Need an effective presentation? 6 PowerPoint tips

Filed under: Office, How-Tos

PowerPoint slideshows can be a good way to get ideas across -- when used correctly. Sometimes, they can be boring and confusing, even doing more harm than good. Here are a few tools and techniques you can use to create engaging and effective presentations.

1. Use the Lessig Method
All too often, PowerPoint presentations become bogged down in graphs, long quotes and giant chunks of text. My advice? Simplify, simplify, simplify. The simpler your presentation, the more memorable it will be. Lawrence Lessig is a professor at Stanford University widely credited with nailing down the perfect presentation technique: extremely simple slides (though I think Lessig uses Apple Keynote, but no matter). Often Lessig's slides will have only one or two words on them to emphasize what he wants his audience to focus on. Dick Hardt gave a presentation in this style and I highly suggest you watch that here. Of course, this method does require a bit of synchronizing and a lot of practicing. You don't necessarily need to go as far as Lessig and Hardt do, but simplifying slides will be a huge help.

2. Get Inspired
Feeling stuck? Try searching SlideFinder to get some ideas for slide shows.

3. Go Opensource
Sometimes computers you are giving your presentation on do not have the latest version of Microsoft PowerPoint and file types can be incompatible. By carrying around a portable version of OpenOffice.org's Impress slide show software sometimes this dilemma can be avoided.

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Need an effective presentation? 6 PowerPoint tips originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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