How effective are Powerpoint presentations?
Ha! Hopefully they are… I spent all of last week preparing 7 of them for one of my managers. (Thursday I started at 8:30am and left the office at 8:20pm. With no lunch!) The presentations happened all day Friday – I took today off. So I’ll find out how effective they were tomorrow. But in general they can be very effective. As long as you keep them simple and don’t use too many fancy effects. I was told to use the 666 rule a few years back – use no more than 6 slides, with no more than 6 bullet points, each containing no more than 6 words. The audience will take it all in much better than something with more detail. In reality, that doesn’t happen of course.
Hello Keithold A bad one is very effective as a distraction from the point. Think carefully about the content. Keep the written points very very brief, phrases are better than sentences. Mind mapping, simple maps are very helpful, if you grow them using your presentation. Pictures are good, but too much fancy schmancy swinging in from the left and sliding in from the right turns it fromm information to a cheap cruddy pop video with no music. I would advise always preparing your notes (the phrases, maps etc) into copy to handy out. You can turn the phrases into sentences there, where it’s appropriate to take it away and read it at a more leisurely pace. Another helpful thing is a long cable on your mouse or better still a wireless mouse or clicker. I hope this helps.
