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EFFECTIVE POWERPOINT

by Lincoln E. Bittner

PowerPoint has become a popular and effective tool for speakers and instructors because it adds an essential learning element to the student’s experience. That element is visual learning. As experienced instructors understand, students learn best when more than one presentation method is used to help them process the information. PowerPoint adds the visual reinforcement presenters look for to help them keep their audience engaged.

Information Management is the Key

Most presenters put as much information as possible on each slide. This allows them to read down a list and discuss each item. They have the mistaken idea that the audience will be impressed and will follow along. Instead, the audience is distracted by the extensive information on the slide. They will read ahead or copy the list while you are presenting the enhancement to one of the bullet points. As a result, they miss your discussion all together.

To manage the movement of information within a lecture or seminar setting, you need to use transitions. The slide below shows no transitions.

sales ppt without transitions

What you see are both a discussion on the topic of goals and objectives with three bullet points, and a discussion on other points to consider and remember with accompanying bullet points. Each topic heading and bullet point requires some separate discussion. As you can see, presenting them together causes your audience to read the whole page as a package, rather than focusing on each bullet. This distraction keeps them from listening to your initial discussion of how the term goals and objectives are synonymous.

Transitions Focused on the Discussion

This next progression of slides shows how transitions focus the discussion and audiences attention onto the subject being discussed.

This slide shows less clutter and will allow you to focus on the initial subject introduction prior to presenting the meat of the material you have prepared. The next slide, showing one bullet point, uses different colors to show the audience that you have added a new element to the slide. This is done in case the student was not watching as you transitioned slides. Notice that the step number and the information are different colors. This is also an added visual cue to help your students focus in on the subject matter. Because students learn at a different paces, you need to help them keep up with the pace of the lecture. This colorization will allow you to do this.

Proper Use of Color Schemes

As the subject is explored, each additional step is transitioned onto the screen until you reach the next sub-topic. This is when you will use the color scheme from the main topic to show the relationship, as demonstrated in the following slide

Notice that the bullet points for this sub-topic are done using the same color as the information in the steps above used, but without the yellow step numbers or other cues. This is to differentiate the information in this area with that above. This tells the viewer that the information holds the same importance as the information above, but is related to the second sub-topic.

When you use transitions properly, you will be able to control the pace of the discussion while keeping your audience focused on you, not your slides. Your audience will be able to internalize the material you are presenting, giving them a better chance to recall and put into practice what you have presented.

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