CHicap

1. EFFECTIVE USE OF
POWERPOINT
as a presentation tool
http://eglobiotraining.com/

2. PLAN YOUR CONTENT FIRST
Always start your presentation on paper — draw your ideas, link
relationships between concepts, and create a storyboard.

3. PLAN YOUR CONTENT
• take out a blank sheet of paper and write down what
you want to accomplish and what our audience cares
about.
• Ask yourself –
What’s the purpose of your presentation?
What do you want your audience to do because of your
presentation?
What message do you want to deliver that will help you
achieve that purpose?

4. USE A PLAIN BACKGROUND
and remove any unecessary detail

5. USE A PLAIN BACKGROUND
• Delete that powerpoint template
• Powerpoint templates come from the mindset that PowerPoint slides are
like documents and so should be branded
• Templates add clutter and distract from the visual impact of a slide.
• When it comes to slide design, you shouldn’t think of decoration, but of
communication

6. SUPPORT THE HEADLINE
with graphic evidence

7. SUPPORT THE HEADLINE
• Instead of bullets, support your points with graphic evidence. This can
include photos, images, charts and diagrams
• Say the words and put the visuals on your slides.
• Support your points with creative and relevant images.
• Use graphics rather than bullet lists to support the headline.

8. YOU DON’T ALWAYS NEED A SLIDE
Not every point in your presentation needs a slide

9. YOU DON’T ALWAYS NEED A SLIDE
• You only need a visual aid in a presentation if you would need one in
conversation
• Slides should be projected only when they serve the presentation.
• What do you do when you’re not showing a slide? You insert a plain black
slide into your slideshow.

10. PUT DETAIL IN THE HANDOUTS
Instead of cramming text in your slides

11. PUT DETAIL IN THE HANDOUTS
• Well-designed slides are terrible handouts since they lack the on-slide text
necessary to form an informative narrative. [Create] handouts that are
distributed after the presentation
• Your handouts are the repository for detailed information
• Have well-written hand-outs to leave behind after the presentation for
those who want to know the whys and where-fores. These will have to be
different from the slides of course!

12. THINK OUTSIDE THE SCREEN
Remember, the slides on the screen are only part of the presentation –
and not the main part

13. THINK OUTSIDE THE SCREEN
• Even though you’re liable to be presenting in a darkened room, give some
thought to your own presentation manner – how you hold yourself, what
you wear, how you move around the room
• You are the focus when you’re presenting, no matter how interesting your
slides are

14. HAVE A HOOK
Like the best writing, the best presentation shook their audiences early
and then reel them in

15. HAVE A HOOK
• Open with something surprising or intriguing, something that will get your
audience to sit up and take notice
• The most powerful hooks are often those that appeal directly to your
audience’s emotions – offer them something awesome or, if it’s
appropriate, scare the pants off of them
• The rest of your presentation, then, will be effectively your promise to
make the awesome thing happen, or the scary thing not happen

16. ASK QUESTIONS
Questions arouse interest, pique curiosity, and engage audiences

17. ASK QUESTIONS
• ask a lot of them
• Build tension by posing a question and letting your audience stew a
moment before moving to the next slide with the answer
• Quiz their knowledge and then show them how little they know
• If appropriate, engage in a little question-and-answer with your audience,
with you asking the questions

18. MODULATE,
modulate, modulate.

19. MODULATE, MODULATE, MODULATE
• It can be easy to fall into a drone, going on and on and on and on and on
with only minimal changes to your inflection
• Always speak as if you were speaking to a friend, not as if you are reading
off of index cards (even if you are)
• If keeping up a lively and personable tone of voice is difficult for you when
presenting, do a couple of practice run-throughs
• If you still can’t get it right and presentations are a big part of your job,
take a public speaking course or join Toastmasters