4 tips for simplifying your PowerPoint presentations

You’ve probably had this happen to you before. You’re attending a class, conference or meeting. When you get there, you take your seat, the speaker puts their PowerPoint up on the screen, and AARGH! The text is so small and dense that you can’t even read it. What’s more, you realize that you’re trying so hard to make out the words on the screen that you’re paying no attention to what the speaker is saying.

We tend to forget that a PowerPoint presentation is supposed to be a visual aid. It’s the equivalent of a blackboard, projector or poster. There’s no need to write everything you’re going to say on a PowerPoint. Its purpose is to draw the audience’s attention; it shouldn’t become a source of distraction. So how do we create effective presentations?

In this post, I summarize the major tips I’ve been able to glean from the Internet and provide a few references for those of you who want to find out more.

One slide, one idea

One way to cut back the clutter is to treat every slide in a presentation like a paragraph in a text. Each slide should present only one main idea, and this main idea can be broken down into three to five points at most. It’s a good way to zero in on what’s important.

The “5 × 6 = 30” rule

As I mentioned in the introduction, one of the problems in PowerPoint is the font size. The more text you have on a slide, the smaller the characters will be. If the text is too small, then there’s too much of it. So if you’re wondering whether you need to do some more pruning, the font size can be a good indicator. For those of you who like math, here’s a rule I came across in my reading and that I’ve adapted for you below:

• 5 points per slide
• 6 words per point
• 30-point font size

Five and six are your ideal maximum allowable limits. But you can consider 30 a good average to shoot for. For example, you could have a title in a size 32 font and a bulleted list in size 28. Also, there’s nothing to stop you from going higher than 30, but ideally, you shouldn’t fall too far below that threshold. Bear in mind, too, that sans serif fonts, such as Calibri and Arial, are easier to read on a screen than are other fonts.

As little distraction as possible

Another way to make your PowerPoint presentation more effective is to simplify the content. Depending on the type of presentation, certain elements may cause some people to tune out. For instance, it’s easy to forget about that new employee or that colleague who is colour blind. You have to adapt the presentation to your target audience and make sure it’s easy to read and understand.

Here are some issues that can make a presentation cumbersome:

• lack of uniformity
• complex statistics
• acronyms (if not defined)
• technical terms (if not defined)
• dizzying transitions and animations
• colours that clash or are hard to distinguish

A supporting document

Is some essential information just impossible to sum up in few words? Then why not use a supporting document? A separate document can be a good way to communicate all the important information without cluttering up your PowerPoint presentation. It can be a particularly good idea if you’re presenting a budget, detailing recommendations or developing course notes. If the context allows, you’ll want to wait until the end of the presentation before sending out a supporting document, though. Otherwise your audience will read it instead of listening to you.

Your turn!

With such a pared-down PowerPoint, you may feel a little exposed. Your audience will have eyes—and especially ears—for you only! While all this attention can make some people more confident, it may leave others feeling more nervous. No matter how you respond, it’s always a good idea to practise beforehand, if possible in front of someone who’ll be able to give you feedback.

Have you tried some of these tips or used a few of your own? Did they make a difference to your audience? Please leave me a comment and tell me about it!

Sources

Translated by Nicholas Vaughan, Language Portal of Canada