Module III Business Presentations

Planning Design and Layout of a Presentation

1.1 Contents: Information Packaging and Delivery

1.1 Planning, Design and Layout of a Presentation

PowerPoint Presentations are a way of attracting audience towards your

views and arguments. It is one of the most helping factors behind success of
every meeting. There are various uses of power point presentations, some of
them are integrated. The most popular uses of power point presentations are
in modern days learning, corporate training sessions, business and
marketing meetings, and sales gatherings.

Learning Solutions

Power point presentation combines audio and visual both aspects, making it
easier to understand for audience. Even the normal teaching or training
becomes interactive by just using presentations in lectures. These days
school, colleges and institutions are providing tailor made presentations to
students for different topics in syllabus of study. That makes learning easier
and interactive for students.

Corporate Training Session

Power point is an essential ingredient of every corporate training session.

Top executives and manager (marketing and sales) use this powerful tool to
train their junior's or associates to give them better, interactive and more
effective training. It's always beneficial and less time consuming for
corporate trainers, if they use these tools in their sessions, it generates more
results.

Marketing Strategy

Powerful tools and options present in Microsoft power point, makes it easier
for people in marketing, advertising, and sales to make presentations for
motivation of their subordinates. Inclusion of different types of charts,
images, clip-arts, other graphical structures, makes a presentation eye
catchy. Animation and sound effects add extra emphasis on these
presentations making them look more interactive.
Guidelines for an effective presentation session:
 1. Your presentation should be to the point and focusing over actual
purpose.
2. There should be a professional look deciding your organizations
identity.
3. You need to practice properly before delivering a presentation in
any seminars.
4. There should be less text, and maximum possible graphics in
presentations.
5. Take care of your time, users positive responses, and their ease,
don't make people bored with longer duration presentations.
6. There should be uniform colors and font appearance throughout
the presentation to avoid in-convenience.

 Tips for creating an effective presentation

 Tips for delivering an effective presentation

Tips for creating an effective presentation

TIP DETAILS

Minimize the number To maintain a clear message and to keep your audience
of slides. attentive and interested, keep the number of slides in
your presentation to a minimum.

Choose a font style that Choosing the right font style, such as Helvetica or Arial,
your audience can read helps to get your message across. Avoid narrow fonts,
from a distance. such as Arial Narrow, and avoid fonts that include fancy
edges, such as Times.
To learn more about how you can use pre-designed
theme fonts in your presentation, see All about themes,
Quick Styles, cell styles, and background styles.
Choose a font size that Choosing the right font size helps to get your message
your audience can read across.
from a distance. NOTE The following measurements indicate the size
of a font on your computer screen, not projected on a
screen for your audience in full screen mode. To enable
full screen mode, on the View tab, in the Presentation
 Views group, click Slide Show.

A one-inch letter is readable from 10 feet.

A two-inch letter is readable from 20 feet.
A three-inch letter is readable from 30 feet.

To learn more about how you can use pre-designed

theme fonts in your presentation, see All about themes,
Quick Styles, cell styles, and background styles.
Keep your text simple Use bullets or short sentences, and try to keep each to
by using bullet points one line; that is, without text wrapping.
or short sentences. You want your audience to listen to you present your
information, rather than read the screen.
Some projectors crop slides at the edges, so long
sentences may be cropped.
You can remove articles such as "a" and "the" to help
reduce the word count on a line.
Use art to help convey Use graphics to help tell your story. Don't overwhelm
your message. your audience by adding too many graphics to a slide,
however.
Make labels for charts Use only enough text to make label elements in a chart
and graphs or graph comprehensible.
understandable.
Make slide Choose an appealing, consistent template or theme that
backgrounds subtle and is not too eye-catching. You don't want the background
keep them consistent. or design to detract from your message.
For more information about using themes, see Apply a
theme to your presentation.
Use high contrast Themes automatically set the contrast between a light
between background background with dark colored text or dark background
color and text color. with light colored text.
To learn more about how you can use themes to
automatically set a visually satisfying contrast level, see
All about themes, Quick Styles, cell styles, and
background styles.
Check the spelling and To earn and maintain the respect of your audience,
grammar. always check the spelling and grammar in your
presentation.

Tips for delivering an effective presentation

TIP DETAILS
Show up early and verify Make sure that all equipment is connected and
that your equipment works running.
properly.

