Effective Presentations The following slides will help you to create the best presentation possible.

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Prepare Speaker Notes These are often written on index cards. Remember speaker notes does not mean having your entire speech word for word in front of you. It means using choice keywords to remind you of what topic you are going to touch on next, effective words you planned on using, stories you were going to tell, etc.

Notes (cont…) The only thing that should be written word for word is when you are quoting someone else. These speaker notes eliminate the temptation to just read your presentation.

Set the Stage Always start with an introduction. Reserve a minute to explain the structure of your presentation. Obviously, you have thought through the topics you will cover, the depth to which you will go, etc. So, don’t keep it a secret; provide a “roadmap.” You don’t want anyone getting lost.

Use Visual Aids Using pictures in your presentation instead of words can double the chances of meeting your objectives.

Use the Rule of Three A simple technique is that people tend to remember only three things. Work out what the three messages that you want your audience to take away and structure your presentation around them. Use a maximum of three points per slide.

Force a Pause When you dive into the meat of your presentation, do not talk away as if there is no end. It may sound like you are rambling. You may do this because you are a fast talker by nature or maybe you’re nervous.

Pause In any case, a presentation needs “forced pauses.” To be effective, you have to cultivate this habit. You want to give an opportunity for the audience to digest all the information and think through it for a moment or two.

Rehearse Practice makes perfect performance. Many experts say that rehearsal is the biggest single thing you can do to improve your performance.

Repeat Perform your presentation out loud at least four times. One of these should be in front of a real audience: family, friends, or colleagues—even the dog is better than nothing.

Tell Stories All presentations are a type of theater. Tell stories and anecdotes to help illustrate points. These make your presentation more effective and memorable.

Know What Slide is Next You should always know, when presenting, which slide is coming up next. It sounds very powerful when you say “On the next slide [Click] you will see…”, rather than a period of confusion when the next slide appears.

Have a Back-Up Plan Just in case something goes wrong, take with you the following items: A printed out set of slides A flash/thumb drive of your presentation A laptop with your slides on it.

Be Prepared for Audience Questions

Avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins of Multimedia Presentations Creating Effective Slides

Sin # 1 Letter fonts are too ornate, too many different fonts, styles and font colors in a single presentation

Sin # 1 Solution Select one simple, easy to read font and keep it consistent throughout Presentation.

Sin # 2 Font sizes and/or graphics are too small

Sin # 2 Solution Limit text and make it BIG.

Sin # 3 Can you read this? How about this? The background is too “busy” and/or the background and text color combinations do not have enough contrast for legibility. Can you read this? How about this?

TEXT TEXT Sin # 3 Solution The importance is the text, so focus on it. Make backgrounds light and text dark or vice versa. Avoid red!

Sin# 4 Crowding too much information onto a single slide.

Sin # 4 Solution Keep things simple and clear. Give more information as you speak! Do NOT, for any reason, decrease the font!

Sin # 5 Leaving a screen unchanged for too long or not leaving a screen up long enough for the audience to take notes. If your slide is heavy on information, be sure you let your audience have time to process that information.

Sin # 5 Solution Create suspense Layer your presentation Provide basic handouts

Overusing special effects

Sin # 6 Solution Be consistent with text flying in Don’t use too many effects Maintain focus on content, not effects

Presentation is all text, with no graphics or visual displays ! Sin # 7 Presentation is all text, with no graphics or visual displays !

Sin # 7 Solution This is a VISUAL media, use it! Use pictures, charts, graphs and cartoons to illustrate…..make sure they are relevant!

Resources Cunningham, Thomas H. “Avoiding Seven Deadly Multimedia Design and Presentation Sins.” Parts of this presentation were adapted from information found at: http://www.uen.org/ All images found at yahoo image search at: https://images.search.yahoo.com