Playing To An Audience With PowerPoint

From primary schools to universities, from hospitals to board rooms, Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 is one of the preferred tools used to communicate quickly and professionally to an audience. But as more of us use the program in our everyday lives, there is a danger that we might forget how to communicate and worry more about the method of communication.

It is important, therefore, to take some time now and then to review just how we are using PowerPoint 2007 to communicate.

A common mistake for any presenter is to regard PowerPoint 2007 as a means to communicate short, snappy messages. Many do not use the program successfully to argue a point, or tell a story. However, a good presenter can deliver a perfectly polished Slide Show to deliver any message. It should always be the presenter's role - and not that of the program - to deliver to the audience.

Another mistake is to try to put too much information on each slide as there is not enough room for all the text. But never make your presentation too sparse. And remember, the use of bold text or animation can highlight relevant points of a discussion, but you still need to use tone of voice to add weight to points of an argument.

Although it's perfectly OK to use acronyms in your presentation, you should not feel forced to speak in a certain way. Your delivery should be natural and articulate. Do not try to talk in a short-hand, stilted manner. You might miss out verbs in the text in your presentation in an effort to combine everything onto a slide, but don't let this impact on your delivery.

Neither should you run your presentation without dialogue. The salient points you want to highlight might be on screen for all to see, but you will never deliver your message if you are merely reading out what's there. This is especially important when you are using symbols. Does that arrow pointing from paragraph one to paragraph two mean the next stage has already happened? Or is it definitely going to happen? Or could happen? Clear explanation of every symbol and bullet point is crucial.

The question of whether the number of slides gives an indication of the work which has gone into a presentation will always come up. Again, the quantity is entirely dependent on the subject of the presentation. A delivery on use of light and shade to a group of photographers, for example, might contain a great amount of slides of images highlighting specific photographic examples. Size, therefore, really doesn't matter. A perfectly acceptable presentation could consist of a few slides with simple images and one or two pieces of text. It's up to the presenter to do their bit and to use the tool to create a bespoke presentation geared towards their subject. PowerPoint 2007 is your blank canvass.

Some features help people to learn, others don't and can hinder learning if used in the wrong way. Listening and simultaneously watching a demonstration uses two channels of learning, which in turn increases understanding. Some argue that there is a 90% increase in learning if using both channels of communication - hence the popularity and effectiveness of PowerPoint 2007.

However, it is easy to overload a presentation, hoping that the more senses we stimulate, the more learning will occur. Using lots of graphics and colour distracts from the learning process. Be particularly careful when selecting features including background sounds, music, video clips and unrelated facts thrown in an attempt to make your presentation quirky.

Using speech, text and graphics on screen in the wrong way can overload the visual system as we all have a limited capacity for information. Your audience may find your presentation extremely entertaining, but they might also learn less as their thought processes are wasted in absorbing and interpreting the different stimuli.

Presenting new concepts can sometimes demand too much from an audience - no matter how many images or words you use. Presenting ideas using technical words or using unknown jargon is as demanding as presenting to your audience in an unfamiliar language. Audiences will tire more easily as they struggle to absorb and disseminate the information. Attention span becomes shorter and your group will begin to forget what they are listening to.

But some concepts and ideas are better explained and represented by visual representation. Think how many words you might need to describe a spherical shape to someone. Then think about how easy it is to draw the shape while at the same time, explaining the shape to them in speech.

As PowerPoint 2007 crosses from work to home life there's even talk of karaoke PowerPoint nights - where members of the audience are asked to give a live, unrehearsed PowerPoint presentation on a random topic. This might be an odd way to socialise out of hours, but it does demonstrate just how much the tool has become part of our daily lives.

If there isn't a local PowerPoint karaoke night near you, try a professional training course instead - much less embarrassing and nobody's going to hog the microphone.