- Avoid these three PowerPoint mistakes.
In theory, using PowerPoint
can make your presentations better,
but most speakers use it ineffectively,
and I'll give you three tips to avoid these mistakes.
And be sure to get your free PDF download
of these seven instant tips
to become a more confident speaker.
I'll put a link to that in the expandable description
below the video.
Here are three related mistakes and tips to fix them.
First, speakers use their PowerPoint slides
as their speaking notes.
This first mistake leads to lots of other problems.
Here's what I mean.
Instead of creating separate speaking notes on cards,
a tablet, or notebook that the speaker has in front of them,
the speaker essentially puts everything they wanna remember
on their slides.
And that makes them dependent on the screen in back of them.
The speaker ends up turning around
and looking at the screen most of the time.
Speakers like this might start strong
because they've practiced their introduction
and there's nothing substantial on the slides yet.
But then, as they move into the body of the presentation,
they turn their shoulders toward the slides,
and some speakers stay turned back to the slides
and then only glance at the audience the rest of the time.
The speaker loses all connection with listeners.
Eye contact goes down, their energy goes down,
and their impact goes down.
So the tip is to take what's on your slides
and create a simplified version of your notes
and put those on cards, a notebook or a tablet.
We call these speaking notes.
That way, you essentially never need
to look back at the screen because your speaking notes
are literally in front of you.
And while we're talking about speaking notes,
I always recommend simplifying those as much as possible,
all the way down to just key words or phrases.
That way, you're not tempted to look at your notes
the whole time and get locked in.
Think of your speaking notes as just a safety net
to help you stay on track.
This approach takes more practice,
but it's what the professional speakers do.
It completely frees you up to connect with your audience,
speak conversationally, and communicate with more impact.
The second PowerPoint mistake is to use too many words
on each slide.
I've seen many speakers put almost a word-for-word version
of their entire presentation on the slides.
The slides get crowded with text, hard to read,
and really demanding for your audience to look at.
As a speaker, it'll also be a huge temptation
to do mistake number one, which is turn around
and look back at the slides.
But it hurts in other ways.
Your listeners will end up asking themselves,
"Well, if everything's on the slides,
why are we even listening to the presentation?
I could just read the deck of slides myself."
The tip for this is to think of your slides
as just a visual aid.
Your slides are not a recreation
of your entire presentation.
The slides are there for your listeners, not for you.
Slides should enhance what you say
but not make what you say unnecessary.
So instead of filling your slides with word-for-word text,
use limited keywords, phrases, images
to express your message.
Show just the most important data or quotation.
Express just one key idea per slide.
Simpler is usually better.
The third mistake is using too many slides.
Just like too many words,
too many slides can also get very tiring for your listeners.
And if you're all caught up as a presenter
managing your slides, then you're not really focused
on your audience.
In fact, I've noticed that with rare exceptions,
the best presenters use very few slides,
and sometimes no slides.
They put all their energy and focus
into connecting with listeners, building rapport,
presenting with impact, and making sure
they bring their listeners along on the journey.
The tip to fix this mistake is to use fewer slides.
So my challenge is this.
However many slides you usually use,
your first step is to cut that in half.
Use the "need to have" versus "nice to have" principle.
What slides do you really need to have there,
and what slides are just nice to have there?
And then cut all of the "nice to have" slides.
Once you've done that, you can make sure
your remaining slides are clear and simple
and make the impact you're looking for.
You'll notice in this video, for example,
I'm only using about one slide or so per minute,
with minimal text on each one.
When it comes to slides, less is more.
But if you're up for, I recommend you take
my one-slide challenge.
If you have a short presentation, around five minutes or so,
I recommend using just one slide.
If you have three points, for example,
you could create a slide that shows just those three points
and reveal them one at a time.
Another way to just use one slide
is to put up your main theme, or a bottom line,
or a thesis as we call it in school.
Have your whole presentation and leave it up there
for most of the presentation.
You just show or reveal that slide
when you first state your bottom line,
and then leave it up there until about the end.
If you can take the one-slide challenge,
it'll help you break all of these bad PowerPoint habits
we've been talking about.
Let's review.
Don't treat your slides like they are your speaking notes.
Create separate and simplified speaking notes
that you keep in front of you.
Second, don't write anything close
to word-for-word recreation of your message on your slides.
Just use key words, phrases,
the most important quotations in data,
or images to reinforce your message.
Third, avoid using too many slides.
Cut it in half, or better yet,
take the one-slide challenge.
And be sure to download the free PDF I mentioned
of the top seven ways to instantly become
a more confident speaker.
Until next time, thanks.
God bless, and we'll see you soon.