Sticky Presentations

ANG TIAN TECK

Storiesto help you better your

presentations

Sticky Presentations

Storiesto help you better your

presentations

ANG TIAN TECK

Sticky Presentations - Stories to help you better your presentationsby Ang Tian Teck

ISBN: 978-981-07-4919-4

First published in Nov 2012 by Sticky SPY®

Sticky SPY and Sticky Presentations® is a registered trademark of Sticky SPY Pte Ltd.

Copyright 2012 Sticky SPY Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.

Presentation is something that we cannot ignore today as it is almost the way of life for many of us. This is especially true for those who are climbing the corporate ladder or individuals who engage with clients. To many, presentation is just a series of PowerPoint slides populated with information. To me, I would like to think of presentation as an opportunity that needs to be delivered with precision and clarity. The visual design then becomes important to ensure that information that we are presenting is clear and that will leave a lasting impression.

It might be difficult to change completely overnight. However, any attempt to better your presentation design is a move towards the right direction. Taking a step at a time is important to ensure we are not overwhelmed by ideas that are new to us.

This book presents a collection of stories, tips, and ideas that you can use to help you in your presentation slides. Take a step at a time in your journey to better your presentations. A good place to begin is to follow the 10 suggested activities in Chapter 2.

A step at a time

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SimpleTake a step at a time to ensure simplicity in your presentation. This applies to your presentation slides, the message that you convey, the story that you tell, and everything else about your presentation should be simple. Always remember that people can only remember simple things. Anything that is too complex and complicated is difficult for people to remember quickly. In a presentation we only have a short time to deliver our message. The simpler our message the easier to remember.

PersuasiveTake a step at a time to ensure your presentation is persuasive. People must believe your message. We would have failed if no one believed in the ideas that we are presenting. Deliver your message from an angle that your audience is able to relate to. Use terminologies and examples that your audience is familiar with. Facts and figures in our presentation must concrete and credible. Most importantly, we must totally believe in the idea that we are presenting.

SPY to Sticky

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YouthfulTake a step at a time to ensure that your presentation is youthful. People like fresh ideas. People like to see things that are not common. Youthful visuals attract more attention and give your audience reasons to want to listen to what you have to say. Carefully select images and words that surprise your audience.

StickyThe above 3 ingredients if applied correctly will make your presentation Sticky. Sticky is a term used to describe idea that sticks to the minds of your audience. When we deliver our presentation, we want our audience to remember what we are presenting. We want our ideas to stick for as long as possible. Design your presentation with the simplicity, persuasiveness, and youthfulness (SPY) to achieve Sticky Presentations.

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The next few pages are examples of conventional slides (Before) redesigned to be sticky (After). Every slide content is different and there are many exciting ways that we can present and deliver our content. These examples will give you a general idea on what you can do to make your presentation slides more exciting.

Before & After examples

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BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Try These10 focused activities to get you started to achieving

Amazing Sticky Presentations®

�Designing great presentations require dedication and a different approach.

Here I aim to share with you 10 focused activities that will help you get started in the direction of creating great presentations using the Sticky Presentations approach. It employs a different and non-conventional approach to presentation design and delivery.

Effective presentations involve many factors. One of which is your visual design. Another is the delivery approach. Sticky Presentations® focuses primary in the area of visual design, giving you ideas to develop presentations that create lasting impressions.

Try out these activities for your next presentation and see how far it brings you. Always remember that designing great presentations is a journey.

Take a small step at a time.Your best presentation is always your next presentation.

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Always start your design on a blank page.

Try not to use templates provided by your presentation software. Starting with a blank page gives you the freedom to explore beyond the boundaries of the template. Imagine being able to do anything on a page without constrain. Imagine being able to write, draw, doodle or simply express your thoughts on the page.

Starting with a blank page gives you endless possibilities in how things should be placed on your slides. If you decide to use an image, you can place it anywhere in any sizes. Text can also be in any color that you choose, or any size, even styles and font.

It might not be easy when you think of starting with a blank page, but once you get started, you will never want to stop. Because starting with a blank page brings out the creative you. You are forced to think differently and beyond the constrains of templates.

