Death by PowerPoint is a term used to describe a shoddy presentation that bores people to sleep. It’s brought about by text-heavy slides, bothersome graphics, and a presenter who’s just reading data off the screen.
That said, you can easily avoid this crime against office humanity. All you need to do is be wary of these five mistakes:
1. So. Much. Text.
Understandably, you want to give a comprehensive presentation. But it’s not an excuse to cram a page’s worth of single-spaced text in one slide.
Not only will this make the text hard to see, but your audience will also end up reading it than listening.
To make sure that they’re actually paying attention to the presentation, use 5-6 words per line. That also means including only 3-4 bullet points per slide.
It will also help to leave negative space in between the lines. The less crowded your slide is, the easier it is to read it.
More importantly, if you’re tackling different topics, make sure to use one slide per crucial point.
2. Font Failure
Even if you use text sparingly in your slides, they won’t be easy to read if you use small or script fonts.
You’d want to make a presentation that uses clean, easy-to-read fonts, such as Arial, Times New Roman, and Calibri. It’s also good to use bigger text, specifically font size 22 (or bigger.)
It would be best if you considered your audience when selecting a font. Comic Sans would work on kids, but they won’t suit a professional setting.
Should you decide to use another font, be wary of your computer’s capabilities. What you used in your Mac, for example, may not appear well on your Windows PC.
3. Second-Rate Multimedia
Pictures, videos, and graphs make for good presentation material. They can help explain a procedure/process or illustrate confusing numbers.
The problem, however, is using poor-quality multimedia. Even if it’s related to the text, it might not be clear enough to be seen by the audience at the back.
When it comes to pictures, it’s good to go for high-quality graphics with bright colors. It will help keep the viewers’ attention solely on your presentation.
The same goes for video. Use high-quality reels with subtitles, if possible. So even if you don’t have good audio in the room, the audience would still comprehend the video.
Using charts is not much of a problem, but you have to make sure that the legend/information is readable. You may need to enlarge the chart (but not to the point of disrupting the graphics) so that the text remains understandable to the people at the back.
As for tables, you can make them more presentable by using a different type of grid or shading. Just make sure it presents well on your slide (more about design contrast below.)
You can also use different shapes instead of the usual rectangular box. Likewise, you can use icons to represent your labels.
If you want to focus on a particular cell, you can highlight it with an image, icon, or a different background shade.
4. Poor Presentation Design
Say you’ve used minimal, font size 22 text and included high-quality graphics. Even if you’ve followed the said tips, they’re all for naught if you have poor presentation design.
Poor design means a variety of things. For one, you may be using the wrong colors, such as blue and red OR white and yellow.
Poor design also means a lot of transitions that are very confusing to the viewers. A flying text from here or a swooshing image from them may give your audience a headache.
For best results, you should use contrasting colors. That means black and white, yellow and blue, navy and teal, etc. As for transitions, you should use them sparingly (or not at all.)
You don’t have to worry about these problems when you use professionally styled templates. After all, they are designed in ways that appeal most to the audience.
5. Inconsistency
“The key to success is consistency.”
Remember the last time you’ve come across something inconsistent? It’s headache-inducing, yes?
You wouldn’t want your audience to experience the same fate.
So before you make that presentation, make sure that everything is consistent. That means:
- Making sure that headings are formatted in the same place every slide
- Using the same color scheme throughout the presentation
- Ensuring the same margins or distance from the edges
- Showing circles, not ovals (especially if you’re presenting a pie chart)
- Using the same table format throughout the presentation.
While checking for consistency will take quite some time, it’s worth the effort. It helps you give the right impression, especially if it’s your first time presenting to your audience.
Final Thoughts
A variety of things can cause a lackluster PowerPoint presentation. Most use excessive text (with the wrong font design & size) and poor-quality graphics. Some commit poor presentation design – worsened by an inconsistent layout.
The good news is that all of these can be easily reversed. By minding the tips above, you can avoid the cursed ‘death by PowerPoint.’