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Guidelines for Effective PowerPoint Presentations Have you ever been bored during a PowerPoint presentation? It is probably not your fault. PowerPoint is best used as a tool for using visual information to tell your story. The combination of your words, along with the visual images you project, should wake up your viewers, not put them to sleep with bullet point after bullet point.

These guidelines will help you present more compelling, dynamic presentations.

Slide Design People like pictures; they do not like lists. And since PowerPoint is a tool for displaying visual information, not a word processor, you should think of your presentation as images, not just words. Do not display anything that does not help tell your story, convince your audience, or make your point.

The same rules that apply to good, clean writing apply to good, clean design—make every word and every image count. Eliminate the non-essential, and you will increase elegance and the clarity of simplicity. Do not shoot for typical; shoot for great! Remember that great presentations connect with people’s minds and their emotions.

Writing Keep it simple: Do not make the mistake of thinking that your audience will not understand anything if you do not tell them everything. Find the essence of your message and stick to it.

• Present ideas succinctly, with lean prose and short sentences or phrases.

• Always use the active voice rather than the passive.

• Avoid most negative statements and watch out for double negatives.

• Use consistent capitalization rules, remembering that a mix of upper- and lowercase is easiest to read and understand.

• Always check spelling and grammar.

• Include a final references slide and in-text citations when needed.

Tell a story: Remember that you are telling a story. What is that story? Can you reduce it to a few sentences or, better yet, just one sentence? Like filmmakers pitching a concept, you should be able to pitch the purpose of your presentation. Do not begin creating content until you have the pitch down.

Then, lay out your ideas and shuffle, reduce, and shake them up until you are satisfied with the content and order and are ready to begin creating the slides.

Develop a clear, strategic introduction to provide context for the presentation. Present one concept or idea per slide, and organize your ideas logically between and within slides. Do not use more than one conclusion slide to recap main ideas.

You may wish to use a roadmap slide at the beginning of the presentation to give audience members a preview of what they can expect. Make sure the map you design reflects solid logic and structure, and that the presentation that follows does not go off-road. As PowerPoint expert

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Garr Reynolds puts it, “Good stories have interesting, clear beginnings, provocative, engaging content in the middle, and a clear, logical conclusion” (Reynolds, 2005).

Consider your audience: Before you begin to design your presentation, think about your audience. Who are they? What do they expect from you? Why are they at the event? What types of stories would be meaningful?

Follow the 70 percent rule: if something does not apply to at least 70 percent of your audience, do not include it.

Be your own worst critic: Do several run-throughs of your presentation prior to its delivery. If you can, rehearse with an actual computer and projector (assuming you will be using one in the presentation).

Throughout, keep asking yourself, “Why? and “So what?” about each piece of information you present. If you cannot clearly answer your own question, it probably does not belong.

Visuals Keep it simple: Use a consistent design throughout the presentation and strive for powerful simplicity. Do not let your message and your story get lost in slides cluttered with what Edward Tufte calls “chart junk.”

Transition effects are best avoided. But if you do use them, use them sparingly and select ones that are not too flashy and that fit the content.

Make it yours: Most templates provided by PowerPoint have already been seen by everyone in your audience a million times, so do not use them. Create your own!

Repeat design elements (use the master slide design feature to ensure consistency), and keep fonts, colors, tone, and layout consistent.

Use color wisely: Use contrast between backgrounds and text: dark fonts on light backgrounds or light fonts on dark backgrounds.

If the presentation will be used in a dark room, a dark background with white or light text is best. For well-lit rooms, use dark text on a white or light background.

Use images and media: Develop relevant images for your presentation. Do not use irrelevant images or images just to fill space.

Use video and audio when appropriate. You can use video clips directly within PowerPoint. If you use audio, use it intelligently and for logical reasons, such as for interviews—do not ever use canned sound effects.

Use animations only when needed to enhance meaning. If selected, use them sparingly and consistently.

Maintain alignment: Use consistent horizontal and vertical alignment of slide elements throughout the presentation. Leave ample space around images and text, and maintain consistent spacing.

Consider the font: Use sans serif fonts such as Arial or Verdana. Remember that mixed upper- and lowercase text is easiest to read and understand.

Use a font size no smaller than 24 points for slide titles, and no smaller than 18 points for headings and explanatory text. Optimal sizes are 36 points or larger for the title and 28 points or larger for other headings and text.

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When in doubt, reduce: According to the segmentation principle of multimedia learning theory, people comprehend better when information is presented in small chunks or segments. However, that does not mean that presentations can do without a logical flow. Take advantage of the slide sorter view to see how your entire presentation flows from the point of view of your audience.

Remove any extraneous bits of visual data that can be eliminated to increase visual clarity and improve communication. Use no more than eight lines of text or five bullet points per slide. Use simple tables to show numbers, with no more than four rows and four columns. Reserve more detailed tables for a written summary.

Speaker Notes Remember that the slides are there to support what the speaker says, not make the speaker superfluous. Use the Speaker Notes feature of PowerPoint to document what the speaker is to say, and let the slides play a supporting role.