Free yourself from the roadblocks.

A fresh start is always a good start.Start with a blank page.

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Plan your presentation slides on paper before you create them on your computer. In other words, go analog when planning your storyboard. Planning on paper allows you to focus on your presentation content instead of fighting with technology.

Very often we get stuck in technology trying to figure how to use certain features. Thus not making the correct use of our time. At the end of the day we always complain that there is not enough time to develop good presentation slides.

Planning on paper also helps us in activity one, that is to start with a blank page. You are not constrained by any template when you plan on paper. Do not worry about not being able to draw, write or organise content neatly. You can do that with the help of technology later.

It is important to note that planing on paper allows us to think out of the box. Think differently from how you will usually develop your slides when you are using a computer.

Focus on your content, not the technology. Plan on paper.

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Your presentation slides are useful only if your audience can see the content on your slides. Regardless of the type of information you are presenting, may it be text, a chart, a table, a diagram or a photo, always ensure that your audience can see what you are putting up on the big screen.

A general guide is to show things big. Be sure that the last row can see the smallest object on your slide. If your intention is to present specific information to your audience, make those information visible and easy to read. Removing unnecessary information from your presentation slides will also reduce the clutter and allowing more space to make your primary information larger and visible.

If you have lots of content to present, try breaking them into multiple slides. Showing lesser information on each slide will help you move towards making your slide content larger and more visible.

Remember that if your content is too small to be seen, it’s likely that they are not important, and should’t not be on your presentation slides at all.

Make it BIG. Be visible.

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Use images whenever possible in your presentation slides. Carefully selected images can enhance your presentation visuals beyond what text alone can do.

Studies suggest that using images in your communications is 5 times more effective when compared to using text alone. People remember images better than text because images are exciting and more expressive when used correctly.

Images you choose to use must have a purpose. Do not throw in an image because you think it’s nice but does not really convey your message. Again, as a presenter, you must know how to talk about the image you are presenting on the large screen.

It is also important to use high resolution images. You want your images to look good when projected on the large screen. Low resolution images will look grainy when enlarged and does not look professional. There are many affordable image library that you can acquire high resolution images for presentation at a low cost.

Consider keeping a library of images that you capture on your own with your digital camera. Keep your camera handy with you to capture interesting things that you see everyday.

Be exciting. Use images.

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When you start drawing your ideas, you start to look at things in a different perspective. Your presentation slides will become more exciting. Your delivery will mirror the new perspective you created.

Convert boring textual content into illustrations, charts, diagrams, objects — all of which you can position anywhere on your slides making them interesting. Use boxes, use circles, use talk bubbles, use arrows, use big text. Use anything but paragraphs of text.

Think about how you can represent your wordy content with simple drawings using tools from your presentation software. You don’t have to be an artist to draw rectangles, circles, and arrows. Once you start drawing, more ideas will flow in and you will soon find it easier and easier.

When you draw your ideas, it’s less likely that you will use a given template that constrains you to the bullet points format. Bullet points are bad because it blocks your mind from thinking beyond the template.

Make your ideas exciting. Draw your ideas, don’t write.

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How your presentation slides look, should be part of your design. It should not be an after thought to fill in the blank space. Very often we throw in an image or two because there are blank spaces in our slides.

It is important that content (images, text, objects) of your presentation slides is carefully thought through and is there because you intended it to be. By making content part of your design helps you focus on how you want to convey the message. Having focus makes your delivery more effective and exciting.

Always ask yourself, “Why am I showing this in my presentation slide? Is it important? Do my audience need to see this?”.

Decorating makes us loose focus and we end up having slides that are complex and difficult to understand. Every element on your presentation slides must have a purpose to convey your intended message.

Have a plan when you create your next presentation.

Design, do not decorate.

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Keep your messages simple when you build your presentation slides. Simple messages are also very focused and easy to digest. People can only remember simple messages. Show them simple things, read them a simple message, tell them a simple story, and they will likely to remember.

