Listen, Learn, Engage

Stop PowerPoint Abuse! Five Crimes Against PowerPoint

Posted by Leigh Anne Lankford, October 18, 2011

PowerPoint has been getting bad press for years. I’ve heard and read many complaints about terrible presenters reading directly off the slides. Or even worse, complaints about presenters with a 100-slide deck full of 12 point font “eye charts.” This misuse of the tool has given PowerPoint a bad reputation in many workplaces.

The reality is that PowerPoint can be a powerful tool in a presentation. It can elicit emotional responses, help with humor, illustrate key points, help the brain organize the material, encourage retention, and enhance the mood.

So if PowerPoint is so powerful, why the bad press? In my experience as a member of the audience, nine out of ten users seem to simply stick with the crowded bullet points. So the question is, do you use this great tool well—or are you an abuser?

To help you determine your guilt, I’ve made a list of several of the more common crimes against the audience and PowerPoint below.

Crime #1: Fonts

Using too many fonts on the slide is distracting and makes it difficult for the audience to process. Stick with only two fonts throughout your entire slide deck. These can be simple fonts like Ariel and Ariel Bold, or you could use a colored font for the title and something plain for the body.

Crime #2: Colors

Using great colors can help with branding, it can help emphasize your message, it can evoke emotions …and…it can send your audience into fits or make them think they are blind. Using slides of many different colors, bright colors, or colors that don’t work well together can sabotage your presentation.

As we age, our eyes cannot distinguish colors as well as they did in the past. For example, the two best color combinations for the aging adult eye are:

• Blue background – yellow text OR
• White background – black text

In addition, many people suffer from color blindness. This usually doesn’t mean that they see the world only in black and white—it means that they can’t distinguish certain colors from others, such as red and green.

In addition, I’ve seen trainers try to delight or energize their audience with the use of splashy colors. A simple white background with vibrant photos for interest will do a much better job of keeping your audience awake.

Crime #3: Busy Template

PowerPoint templates can provide a great unifying theme throughout your presentation. For this reason, many presenters insist on using them. In addition, many corporate marketing departments prefer to create branded, colorful templates for all presentations. In my experience, a one-color (no gradient) background with simple fonts creates the best visual presentation. But you act as the judge. The same content is presented below using two different template styles.

Another great reason to choose a simple template is photos. If you use a colorful photo, it’s challenging to make your photos work on the image. See these two samples:

Crime #4: Too Much on the Screen

Keep your slides simple. Less is more. Too much information on the screen is difficult to process. Use white space, a picture, and large font. If you have an Excel table to share, put it in a handout!! Not a single member of your audience will be able to read an Excel table.

Also, don’t put more than 36 words on a screen. If you must use bullets, follow the 6 x 6 rule.

The best use of slides, however, is not as the content for the presentation but rather as emphasis for your points. Each slide should have only one main point. The best slides of all have no bullet points—only pictures. See the example below of moving content out of bullet point mode. Which one will act as the best emphasis for the speaker?

Crime #5: Reading the Slide

Do not read your slides. Let me repeat myself. Do not read your slides. There is no quicker route to an audience that is completely disengaged.

While there are many other crimes against PowerPoint, paying attention to these five major ones will improve your PowerPoint presentations greatly and may help to improve the reputation of this powerful tool.