Presentation Skills:

It’s all about the audience

Your Audience should feel captivated – not captive

Focus on What Your Audience needs to know

If you’re excited about what you say about your products and services, your audience will too

Great content – eye catching design – effective delivery

Keep it simple – a few points per slide – few fonts – few colors – no clip art

Use text minimally, try to convey the message graphically as much as possible

If you fail to prepare, you’ve prepared to fail

6×7 Rule: No more than 6 lines per slide, no more than 7 words per line

Avoid all capitals unless you must make a major point

Sanserif fonts are generally better

Underline may be confused with hyperlinks, try color to emphasize

Use numbers for sequential list

Use bullets for lists with no hierarchy, sequence or order

Be consistent

Text to support the communication

Pictures to simplify complex concepts

Animations for complex relationships

Visuals to support not to distract

Sound only when absolutely necessary

Don’t read the slides word-for-word, use them as reference

Be particular about the time alotted for the presentation

Leave room for questions

Remote Presentation Tips:

Use more slides to retain attention

Highlight focus points

For short duration slides, be careful about synchronization with your words

Have your picture shown at the beginning

Create a separate slide to be shown during Q&A

Always use a good quality headset

Turn off all external noise sources

Make sure you have a visible clock nearby

Rehearse your presentation a few times

If it’s doable have a co-presenter asking you questions

Have a second computer ready to go