Creating great presentations

Powerpoint revolutionized the way we present ideas. Well, it also revolutionized the way we go to sleep because today is also the age of long presentations, crowded slides and cluttered charts that we can't figure out.

Creating a presentation used to require taking photos, creating graphs and drawing charts. The digital medium with its templates and wizards made all of that easily available. Ironically, the tools that were supposed to make communication clearer also paved the way for dull, cumbersome presentations. (In one large organization I consult for, I have seen presentations reaching up to 100 slides!)

So in the age of information overload, the crucial differentiator is short, simple and clear presentations. How to do this? Read startup guru Guy Kawasaki's blog on the 10-20-30 Rule of Powerpoint. I also add some tips I culled from my own experience.

Additional Presentation Tips:

1. Begin with the end in mind. Ask yourself, "What 3-5 points do I want my audience to remember after the presentation?" Some refer to this as the "Aha!s" that your audience will take home after the slide show. Stick to these points and delete the rest. Organize your presentation into sections, each tackling these main points.
2. Important: Slides are not cue cards! This is a common problem and I used to be a victim of it. Speakers tend to use slides as their scripts, reading off them bullet by bullet. This is just like writing a thesis and then reading it to your audience -- a sure yawner! Use simple visuals and images to illustrate your points. Then use bulletted text to summarize your points. Read the next item for more information about visual communication.
3. Be visual. The mind works and remembers best when it is stimulated visually. Look for pictures that represent your main points. Then you can either begin or end each section with the image. Pictures also translate vague concepts into practical situations. In one knowledge management (KM) presentation I attended, our speaker began with a picture of a hangar with aviation engineers working on a plane. Before even defining KM, the speaker used the picture to demonstrate knowledge management at work -- putting into play the knowledge that's inside the engineers' heads to complete mission-critical tasks. Up to now, that picture is stuck in my brain whenever I think about KM.
4. Connect to your audience. Everyone asks, "What's in it for me? For us?" Answering that question satisfactorily will allow you to make a connection with the audience. Use analogies and examples that are close to them. If you don't answer this basic question, you won't connect -- and you'll begin to see them yawning.

Read also: Tufte's attack on the Powerpoint culture