Most of us have had to sit through one of those terrible “death by PowerPoint” sessions where the speaker has a gazillion slides, all covered in tiny text, garish and irrelevant animation and dumb transitions. I’m as guilty as the next guy – I’ve presented some shockers, and I’m a sucker for the sexy transitions in Keynote! About 10 minutes in, we realise we’ve wasted our time being here and would rather be popping our eyeballs from their sockets with a teaspoon.
Fear not! Two of the greatest marketing minds on earth, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin have come to our collective rescue. Seth’s post is new, and Guy’s is from late 2005. They are both incredibly insightful and should be compulsory reading for anyone doing a presentation of any sort.
Here are the core point gathered from Guy and Seth’s posts:
- 10/20/30 – 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 point font
- use cue cards – run your presentation from cards in your hand or on the podium, not the slides themselves
- use emotion – hard data, visual presentation
- have a leave-behind – give out the slides, notes and supporting information after the presentation. Give it out before and it’s justs a distraction
- create a feedback cycle – enforce the reason for the presentation (Seth calls it a “sale”, but it’s whatever the core point of the show is) by driving the presentation to the core point (sale, agreement to project, etc.)
Seth also has a list of rules for slides. They might look hard, but I’ll bet they improve your show:
- No more than six words on a slide. EVER. There is no presentation so complex that this rule needs to be broken.
- No cheesy images. Use professional stock photo images.
- No dissolves, spins or other transitions.
- Sound effects can be used a few times per presentation, but never use the sound effects that are built in to the program. Instead, rip sounds and music from CDs and leverage the Proustian effect this can have. If people start bouncing up and down to the Grateful Dead, you’ve kept them from falling asleep, and you’ve reminded them that this isn’t a typical meeting you’re running.
- Don’t hand out print-outs of your slides. They don’t work without you there.
Some of these look tough, but I’m going to try them for my next presentation and see how they go. After all, if they work for Steve Jobs, they might work for me.
