PowerPoint Mistakes People Make

Transcription

1 How to Avoid the Worst PowerPoint Mistakes People Make SkillPath a division of the Graceland College Center for Professional Development and Lifelong Learning, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this material or any part thereof in any manner.

2 HOW TO AVOID THE WORST POWERPOINT MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE Introduction Course Overview Bad PowerPoint slides are a distraction to your audience. Too much text, and they re reading instead of listening. Animations, fonts, colors and images can also be diversions. Chosen without careful consideration, these types of ingredients can weaken your presentation. If you want to impress to improve recall to positively influence, take a fresh look at the content and design of your PowerPoint slides. In this session you ll learn how to skip the trial-and-error frustration and find out how to create presentations that are sharp and relevant that amplify your message and keep your audience engaged every time. Learning Objectives In this Webinar you will learn: The predesign homework that leads to great presentations The best replacement for text-driven, difficult-to-read, flat slides The 4 most common font and text usage mistakes The secrets to purposeful and professional animations and transitions The psychology of color, visual elements and builds How to develop consistent templates that enhance branding The impact of white space and other design elements The presentation techniques that will make your delivery run flawlessly Notes to Readers Throughout this workbook you ll see study aids that will help you master Microsoft PowerPoint. SkillSteps: The fundamental steps to get to a feature SkillTips: Special guidelines for becoming a Power User 2

3 PARTICIPANT NOTEBOOK Predesign Homework That Leads to Great Presentations Predesign Tasks When it comes to PowerPoint, the most common mistake is to jump right in and begin designing slides. Big mistake! To develop the best presentations, you must master the predesign tasks that lead to great presentations. You must plan your presentation first, concentrate on objectives and develop an outline. Presentations are effective when presenters concentrate on three things: Content Delivery Organization Your Presentation Has 3 Ingredients Content What your presentation is about. Organization How your content is structured logically from opening to closing. Delivery How you present the content to your audience in an effective way. You need all three of these ingredients for an effective presentation and they require three separate skill sets. If you have excellent content but it s disorganized and presented poorly, you ll fall short of your goals. If you have a terrific delivery but your content is weak, again, you ll fall short. 3

4 HOW TO AVOID THE WORST POWERPOINT MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE The first thing when preparing a presentation is to determine: 1. Why are you presenting? 2. What is the content of your presentation? 3. How are you going to do it? Plan for Four Important Aspects of Your Presentation Your Presentation Checklist Presentation Type Persuasive WHY? Informative Educational Message What is you core message? WHAT? What are your key points? What are your supporting materials? Audience Technically aware WHO? Resisting or accepting Delivery Context Small room HOW? Auditorium Short time vs. long time When you plan your presentation, you can build an outline in Slide Sorter View. SkillTip: Slide Sorter View is where you story board your presentation. SkillSteps: To go to Slide Sorter View View > Presentation Views > Slide Sorter View SkillSteps: To build more slides in Slide Sorter View Press Ctrl + M 4

5 PARTICIPANT NOTEBOOK Separating your slides into logical sections is an additional way to add structure and flexibility to your presentation. SkillSteps: To separate your slides into sections Put your cursor before the first slide in your section and press CTRL +, SkillTip: You can arrange groups of slides quickly by dragging the section headers higher or lower in your presentation. 5

6 HOW TO AVOID THE WORST POWERPOINT MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE The Best Replacement For Text-driven, Difficult-to-read, Flat Slides Text-driven slides can be boring or worse difficult to read. Text slides almost always compel the presenter to read slides to the audience. Remember, the audience can read faster than you can talk. To catch up with your audience you try to read faster. Reading faster makes things worse! Use graphics if you can, not raw text. The Best Use of Graphics Graphics should be used to enhance the presentation and not simply to add variety to slides. Graphics can be used for many beneficial purposes: As the sole message for the slide As a graphical representation of data To assist the text in delivering the message To brand the presentation or company To provide consistency and theme elements When using graphics, the following general guidelines are beneficial: Use graphics that match the slides in color and theme Use graphics that look professional Use graphics that are acceptable to the audience Use graphics that match with your organization s culture Use graphics that match with the audience s culture 6

7 PARTICIPANT NOTEBOOK Common Graphics Mistakes Three common mistakes are made when using graphics: 1. Using graphics just to break up the monotony and (you falsely believe) add spice 2. Using graphics that the readers cannot see properly 3. Using text when graphics will do Using graphics to add spice Using graphics that can t be seen Using text when graphics will do 7

