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2012 AAHPERD National Convention & Exposition, Boston MA Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them W. Leroy Fanning, Jamie Harvey, and Burch Oglesby
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 1.Too Freaking Long: Diagnosis: It presents way more than anybody wants to know. Why It Happens: The speaker is “spraying and praying” in hope that something works. What Results: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… How to Fix It: Always make your presentation less than half as long as you think it should be.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 2. Complicated Graphics Diagnosis: It's full of busy graphics with lots of little details. Why It Happens: One picture is worth a thousand words, right? (Uh, wrong.) What Results: The audience stare glassy-eyed, then pulled out smart phones and started checking emails. How to Fix It: Only include simple graphics; highlight the data point that’s important.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 3. Reading from Slides Diagnosis: The speaker reads aloud what everyone can read for themselves. Why It Happens: The speaker is unprepared and using slides as a memory-jogger. What Results: By the third slide, the audience is ready to kill the presenter. How to Fix It: Use slides to reinforce your message rather than to outline your data points.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them Diagnosis: The slides have fonts that are too fancy, too small or both. Why It Happens: The fonts looked great on the desktop screen; on the projector… not so much. What Results: The audience squints and peers and then gives up. How to Fix It: Use large fonts in simple faces (like Ariel); avoid boldface, italics and UPPERCASE.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 5. Redundant Content Diagnosis: The presentation has slides that everyone has already seen. Why It Happens: Somebody is trying to “standardize” on a standard presentation. What Results: The audience gets bored to death. How to Fix It: Never present the same material to the same audience twice.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 6. Busy Backgrounds Diagnosis: The slides have background templates that are distracting. Why It Happens: Somebody thought it would make the slides look more “professional.” What Results: The audience gets headaches trying to see what is actually on each slide. How to Fix It: Use a simple, single color background. Always.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 7. All Opinion, No Facts Diagnosis: The presentation is all opinions without any supporting data. Why It Happens: Laziness. It’s easy to claim “leadership”; it’s harder to actually be a leader. What Results: The speaker's credibility with the audience leaps down the toilet. How to Fix It: Only state opinions that you can back up with quantifiable data.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 8. Biz-Blab Diagnosis: The presentation is filled with tacky business buzzwords. Why It Happens: The speaker wrongly thinks that biz-blab sounds “business-like.” What Results: The audience assumes the speaker is 1) pompous, 2) crazy, or 3) talking in tongues. How to Fix It: Just stop it. Please. (The horror... The horror...)
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 9. Irrelevant Information Diagnosis: The speaker includes material that doesn’t really belong in the presentation. Why It Happens: The speaker isn't clear about the message that needs to be conveyed. What Results: The audience loses the train of thought. How to Fix It: Only include material that’s relevant to your overall message.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 10. Crappy Clip Art Diagnosis: It has graphics lifted directly from a low-grade clip art library. Why It Happens: Somebody was trying to save a few bucks and a few minutes. What Results: The audience figures that the speaker is too cheap to do it right. How to Fix It: If you've got to use clip art, buy the good stuff.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 11. Skipping Around Diagnosis: The speaker flips ahead to another slide, then flipped back. Why It Happens: The speaker is trying to edit the presentation real-time. What Results: The audience rightly figures the speaker isn't fully prepared. How to fix it: If you must improvise, do so within the structure of the presentation.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 12. Wrong Audience Diagnosis: The presentation is on a subject that isn't appropriate to the audience. Why It Happens: The presenter didn't bother to research the audience. What Results: The audience rightly concludes that the presenter doesn’t give a flying. How to Fix It: Always research your audience and customize a story to match.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 13. Technical Difficulties Diagnosis: Something happens that screws up the slides or the sound. Why It Happens: Nobody bothered to test the setup prior to the presentation. What Results: The audience rightly concludes that the presenter isn't prepared. How to Fix It: Always check, then double-check, the setup.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 14. Intro is Too Long Diagnosis: The first third of the presentation introduces the speaker, his firm and the topic. Why It Happens: The speaker is used to giving a longer presentation and didn’t shorten the intro. What Results: Eye rolling all around as everyone wonders when the speaker will come to the point. How to Fix It: Never spend more than 1 minute on your introduction. Never.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 15. Weak Attempts at Humor Diagnosis: The speaker tries to be a comedian but lacks the skills. Why It Happens: The speaker heard somewhere that humor will make a presentation better. What Results: Blank stares. How to Fix It: Unless you've got the skills, leave the humor to professional comedians.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 16. Overly Fancy Slides Diagnosis: The presentation is chockablock with special effects and visual jim-cracks. Why It Happens: The speaker was afraid that the audience would find him boring. What Results: Your audience watches the pretty pictures and misses the real message. How to Fix it: Use the minimum visuals that you need to tell the story.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 17. All Data, No Story Diagnosis: It presents scads of information without any context or meaning. Why It Happens: The speaker wrongly assumes the presentation was a lecture. What Results: The audience pulls out their smartphones by the time the fifth slide comes up. How to Fix It: Make your presentation tell a story, ideally with the audience as the heroes.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 18. Meandering Diagnosis: The speaker wanders off on a tangent rather than following a train of thought. Why It Happens: The speaker didn’t really take the time to think the presentation through. What Results: The audience rightly assumes the speaker is disjointed and disorganized. How to Fix It: Review your presentation with a colleague, make changes, then rehearse.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 19. Discussion Rat-holes Diagnosis: The presentation has a slide guaranteed to pitch the discussion down a rat-hole. Why It Happens: The speaker probably didn't realize that the rat-hole was there. What Results: The audience starts arguing about the slide, making the entire exercise useless. How to fix it: Think through the emotional impact of EVERY slide in your deck.
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them 20. Wrong Time of Day Diagnosis: The presentation is scheduled for when everyone's mind was elsewhere. Why It Happens: The speaker wrongly believe his message is too important to wait. What Results: The audience barely hears what is said. How to Fix It: Schedule presentations for a time when people will give it proper attention.
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Simple Design Rules* 1One point per slide 2Few matching colors 3Very few fonts 4Photos, rather than clipart *Alexei Kapterev (Death by PowerPoint) pun intended
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Simple Design Rules* Presentation checklist: Significance Structure Simplicity Rehearsal
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Simple Design rules* Significance Why does it (the material) matter? How do I grab their attention? What do I want them to do?
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Simple Design Rules* Structure Convincing Memorable Scalable
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Simple Design Rules* Simplicity 1 point per slide Images whenever possible Few matching colors Very few fonts
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Simple Design Rules* Rehearsal Present it aloud Get feedback Room and equipment
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Top 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them Feedback? Questions/Answers??? Thank you for your attention!
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Thank You For Your Attention
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