Quoted: I will be giving a talk next week and one of my slides talks about Mad Cow Disease. What I need for you all is a humorous cartoon of a pissed off looking cow or an animation of a cow destroying something. Thanks.
|
Be careful. Humor can backfire, making you look like a rube, and rarely adds value to a presentation.
Since you mention slides, here are some common Power Point mistakes, this is something I hand out to everyone who works for me:
-Almost universally used incorrectly
-Slides and overheads have become an “arms race”
-The role of the presenter has decreased to the point where he might as well have just emailed the presentation
-All too easy to just read the wall
-The machine and dark room sets a bad atmosphere
-The audience reads ahead and becomes bored
-Too many word slides and bulleted lists
Power Point Tips
-ALMOST NEVER use word slides – the audience can read much faster than you can talk and just get frustrated. Word slides add no value, except as "take-away" handouts or when data is presented in a tabular format.
-Provide blanks slides so the audience can focus on the speaker and his competence and knowledge of the subject.
-Never begin or end a presentation with slides – no title slides either. Otherwise you cannot start or end your presentation from a position of strength.
-Isolate all slides with blanks on each side
-Make only one major point, or convey one idea, per slide
-No gratuitous slides – make every one count
-Graphics and basics – there is no reason to needlessly use software features just because they are there. Use simple, graphic images to most effectively convey your point.
-Try not to hand out copies of your presentation in advance
-If you have a complex subject to present on, it is ok to create “take-away” slides with bulleted lists and additional information. However, NEVER hand them out ahead of time.
Do you work for a company that has to deal with BSE? Just curious.