Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser

Simply Presentation

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Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser

Introduction
What are These Programs? Slide presentations have become a very common element in business
and education worlds. Delivering a “PowerPoint” is pretty much ex-
Keynote is a presentation applica-
tion by Apple. It is a low-cost pro- pected in conference settings, board meetings, and professional de-
gram that produces very high-quality
velopment sessions. Still, have you ever felt that your slides are not
visuals. Keynote has many advanced
multimedia and graphics features that really reinforcing you? Do you find yourself preparing your presenta-
few other programs can match.
tions in such a way because that’s how slides are “supposed” to look?
•••

PowerPoint is the de facto stan-

dard in slide preparation. Part of Mi- Anything worth presenting is worth presenting well. If you are taking
crosoft’s business suite, PowerPoint
the time to use applications like PowerPoint, Keynote, or Impress to
has become synonymous with busi-
ness presentation. If you have pre- prepare slides for your audience to view, those slides should be the
pared any presentations, chances are
you used PowerPoint. type that stand out and tell your audience to take notice. However,
••• this will not happen unless we break away from conventional wisdom
Impress is a free, multi-platform
and look at a different approach to slide design.
application that is part of the
OpenOffice project. It provides most
of the features you would expect in This session is designed to give you points to consider when design-
PowerPoint without the price tag.
ing your next slide presentation. None of these rules are fixed, and

There are other alternatives available please remember that context may affect the type of slides you use.
for creating your presentation, but
If you follow these guiding principles, you may find yourself creating
these, in my opinion, are the big
three. Search for “PowerPoint alterna- presentations that more deeply engage and enchant your audience.
tives” on the web for more informa-
tion.

Some free online tools include:

Google Docs & Spreadsheets

docs.google.com

Zoho Show

show.zoho.com

Preezo

preezo.com

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Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser

The Cookie-Cutter Approach

The best way to describe the standard approach to designing slides is as a “cookie-cutter” approach.
We use pre-made templates that allow us to just plug in information. We click one place to add a title,
click another box to add text, and double-click an icon to add clip art. The problem with this approach
is that we create presentations that become wholly derivative and lack individuality.

Because you are an individual, your presentation should reflect your individuality. Exercise your creativ-
ity and steer away from using cookie-cutter templates. The best place to start your presentation is with
the blank slide. This allows you to take a simpler and more creative approach to your slide design. None
of the boundaries that templates provide are present. It’s just an empty page and your imagination.

TO

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Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser
Consider Your Visuals
Breaking Away From Clip Art
Here are some places you can go for
quality images to use in your presen-
tation.
sxc.hu
morguefile.com
istockphoto.com
Color Resources for Free
Looking for an inexpensive way to get
started with color matching? Go to
your favorite hardware store and grab
some paint samples. There may even
be some sample color schemes on
display.
Foremost, your slide presentation is a visual experience. Your slides
are not just subtitles to your speaking. They are meant to stimulate
another region of your audiences’ brains and create visual hooks
upon which your listeners can hinge the information they are hearing.
Because slides are so visual in nature, it is important to take care that
your slides are visually appealing – that your audience will want to
look at them. To accomplish this, here are some basic guidelines to
follow.
• Watch your colors. Make sure you are using colors that go well
together and are neither too bold nor too subdued.
• Use better images. The clip art packaged with applications like
PowerPoint is tired and cliché. Use high quality stock images to
illustrate your points.
• Temper your transitions. Too many animations will place more
emphasis on the eye-candy than on the material.
• Respect negative space. Not every inch of your slide has to be
covered with imagery and text. Make use of blank space.
Along with these points, pay additional attention to the background
of your slides. Make sure it is not so busy or bold that it is difficult to
read text.
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Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser

The first thing you might notice about these two slides is how the text is used differently. This is impor-
tant, but let’s focus on the visual aspects for the moment.

1. In the first slide, the illustration comes right out of PowerPoint’s clip art gallery, but the second slide
uses a high resolution photograph. Which makes a better impression? The clip art image is tried-
and-true while the photograph takes a more emblematic approach.

2. The first slide uses a yellow gradient as background where the second uses a deep red. In fact, the
second slide takes a much more careful approach to color while using a greater variety than the
first. Additionally, the text is white-on-black – very easy on the eyes and very readable.

3. The second slide uses space quite differently from the first, and this changes the focus of the slide
away from the text bullets and onto the image. Remember, slides are primarily a visual experience.

One more area to pay attention to is when you insert a graph. It is very tempting to use a 3D chart
because it looks “cooler.” Unfortunately, going 3D can obscure your data. Two dimensional charts are
the best bet for clearly communicating data.

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Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser

Inexpensive Image Editing
Can’t afford Photoshop? Here are
some free or inexpensive resources
for editing images:
Acorn (Mac)
flyingmeat.com/acorn/
Gimp (Mac, Win, Linux)
gimp.org/
PhotoFiltre (Win)
photofiltre.com/
You do not want your slides to look cheap or second-rate, nor do
you want your slides to irritate your viewers. Invest the time and en-
ergy into using coordinated color palettes and high quality images.
Furthermore, respect the negative space on your slide – not every
inch has to be filled. Sometimes empty space can create more impact
than cluttered space.
Again, your slide presentation is most importantly a visual experi-
ence. Respect your use of color, transitions, perspective, and quality
of images. When you do this, your slides will be an engaging visual
event rather than a painful or mundane one.

