No more boring presentations, please!

If I see another PowerPoint presentation that is "bullet, sub-bullet, bullet, sub-bullet, sub-bullet, bullet...." I'm going to puke.  Get creative.  Make some sizzle.  Stand out from the crowd by making a presentation that engages the audience, not puts them to sleep.  I don't mean throwing a bunch of animation up there either...that has become a bit cheezy.  Keep the message on each slide simple and powerful.  This might mean lots more slides, but that's okay...you'll roll through each one faster and keep your audience engaged.  And for heaven's sake, don't read your slides to your audience.  Your audience is capable of reading as well as you are.  Supplement each slide with expanded comment and not dictation.  And if you keep the message on each slide simple, your audience won't have to compete by either reading it or listening to you.

I realize there are different kinds of presentations, but in general the above advice should fit most types.  However, if you are giving a copy of your presentation (hard copy, or through email, etc.), then you might have to format it differently, since the slide deck for a powerful live presentation might not come across the right way in a non-live setting.  I'll probably expand upon this in a future blog.