Received opinion has it that you should always speak with the assistance of slides since, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
But is this really true? Certainly, structures and diagrams can aid understanding of complex subjects but bullet points of the words that you are about to say aren’t always tremendously helpful. Speaking, as I often do, to a group of schoolchildren, using the ubiquitous PowerPoint can subliminally suggest a lesson or lecture, which is not my intention. On a practical level: the more technology you involve, the more likely that something will go wrong and if you have built your speech around your slides, you will be completely lost without them.
Think about the audience: will their experience be improved by your slides? Or are they really for your benefit: to keep you on message or aid your memory. Dimming the lights to enable the audience to see the screen more clearly means that they will not see you and crucially, you will not see them. You are not able to determine whether or not they are following your message or argument, or even if they are still awake. In a good presentation, the focus should be on you, not your visual aids. If you are over reliant on slides then you are raising a question about your competence and confidence.
If, however, you feel still feel the need to use a PowerPoint, then consider a few basic points:
- introduce the slide and its context before you put it up
- your audience can’t read the screen and listen at the same time so give them time to read it before you begin speaking
- if you can, use graphics rather than words, they may help the audience to grasp your point or reinforce your argument
- take the slide away when you have finished talking to it, either switch of the projector, put up a blank or a holding slide (a logo, for example)
Should you hand out a copy of your presentation? If so, when?
These and other questions answered next…………………………
