How to Rock PowerPoint
Six Tips for Creating Powerful, Persuasive Presentations
By Daria Steigman, founder of Steigman Communications, LLC and author of the Independent Thinking Blog.
Mention PowerPoint, and just about everyone will tell you they hate it. But why do we blame the tool for the fact that presenters abuse it (a lot)? It’s not like we badmouthed Quark and PageMaker because people used to bold, italic, underline, ALL CAPS—ALL AT ONCE—just because they could.
In Speaking PowerPoint: The New Language of Business, Bruce Gabrielle makes a compelling case for Microsoft’s oft-scorned presentation software. In a well-written, easy-to-read book crammed with actionable advice, Gabrielle demonstrates how PowerPoint is a “critical tool for driving strategy” that uses “the power of visual thinking to make ideas clearer and more persuasive.”
Here are my top six takeaways:
- There are two types of PowerPoint presentations. While ballroom-style decks are for presentation only, boardroom-style (business) decks can be built for reading, for discussion, or for presentation.
- Don’t Bury Your Lead. Gabrielle writes that starting with your top-line message “provides context for all the information that will follow, which makes it easier to understand your argument.” He also points out that being upfront with your thesis statement makes it harder for a busy business leader (client, company executive, and so forth) to get lost in—or start arguing about—the minutia of your argument.
- Tell a Story. Speaking PowerPoint offers 12 ways to frame what the author calls an “inciting incident,” including framing the uncertainty that will happen if nothing is done, appealing to nostalgia, and pointing to evolution (e.g., the world is changing; will your business keep up?).
- Your Deck Is an Iceberg. Gabrielle writes that “when planning your main message and support points, think of your slide deck like an iceberg.” In other words, about 10 percent should be above the waterline–what you want your audience to do and the 1-2 key points that support that most broadly.
- Build Your Slides on Paper—Not PowerPoint. “PowerPoint is a great tool for creating the final slides,” writes Gabrielle. “But there are other tools that are better for planning slides and will cut your design time in half—or more.” It is so obvious that you should build your slides on paper first that I can’t believe I haven’t been doing it all along. The author argues for mapping out your argument—and sketching out your slides—on paper because it’s a lot of work to build a slide, add in a chart, a graphic, or a table, or locate a good picture, and make it all look pretty. And a waste of time for every slide that ends up being dropped. Plus, it’s a lot easier to see what you have (and assess the flow of your argument and identify any gaps) if all your slides are laid out on the table.
- Think Chunks. Speaking PowerPoint talks a lot about how to organize your information—images, colors, text. There’s an entire chapter devoted to how the brain processes data, including how to chunk stuff together, using labels for ease of reference, and more. It’s amazing how you can take a hideous slide with a mass of data and make it both readable and memorable.
I know it’s hard to explain why a book about PowerPoint is a must read for entrepreneurs and other business leaders. But trust me on this one. We all do presentations—don’t you want yours to be as effective as possible? With Speaking PowerPoint, Gabrielle has written a guide that should be required reading for everyone who prepares and delivers business presentations.
Thanks for the review Daria! I love the analogy with early HTML editors. Remember how we used to think a “good” website had blinking text and a brick wall background, just because we COULD?
I think that’s where we’re at with PowerPoint today. In 15 years, I hope we can look back and laugh about how we thought slides jammed with text, cluttered backgrounds and checkboard transitions were “good” slides.
–Bruce GabrielleAuthor, Speaking PowerPoint
Thanks, Bruce. Loved the book! Not sure anyone really thinks their jammed, white-space-devoid, mess-o-slides are any good, just that they haven’t figured out there has to be an alternative.
While I would never put that much data on one slide, now I’m far better equipped to help people tackle the data issue.
My #1 takeaway was just to build on paper. As I wrote, so obvious and yet so neglected. This will save me a lot of time moving forward, so I’m glad you were smart enough to figure it out for me.
Daria, this is an interesting read, however, when I conduct presentation skills training, I emphasize the “human factor.” PowerPoint is an aid to presentations. Unfortunately, too many presenters assume they are effective because of PowerPoint. “Build Your Slides on Paper” is really about addressing the needs of visual learners.
Hi Christine – Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comments. I agree with you: slides should be an aid, not a crutch. To me, the best presenters use them to enhance what they’re talking about — and don’t fill up their slides with numbers (or anything else). But there are boardrooms where you’re expected to do data-filled presentations. For these, understanding how best to build that argument is helpful.
BTW, (not to speak for the author but) I think the point of building slides on paper isn’t about how people learn. It’s about not wasting time creating pretty slides you’re never going to use because you’re focused on the wrong task first.
Interesting post. The tip abt building your slide on paper is a good one. I learned that the hard way dealing with a boss who would tell me what she wanted, I’d take a ton of time creating the slides, and then she’d redo her presentation and scrap slides. Now I mock up in PPT a quick look with notes on where other graphics would go and I won’t finalize or format until she’s done with all her presentation rewrites. Huge timesaver!