A presentation is one of the basic
needs of any corporate firm today. You need
a basic layout for a project you are handling or a meeting or even for an
educational program be it the paperwork, a model or a presentation. Today the
most commonly employed tool is a presentation since it’s easy to prepare, easy
to understand, saves time and used to present large data in an apt manner. In
my career span I have come across many presentations. Back in Med school we had
to make a lot of presentations ourselves. Although a very basic thing, one
might argue “Ohh!! Anybody can make a presentation. Big deal!” Making a presentation is an easy task but
making a GOOD presentation is a matter of skills.
The computer keyboard has given us
4 intelligent keys viz. “CTRL”, “C”, “V”, “S” and with the advent of internet
it has become very easy to reach out to any topic in the world. The sure short
time saving trick for many people is to simply Google the topic concerned,
check out a few links and use the four magical keys in the order Ctrl+C,
Ctrl+V, Ctrl+S; mix and match data, insert a few images, change background,
change name and That’s It!! You’re ready with a good presentation which you are
going to present after almost an hour. It is surely a shortcut but presents
with bad outcomes. I would first like to point out the common consequences of a
bad presentation:
1. There are
times when the data so assembled have no connection and since you surely didn’t
notice where you picked it from, naturally drags you into confusion of not
knowing what you are talking about unless you are very good at it already. A
bad presentation also reflects upon your reputation, your performance, your
seriousness about your work and the level of your preparation on the very
topic.
2. Stacking
data makes your presentation boring. Well sitting through a meeting with huge
data simply stacked on the slide seems like an all time job. It is boring,
makes you sleepy and encourages you to put off even a good proposal. DO NOT
STACK DATA. If I had to read through the stacked data, I would prefer reading
it from the project report or the book that supplies me with the same
information or maybe some extra useful information.
I would like to share with you the Thumb rules
for making a great presentation that is sure to capture your audience
interests:
1. “6 line 6
words” Rule: As a student I came across this very effective technique for
making a good presentation. A slide must not contain more than 6 lines and a
line not more than 6 words. Although variations to it exist especially in the
latter half of the rule but I strongly recommend this thumb rule. It keeps your
slide clean, keeps the audience interested without switching their brains to
the “sleep mode”, keeps the content clear, apt and focussed only on the
important points. Most importantly It does not tire you which of course reading
large paragraphs do.
If you are using keywords, use at
the most one or two lines for each of them and keep the excess stuff for vocal
presentation. If it consists of facts, mention sources.
2. Use Clear
Pictures: many people like using pictures in their presentations. This is an
excellent strategy but sometimes fail due to usage of blur pictures or pictures
with low pixels that lose their clarity when enlarged. What is the point of
using a picture your audience cannot possibly see or understand??? Whenever
possible use High Definition pictures, If you can’t find a good picture online,
use your original content (like if you are a doctor, use the pictures from your
own cases if you have one, if you are an architect, use the pictures from the
models you have prepared or the 3D perspectives you have made).
3. Make
Flowcharts, Tables: Instead of writing
huge paragraphs to explain a procedure or classify something use flowcharts and
tables. The data so presented is clear and very easy to understand. It will
also save you a lot of time, effort and a lot of slides.
4. Use Media:
whenever possible or needed use audio, videos and other media supported with
your content. I love using media in my presentations, even animated clips or flash
arrows or graphics. They are very catchy, deliver more information than the
verbally said things, direct your audience’s attention right to the point you
wish to highlight. In short, serves to be more informative, and most importantly
doesn’t bore the audience.
5. Use Good
Backgrounds: Many people simply pick up a boring blue, a simple black or white
as a background. I agree it saves a lot of time since patterned or coloured
backgrounds may need some more text colour or font adjustments. Everybody has
their own perspective at this but I prefer backgrounds that relate to the
content I am presenting or backgrounds that have vibrant colours which make the
presentation look lively.
These are the five basic things I
consider important while making a good presentation. It takes 10 extra minutes
but saves an extra hour that is merely wasted. Of course apart from these the
presenter must be thorough with the stuff he is going to present (should at least
be thorough with the data he writes in the presentation if not extra). A
confident tone, knowledge about your project, and a good presentation is all it
takes. Last but not the least your audience will actually soak in the
information you convey, will happily look forward to meetings and educational
programmes, will be eager to take part into it and WILL NOT SLEEP of course.
I hope you find my post useful. I
really appreciate that you are reading my post. Please feel free to share your views
with me.
Dr. Prerna Singla
(Director & Creative Head - La Vita Banquets, Gurgaon, Haryana. India)
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