[…]How to Make Statistics Training Interesting! « Executive Speaking Weblog[…]…

During my journeys on the net, I saw one of your delightful videos and posted it on our blog. It reminded me of an important point about “rules” that I often make in our workshops.
http://speakfearlessly.net/break-the-rules-have-more-fun/

Also, you might enjoy this post with a terrific presentation using graphics from Hans Rosling at the TED conference.
http://speakfearlessly.net/amazing-graphic-presentation-from-hans-rosling-at-ted/

Terry Gault
http://www.hendersongroup.com/

Interesting story! You are definitely right about how her energy level helped the audience become involved. 80 – 90% of the presenters that I observe do not expend enough energy. Hence, they come across as uninvolved, uninteresting, and unenthusiastic. Since she was obviously interested in what she was presenting, she commanded more attention and projected more confidence and charisma.

As to her powerpoint use, here are my tips on correctly using powerpoint in presentations:

Close Outlook
Close Outlook when you are showing PowerPoint slides. Otherwise, email alerts pop up.

Slideshow Mode
You were not in slide show mode. It makes your slides harder to see. To get into slide show mode hit F5 to go to the beginning. If you have PowerPoint 2003, hitting Shift+F5 will put you in slide show mode starting at the slide you have selected.

Standing in projector beam
You were standing in the projector beam. This is distracting to an audience. Also, we might become concerned about the bright light shining in your eyes. In either case, we are not able to listen closely to your message because of other concerns or distractions.

Bullets as hooks
Think of the bullets on your slides as hooks. By that I mean that the bullet should remind you of your talking points but also incite curiosity in your audience. Use questions, alliteration (repetition of consonants) or juxtaposition of ideas to intrigue the audience. For example:
Why Automate Processes?
License to Fail
Magnet Markets
Customers: Faithful or Fickle?
Plan or Wing It?
Tragedy or Triumph?

Use more images
Incorporate images and negative visual space. Break up all the linear text on your slides with stories, examples, images & metaphors. Otherwise, you are not engaging your audience’s right hemisphere, the brain’s center of imagination. That’s when our minds start to drift, in spite of the fact that the data may be important for us to learn and understand. Use more imagery coupled with metaphor. The image search engine that I use is image.google.com. You can save the image files you find to your hard drive and insert them into PowerPoint. Use files that are between 30 – 100K for good clarity without bloating your PowerPoint file. Check out our materials for more about the use of imagery on page 5-16.

Simplify text
Most PowerPoint slides are loaded with way too much text. Distill your slides down into simple bullet points with 4 or 6 words per bullet max. Think of the bullets as hooks. By that I mean that the bullet should remind you of your talking points but also incite curiosity in your audience. Use questions, alliteration (repetition of consonants) or juxtaposition of ideas to intrigue the audience. For example:
Why Automate Processes?
License to Fail
Magnet Markets
Customers: Faithful or Fickle?
Plan or Wing It?
Tragedy or Triumph?

Anyway, thanks for the story!
Terry Gault