Your presentation slide is not a document. Do not use documentation format in your presentation. Documents contain detail and complex information. Presentation slides are meant to be simple and easy to understand. Break down complex information into smaller chunks for the purpose of presentation. You might increase the number of slides in your presentation deck, but that’s okay.

Showing less information makes your presentation slides simpler, more focused, and easier for you to bring your ideas across. It also allows your audience to grasp and retain the information longer.

Make things easy for your audience. Don’t let them think too much about what you are saying or showing. Tell them exactly what you want them to hear. Show them exactly what you want them to see.

Pamper your audience. Keep your presentation slides simple.

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To create a presentation that leave lasting impressions, you have to explore beyond the things you see everyday. There are many ways to show the same things on your presentation slides. Explore and experiment with object’s positioning and size.

Make things larger than your screen size. Display objects partially. Hide part of your image from the visible area of your slide. You can apply these techniques to text and images—objects that you use to convey your messages.

Exploring beyond what you can imagine. Give your presentation visuals greater impact by rotating selected objects or adding a shadow. You will be surprise by the results from these minor adjustments that you have made.

Never stop until you are fully satisfied and like what you see. If you love what you see, your audience will likely to love them too.

Nothing is impossible. Explore beyond.Leave a lasting impression.

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Anything is possible if you are inspired to share your ideas with people you meet. Inspiration gives you the energy to create exciting things. If you want to create and deliver a presentation that blows your audience minds, find that inspiration.

You might not find your inspiration if you sit in front of your computer to design your presentation slides. Go for a walk, go to a cafe, do something else. Clear your mind and you’ll find inspiration.

Unique ideas do not always flow in. You need something to trigger you to give you the spark of ideas. Sometimes it is just by looking out of the window, watching television in the middle of the day or indulging in a tub of insanely great tasty ice-cream. The sweet chocolatey taste will give you the boost of energy you need to create something exciting.

Weave away from your seat. Be inspired.

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To deliver a great presentation, you need to have full control of your delivery tool. When possible, it is best to use your own computer during the presentation delivery.

Using your own computer ensures that your presentation will display the way you want it. And you can be sure that alignment, layout and custom font that you use (if any) will display properly.

Putting your presentation in a thumb drive to present using another computer stands a risk of your great presentation not displaying correctly.

The other computer might not have the custom font that you are using. The version of the presentation software in the other

computer might not be the same version that you used to create your presentation.

To ensure your presentation remains insanely great, you

must take control.

Use your own computer.

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Stories

hat makes a presentation interesting? Is it the message? Is it the images? Or is it the way the presenter delivers the

presentation?

To create a lasting impression in our presentations, we need to think differently. We need to move away from the conventional way of how we design our presentation slides. If the presentation is important,

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then we have to find ways to ensure it creates lasting impressions. After all, in a sales presentation, we usually only have one chance to make it, or loose it.

The ChallengeMany of us struggle with our presentation slides when we try to think differently beyond bullet points. When I say bullet points, I meant the approach that we take to design and develop our presentation. It seems that most presenters are very comfortable with the fact that they are able to put every word they want to say in the slides. This supposedly acts as notes to the presenter. It also means that they can read from the slides during the presentation.

What I am trying to say is that we are all really taking the easy way out in our approach to presentation design and expect our audience to fully understand the content that we are

delivering. Majority of us do not spend enough quality time preparing for our presentations. We usually allocate

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very little time for preparation prior to the actual presentation. This is because we trust the template that is available in PowerPoint to

“bullet-point” the things we want to say.

Another approach that we see often is replicating information (including

layout format) from product brochure onto our presentation

slides. Product brochures format, although they look pretty, is not an effective format to be used as presentation slides. Most product brochures have very detailed information and paragraphs of text designed for reading. They are not necessary suitable for presentation slides

In presentations, we need to ensure that our presentation slides are simple and that they convey the appropriate messages effectively.

This would also mean that the things that we put on our slides, text, images, diagrams, etc., have to be very focused and easily seen from the back row.