Photoshop Elements (Mac, Win)

adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/

Pixelmator (Mac)

pixelmator.com/

Picnik (web-based)

picnik.com/

Seashore (Mac)

seashore.sourceforge.net/

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Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser

Consider Your Text

What’s That Buzzing I Hear? Text is probably the single most abused element in presentation
Can you find the buzzwords in the
slides. Too often, we see slides with hard to read words that basically
following list?
act as subtitles to the presenter’s speech. In fact, if we could read the
Best of Breed Knowledge slides, the speaker would be wholly unnecessary.
Economy
Best Practices
Lifelong Learning
Breakthrough Your slideshow is meant to be supplementary to your speech. You
Logistics
Creative don’t want the visuals to supplant you, nor are slides an ideal medium
Destruction Mission Critical
for absorbing large amounts of text. Again, following some basic
Cutting Edge Mission

Dialogue
Statement guidelines will help us better use text in our slides:
Next Generation
Diversity
Outside the Box • Avoid mission statements, logos, and corporate buzzwords. Your
Ecosystem

Empowerment
Paradigm presentation should be clear of any marketing and HR clutter.
Piece
End-to-End These elements merely serve to build walls between you and your
Proactive
Gestalt audience.
Spearhead
Integrity
Synergy
Interoperability • Size, color, and font all matter. Text should be 30 points or higher,
Wellness
and your color should make your text easy to read – sticking to
black or white is usually best. Finally, an inappropriate font can
If you circled or guessed all of these,
throw off the mood of a presentation.
you are correct. Each of these words
have buzzword definitions that are
commonly used in education and • Be moderate with bullets. Try to avoid more than about four listed
business.
items on any given slide, and try to limit the number of slides that

For more on buzzwords, see: contain lists.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzword
• Avoid walls of text. Again, you want your slides to highlight the
languagemonitor.com/

buzzwhack.com/ important points of your talk – not outline every word issuing
from your mouth. Don’t put long sentences or paragraphs on your
slides.

Remember, the main source of language in your presentation should

be you. Your slides exist primarily to back you up and create empha-
sis for important points. At no point should your slides be so detailed

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Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser

that they could supplant you.

Let’s look at a couple of ways we can alter misused text on a slide:

In the case of this slide, all bullet points have been removed in favor of a high-impact image. Most infor-
mation on the original slide could be presented purely orally, but the second bullet may get a slide of its
own:

See how much more readable that statistic is now? When it was buried among bulleted paragraphs, the
figure may have seemed inconsequential, but now the audience can’t help but notice the impact of this
number.

Text on slides is all but inevitable, but be careful how you use it. Use your slides to highlight only the
most important information. Then make sure your text is easy to read and clearly meaningful. If you can
do these things, you are on the way to using text more effectively.

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Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser

Other Considerations
Outside of your visuals and your text usage, here are some other items to think about when creating
and giving a presentation.

• Look at your audience – not at your slides or at notecards. Sometimes we should glance at our
slides to make sure everything is running smoothly. Other times, we may want to point out a
specific illustration or statistic. However, we should always avoid reading off our slides and treat-
ing them as a crutch. Know your material so you can look at your audience.

• Escape the lectern. Standing behind a table or podium creates a barrier between you and your
audience. Get out from behind the lectern, and allow yourself to really connect with your lis-
teners.

• Q & A should never conclude. Don’t put your question-and-answer section at the very end of
your talk. It makes for a weak, uncertain conclusion. Give your Q&A a time limit, and, after the
time limit, present a simple summation that reviews the big ideas of your talk.

• Avoid filler slides. Agendas, “About Me,” and Mission Statement slides do not belong in your
presentation. They make your efforts seem impersonal and generic. Keep your slides to your
content.

• Your slides are not advertisements. Logos and branding do not need to be included. Again, you
want your audience to be able to connect with your slides. Corporate symbols only tend to dis-
tance an audience.

• Your handout should not be your slides. Create a meaningful document to share with your lis-
teners that reflects the content of your presentation without simply rehashing the slides. Include
additional information and resources in your handout, and save its distribution until the conclu-
sion of your talk.

Don’t be afraid to challenge “safe” presentation rules. Think about things that make these types of con-
versations more meaningful and enjoyable for you – then do it. You are not mundane and boring, nor
should your presentations be.

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Simply Presentation • Robert Smelser

Conclusion & Additional Resources

Remember: respect your slides as visual elements that reinforce the talk you are giving. Take care to
create visuals that are effective at connecting with your listeners. Keep text to a minimum, and use it to
highlight your most important points. Finally, make your slides as unique and individual as you are.

For more tips and information regarding slide design and presentation tips, check out the following on-
line resources:

• Presentation Zen – presentationzen.com

• Guy Kawasaki – blog.guykawasaki.com

• Beyond Bullets – sociablemedia.typepad.com

• Create Your Communications Experience – bertdecker.com

• Simply Presentation – homepage.mac.com/crysnrob/simplypresentation/index.html

You can see several presentations created and delivered by others at these sites:

• SlideShare – slideshare.net

• Zentation – zentation.com

• TED Talks – ted.com.talks

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