DISCLAIMER:
My suggestions in these blogs will blow the traditional PowerPoint recommendations to smithereens. Will I violate the rules? You bet. They will be shredded, ground into pulp, and smashed into PowerPoint road kill. (Note: I apologize for the violence in this disclaimer. Sometimes I get carried away.) For example, I tried the recommended traditional, one color slide-same font approaches. Guess what? The slides were as boring as the content on them. (Sidebar: As a former freelance photographer, I learned early on that if a picture doesn’t elicit some feeling [positive or negative] by the viewer, then it should be discarded as ineffective.)
NEW RULE FOR POWERPOINT: That rule should apply to our PowerPoint slides. Our audience should be emotionally involved in our presentation. That begins with the slides. A spiritless, unemotional reaction to our slides is totally unacceptable. If my strategy is making you nervous or you already started throwing up in this 1st paragraph, you might want to get a vomit bag or close this blog.
BERK'S GOAL: To arm you with the tools to create break-the-mold presentations, not create a moldy audience as they drift into a coma.
BERK'S AUDIENCE ASSUMPTIONS: I assume every audience to whom I present has better things to do with its valuable time than attend my session. The cynics and know-it-alls are thinking: “Tell me something I DON’T already know.” The students probably have the attention span of goat cheese and mentally operate at “twitch speed.”
THE CHALLENGE: Open the presentation with a bang and sustain that bang or I’ll lose them. It’s opening night on Broadway!
10. COLOR
Color can create mood and set a tone. What mood do you want your audience to feel? The literature is larded with anecdotal studies of the psychology of colors. Unfortunately, there is no consensus on the emotions evoked from various colors due, in large part, to cultural differences and many of the researchers being colorblind. Haha. However, with the color options typically available from PowerPoint software, a few of the emotional implications may be worth considering. Here are some examples:
SLIDE COLOR
White—cold, bland, empty
Black—mystery or power
Gray—neutrality, stability, dullness
Red (burgundy)—passion, bold, fire, intensity, excitement
Blue—calm, cool, tranquility, stability, confidence
Brown—calm, comforting, simplicity
FONT COLOR
Yellow—happiness, joy, optimism
Green—hope, calm, harmony, balance
Pink—gratitude, appreciation, sympathy
Purple—royalty, nobility, wisdom
Orange—energy, happiness, heat, enthusiasm
Magenta—artistic creativity
Violet—magic, harmony
What emotional effect do you want to create from your slides? Ruminate over that question until my next blog which will offer specific suggestions for using color in your slides, plus Berk’s Color Picks. If you already use colors, which ones have you have found most effective?
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
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