We also need to be selective on what goes on our presentation slides. Text or images that doesn’t help to effectively convey our messages should be left out. It is not always easy to throw out things cause every one of us have too much knowledge and we always think that everything is important.

The Presentation ToolA very common presentation tool that is widely used by many is PowerPoint. It is the standard presentation software. However, there other tools available today that we can choose as an alternative. Some Mac users might prefer to use Apple’s Keynote, a very

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versatile presentation tool available only on the Mac. Another new and interesting presentation tool that recently surfaced is Prezi. Prezi presents an interesting perspective on slide

design.

The use of PowerPoint has become more than just a presentation tool. It is being used as a

multipurpose tool—documentation, outlining, drawing, page layout, charting,

printing of tags/labels, and all things that we can think of. So much so that this

has become so convenient for us to show just about anything that we have in PowerPoint as presentation slides during our presentation. We need to reconsider. Use the right tool correctly for the job.

Lasting ImpressionsHere comes the difficult question. How do I even start to develop a presentation that creates lasting impressions?

There are many schools of thoughts and varied approaches to presentation design on how to do this. A common take away from all these approaches is that our presentation slides must be simple. Here I will elaborate on the Sticky SPY concept, the concept behind Amazing Sticky Presentations.

The Sticky SPY concept introduces simple ideas that create lasting impressions. The 3 ingredients that make presentations Sticky are SPY, which are acronyms for Simple, Persuasive, and Youthful. The general idea is to ensure that our presentation slides are simple and focused. They also have to be persuasive in the sense that

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people must be able to relate to our messages or images that we use to convey messages. The third ingredient, Youthful, suggest that our presentation slides must be fresh and exciting.

We should use images that are different from what people see everyday. The combination of the 3 ingredients gives stickiness to presentation slides. The degree of stickiness depends on how effectively we are able to apply this Sticky SPY concept.

Simplicity is the key to having our presentations create lasting impressions. Given the limited time in any

presentation session, our audience can only remember simple things. So the simpler our messages are, the

better. Many of us tend to think that by being simple, we will not be viewed as experts. So as a result, we try to clutter our presentation slides and make them more complex.

Among other things, our real objective to present is to ensure we communicate

our ideas effectively and that our audience achieved understanding at the end of the session. But of course, unless our objective is to confuse our audience, then we will design our presentation slides to confuse.

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The JourneyMoving from conventional approach to the use of Sticky Presentations approach is not a destination, but a journey. It is not always possible to achieve Stickiness overnight. But we need to take the first step to understand the concept and apply it to our next presentation.

Different types of presentations to different kinds of audience require different thinking. Most of preparation and development time taken to do a presentation that creates lasting impressions is thinking and researching time.

Unfortunately there are no shortcuts to this process. A presenter that is

already familiar with this approach can however shorten development time by half.

Having read this article is only the beginning. There are more to making your presentation sticky and to ultimately achieve Amazing Sticky Presentations®. We need to open up our minds and look beyond bullet-point styles of presentation design if we want to make our presentation Sticky and create that lasting impression.

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e often hear that using images makes our presentation slides more exciting. We were told to stay away from bullet points and replace text

with images. And so we go searching for appropriate images for our slides, only to realised that we are faced with other challenges.

It is easy to just copy-and-paste an image on our presentation slides. But to make it exciting becomes very subjective and poses a challenge to those who are not as creative.

Here are 5 simple quick ideas on how you can arrange your selected image (images) to make your presentation slides interesting.

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Make your image the entire screen. A big image that your audience can easily see is more exciting than a small image that you place in the middle of your screen.

Make your image bigger than your screen. If you have a high-resolution image, you can create the effect of having your image jump out of the screen by enlarging the image beyond the size of your presentation slide.

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Showing partial image on the left of your screen. If you need space on your slide for some text, you can show part of the image. Having some parts of an image hidden can be ex-citing at times.

Floating images. If you have 2-3 images that you want to show at the same time, rotate the images slightly and adding a frame style to your image, then floating them on the top half of the slide can be an interesting option.

