PowerPoint Tip: Please don't speak to the screen

It happens far too often. It happened again last week - speaking to the screen instead of the audience. We are in the process of attending high school open house nights in order to figure out which high school will be best for our son. The first one we attended last week was for a school that has an international curriculum and one of the areas they said they stress is communication. So the coordinator stood and faced the screen as she spoke, usually reading what was written on each slide. At least she used a microphone so we could hear her.

Why does this happen so often and what can we do about it? In this newsletter I'm covering some more strategies to use so you can avoid speaking to the screen. I gave some strategies six weeks ago, but it seems like more are needed.

First, let’s look at why it happens. There are a number of reasons, but most common are the inability to see what is on the screen and over dependence on the slides as speaker notes. Let’s deal with each one of these.

When your computer monitor is not positioned so that you can see what is being projected, you will want to turn towards the screen to make sure you know what the audience is seeing. This is natural. But when you then proceed to speak to the screen, it becomes a problem. So what can you do? Two strategies to add to what I suggested before about positioning the computer monitor where you can see it. First, if you must look at the screen because you are unable to get a monitor where you can see it, practice glancing at the screen to get your reference point, then turning and speaking to the audience. You should practice so you can use your peripheral vision most of the time and your glance becomes a slight head turn instead of a full body turn. Second, if you face the screen because you are nervous about facing the audience, work with a coach to overcome your anxiety and put yourself in a position to present regularly so you become more comfortable with it. Join a local Toastmasters group to get the chance to practice and get encouraging feedback.

The other major cause of facing the screen is that the speaker is using the slides as speaking notes. This can be overcome with the following strategies. First, transform your overloaded text slides into persuasive visuals (my book The Visual Slide Revolution gives a five step process for doing just this - see http://www.VisualSlideRevolution.com for more information). By changing your speaking note slides into a series of visuals that you can glance at and then explain to the audience, you eliminate the need to keep looking at the screen after the initial glance. A single glance at the slide headline and the visual are all you will need in order to speak about this point. Second, keep a printout of your slides and any additional notes in front of you when you speak. This way, your reference material is in the direction of the audience, not the screen. You glance to see that the correct slide is up, then turn to face the audience and use your notes to remind you if necessary. Finally, as I shared last time, rehearse your presentation so you are familiar with your message, and won't need to refer to any notes or the screen to tell you what to say.

Facing the screen while speaking can be overcome by applying the strategies I've shared before and today. If you suffer from this habit, start today to change your ways.

November 18/08 Slide Makeover Video Podcast now available

Just a quick note to let you know that a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution" is available for your viewing through the iTunes Store, online or through my YouTube channel. When you are presenting a calculation and how changes will affect it, make sure you do it so that the information is clearly understood. This makeover shows a slide with a confusing calculation transformed into a clear visual that people will be able to understand and act on after the presentation.

This slide was one I saw at a recent presentation, but many are suggested by one of the subscribers to the newsletter - someone just like you who is looking for a way to make their presentations more effective. If you want to submit some of your slides to be considered for a future slide makeover, e-mail them to me at Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.

If you have already subscribed through iTunes or another podcatcher, the new podcast should be automatically downloaded when you next run the program.

To subscribe via the iTunes Store, click here.
To view online or get the RSS file for other podcatchers, click here.
***NEW*** You can now watch all the podcasts on my new YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/ThinkOutsideTheSlide



If you have subscribed via iTunes or YouTube, please provide your positive feedback on the videos in the Comments and Ratings areas of the service so others know the value you get from the videos.

To get your own copy of "The Visual Slide Revolution", click here.
To access quick "how-to" videos for only $1.99 each, click here.

Plan what happens before and after your presentation

I was at a meeting recently where there would be a number of things happening, one being a presentation using slides. The projector wasn't needed the whole time, just for this one part. And when that part was over, it would not be needed again. Unfortunately, the people running the meeting didn't plan what to do before or after the projector was used. They left the edit view of PowerPoint on before the slides were used and returned to the edit view after they were done.

What could they have done better? And what should you do if you are running a meeting that uses slides for one part but not others? Plan for it.

Before or after the slides need to be used, do one of the following:
a) Insert a black slide in the presentation and display it while the slides are not in use.
b) Press the "B" key on the keyboard to toggle to a black slide while they are not being used.
c) Add slides that simply indicate what this section is about, such as a slide with the speaker's name and title or a slide with a picture of a landscape while music is playing. Use these slides to add visuals to the other sections of the agenda so that there is a consistency to having a visual with each section.

By planning for how the projector and screen will be used throughout the entire time the audience is watching, you provide a seamless experience for the audience and don't have any distractions to take their focus away from the messages being presented.

PowerPoint Tip: Shortcut keys when presenting

In the workshops where I cover the topic of presenting your persuasive visual slides, one of the areas that gets the most interest is the shortcut keys you can use while you are delivering the presentation. In today's tip I want to alert you to some of the most useful shortcuts and when you would use them in a business or professional presentation.

