Do you have to give a presentation? Don’t panic. It’s easier than it sounds, and there are several techniques that can help you. One recommended starting point is the preparation of PowerPoint slides♦. Let’s take a look at some helpful tips for creating a PowerPoint presentation.
People have fairly short attention spans. Because of this, it’s easy to lose their interest, which is the kiss of deathfor any presentation. Therefore, it’s best to keep your speech concise and to the point. This is especially true for the first bit of information they see: the title. Some professional speakers say that you should try to limit your title to five words or less whenever possible. Also, there are many other parts of your presentation where brevity is a good rule, which we’ll look at next.
Public speaking experts have come up with some tips that use numbers to help you remember them. One of these is called the “5/5/5 Rule.” What this means is that you shouldn’t have more than five words in each of your lines, there should only be five lines on each slide, and you shouldn’t have more than five slides in a row with a lot of words on them. There is also the “10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.” The number 10 refers to the most slides you should show, while the 20 is the maximum number of minutes your presentation should be. Moreover, 30 is the minimum fontsize you should use in your slides.
The final tip concerns the use of visual aids and props, such as animations and other eye-catchingimages. The general rule is that they should support your presentation, but not distract the audience’s attention. Thus, they should not be overused.
