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  Are you feeding your audience Toxic PowerPoint?
Written by Susan Stoen   

It's time to reverse the trend of "Death by PowerPoint." Here are some tips and ideas on how you can stop exposing your audience to visuals aids that really aren't good for them.

Susan StoenLet's be honest. Does the thought of sitting through another PowerPoint presentation make you jump with excitement?
I talk to people nearly every day about presentations, specifically the visuals that are used in these presentations. And I'm noticing a theme. There's a growing rebellion just over the horizon...people are telling me they're ready to stand up and walk out on the next bad PowerPoint presentation they are asked to endure. They just can't take it any more!
What do they mean by bad PowerPoint? They’re referring to something I call “Toxic PowerPoint.” That means slide after slide of TEXT in the form of bullet points on backgrounds we've all seen hundreds of times. CLIP ART ugh!, and slides that are used by presenters as scripts that they turn and read to the audience.
Does this sound familiar?
I hope you’re wondering what you can do as a presenter to help prevent this rebellion. As a professional in the field of Visual Communications, I have some ideas for you on how you can stop feeding your audience Toxic PowerPoint:
  • First, ask yourself if you really need to use PowerPoint. Are the visuals there to help the audience understand your message? Or are you using them for yourself as a script? If the answer is for yourself, turn off the projector and face your audience without PowerPoint.
  • If you are using PowerPoint, replace as much of your text as you can with visuals. If you'd like information on how much more people retain from visuals vs. text, contact me. I’ve got some great articles on the science behind how people take in information in a presentation. (I’ll give you a hint…it’s not through text.)
  • Move the text from your slide to the notes section, print your slides in the notes view, and provide your audience with handouts so they can take the information with them
  • Learn how to customize your template and stop using the ones that came with the software
  • Make sure your presentation is organized so that your audience can easily follow along
  • Work with me to transform your toxic PowerPoint to a presentation that captures your audience and helps them retain your message
My philosophy on PowerPoint? Simple. Make It Visual. My mission? To save people from creating or having to endure another Toxic PowerPoint presentation. My goal? That your audience will jump for joy after your next presentation because it was so memorable and visually exciting.
And when your audience is happy, I’m happy! 

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