Probably the most useful key when presenting is the "B" key. Why? Because it allows you to toggle to a black screen at any time. Why would you want to hide your wonderfully created slides? Because sometimes the greatest power comes from the audience focusing only on you. Take away the visual, and they focus more intently on what you are saying. Any time the visual is not relevant to what you are saying, like in a story or when you are answering a non-related question, press the "B" key on your keyboard to make the slide disappear. The "B" stands for the colour "Black", so if your operating system and PowerPoint is in a different language, your key will likely be the first letter of the word "Black" in your language.

Another useful shortcut to know is how to get to any slide almost instantly. There are two ways to do this that do not involve exiting slide show mode. First, if you know the slide number, you can enter the number using the number keys on the keyboard and then press the Enter key. This jumps you directly to that slide, regardless of where it is in the presentation. The second way to jump to a different slide is to press Ctrl+S and then use the list of all slides to select the one you want to view. This is useful if you want to display a slide that answers a question that has been asked, if someone asks you to go back to a slide earlier in your presentation, you need to jump to the last slide if you are running out of time, or if you want to display a hidden slide because it is relevant to the discussion.

I think using hyperlinks in your slide presentation is a good idea and can help bring in outside content or enable non-linear presentations that will make your presentation much richer. The challenge is how to activate the hyperlinks on the slide. Most people use the mouse to move the cursor over the hyperlink and then click on the link. This is distracting because the audience focuses on the moving mouse. There is a better way. By pressing the Tab key on your keyboard, you can move to each hyperlink on the slide in sequence. It is like moving your mouse over that link. You will know which link is selected because there is a thin dashed white line around the link text or shape. Once the link is selected with the white dashed line box around it, press the Enter key and the link will be activated just as if you had pressed the mouse button. Hyperlinks allow you to open Word, Excel or PDF documents in the middle of your presentation, access a web site or jump to another presentation, all without leaving the presentation slide show.

You can discover more shortcuts by pressing the F1 key while in slide show mode. If you'd like to see these techniques demonstrated along with how to draw on the screen, you can check out the short "how-to" video at http://www.PPtHowToVideos.com . You'll also find videos on hyperlinking at the same site.

Does great content trump poor visuals?

I was at an academic presentation recently and it presented a dilemma in terms of evaluating the effectiveness of the presentation. The presenter is an expert in the area and had done some ground breaking research in the area. The conclusions were interesting and he could back it up with evidence based on data that he had exclusive access to. Powerful stuff. But his slides were awful. And he didn't use them well at all.

He shared that he had been presenting this work at other institutions and had received great feedback from other experts in the field who recognized the usefulness of the conclusions he had come to. They saw his work as significant in the field.

So I was left wondering whether great content trumps the poor use of visuals? I'm not sure I have the answer, but here's what I was thinking. I know that fancy visuals can't save poor content. No matter how flashy your slides are, the audience won't leave excited if your message lacks substance. But I am not sure it works the other way around.

If your content is great but presented with lacklustre visuals, the audience will still leave enlightened. They just may not be as informed or inspired as if you had also used great visuals to drive home your points.

That's why I start almost every presentation by talking about the importance of properly structuring your message before you even consider your slides. Without a good structure, making sure that you have points that move your audience from where they are now to where you want them to be, the rest doesn't matter.

Next time you start to develop a presentation, don't sit down at your computer. Go to a quiet place with a pen and paper and allow yourself the time to concentrate on your desired outcome and the best way to achieve it. Only after you've got great content should you look to create persuasive visuals.

That's my answer to the question, what do you think?

November 4/08 Slide Makeover Video Podcast now available

Just a quick note to let you know that a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution" is available for your viewing through the iTunes Store, online or through my YouTube channel. Legal topics can be dry and boring if presented using slides that simply contain the words from a document. This makeover shows a slide full of legal text transformed into a clear visual that people will be able to understand and act on after the presentation.

This slide was one I was sent for a recent workshop, but many are suggested by one of the subscribers to the newsletter - someone just like you who is looking for a way to make their presentations more effective. If you want to submit some of your slides to be considered for a future slide makeover, e-mail them to me at Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.

If you have already subscribed through iTunes or another podcatcher, the new podcast should be automatically downloaded when you next run the program.
To subscribe via the iTunes Store, click here.
To view online or get the RSS file for other podcatchers, click here.
***NEW*** You can now watch all the podcasts on my new YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/ThinkOutsideTheSlide



If you have subscribed via iTunes or YouTube, please provide your positive feedback on the videos in the Comments and Ratings areas of the service so others know the value you get from the videos.

To get your own copy of "The Visual Slide Revolution", click here.
To access quick "how-to" videos for only $1.99 each, click here.