November 7, 2005

Clear the Decks: 3 Steps to Refresh Your PowerPoint

When it’s used well, Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® is a great tool. But when it’s abused, it can be an instrument of torture. In the world of corporate communications, there is only one thing worse than sitting through a mind-numbing two-hour 50-slide presentation in a semi-darkened room: knowing that you were partly responsible.

As communicators, we are PowerPoint enablers—we’re the ones our “clients” (often senior leaders) call when it’s time to create the materials to support a town hall meeting, management conference or other communication session. And we’re often caught between a rock and a hard place: what the speaker/client wants to say, which may be inappropriately detailed, and what the audience needs to hear: clear and concise messages. So how can you manage your PowerPoint presentations to satisfy your clients, and effectively communicate with your audience? Here are three suggestions:

1. Set one or two clear communication objectives.
   One common mistake in using PowerPoint is trying to accomplish too many objectives in a single deck. A presentation might educate and inform, increase awareness, update progress, instruct, or call to action. But one presentation can’t do all four things all at once—or at least, not very effectively. When developing a PowerPoint, work with your client to pick one objective or topic, or two at most. Try asking this consulting question: “What is the one thing you want employees to know, remember or do?”
   
   
2. Keep your slides clean and simple.
   Even if you have whittled down to one or two objectives or takeaway messages, busy managers are still tempted to “cram the decks” and overcommunicate, using too many slides with detailed information, dense with text and graphics. Instead, use slides to illustrate only the main points. Remember that back in school, the teacher didn’t write everything on the blackboard.
   
   
3. Use collateral materials for effective content delivery.
   Collateral materials—such as an appendix at the back of a presentation, meeting handouts, and even web content—can help you avoid “crammed” presentations. If you’re working with a speaker who insists that every financial chart be included and every metric be updated, put that information in a collateral format, and then refer the audience to the materials if they want more information.

So what’s the one thing to remember when developing your PowerPoint? Focus! If you do, your audience will, too.