Don't assume that your Disk failures, software version mismatches, lack of
presentation will work fine disk space, low memory, and many other factors can
on another computer. ruin a presentation.
If the computer that you plan to give your
presentation on does not belong to you, make sure
that it has adequate disk space so that you don't have
to present from a CD.
Turn off screen savers, and make sure that you have
the appropriate files and versions of software that
you need, including Microsoft Office PowerPoint.
To ensure all files are accounted for when you copy
them to a CD or network drive and carry them to
your presentation location, see Copy a presentation
to a CD, network, or local disk drive.
Verify that the projector's If the resolutions don't match, your slides may be
resolution is the same as cropped, or other display problems can occur.
the computer on which you
created your presentation.
Turn your screen saver off. Keep your audience focused on the content of your
presentation.
Check all colors on a The colors may project differently than what
projection screen before appears on your monitor.
giving the actual
presentation.
Ask your audience to hold Questions are an excellent indicator that people are
questions until the end. engaged by your subject matter and presentation
skills. But if you save questions until the end of the
presentation, you will get through your material
uninterrupted. Also, early questions are often
answered by ensuing slides and commentary.
Avoid moving the pointer When you are not using the pointer, remove your
unconsciously. hand from the mouse. This helps to stop you from
moving the pointer unconsiously, which can be
distracting.
Do not read the Practice the presentation so that you can speak from
presentation. bullet points. The text should be a cue for the
presenter rather than the full message for the
 audience.
Stay on time. If you plan a certain amount of time for your
presentation, do not go over. If there is no time
limit, take less time rather than more to ensure that
people stay engaged.
Monitor your audience's Each time that you deliver a presentation, monitor
behavior. your audience's behavior. If you observe people
focusing on your slides, the slides may contain too
much data or be confusing or distracting in some
other way. Use the information you learn each time
to improve your future presentations.

10 slide design tips for producing powerful and effective presentations

o You can't build a compelling presentation that communicates your

message if your slides are cluttered, text-heavy, or ugly. These tips from
design pro Garr Reynolds will help you develop presentations that are
professional and inviting.
#1: Keep it simple

PowerPoint uses slides with a horizontal, or Landscape, orientation. The

software was designed as a convenient way to display graphical information
that would support the speaker and supplement the presentation. The slides
themselves were never meant to be the star of the show. (The star, of course, is
your audience.) People came to hear you and be moved or informed (or both) by
you and your message. Don't let your message and your ability to tell a story get
derailed by slides that are unnecessarily complicated, busy, or full of what
Edward Tufte calls "chart junk." Nothing in your slide should be superfluous,
ever.

Your slides should have plenty of white space, or negative space. Do not feel
compelled to fill empty areas on your slide with your logo or other unnecessary
graphics or text boxes that do not contribute to better understanding. The less
clutter you have on your slide, the more powerful your visual message will
become.
#2 Limit bullet points and text

Your presentation is for the benefit of the audience. But boring an audience with
bullet point after bullet point is of little benefit to them. Which brings us to the
issue of text. The best slides may have no text at all. This may sound insane
given the dependency of text slides today, but the best PowerPoint slides will be
virtually meaningless without the narration (that is you). Remember, the slides
are meant to support the narration of the speaker, not make the speaker
superfluous.

Many people often say something like this: "Sorry I missed your presentation. I
hear it was great. Can you just send me your PowerPoint slides?" But if they are
good slides, they will be of little use without you. Instead of a copy of your
PowerPoint slides, it is far better to prepare a written document that highlights
your content from the presentation and expands on that content. Audiences are
much better served receiving a detailed, written handout as a takeaway from the
presentation, rather than a mere copy of your PowerPoint slides. If you have a
detailed handout or publication for the audience to be passed out after your talk,
you need not feel compelled to fill your PowerPoint slides with a great deal of
text.

We'll talk more about this in the delivery section below, but as long as we are
talking about text, please remember to never, ever turn your back on the
audience and read text from the slide word for word.

This slide is not unusual, but it is not a visual aid, it is more like an eye chart.
 Try to avoid text-heavy (and sleep inducing) slides like this one.

Aim for something like this simple slide above.

And this is even better.

#3: Limit transitions and builds (animation)

Use object builds and slide transitions judiciously. Object builds (also called
animations), such as bullet points, should not be animated on every slide. Some
animation is a good thing, but stick to the most subtle and professional (similar
to what you might see on the evening TV news broadcast). A simple Wipe Left-
to-Right (from the Animations menu) is good for a bullet point, but a Move or
Fly, for example, is too tedious and slow (and yet, is used in many presentations
today). Listeners will get bored quickly if they are asked to endure slide after
slide of animation. For transitions between slides, use no more than two or three
types of transition effects and do not place transition effects between all slides.
#4: Use high quality graphics

Use high quality graphics, including photographs. You can take your own high
quality photographs with your digital camera, purchase professional stock
photography, or use the plethora of high quality images available online. (But
be cautious of copyright issues.) Never simply stretch a small, low-resolution
photo to make it fit your layout--doing so will degrade the resolution even
further.

Avoid using PowerPoint Clip Art or other cartoonish line art. Again, if it is
included in the software, your audience has seen it a million times before. It
may have been interesting in 1993, but today the inclusion of such clip art often
undermines the professionalism of the presenter. There are exceptions, of
course, and not all PowerPoint art is dreadful, but use it carefully and
judiciously.

I often use images of people in my slides, as photography of people tends to

help the audience connect with the slide on a more emotional level. If the
photographic image is secondary in importance, then I decrease the opacity and
add a Gaussian Blur or motion filter in Photoshop. If the photographic image is
the primary area I want the audience to notice (such as a picture of a product),
then the image can be more pronounced and little (or no) text is needed.

Try to avoid cheesy clip art like this.