8 HOW TO AVOID THE WORST POWERPOINT MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE The Four Most Common Font and Text Usage Mistakes If you must use text, at least limit the variety of typefaces and sizes you combine. Using Fonts Well When you design a presentation, be careful to not overdesign it. You can provide a comfortable and logical flow by being consistent (and controlled) with your use of fonts. When too many fonts are used, it can cause confusion. SkillTip: When you reference currency on a slide, consider displaying a graph instead of the raw data. Consider the following example: Don t let PowerPoint make your font size decisions Presentations can easily have font size mismatches when the master slides are not set properly or the objects containing the slides are set to Autofit text. Autofit text reduces the size of your font as you add text that goes beyond the share of the object to hold it. PowerPoint keeps making the font small enough to fit in the object. SkillSteps: To disable Autofit Select an object > Right Click the object > Format Shape > Text Options > Textbox > Do not Autofit 8

9 PARTICIPANT NOTEBOOK Four Common Typography Mistakes Avoid the four most common mistakes related to fonts and text so that your presentations shine. SkillTip: Don t forget to run Spell Check (F7) and to proofread your presentation. 1 Using too many fonts 3 Using small text 2 Using too many colors 4 Using text at all Make sure your presentation has a style sheet to ensure your co-workers know the fonts you want them to use. A style sheet can describe the standard guidelines for your slides fonts, borders and colors. SkillTip: You can use the perimeter of a Master Slide Layout to indicate the standards for your presentation. By adding this information outside of a slide layout, users will know you company s standard settings. 9

10 HOW TO AVOID THE WORST POWERPOINT MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE Secrets to Purposeful and Professional Animations and Transitions Using Animations Animations can certainly be useful, but they can also be overused. Use animations with a purpose and with constraint. This will allow them to serve their purpose: To illustrate processes To explain complexity To show flow or logic Text animation is very important. Text animation can be the solution to the problem of people pre-reading you slide. By animating text, you can have it appear and disappear one paragraph at a time as you click through your presentation. PowerPoint supports dozens of object animations that can be used for text entry. Some important guidelines include: Be consistent with text animations Vary them only for impact and only on rare occasions Be aware of commonuse programming People expect text to enter from the left and exit to the right SkillTip: Motion animations can be used to create custom animations for process explanations. In addition, SmartArt objects can be animated, just like text all at once, or object by object. 10

11 PARTICIPANT NOTEBOOK The Psychology of Color, Visual Elements and Builds Psychology of Movement There is a bit of psychology when it comes to animations and colors. Animations affect us. It is important to understand the psychology of animations and movement and how you can use this in your presentations. Keep in mind, the audience might be accustomed to standard left-to-right animations. In fact, these are the most common text entry animations used. For this reason, right-to-left animations can be frustrating to viewers. SkillTip: Don t use right to left. On the other hand, varying the direction could provide an attention-grabbing tactic. For example, if you have a single word or line of text enter from the right on rare occasions, it will cause the viewers to pay more attention to that text. In general, most PowerPoint text entry animations are overkill. Simply causing the text to appear or showing all the bullet points on the slide at once can be effective. Use text animations with much forethought. SkillSteps: To animate text Select the object containing the text > Animations > Add Animation > Entrance > Fly In 11

12 HOW TO AVOID THE WORST POWERPOINT MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE Using Color to Provide Meaning Colors convey meaning. While the meaning may vary from culture to culture, you can use color to provide meaning and emotion to your delivery. Consider the following examples of color and meaning: RED BLUE BLACK WHITE emotionally intense peaceful authority and power purity and illumination GREEN YELLOW PURPLE BROWN nature cheerful luxury and wealth earthy Use colors as appropriate to add meaning or emphasis. SkillTip: You wouldn t format the word STOP with a green font, would you? 12

13 PARTICIPANT NOTEBOOK Common Color Mistakes However, you want to avoid the two most common mistakes related to color selection. Using painful colors Using conflicting colors Programs and Web sites are available that will assist you in selecting complementary color schemes. To find them, you can search for color scheme designer. Primary Colors Secondary Colors Tertiary Colors Don t use colors that clash with each other. Use combinations of colors that go well together. If you re in doubt, visit a paint store and examine their color families. Otherwise, use the colors that are the branded colors of your customer or client. SkillTip: Don t reinvent the wheel. Use your company s current color scheme. To learn your company s color combinations, copy their logo into PowerPoint and hover the Eyedropper tool over each section. SkillSteps: To enable the eyedropper tool Select an image > Picture Tools > Format > Picture Border > Eyedropper 13

14 HOW TO AVOID THE WORST POWERPOINT MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE How to Develop Consistent Templates That Enhance Branding You can also develop PowerPoint presentations based on templates rather than building one from scratch. A PowerPoint template is a pattern or blueprint of a slide or group of slides that has been saved as a.potx file. Templates can contain: Layouts Theme colors Theme fonts Theme effects Background styles Content SkillSteps: To create a presentation from a template File > New > Search for a Template SkillSteps: To create a custom template from your current presentation File > Save As Type > PowerPoint Template 14

