5 Tips for Better Presentations
From the The Money Files Blog
by Elizabeth Harrin
A blog that looks at all aspects of project and program finances from budgets, estimating and accounting to getting a pay rise and managing contracts.
Written by Elizabeth Harrin from RebelsGuideToPM.com.
Recent Posts
How to learn AI the sensible way
Making sense of project cost reports
How real PM mentoring actually works
The Accidental Product Manager: What project managers need to know
How healthy are your project finances?
Categories
accounting,
agile,
ai,
appraisals,
Artificial Intelligence,
audit,
Backlog,
Benchmarking,
benefits,
Benefits Management,
Benefits Realization,
Bias,
books,
budget,
Business Case,
business case,
business case,
Career Development,
Career Development,
carnival,
case study,
Change Management,
checklist,
collaboration tools,
communication,
Communications Management,
competition,
complex projects,
Conferences,
config management,
consultancy,
contingency,
contracts,
corporate finance,
corporate finance,
cost,
Cost Management,
cost management,
credit crunch,
CRM,
data,
data security,
debate,
Decision Making,
delegating,
digite,
earned value,
Education,
Energy and Utilities,
Estimating,
events,
FAQ,
financial management,
financial management,
forecasting,
future,
GDPR,
general,
Goals,
Governance,
green,
Information Technology,
Innovation,
insurance,
interviews,
it,
Knowledge Management,
Leadership,
Lessons Learned,
measuring performance,
Mentoring,
merger,
methods,
metrics,
multiple projects,
negotiating,
Networking,
news,
Olympics,
organization,
Organizational Culture,
outsourcing,
personal finance,
Planning,
pmi,
PMO,
PMO,
Portfolio Management,
portfolio management,
presentations,
privacy policy,
process,
procurement,
product management,
productivity,
Program Management,
project closure,
project data,
project delivery,
Project Success,
project testing,
prototyping,
qualifications,
Quality,
quality,
Quarterly Review,
records,
recruitment,
reports,
requirements,
research,
resilience,
Resource Management,
resources,
risk,
Risk Management,
ROI,
salaries,
Schedule Management,
Scheduling,
scope,
Scope Management,
security,
small projects,
Social Impact,
social impact,
social media,
software,
software,
software,
Stakeholder Management,
stakeholders,
Strategy,
success factors,
supplier management,
team,
Teams,
testing,
testing,
timesheets,
tips,
training,
transparency,
trends,
value management,
vendors,
video,
virtual teams,
workflow
Date
Last month I shared some tips for using spreadsheets. Today I have some tips for presentations. I tend to use Microsoft PowerPoint, but all of these tips are relevant regardless of what presentation software you use.
1. Use icons
You can make slides look so much better if you include a few icons scattered through in relevant places. Corporate slide decks (in my experience) tend to have lots of bullet points, so even if you add one or two icons you can break up the feel of large blocks of text.
Note: Remember to respect copyright. Don’t download icons to use from the internet unless you specifically have the licence and rights to use them.
Here’s an example of a slide that uses icons.
2. Use a big font
The bigger the better! Anything less than 18 point is hard to read at distance.
The best way to check if you can read the slide is to go to the room you’ll be presenting in and put the slides on the screen. Then you’ll be able to see (in real life) whether you are making it difficult for people to read your material.
3. Use a full-slide background
Full-slide backgrounds can make your slides look really good.
Note: Slides that are predominately for use as training materials or to be read without you standing there talking through might be better off with more words. If you are able to talk about and explain the slides, you don’t need as many words on the slides – and a full-slide background can be a stylish way of presenting a few words on the screen.
Here’s an example of a slide that uses a full-slide background. The image is the same as one of my book jacket.
4. Add an extra slide for a handout
If you are distributing the slide deck, you can add in an extra slide at the end with more information. You wouldn’t show it within the presentation as you stand up and deliver it, and you can hide the slide from the presentation (in PowerPoint) if you want to. Or just stop clicking through the slides before you reach that one!
Your final slide can then be an extra list of resources, an appendix, links or anything else that you want people to be able to refer to.
5. Rehearse with the software!
It won’t be news to you that rehearsing is a good idea!
However, you should also practice with the slides. Use your clicker, or practice moving the slides on with your keyboard or mouse. Check that any multi-media works e.g. videos or audio that you have embedded in the presentation.
Check that you are aware of the slide transitions and builds. It’s annoying to watch a speaker either fly in all the bullet points in one go before talking about the slide, or finish talking and… oops!... there’s another bullet arriving covering a point they’ve forgotten about. If you don’t like using slide builds, take them out!
What presentation tips do you have for putting together a great slide deck? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Pin for later reading:
Posted on: May 23, 2019 09:00 AM |
Permalink
Comments (13)
Please login or join to subscribe to this item
Elizabeth, great article! I like the idea with the extra slide for the handout.
Funny thing is, I have written a post about presenting today and published it right after you have published yours. But I guess, that two complement each other well.
LORI WILSON
RETIRED - Technical Project Manager| RETIRED - LifePoint Health
Clarkston, Wa, United States
Nice point, Elizabeth - thank you for sharing!
I like your points specially last two points. .Good and Very useful Post . Thanks for sharing it.
Khai Ng.
IT PMO | IT Project Manager| TTGROUP
Hanoi, Viet Nam
Good tips. Thank for your sharing!
I like your extra slide handout tip.
Thanks, Elizabeth for the good tips.
Alok Priyadarshi
Project Manager| Tata Consulting Engineers Limited
Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India
Wonderful suggestions. Thanks a lot Elizabeth!!
Sherry Taylor
Senior Analyst Clinical Informaics| Kettering Health Network
Franklin, Oh, United States
Thanks Elizabeth this was a last minute read before I present next week! Great tips!
Twyla Johnson
Principal - Network Design Engineer| AT&T
Fayetteville, Ga, United States
Excellent tips. I like to limit the number of slides to 8-10 to keep the attention of my audience; and also to add any additional supporting information to an appendix.
Drew Craig
Sr. Agile & Product Coach| Vanguard
Philadelphia, Pa, United States
Thanks, Elizabeth! Great points!
Very nice and useful tips...
Please Login/Register to leave a comment.
|
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."
- Winston Churchill
|
