely. |
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Forget the nonsense of making
jokes! Do you want to be
perceived as a stand-up comedian? You may get some laughs - but
you will loose your aura as a professional. I have known very few people - and I really mean only a hand-full - who were able to
combine humor and professionalism. |
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Clean up the content of your slides! Inexperienced
presenters clutter their PowerPoint slides with tons of details - charts,
maps, labels, icons and whole paragraphs of text. With such
overstuffed slides the audience must get distracted as they
try to read and visually absorb all the junk on the screen.
Effective PowerPoint presentations have slides with carefully
selected content. Often it is enough to have just 5 keywords on
the screen - nothing else! Of course you may use graphics,
tables, maps or even animations. Just make sure people can
actually read the labels from the back of the room and
understand the content within one minute. |
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Don't use over-designed
templates and animated slide transitions! Amateur presenters are fascinated by the
thousands of colorful templates you can use in PowerPoint or from dozens of web sites. Don't do it! Use the most simple
"professional looking" design - and use it consistently
throughout your presentation. The keyword is consistently!
It is extremely distracting when you change font sizes, colors,
layouts, or placements of headers and footers. You want your
audience to listen to you and not getting absorbed by
some fancy slides. Also forget about those animated slide
transitions you can use in MS PowerPoint. Are you the director
of a TV commercial - or are you going to give a
professional talk? Leave animated slide transitions to the guys from MTV! |
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Advertisement |
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Jeremey Donovan (2013)
How to Deliver a TED Talk. Secrets of the World's Most Inspiring Presentations.
McGraw-Hill
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Carmine Gallo (2009)
The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience.
McGraw-Hill
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Oren Klaff (2011)
Pitch Anything. An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading and Winning the Deal.
McGraw-Hill |
Peter J. Feibelman (2011)
A PhD Is Not Enough!
A Guide to Survival in
Science.
Basic Books
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In Association
with
Amazon.com |
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