While the slides allow you to highlight key information, convey messages, and tell a story, PowerPoint Speaker Notes allow you to provide an explanation of the message and discuss its application and implications to the field, discipline, or work setting.

Portions of these guidelines were adapted from:

Reynolds, G. (2005). GarrReynolds.com. Retrieved from http://www.garrreynolds.com

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executive essentials ebook The Executive Essentials eBook series was created to provide business executives with clear, concise, immediately applicable tips and strategies to improve specific leadership and presence skills.

stor ytell

ing

forward >>

Executive Essentials eBook © 2011 The Ariel Group

1050 Waltham Street, Suite 600 Lexington, MA 02421

T 781.761.9000 F 781.761.9060 www.arielgroup.com

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CONTENTS �

4. Real Life Example: Ariel Group CEO Sean Kavanagh Shares a Story He Uses in Business

5. Remembering and Using Stories

6. Types of Stories

10. How to Integrate a Story into a Conversation or Presentation

11. General Tips for Telling Stories

13. Review

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WHY IS STORYTELLING AN ESSENTIAL SKILL FOR ANY EXECUTIVE TOOLKIT?

Storytelling is a powerful Leadership tool. Stories may be the most effective way to convey information to an audience while also building a relationship with them. When you tell stories, especially personal stories, it helps people relate to you and allows you to show your vulnerability as a leader. Stories can be used to communicate your values, help to develop trust, inspire your employees and move your audience to take action.

Even simple stories from your childhood can con- tain universal themes relevant to your organiza- tion’s or clients’ key issues. You can leverage the archetypal nature of stories by cataloguing some of the significant moments in your personal and business life as a resource to draw on when plan- ning any presentation.

Specific business uses for storytelling include:

• Share Yourself: Share moments that made you who you are or that clarified your values so that others understand your leadership per- spective.

• Share your Organization: Share values of your organization. What makes up the DNA of your organization?

• Teach a Lesson: How you learned something through failure or success, how you mastered an organizational capability, how you overcame resistance to change.

• Provoke Change: Create dissatisfaction with present, share dangerous mistakes in busi- ness, establish the case for change, create a vision for future state.

• Change Perspective: Allow your audience to see a problem through a different lens, change the emotional climate.

• Build a Relationship: Sharing personal or personal business stories with direct reports or clients can highlight the common ground between you.

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LET'S � START � WITH A � STORY

Sean Kavanagh, our CEO, recently told this personal story at a learning association meeting about the impact of stress on our ability to listen and how that can undermine our most precious relationships:

It has been a stressful eighteen months. The recession has hit busi- ness hard and I’m about to send a second child off to college. I’m working long days and I’m managing tight budgets at the office and at home.

One dark evening in mid January, I’m standing in my kitchen transfer- ring three days of dishes from the sink into the dishwasher. The children have used every cup and bowl we own, including a decorative Bavarian beer stein that is now encrusted with fossilized cereal! I’m muttering bad language under my breath.

"Hey pops whassup? How was your day?” Clare, my 17-year-old daugh- ter enters. I tense, expecting this to be an expensive conversation.

“Sooooo, I wanted to ask you something. Julie’s family is going to Vegas and then Miami for winter break and they’ve invited ME! Can I go?” I explode.

“We’ve had this conversation! We have a lot of expenses right now and you still owe me money from last summer. You are supposed to be saving for college. I can't believe you’re even asking!” She ex- plodes back.

“I can’t believe you are yelling at me! You’re not even listening to me. Julie’s Dad has free tickets. I just picked up more hours at the restaurant. Ugh! You never listen. And you’re never around and you’re always pre-occupied and we never have any time alone together. You’re just mean and grumpy all the time!”

She pauses, picks up a piece of paper and throws it at me. “Oh and by the way, here’s my report card. I made honor roll. Again!”

She runs to her room in tears.

What did my daughter teach me here? Well I learned that under stress I have much less patience, I don’t listen and I jump to conclusions. And that this behavior can cause a breach in a precious relationship.

The lesson for me is to be sure to take my own emotional temperature at home and at work, particularly in times of stress or extreme busyness. I also learned that it is important to stop, be fully present and truly listen to what others are telling you before answering. This is hard to do when stressed out and in a hurry but not doing these things can cause great damage to relationships and ultimately, to productivity.

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EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK: STORYTELLING

GETTING STARTED

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REMEMBERING AND USING STORIES You already have dozens of stories at your fingertips—the tricky part is remembering them when you need them. Here are three ways to get rolling:

1. 2. 3. Begin cataloguing Keep a journal specifi- Record other people’s stories from your cally for stories and stories that you life that might serve enter any interesting hear or read that as powerful illustra- daily occurrences. might serve to il- tions of your ideas. lustrate a point.

