Mr. Media Training

We’ve all seen that speaker.

I’m talking about the one who flies through 100 PowerPoint slides in 20 minutes. Or the one whose font size is microscopically tiny. Or the one whose slides magically appear with an elaborate whooshing noise.

This article will help you avoid their mistakes and learn from the best practices governing PowerPoint presentations. Use them and you will position yourself as that rare talent who uses PowerPoint just enough to add value to your presentations.

Here are the five most common PowerPoint mistakes – and how to avoid them.

This is a real PowerPoint slide prepared for U.S. commanders in Afghanistan. It's a perfect example of a terrible PowerPoint slide.

1. Too Many Slides

Clients often ask how many slides are appropriate for a PowerPoint presentation. There’s no easy answer – some presentations demand none, while others could seamlessly incorporate one per minute.

In general, try to avoid more than one slide every three minutes. You – not the slideshow – should be the star of the show. Slides shouldn’t tell the audience new information; rather, they should reinforce key messages. Lose the slide if it doesn’t help reinforce a critical point. 

2. Too Many Words

Last year, I saw a speaker who crammed about 100 words onto each slide. He was speaking in a large ballroom, and guess what: no one seated behind the first row could read his slides. The entire audience squinted and tried to read his text anyway. And that meant they were no longer listening to the speaker.

In general, aim for no more than 3-4 words per bullet, no more than 3 bullets per slide. And please – don’t use your PowerPoint slides as a takeaway. If your slides make any sense as a stand-alone takeaway document without your verbal commentary, you’ve probably loaded too much information onto each slide.

3. Pointless Animations

You might think that Microsoft invented PowerPoint because it thought speakers should use all of its coolest features. It didn’t. Here’s what Robert Gaskins, the Microsoft whiz who invented PowerPoint, had to say on the topic:

“Despite the lush graphics effects so easily produced through modern presentation applications, most contemporary presentations should return to formats nearly as spare as the old overhead transparencies.”

He’s right. Animations and graphics can be used if they serve a specific purpose that helps the audience retain your main messages. But 99 percent of the time I’ve seen them used, they don’t.

4. Not Enough Graphics

I’ve mentioned that your slides should reinforce your messages; visuals (e.g. simple graphs, pie charts and pictures) are a terrific way to accomplish that.

I don’t mean that you should load your presentation with graphics, but rather that you remain mindful of the balance between words and graphics. Look through your PowerPoint presentation. When you come across text-heavy slides, ask yourself whether there’s a better way to make the same point through images instead.

5. Complicated Visuals

The three keys to good graphics are these: simplify, simplify, simplify. Everything on your slide should be visible to the back row – so omit any small text and include only the most essential parts.

For example, I use the military PowerPoint slide (above) when speaking about PowerPoint abuse. In order to prevent the audience from looking at the slide instead of listening to me, I give them about ten seconds to take in the slide, then I continue speaking.

We use this slide in our media training workshop. It is used to reinforce a key point we make verbally.

As a more positive example, I use the slide above in our media training workshops (it’s about the importance of remaining on message). It may not mean much here – but paired with the point I make verbally, it’s a critical message that audiences tend to remember.

Related: Three Tips – When The PowerPoint Crashes

Related: Verbal White Space – The Importance of Pausing During a Speech