Take a look at your presentations, really look at them.  What is your first impression?  Let's be honest now, would you like to sit through your presentation?

"Ouch" is often the first words I hear when people watch a video of themselves present their presentation.  The second point I usually hear is "this is boring".

“Audiences don’t feel presenters are taking the time necessary to create or deliver effective presentations, they don’t feel that the presenter cares enough about their audience to spend the time necessary to create and deliver a good presentation.”  This is the conclusion from the Latest Annoying PowerPoint Survey Results:  www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/free-resources/latest-annoying-powerpoint-survey-results/ .

But it doesn't have to be so!

Think about your presentations:

1. How much time have you spent developing your presentations to make it them presentations people want to watch?
2. Do you know who your audience is and what do they need/want to know?  
3. Have you taken the time to create a message that is clear, concise, and geared toward the audience?  If you asked the audience at the end of your presentation to tell you the key message(s) of the presentation, could they?
4. Have you rehearsed your presentation?  
5. Is the audience bored by your presentation?  This usually happens when you read to your audience or overwhelm them with information.
6. Are you annoying your audience with these top three presentation mistakes?
   • Reading the slides to the audience (the single most annoying thing a presenter can do).
   • Using full sentences for text (encourages reading your slides)
   • Your text is too small for the audience to read.  Have you made sure that the people in the back row can read your slides?
7. Have you ever actually calculated the actual cost of your presentation (yes, include what it is costing the participants to attend, costs such as their time and salary for that time and what else they could have accomplished during that time).

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​Presentation design is not just about throwing words in PPT bullets then sending it to your administrative assistant to fancy it up--AKA  putting lipstick on a pig.  
Your goal should be to your key points across to your audience.

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“Audiences don’t feel presenters are taking the time necessary to create or deliver effective presentations, they don’t feel that the presenter cares enough about their audience to spend the time necessary to create and deliver a good presentation.”
Dave Paradi

I think it’s important to understand the science because it helps clients understand why you approach design the way you do. When I say, “Retention for a slide full of bullet points is 20% vs. a slide with a headline and graphic is closer to 80%,” people understand that I’m not designing slides just to be “pretty.”  Sandra Johnson, The PresentationPodcast.

If you have presentation coming up, be it a large keynote or an internal presentation, take the time to look at it from your audience's perspective.  And, if you need some help, or someone to look it over, jot me an email (kim@kimhconsulting.com) and we can talk.