Tips on How to Avoid Problems with PowerPoint Presentations Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP) Chicago Chapter

PowerPoint presentations are:  A common part of meetings, rising to the level that you can assume that each presenter will have one  Are second only to room temperature as a source of attendee complaints

Why presenters create a PowerPoint:  An effective way of using technology to visualize their ideas and to deliver information to their audience,  A great way to make a good impression and,  Does not take long to make, only a minute or two per slide.

To avoid problems, planners should communicate with presenters by:  Providing presentation guidelines for a PPT which can serve as a template  Coordinating logistics in advance  Setting firm deadlines

Why presenters need guidelines: The presenter’s slides might be:  Disconnected from the presentation and not highlight the key points  So busy that they don’t add to the audience understanding of the subject matter  So small or washed out that they become a meaningless take-away for the audience

Additionally, presenters might:  Crowd their slides with too much text  Fit too much on a screen  Use unnecessary multimedia content  Overuse slide transitions  Use hard to read color combinations or fonts.

I. Provide Presentation Guidelines: Presenters are subject matter experts, but not necessarily producers of effective audio-visual aids, therefore, you should ensure that your presenters:  Select or create a theme that will grab the viewers attention and will clearly communicate their information  Stay in control of their message by only using graphics to emphasize key points and by using animations and transitions wisely.

 Provide examples of how to apply their own theme: Remind presenters that they automatically get slide layouts, colors, fonts and graphic effects that go together, and that they can format content with just a few clicks.

 Another example: The simple graphic below can replace much of the text and makes a stronger point.

 Advise presenters to use graphics to emphasize key points A well-chosen chart or diagram can often convey much more to your audience than can boring bulleted text. In Office 2010 and Office 2007, Office graphics coordinate automatically with the Active theme in your presentation. If Excel is installed on your computer, you automatically get the power of Excel charts when you create a chart in PowerPoint. Just click the Chart icon on any content placeholder in the PowerPoint presentation to create a chart.

 To use animations and transitions wisely Overdoing animation can detract from your presentation’s content. Animations should only be used to: Emphasize your points without overwhelming your audience (limit animation to key points and use consistent animation choices throughout the presentation). Consistent or complementary choices in slide transitions can also provide a professional touch and help prevent distractions.

 To clearly communicate information Start by outlining your presentation knowing that presentations can make a world of difference, and PowerPoint provides a host of tools for keeping your slides: Consistent Precise Professional Clear

 To customize any of the nine layouts individually to present information and even create your own custom slide layouts.

 Two Versions of the same content: The version on the right uses the slide master and layout formatting in the presentation theme for a more organized, readable slide

 To use note pages and handouts to deliver your story: Use the Notes pane that appears below the slide in Normal view to write notes to yourself for your presentation or to create notes that you can print for your viewers instead of crowding your slides with text. You can also format and print handouts that contain up to nine slides per page. A Green Idea... Before printing notes pages, consider viewing your notes in Presenter View. You can view your notes as you deliver your presentation on a second monitor, and this will help to conserve paper and printer ink.

 You’ve provided guidelines: What could go wrong  The PowerPoint never arrives  Can’t be run when you get them  Requires resources that you didn’t know you would need

II. What you should do: Coordinate Logistics  Communicate early with presenters to determine if they will use their own computer or one provided at the meeting and whether they will need audio from the computer  Determine what software they are using to produce the presentation. Although Microsoft PowerPoint dominates the market, there are other competing programs such as Apple’s Keynote  Find out what version of PowerPoint your presenter is using, some of which are not compatible

 Request presentation prior to presenting in an electronic format, not PDF  Review Presentation in Presentation Mode  Run it on the computer that will be used to present from  Review all formatting II. Coordinate Logistics (Cont’d)

 Video (YouTube) – Determine if presenter properly embed any video files in the correct folder and if all of the files are included  If video is embedded – Determine if the PPT will run with Internet connected or not because different situations require different approaches.  Web access – download or burn to CD/DVD to avoid internet issues

II. Coordinate Logistics (Cont’d)  Sound or no sound – Determine if presenter p roperly embedded audio files in the correct folder  Hyperlinks – ensure that all of the links in the PPT are working and that they link to the right place  Timing – will PPT be automatically run or will presenter advance slides

II. Coordinate Logistics (Cont’d)  If presenter allows – put on Website in PDF format for viewing or downloading  Where will computer physically be placed  Do not Assume the Presenter knows

III. What else should you do: Set firm deadlines Communicate deadlines for submitting presentations early and stick to them so that, You will have a chance to review presentations for readability and have time to request changes, if necessary and, You can also test readability by printing handout pages. Three or six slides per page is a good ratio. Anything hard to read on the handout will be hard to read when projected for attendees

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