Death by PowerPoint (and how to fight it)

There are 300 million PowerPoint users in the world* * estimate

They do 30 million presentations each day* * estimate

About a million presentations are going on right now* * estimate

50% of them are unbearable* * conservative estimate

are killing each other with bad presentations. LOTS of people are killing each other with bad presentations. NOW.

Don’t make this your audience!

 Significance

Why do you present? To “pass the information”? Your boss told you to? Or to make meaning?

What’s the subject and why does it matter to you?

How presentations work Significance creates passion Passion attracts attention Attention leads to action

 Structure

Structure is how you place the building blocks of your story.

Give 3-4 reasons supporting your point. They will not remember more anyway.

} 45 Memorable opening 1 argument 2 argument 3 argument 1 More details... 1 argument 2 More details... 3 More details... 45 minutes 1 More details... 2 argument 2 More details... 3 More details... 1 More details... 3 argument 2 More details... 3 More details... Memorable closing

You can tell this in... 5 minutes 15 minutes 45 minutes It is scalable.

 Simplicity

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. “ ” Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Apparently, being simple is not that simple. Will give you some examples.

PowerPoint helps to: Visualize ideas Create key points Impress

They use it as:  Prompter  Handouts  Data dumps

People read faster than you speak. This means you are useless. Too much text Can it be said instead of written?  Is there a visual that can convey the same information? Use no more than six lines, with each line containing no more than six words. Too much information per slide Each slide should convey one main idea.  The audience should be able to take in the visual in 20 seconds or less. Information relevant to another idea should be moved to another slide.  Irrelevant details should be excluded altogether. Small text No text should be small that 24 pt, including text in an imported figure.  If the figure text is not important, Photoshop it out.  White or bright backgrounds Use light (not white) text on a dark background to minimize visual fatigue. Inconsistent fonts/colors/backgrounds Using consistent fonts/colors/backgrounds keeps the focus on your science. Absent labeling of graphical representations Make sure each figure includes sufficient labeling for the audience to make sense of it, including axis labels for graphs.Too many slidesPresent only the ideas and science necessary to tell your story, not every experiment you have ever done. A 15 min presentation should have 10-12 slides.  Unnecessary animation Animation should only be used to focus your audience’s attention.  Revealing one lane of a gel at a time as you discuss an experiment is appropriate.  Swirling in every figure is not. Red/green heatmaps or other visuals Remember that those who are red/green colorblind cannot interpret figures that rely on distinguishing red and green.  Use blue and yellow instead. People read faster than you speak. This means you are useless.

How much is an extra slide? $0.00. Zero Dollars. Break it in several. It’s free.

What’s the point? One simple point? Remove everything else.

Ditch stupid “rules” Do you remember the rule: 7 lines per slide or less 7 words per line or less? Well, it is just plain stupid If you follow this “rule” You get a slide like this

Cramped! Boring! Ditch stupid “rules” Do you remember the rule: 7 lines per slide or less 7 words per line or less? Well, it is just plain stupid If you follow this “rule” You get a slide like this

Simple Design Rules One point per slide Few matching colours Very few fonts Photos, not clipart

Less text. More imagery. Wild imagery.

But what if I need to send or print the slides?

Write a document

Make 2 sets of slides

Print with notes

Inform with little text* * yes you can

 Rehearsal

It will never work completely for the first time. Trust me.

YOU PRESENTATION RECIPIENT Feedback. Go get some.

No audience? Present to the furniture. But aloud. Try it.

Check the room and equipment.

Presentation checklist

All this leads to...

Wow* * great presentations