Presentation Tips OR How I Learned to Stop Putting People to Sleep

Presentation Tips OR How I Learned to Stop Putting People to Sleep

Lance Sinclair
Contributing Writer
Direct Energy

Rod Stewart, the rock and roller in the 1970’s sang, “Every Picture Tells A Story, Don’t It?”
Who knew he was singing about making PowerPoint slides.
The fact is your PowerPoint, the one you spent all day on, tells more about YOU than you think.

Fact: 20{938cd9e8dae860e800efc538277d4f7684e6f6981618ba70d1c34357a53c2e1f} of people in a typical audience are doing something else while you are delivering a presentation (Whitney, 2015). They are emailing, texting, posting updates on social media or even sleeping.

Fact: 65{938cd9e8dae860e800efc538277d4f7684e6f6981618ba70d1c34357a53c2e1f} percent of people said traditional slide-based or text-heavy presentations leave them bored (Whitney, 2015).

So, how does this apply to you? What are some common mistakes trainers make with PowerPoints?

Putting people to sleep. The dullest way of delivering information is to put content into text form, headlines and bullet points, maybe a table or a chart from time to time. Presenters have to start thinking differently about how to visualize their story. Create your story first.  Then create graphics or select pictures to tell the story.

Visualize. Use PowerPoint to complement your story. Most presenters begin by opening PowerPoint and they start talking. Even worse, they start reading the text on the slide. That is one of the least effective ways to deliver information and guaranteed to leave your audience bored and ready to get out of the room the first chance they get.

Speak too long, delivering too much. Neuroscience literature shows if you give the audience too many points to remember — typically a good number is from three to five — they are going to forget the whole thing. It is like a brain freeze after eating cold ice cream too fast. Call it cognitive overload.

Watch great presentations. Use other people as a model. Never before have we had such an opportunity to see great presenters. Every Steve Jobs presentation is online from 1984. TED Talks are downloaded or streamed two million times a day. Go on You Tube and watch Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.  He never used PowerPoint!

“10-40 rule.” Research indicates the average PowerPoint slide has 40 words (Whitney, 2015). That is too many. The 10-40 rule means in the first 10 slides have no more than 40 words. That forces you to really tell a story, don’t it? They can be personal stories, case studies, give them the reasons behind what you’re doing and bring it to life. The minute you put 40 words on your first slide, you’re dead. You’ve lost your audience. Neuroscience clearly shows you cannot read a slide and listen to somebody at the same time.  The old rule of “no more than 4 lines per slide; no more than 5 words per line” is still true today. 

Stay true to who you are. Do not try to be someone you are not. I meet a lot of presenters and trainers who are working on their presentation “style.” They’re very different people when they get in front of a group. They stop smiling. They stop laughing. They’re not as interesting. It is not about you as a person anymore; it is about the content.  In training, personality is important; stage presence is important BUT content is king!

A great presentation is going to do three things: inform, educate, inspire.

So, if “Every Picture Tells A Story, Don’t It?” …what does your PowerPoint say?

 

Lance Sinclair had 17 years operational experience before joining Direct Energy/Success Academy in 2004. In his current role at Success Academy, he is responsible for the development, design, delivery, and evaluation of training and education for the franchise system consisting of Instructor Led Training, Web Based Training, and Online Self-directed Training. Direct Energy Services is one of North America’s largest home services providers and offers a wide range of services to homes including HVAC, plumbing and electrical services through our service brands of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing®, Mister Sparky® electric, and One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning®.