When you need to use powerpoint slides, keep it simple, and use images to help you tell a story.<\/p>\n

Often, clients ask me to help them knit together a talk with some slides. Once, I was asked to develop a presentation to introduce a major Human Resources initiative across a global company. When I arrived, the client had close to 50 bullet powerpoint slides. \u00a0When I left this morning, he had eleven slides, and not one bullet point in sight.<\/p>\n

I think what made the difference was moving away from informing the audience <\/a>about the details of the program, and instead moving toward defining the problem that it solved and arguing why it was an effective solution.<\/p>\n

The original presentation answered in great detail the question, “What’s in the HR program?” \u00a0The presentation as it stands now answers (with three key points<\/a>) the question, “What’s in the HR program for the audience?”<\/p>\n

You may say this is basic stuff, \u00a0and you’re right. \u00a0But those of us who have spent an entire year researching and developing a globally useful HR program tend to be blinded by our newly acquired expertise. \u00a0We have developed a new abstract vocabulary (“behavioral competency matrix”), and we are knee-deep in the complexity and sophistication of the thinking behind the program. \u00a0To do it justice, we feel the need to give the audience a sense of its richness.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back in the minds of the audience, there\u2019s one persistent question: “What’s in it for me?”<\/p>\n

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[ctt tweet=”In the minds of the audience, there\u2019s one persistent question–What’s in it for me?” coverup=”820s1″]<\/p>\n

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Research shows that PowerPoint is used most effectively when bullet points are banished. Instead, craft your slides and message<\/a>\u00a0in a way that allows people to absorb what’s being said.<\/p>\n

We built the presentation around images of “The Journey.” It\u2019s a metaphor that everyone can understand. We started the talk at the point when a new employee enters the company, and as the presentation progressed, we mapped her career through many permutations. \u00a0We used the visual element of a beaming young woman being handed the keys to a new car, with the headline saying, “Program X gives you the keys to your career.”<\/p>\n

People can picture themselves on that career map, travelling along, and it made the message easy to remember and easy to envision. Do the same for your presentations: find a story, metaphor, or relatable idea. There may be more up-front work, but the pay out is big–audience attention, comprehension, and retention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you need to use powerpoint slides, keep it simple, and use images to help you tell a story. Often, clients ask me to help them knit together a talk with some slides. Once, I was asked to develop a presentation to introduce a major Human Resources initiative across a global company. When I arrived,… Read More »Put Power Point to Work for You<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[960,24,149,101],"tags":[893,88,618,894,892],"yoast_head":"\n