Rule #1 from 7 Lessons from the World’s Most Captivating Presenters:
Start with paper, not PowerPoint
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve mentioned my colleague, Jean-luc Doumont, when offering help to those of you writing slides for a presentation. Jean-luc taught me that if you can’t make good visuals, you shouldn’t create them. Concentrate on developing content and delivering your message (body language, voice, etc.).
A few months ago, Jean-luc was in the US, giving a lecture on creating effective slides at the Center for Teaching and Learning at Stanford. Short of talking to the lecturer in person, there’s little I could offer that would help you more than listening to that recording and applying the simple (but not painless) principles he teaches.
Related articles
- Zero tolerance for bad presentations (treesmapsandtheorems.com)
- What to do with charts (makeapowerfulpoint.com)
- Chart of the day . . . but for other reasons (treesmapsandtheorems.com)