2012-05-25, 11:03 AM
[color="#cc8899"]Sorry for showing up late here, but given that I essentially do this for a career (brief based on powerpoints), here's some general advice. Probably rehashing some earlier comments:
-Sweep the audience with your eyes when speaking (but be sure to speak to the senior person in attendance if applicable), avoid looking at the slides aside from a quick glance if necessary. Make eye contact, look for visual cues from your audience to see if you need to speak louder, clarify a point, etc.
-Assume your audience can read. Don't read your slides line for line - hit the key points, then expand on them. Your slides are there to keep your audience's attention zeroed in on those key points, you're there to fill in the details. Ideally, a powerpoint should be able to stand on its own but should not make you, the presenter/briefer/instructor, useless.
-Don't minimize your role as a presenter - this ties in with the above. You don't want to put so much on your slides that you can't add anything via discussion/presentation. They're there to keep your audience focused, not to do your job for you.
-Pretty pictures. People like pretty pictures. Depending on the formality of the presentation you may not want to include many, but a professional picture or chart/graph can help grab attention.
-Professional - you want your slides to look neat and clean. Avoid clip art, "fun" fonts, etc unless you really know your audience well. It may sound nitpicky, but make sure everything is in the same place from slide to slide - something jumping 5 spaces to the left from the previous slide is eyecatching and distracting. Font sizes being inconsistent, etc - they're jarring and detract from your presentation.[/color]
-Sweep the audience with your eyes when speaking (but be sure to speak to the senior person in attendance if applicable), avoid looking at the slides aside from a quick glance if necessary. Make eye contact, look for visual cues from your audience to see if you need to speak louder, clarify a point, etc.
-Assume your audience can read. Don't read your slides line for line - hit the key points, then expand on them. Your slides are there to keep your audience's attention zeroed in on those key points, you're there to fill in the details. Ideally, a powerpoint should be able to stand on its own but should not make you, the presenter/briefer/instructor, useless.
-Don't minimize your role as a presenter - this ties in with the above. You don't want to put so much on your slides that you can't add anything via discussion/presentation. They're there to keep your audience focused, not to do your job for you.
-Pretty pictures. People like pretty pictures. Depending on the formality of the presentation you may not want to include many, but a professional picture or chart/graph can help grab attention.
-Professional - you want your slides to look neat and clean. Avoid clip art, "fun" fonts, etc unless you really know your audience well. It may sound nitpicky, but make sure everything is in the same place from slide to slide - something jumping 5 spaces to the left from the previous slide is eyecatching and distracting. Font sizes being inconsistent, etc - they're jarring and detract from your presentation.[/color]