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
Yup we’re still on color. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Use colored slides to set up the structure for the slides. Use either the same one slide color under Color Schemes for the main heads or an appropriate Design Template with color. For example, each blue slide signals the heading for a shift in content or new topic.
2. For slides within each section, use a contrasting color or a template that fits the content of the slide. For example, when I quote the “Fair Use” doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Law, I use a slide with a gavel to create a legal effect.
3. Select contrast lettering for the slides from the Font Color icon. I use 1 color for the head, a 2nd for the list on content, and a 3rd highlight color to highlight key words to which I will refer as I discuss the content. These words should pop off the slide so that the audience can visually get the points at a glance, easily and quickly. Remember, the list is not read; the key words may be mentioned instead.
4a. If the audience has a handout with all of the content slides, which I highly recommend, the slide may contain only the key words, no complete list. The audience will rivet their eyeballs on those words.
4b. Use 1 slide for each key word. This can be very effective.
BERK’S COLOR PICKS: I want my audience to be on fire, on the edges of their seats, super-excited that they came to my presentation, and trying to anticipate what I’m going to do next. Bright, highly saturated colors like red, blue, teal, and even black with contracting eye-popping lettering like yellow, pink, white, and orange can set the tone from the get-go to give “boring” content a punch. I use earth tone or dull colors like brown and gray for my joke slides because the focus is on the verbal or graphic humor. Simple humor techniques that every person can use will be suggested in a future blog.
I hope these suggestions were helpful. What are your color choices? The next blog will examine how to create movement with slide transitions.
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
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