World Crisis Online

Chuck Dietrich: Eschew ennui.

Written by Chuck Dietrich

This month marks the national “Say No to PowerPoint Week,” an occasion that allows us to pause the endless tedium of text heavy, boring slides that march our audiences into comatose complacency.

Saying no to PowerPoint is not a rebellion against all presentations but against ugly, boring and ineffective presentations.

Every day, thousands of people are forced to sit through dull, flat PowerPoint slide decks. “Death by PowerPoint,” a phenomenon that uses uninspired, text-heavy slides to lull audiences into a coma, is all too common. Whether you’re presenting a slide deck during a sales call, speaking at a conference, presenting your company to investors, or sending a presentation via email to a potential client, boring your audience into apathy with dull slides is hardly your goal. You want your presentation to engage your audience in an interactive conversation that leads to a closed deal, a new customer or partnership, or a round of funding.

Like the perfect power suit, a great presentation adds polish and confidence to the underlying content. It is visually appealing without being overwhelming, and appropriate for the audience and occasion. With a few simple fixes you can turn boring presentations into powerful sales and marketing weapons. Using the tips below you will discover how to leverage presentations to drive customer engagement and increase sales. More importantly, you can say no to boring, ineffective communications.

• Say Yes to Storytelling: Ground your audience by developing a story. Begin by defining the three key takeaways you want your audience to remember and focus your slides to support that message. Define your brand by settling on a consistent look and feel – including font, text size, and transitions.
• Say No to Text Overload: The top presentation sin is slides with too much text. Avoid the temptation to use your slides to tell the whole story, but instead opt for short powerful points that punctuate your key message. Try a simple, clear balance of text within an image. For example, a relevant image with a bolded statistic is far more powerful than several bullet points. Remember that elegant slides with a singular message will engage your audience, while text overload will put them to sleep.
• Say Yes to Visual Impact: Sometimes the best slides have no text at all. Images, when used effectively can make your presentation sing. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. A relevant image can be far more impactful than a slide filled with text. The right image will convey a powerful point that not only resonates with your audience but also is memorable. You can also spice up an ordinary title on a plain background with a really great font. Don’t go overboard by adding too many visual elements; create a color palette and stick to it.
• Say No to Working Alone: An online presentation tool allows you and your team to collaborate in real time without the inefficiency of emailing back and forth. An online tool facilitates the collective sharing of ideas and feedback that can take a presentation from good to great. It can also allow you to get others invested in the process. Use the online tool to share and invite comments from key stakeholders, prospects or customers. The interactivity creates a true discussion that can move you to the next step in your process whether that is closing a deal or creating deeper engagement with exiting customers.
• Say Yes to Audience Engagement: Real-time discussion and interactivity allows your audience to contribute ideas and spark discussion that will make your presentation an experience rather than a talking head display. Add instant surveys to obtain real-time feedback. Incorporate audio and video, such as YouTube clips to stimulate your audience. Leverage the social back channel during your presentation. Today, conference-goers and students broadcast their thoughts on social networks such as Twitter during your presentations. Dish out 140 character sound bites, create a #hashtag for your presentation, and put a Twitter feed directly into your presentation. Tweetable content makes an idea more contagious. Your presentation will spread through social media even after you take a bow. By inviting and listening to the social back-channel, you have a real opportunity to engage your audience.

This month we can all say, “rest in peace” to death by PowerPoint and “yes” to stunning, engaging presentations that drive engagement and action.

Charles Dietrich is CEO of SlideRocket, which provides software tools for online slide shows.