 This edited stock photograph is more effective and professional.

In this title slide, the image is primary.

In this slide from the same presentation, the image is secondary and pushed to
the back by editing it first in Photoshop.

#5: Have a visual theme but avoid using PowerPoint templates

You clearly need a consistent visual theme throughout your presentation, but
most templates included in PowerPoint have been seen by your audience
countless times (and besides, the templates are not all that great to begin with).
Your audience expects a unique presentation with new (at least to them)
content; otherwise, why would they be attending your talk? No audience will be
excited about a cookie-cutter presentation, and we must therefore shy away
from any supporting visuals, such as the ubiquitous PowerPoint Design
Template, that suggests your presentation is formulaic or prepackaged.

You can make your own background templates, which will be more tailored to
your needs. You can then save the PowerPoint file as a Design Template (.pot)
and the new template will appear among your standard Microsoft templates for
your future use. You can also purchase professional templates online.
#6: Use appropriate charts
Always be asking yourself, "How much detail do I need?" Presenters are usually
guilty of including too much data in their onscreen charts. There are several
ways to display your data in graphic form; here are a few things to keep in
mind:

Pie charts. Used to show percentages. Limit the slices to 4-6 and contrast the
most important slice either with color or by exploding the slice.

Vertical bar charts. Used to show changes in quantity over time. Best if you limit the bars to 4-8.

Horizontal bar charts. Used to compare quantities. For example, comparing sales figures among the four
regions of the company.
Line charts. Used to demonstrate trends. For example, here is a simple line chart showing that our sales have
gone up every year. The trend is good. The arrow comes in later to underscore the point: Our future looks good!

In general, tables are well suited for side-by-side comparisons of quantitative

data.

However, tables can lack impact on a visceral level. If you want to show how
your contributions are significantly higher than two other parties, for example, it
would be best to show that in the form of a bar chart (below). But if you're
trying to downplay the fact that your contributions are lower than others, a table
will display that information in a less dramatic or emotional way.
#7: Use color well

Color evokes feelings. Color is emotional. The right color can help persuade
and motivate. Studies show that color usage can increase interest and improve
learning comprehension and retention.

You do not need to be an expert in color theory, but it's good for business
professionals to know at least a bit on the subject. Colors can be divided into
two general categories: cool (such as blue and green) and warm (such as orange
and red). Cool colors work best for backgrounds, as they appear to recede away
from us into the background. Warm colors generally work best for objects in the
foreground (such as text) because they appear to be coming at us. It is no
surprise, then, that the most ubiquitous PowerPoint slide color scheme includes
a blue background with yellow text. You do not need to feel compelled to use
this color scheme, although you may choose to use a variation of those colors.

If you will be presenting in a dark room (such as a large hall), a dark

background (dark blue, gray, etc.) with white or light text will work fine. But if
you plan to keep most of the lights on (which is highly advisable), a white
background with black or dark text works much better. In rooms with a good
deal of ambient light, a screen image with a dark background and light text
tends to washout, but dark text on a light background will maintain its visual
intensity a bit better.

#8: Choose your fonts well

Fonts communicate subtle messages in and of themselves, which is why you

should choose fonts deliberately. Use the same font set throughout your entire
slide presentation and use no more than two complementary fonts (e.g., Arial
and Arial Bold). Make sure you know the difference between a serif font (e.g.,
Times New Roman) and a sans-serif font (e.g., Helvetica or Arial).
Serif fonts were designed to be used in documents filled with lots of text.
They're said to be easier to read at small point sizes, but for onscreen
presentations, the serifs tend to get lost due to the relatively low resolution of
projectors. Sans- serif fonts are generally best for PowerPoint presentations, but
try to avoid the ubiquitous Helvetica. I often choose to use Gill Sans, as it is
somewhere in between a serif and a sans-serif font and is professional yet
friendly and "conversational." Regardless of what font you choose, make sure
the text can be read from the back of the room.

Times

Arial black; Arial

#9: Use video or audio

Use video and audio when appropriate. Using video clips to show concrete
examples promotes active cognitive processing, which is the natural way people
learn. You can use video clips within PowerPoint without ever leaving the
application or tuning on a VCR. Using a video clip not only will illustrate your
point better, it will also serve as a change of pace, thereby increasing the interest
of your audience.

You can use audio clips (such as interviews) as well. But avoid using the cheesy
sound effects that are included in PowerPoint (such as the sound of a horn or
applause when transitioning slides). The use of superfluous sound effects
attached to animations is a sure way to lose credibility with your audience.

#10: Spend time in the slider sorter

According to the Segmentation Principle of multimedia learning theory, people
comprehend better when information is presented in small chunks or segments.
By getting out of the Slide view and into the Slide Sorter view, you can see how
the logical flow of your presentation is progressing. In this view, you may
decide to break up one slide into, say, two or three slides so that your
presentation has a more natural and logical flow or process. You'll also be able
to capture more of the gestalt of your entire presentation from the point of view
of your audience. You will be able to notice more extraneous pieces of visual
data that can be removed to increase visual clarity and improve communication.