15 PARTICIPANT NOTEBOOK The Impact of White Space and Other Design Elements Using Slides vs. Blank Screens Sometimes the screen should be blank even in the middle of a presentation. You can blank the screen to draw greater attention to yourself and your words rather than the words on a slide. This is all part of delivering an excellent presentation. SkillTip: To make your screen turn white during a presentation Press W on the keyboard. To remove the white screen, press W again. (Note: B turns the screen black.) 15

16 HOW TO AVOID THE WORST POWERPOINT MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE When to Blank the Screen You want to get serious You want complete focus on you You want to ask for questions You want to take a break You want to change locations On the other hand, you don t want to display only a blank slide. You need to resume your presentation at some point. SkillTip: If the audience sees a white screen for too long, they ll suspect you ve lost your connection to the display! When to Display the Slides You must deliver technical content You want to use animations to explain a point You want to show a process or hierarchy You have a slide that is not cluttered with distracting words and images 16

17 PARTICIPANT NOTEBOOK Presentation Techniques That Will Make Your Delivery Run Flawlessly Presentations take practice. You ve spent all this time planning and then building your presentation, you don t want to just wing it! Top 10 Ways to Improve Any Presentation These tips can improve the delivery of any slide presentation but they can rarely overcome a poorly designed one. Incorporating these suggestions will help transform a mediocre presentation into a memorable presentation. Have a purpose Know your audience Have a great opening Use a powerful closing Learn how to persuade Speak as yourself Smile! Use position programming Listen to the audience Avoid rhetorical questions 17

18 HOW TO AVOID THE WORST POWERPOINT MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE Appendix: PowerPoint Shortcuts Shortcut Name Shortcut Shortcut Description Copy w/mouse CTRL + DRAG Copy selected object Copy and align CTRL + SHIFT + DRAG Copy and align an object vertically/horizontally Straight line Hold SHIFT + Draw Line Force draw a straight line Size and position task pane RIGHT-CLICK AN OBJECT, Z Open the size and position task pane for an object Align vertically or horizontally SHIFT + DRAG Move an object in vertical/horizontal alignment Bottom text alignment ALT, H, AT, B Vertically align text to the bottom Middle text alignment ALT, H, AT, M Vertically align text to the middle Top text alignment ALT, H, AT, T Vertically align text to the top Bullets ALT, H, U Open the bullet menu Fit to screen ALT, W, F Fit the work area to screen Slide sorter view ALT, W, I View slides in slide sorter view Normal view ALT, W, L View slides in normal view Notes pane ALT, W, PN Open/close the notes pane Rotates object ALT + or Rotate an object left or right Find first search term ALT + F Find first search term Presenter view from slide 1 ALT + F5 Presenter view from slide 1 Presenter view from current slide ALT + SHIFT + F5 Presenter view from current slide Replace search term ALT + R Replace search term New section CTRL +, Insert a new section Decrease font size CTRL + [ Decrease the font size Increase font size CTRL + ] Increase the font size Nudge an object in a direction CTRL + or or or Nudge an object in a direction Screen rotate CTRL + ALT + or or or Rotates the computer screen (Windows shortcut) Paste special CTRL + ALT + V Open the paste special dialog box Bold CTRL + B Bold or un-bold text 18

19 PARTICIPANT NOTEBOOK Shortcut Name Shortcut Shortcut Description Copy CTRL + C Copy selected object(s) Duplicate CTRL + D Duplicate selected object Center text alignment CTRL + E Center text alignment Open/close the ribbon CTRL + F1 Open or close the ribbon Group CTRL + G Group selected objects Find and replace CTRL + H Launches the find and replace dialog box Left text alignment CTRL + L Left horizontal text alignment Right text alignment CTRL + R Right horizontal text alignment New slide CTRL + M Make a new slide in the presentation New presentation Ctrl + N Make a new presentation Save CTRL + S Save the presentation Increase (slightly) an object s size CTRL + SHIFT + or or or Slightly increases object height or width Pick up style CTRL + SHIFT + C Copy selected object s formatting style Duplicate slide CTRL + SHIFT + D Duplicate current slide Ungroup CTRL + SHIFT + G Ungroup selected objects Apply style CTRL + SHIFT + V Apply copied formatting style to selected object Paste CTRL + V Paste copied object(s) Redo CTRL + Y Redo last action Undo CTRL + Z Undo last action Slide show from the first slide F5 Start presentation from the first slide Increase an object s size SHIFT + or or or Increase object height or width Slide show from current slide SHIFT + F5 Start presentation from the current slide 19

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