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EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK: STORYTELLING

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TYPES OF STORIES

Begin to think about stories you could tell by jotting down one or two ideas in each of the following categories. Think about when you might use the story. PERSONAL:

• Moments that made you who you are or that clarified your values

• Moments when you discovered your voice or leadership potential

• “When I was 17…”

This would be a great story to tell at the follow- I could tell a personal story about… ing event/for the following purpose:

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EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK: STORYTELLING

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TYPES OF STORIES

PERSONAL BUSINESS:

• Heroic moments – difficult but worthwhile struggles or extraordinary feats in business

• Overcoming resistance to change

• Moments of truth

• “When I was working at…”

This would be a great story to tell at the follow- I could tell a personal business story about… ing event/for the following purpose:

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EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK: STORYTELLING

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TYPES OF STORIES

GENERAL BUSINESS:

• Dangerous mistakes in business

• Stories of how your company has handled these things in the past

• Stories of how the future could look: bright or dark

• "The day Jack Welch started at GE…”

This would be a great story to tell at the follow- I could tell a general business story about… ing event/for the following purpose:

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EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK: STORYTELLING

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TYPES OF STORIES

UNIVERSAL MYTHS OR FABLES

• The Trojan Horse from Homer’s “Odyssey” as a metaphor

• The “Three Little Pigs” fairy tale as an analogy

This would be a great story to tell at the follow- I could use a myth or fable about… ing event/for the following purpose:

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USING STORIES IN A BUSINESS SETTING

HOW TO INTEGRATE A STORY INTO A CONVERSATION OR PRESENTATION Now that you have a variety of stories at your fingertips, it's time to try incorporating one into a conversation or presenta- tion. Here is a basic format to get you started:

1. Introduce the Subject Matter or Business Content • Conversation example: “I think you've been do-

ing a great job heading this initiative despite the hiccups you've encountered along the way and I want to make sure you don't beat yourself up over this too much…"

• Presentation example: “Today I would like to speak to you about a new marketing strategy for our product…”

2. Transition into the Story • Conversation example: "In fact, back when

I was a team leader, I had a similar experi- ence…”

• Presentation example: “Let me share with you a story to illustrate a vision of how we can work together…”

3. Tell the Story • Set the Stage

• Describe the Conflict

• Describe the Resolution

• It's 1982. I'm out on the soccer field with my son when he turns to me and says…

4. Connect the Story to a Teaching Point or Subject Matter • Personal Learning: “What my son said to me

reminded me so powerfully that there is always a fresh, new way to look at any challenging situation.”

• Message for the Group: “Ladies and gentle- men, are we willing to shift our marketing strat- egy in a whole new direction, to take a risk in the way that my son did? I certainly am.”

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GENERAL TIPS FOR � TELLING STORIES

Take these tips into consideration when prac- ticing your story. Go with your gut in terms of how “big” to make your story depending on your audience. Obviously you'd want to tone it down when talking across a desk vs. present- ing at a large conference.

Get in Touch With Your Inner Thespian • Use your voice and body the way an actor

would: be expressive.

• Play the different characters in the story, when appropriate, rather than just talking about them. Let your body and voice change in small ways to suggest how they looked and sounded. Speak as the characters; even a brief dialogue will help capture your audi- ence’s imagination.

Make It Happen Now • Employ a vertical take-off: instead of leading

up to the real story with a lot of runway time, e.g., “Before I describe what happened that day, let me give you a little background…”. Begin in the middle of the action, e.g. “From the tense look on Rob’s face, I can see the meeting is a disaster…”.

• Re-experience your story as you tell it — imag- ine that it’s happening right now. Let it affect you emotionally.

• Speak in the present tense, whenever pos- sible, to bring the audience into the action, e.g., “It’s the day of the big announcement. I’m nervous as heck.”. You can also begin in the past tense and shift to present tense for the climax of the story.

• Tell the story from a “point of innocence” as if you don’t know how it will end. This will keep your listeners waiting for the outcome.

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GENERAL TIPS FOR � TELLING STORIES

Excite Their Senses • Sensory details help people visualize the sto-

ry. Try “marble conference table” instead of “conference table,” or “ten pound computer printout” instead of “computer printout.” These examples evoke senses of vision and touch. You can also appeal to your audience’s sense of smell, hearing and taste.

• Make sure to be selective with your use of sen- sory details. One or two are sufficient at the beginning of a story to set the scene; then use them sparingly throughout.

Be Succinct • Boil it down. It’s possible to tell a powerful,

complete story in under a minute.

• Use “bullet phrases” instead of lengthy sen- tences. For example, the word “CRASH!” can be more powerful (when spoken expressively) than saying “Suddenly, the car I was driving collided with another vehicle.”

• Have a clear beginning, middle, and end—each can be as short as a sentence or two.

Emphasize the Emotional Impact • Slow down to accentuate and experience for

yourself moments of real feeling: anger, fear, joy, a realization, etc. If you feel something, the audience will.

• Make the conflict clear. No story has drama unless there is conflict. For example, instead of saying “Company X’s costs were higher than their profit, underscore the conflict by saying “Company X was on the verge of going out of business.”

• Highlight the “emotional arc” of the story. How does the main character change? Is he/she different at the end of the story? What did he/ she learn?

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REVIEW Business uses for stories: • Share yourself

• Share your organization

• Teach a lesson

• Provoke Change

• Change perspective

• Build a relationship

You already have a library of stories at your fingertips: •