THE TOOLKIT
Slides

When was the last time you saw a presentation without slides? Slides (e.g., PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.) are very common visual aids. However, they are intended to be just that, an AID. Many people tend to rely too much on the deck or slides and put their entire presentation on screen. Not only does this risk your credibility, it also puts a lot of work on your audience to read text and try to follow what you say.  It can be overwhelming and lose audience members. Therefore, we have compiled a list of tips for using slides in presentations.

1. TOUCH, TURN, & TALK (TTT).

Avoid reading from the screen. When you read from the screen, you place your back to your audience, and they can’t see or hear you. Therefore, follow these steps:

• Touch the number or area you want to highlight on the screen.
• Turn towards your audience.
• Talk to them explaining that number of area on the slide.

2. AVOID USING A POINTER.

Using a pointer is difficult because people don’t know what to do with it when they are not pointing. As a result, it becomes a sword, lightsaber, or toy and distracts from the presentation. Also, by pointing with your hand, you create an informal, relaxed setting.

3. PLACE YOUR HANDS IN THE HOF POSITION.

Remember the basics. After you gesture or point, return your hands to home base (HOF: hands out front).

4. NUMBER YOUR SLIDES.

This will keep you organized in the event you have to reference back to a particular slide.

5. DETERMINE HOW BRIGHT YOU CAN KEEP THE LIGHTS.

The more light you have, the better you can control the audience. So, determine how bright you can keep the room and still maintain image clarity. For best practice, have the lights up at the beginning and end of your presentation. You may also need to turn up the brightness on the projector or television.

6. PROVIDE A WORK AREA.

Give yourself some room next to the projector or your laptop or on a table nearby for your notes and water.

7. PREPARE THE PROJECTOR.

Don’t walk into a room and assume that the projector is in the right position, in focus, and ready to go. You need to arrive a little bit ahead of times and prepare your projector or television.

8. USE THE PHRASE “I INCLUDED THIS SLIDE TO MAKE THE POINT THAT…”

This will help both you and your audience understand the purpose of the slide and get to the bottom line. This phrase is especially helpful when you have a busy slide.

9. BE FLUID AND USE BLACKOUT WHEN NECESSARY.

When you change from one slide to the next one, be decisive. Avoid going forward and backward with slides. Don’t fidget with the clicker. Use the blackout feature on the remote control or hit “b” on your keyboard in presentation mode to blackout the screen.

10. DON’T BE AFRAID OF SILENCE.

Although you want to connect your slides with transitional statements, you may want to pause when changing slides, so your audience can digest the information.

11. BE INSIGHTFUL.

Don’t simply read what your audience is seeing on the screen. Put the information into an understandable context. Tell them what it means.

12. CLEAR THE SLIDE

You can use this formula to speak to just about any slide. These are the three important pieces of information to share when speaking off of visual aids:

• Conceptualize: What’s the big picture? What am I looking at?
• Specify: What is the most important piece of information on the slide? What 1-2 data points should I focus on?
• Takeaway: Why does this information matter? What do I get or lose from this information?