If you think that a core dump and recitation of your entire store of knowledge on a particular subject makes for a captivating PowerPoint presentation, think again. According to a survey conducted by renowned PowerPoint expert Dave Paradi, a whopping 73.8% of the 603 respondents chose "The speaker … [Read more...] about What is the number-one PowerPoint annoyance?
September Slide Makeover of the Month
This month's slide makeover is from a deck I redesigned for Ellen Wingard of Ellen Wingard and Associates. She was leading a daylong workshop at the Harvard Business School and her presentation combined her own approach to management training with that of Linda Hill, a respected HBS … [Read more...] about September Slide Makeover of the Month
August Slide Makeover of the Month
This month's slide makeover comes courtesy of the US Army. In this pair of slides, they list the main Strategic Issues that are impeding the smooth management of the Army Materiel Command. Before While this information is important, there's too much text. You'd go into this amount of detail in a … [Read more...] about August Slide Makeover of the Month
Free Photo Resources for PowerPoint
We all know by now that pictures can often help you to communicate better than words. And that people hate, hate, HATE text-heavy PowerPoint slides. So armed with that knowledge, you set out to transform your boring deck into a beautiful gallery of effective photography. But where do you go for … [Read more...] about Free Photo Resources for PowerPoint
A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words
One of the chief gripes about PowerPoint presentations is "too much text on a slide." Great presenters use PowerPoint slides as a backdrop to their presentations, not the entire script. So they often include photos in their decks to illustrate major points. It's easy to see why. Here's a slide from … [Read more...] about A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words
Are you presenting for yourself or your audience?
Mary Nell McCorquodale is a management consultant with decades of experience presenting to savvy audiences, from C-level professionals to top brass in the US Military. As a young presenter, she learned very quickly that if you stick to your own agenda without finding out what your audience wants … [Read more...] about Are you presenting for yourself or your audience?
Great PowerPoint presentations start with the words
I recently got a call from a woman—let's call her Sally—who sought my help to create a PowerPoint presentation as part of her senior thesis. Sally's biggest stumbling block was finding images to represent the topic of her presentation, the challenges of teaching English to non-native speakers … [Read more...] about Great PowerPoint presentations start with the words
