Sorry, dear readers, but this Friday I’m on a bit of a rant. If I see one more boring PowerPoint presentation, I’m going to vomit!
Let’s keep this really simple. What should be in a PowerPoint presentation?
- Few words — if you have more than 8 words on your slide — kill it.
- Pictures — people love images. Use them to convey your ideas. iStockPhoto is a great and inexpensive source of images.
- Story — people respond to stories. Tell a story in your presentation.
- Simple — less is more. Few slides. Less words.
- Convey ideas — Speed could be a donkey vs. a racehorse. 23% tilted up to the right conveys an increase without another word.
There’s a lot of great presenters out there, but the King of Presentations is Steve Jobs of Apple.
Watch Steve present here.
Learn from the best. Your audience will thank you. And I can keep down my food.
What do you think? We love our readers, appreciate your comments and provide buttons for you to share with social friends.
Jeff Ogden is President of Find New Customers “Lead Generation Made Simple” He’s also the author of two highly acclaimed white papers, How to Find New Customers and Definitive Guide to Making Quota, as well the ebook, Prospect Driven Marketing. Find New Customers helps business develop and implement programs to improve the way they find and acquire new customers using best practices in lead generation.
In addition, Jeff’s hosting a great free webinar on content marketing with Joe Pullizi (Junta42 and co-author of Get Content, Get Customers on March 11th at noon ET. Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/536492297.
Jeff, Share your feelings 100%. If these were put in priority order I would say:
1) Story
2) Pictures
3) Few Words
4) Convey ideas
5) Simple
The video is a classic that every speaker should watch before they make their presentation. It unfortunately, is in stark contrast to the iPad presentation. The impact of his health challenges were evident. I felt a sadness thinking that we might not ever see another of his landmark presentations. Thanks to YouTube, they will live on for all of us to learn from.
Thanks for your comment, Miles. Could not agree with you more. I was at the CMO Thought Leadership Summit and sat though a mind-numbing regurgitation of white paper on slides. It was horrible. Contrast that with presenters like Steve Jobs and several others (By the way, Anna Talerico of Ion Interactive is excellent), and the difference is night and day. One of the presentation experts said something very profound. A great presentation does not work without a presenter.
Your priority order is perfect.
I too wish the best for Mr. Jobs and hope he regains his heath, for himself, his family and all of his fans — like you and me. Thank God for YouTube preservation.