Seen "The fight
club"?… Then this should sound familiar:
- The first rule of Fight club is "you don't talk about the Fight Club!"
- The second rule of Fight Club is you DO NOT talk about the Fight Club!
And on it goes...
I have my own set of
rules for another special club you are hundreds to belong to: the PowerPoint
club! Problem with this club: nobody, and I mean NO-BODY respects the rules! And
we all know what happens when the rules are not respected : Chaos! Which in this case means boredom, waste of time, waste of money...
Here are the 10
rules of PowerPoint:
1st rule of
PowerPoint
You do not use
PowerPoint for yourself as a presenter. PowerPoint was invented for your audience. So they could better understand whatever you're here to talk about.
2nd rule of PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a
distraction, if you decide to use it, there must be a reward : they get the point, they remember, they understand faster...
3rd rule of
PowerPoint
The Background of
your slides must be DARK. Slides are about light, not pigments! You are
blindening your audience with your white slides!
4th rule of
PowerPoint
Don't turn your back
at your audience. This is rude and ineffective! This is called upstaging
yourself and it will not work. Communication works face to face / eye to eye.
5th rule of
PowerPoint
When you don't use
it (basically, when you talk), turn the damn thing off! Mute, dark slide, do
whatever it takes to get rid of the distraction.
6th rule of
PowerPoint
Use bold images. One
slide-One point. Period. You don't need an image to help people understand every word you say (yes, they know what a team is!)
7th rule of
PowerPoint
Use wise animations to control the attention of your audience. Simple but super effective. Avoid
anything cheesy.
8th rule of
PowerPoint
Danse with
PowerPoint: it's a double act. When you talk, PowerPoint goes silent (off!),
when it talks, let it do its magic: you shut up. Don't talk both at the same time,
it'll get messy!
9th rule of PowerPoint
You don't HAVE to use it! Most of the time you are much better presenters when you don't.
10th rule of PowerPoint
PowerPoint is NOT the presentation. You ARE. Saying: "I forgot my presentation at home" is as stupid as an actor saying: "I forgot my performance in my livingroom."
9th rule of PowerPoint
You don't HAVE to use it! Most of the time you are much better presenters when you don't.
10th rule of PowerPoint
PowerPoint is NOT the presentation. You ARE. Saying: "I forgot my presentation at home" is as stupid as an actor saying: "I forgot my performance in my livingroom."
If you shall respect those
rules, you will become part of a club with a very short and exclusive
number of members: the ones who know how to use this very sophisticated software!
