Brian Tracy explains how to make presentation slides that don't steal the show. Use no more than five lines per slide with five words each, bring up points one at a time, and blank the screen at the end so people watch you, not the slides. Rehearse multiple times and prepare for technical failure.
Hello, I'm Brian Tracy and today I want to talk to you about how to prepare powerful visuals for your speaking. Presentation preparation is the mark of the professional. Take the time to go over every detail in advance of meeting someone. Almost every speech or talk is accompanied by visual elements in the form of form of a PowerPoint or presentation software. Whether you use PowerPoint depends upon many factors. In the professional speaking industry, there is an Expression Death by PowerPoint. Many speakers have started to rely on PowerPoint presentations so heavily that their personalities and the essence of their talks get lost as they go from point to point on the screen. You can use presentation software to your advantage in any speech. On the flip side, if done incorrectly, the visual elements in your presentation can be confusing, distracting and unfocused, resulting in a less powerful or sometimes even a meaningless speech. In the course of giving any speech or talk, you should think about the visual elements that you you can use to illustrate your points and to make them come alive for the audience. If you're going to use PowerPoint, which can be ideal in certain situations, it's best to follow a few rules. First and foremost, you should never have more than five lines on a slide, and each line should never have more than five words. This is the five by five formula. Any more than this can distract and even confuse your audience. With a smaller room or group, you can use more lines or words than the rule permits. But I have seen people speaking to two or three hundred people that have slides that look like something from an annual statement, with lines and lines and lines and numbers and lines and numbers and so on, and nobody can see them or understand them. And the presenter, usually a senior executive, just looks terrible. People just focus themselves to not fall asleep. So don't let that happen to you. Regardless of how many points you use, bring them up one at a time as you are commenting on them. Don't make the mistake of bringing up the entire slide full of information so that the audience is busy reading and not paying any attention to you. Not long ago, I spoke for a multinational company. The president spoke to the audience for an hour before it was my turn to speak. His presentation consisted of a single slide with hundreds of numbers in rows and columns, none of which were clear to anybody in the audience. He spoke to the screen, looking at the screen, talking to the screen, commenting on the numbers for a full hour. Because he was the president, everyone in the audience sat politely, but it was excruciatingly painful for all the participants. Don't let this happen to you. Second, face the audience. When you present, you should have your laptop in front of you, illustrating what is appearing on the screen behind you. As you click through your presentation, keep your eyes on the audience members and speak to them the whole time. All you do is glance down occasionally to be sure that what is in front of you and what is on the screen are the same. Remember, in any kind of communication, your face is the most important element in any presentation. And while there are words on the screen, people's eyes will be darting from your face to the screen and back again, like spectators at a tennis game. When you use presentation software, it's essential that your face be well lit throughout. I've been continuously dismayed, if you like, at the number of times that I see. Senior executives allow themselves to be put into the dark in order to ensure maximum clarity for the projector and the screen. The senior executive, who had traveled a great distance and invested in good deal of time in the presentation, is often standing in the dark on the side, difficult for the audience to see or relate to. Only use your presentation as a prop or as a support. It should not be the main focus of the talk. You are the main focus of the talk, and PowerPoint is there merely to assist you and to illustrate your points more clearly to your audience so that you don't have to say them and recite them and repeat them. You can just pull them up quickly and then move on. When you use PowerPoint, practice and rehearse. This is so important. It's the essence of good speaking. Go through a dry run three or five times before you make your presentation. Do a complete dress rehearsal to ensure that any technology is properly hooked up and working smoothly before you begin. Remember, you will never regret having prepared too much or too often. You've probably seen situations where the entire talk is built around the PowerPoint and then the PowerPoint somehow fails to function. The speaker stands up, begins clicking, and nothing happens. People come running up on the stage to tinker with the machine or to try to fix it. They call the technician from somewhere else in the hotel or venue. The entire seminar or presentation grinds to a halt while everyone stands around the stage looking sheepish and foolish. Doing a complete run through before your presentation will help ensure that this won't happen to you. In any case, when you use PowerPoint, start off with a strong, clear statement that sets the stage for your talk. You can then use PowerPoint to illustrate critical numbers, points and relationships. Be sure to end with a strong focus on your face and your verbal message. Now, here's the point is, at the end of your talk, click the button that blanks the screen and the PowerPoint completely so that the only thing left is you and the light on your face to finish the talk. Remember, you are the reason they came to hear this talk and you are the most important thing and the most important part of you is your face. Now I'd love to hear from you. So my question today is, has a PowerPoint presentation ever ruined a talk or speech for you? Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you. Thanks for watching. And remember, if you want to change your future, take action and take action now. If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable in teaching you about giving a presentation, subscribe to my channel like this video and share this video with your friends. Don't forget to click the button on the screen for a free gift. Thanks again for watching.