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When you next work on your presentation slides, give the above a try. Explore further and you might discover new ideas on how to make images exciting on your slides.

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Two-thirds image with title and text overlay. If you have an image with a large enough free space where you can overlay text, you can crop the image to about two-thirds of the screen height. Position the image at the upper side of your slide, and leave the bottom one-third space for your text title.

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he key objective of any presentation is to communicate our ideas effectively. We want to ensure that in a single presentation session we get

our ideas across faster, increase retention, harness greater acceptance, and ultimately improve closing rate.

How can we achieve this? How can we create messages and visuals that are Sticky to help us communicate our ideas effectively.

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Using Power of Three is one of the ways we can achieve stickiness. We simplify our presentation into three key stories, sections, or points. We

deliver our content in groups of three. Three is a number that most of us can remember. It is easier than four, five and

six.

Remember how a child learn, how we used to teach little ones? It's always 1-2-3 or A-B-C. We always stop at three—the magic number. Applying this to our presentation design helps us communicate our ideas better. It creates stickiness in our presentation visuals and help us

deliver a Sticky story.

Can you recall famous titles, names, or phrases that has connection with the number three? Let me name you a few. The Three Musketeers, The Three Blind Mice, Charlie's Angles, Ready-Set-Go, Three wishes.

During the iPhone introduction keynote presentation, Jobs of Apple said,"Today, we are introducing 3 revolutionary new products. The first is a widescreen iPod with touch controls.

The second is a revolutionary mobile phone, and the third is breakthrough Internet

communicator device."

We can apply the Power of Three in various areas of our presentation

design. In our presentation structure, in the

story that we are

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delivering, in the visuals that complement our story, and in the conclusion of our presentation. The Power of Three helps us simplify and group information that we want to deliver in smaller chunks that is easier to understand.

It is always good to prepare our audience in advance for the content that we are going to deliver in the next couple of

minutes. We do this by telling them the three things that we will be presenting. This can be done verbally or with visuals.

Instead of just showing one visual with everything, we use multiple visuals to present the same content. Again, breaking them down to smaller chunks, preferably in groups of three.

The example here discuss the factors motivating the adult learner. Moving away from the bullet points style, we present a visual showing the

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Figure 3.1 Before

Slide 3.1 After

topic in discussion and later introduce the first 3 factors in the list and adding appropriate images to complement the brief text. The images guide our audience in understanding, and makes viewing less stressful. As the presenter starts to focus on individual factors, we display appropriate visuals to deliver content related to the discussion. This removes other information that might distract our audience from listening to us.

This technique works very well with almost all

types of presentations. The Power of Three forces the presenter to rethink their presentation approach, simplifying the delivery of content and breaking information into smaller chunks to aid understanding.

There are no rules saying that we have to stick to a defined number of visuals in our presentations.  Use as many visual as required to deliver the messages.  But remember to always present messages in the simplest form. It is simplicity that makes our messages stick. So start using Power of Three to simplify your presentation design and transform your presentations to Amazing Sticky Presentations.

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ou came into the meeting room excited, expecting to see a short 20 minutes presentation from a vendor that might have a solution to

an existing problem—a problem that you have been trying to solve for the longest time. Having spoken to the vendor a week ago, you had expected a presentation that directly addresses the problem.

The presentation lasted an hour and you came out confused. Sounds familiar?

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What had happened?I am sure many have faced similar situations before. A common approach by most presenters is to spend the first 10-15 minutes introducing the company—facts, history, size, organisation structure, product line, global presence, etc., and leaving the most important part of the presentation towards the end.

To make things worse, visuals with complex technical information follows the company introduction. Plenty of very busy visuals are almost illegible with irrelevant images incorporated to make the slides look pretty.

Put yourself in the presenter's shoes.How many times have you done the same?

We should ask ourselves if it is necessary to talk about the company. Is that important?

Are we wasting valuable time and opportunities to get our message across faster and to capture our audience attention early while they are still fresh?

Many of us think that our clients would like to hear about the company in every presentation before hearing the solution. The truth is that company facts are available on the company's website and in the handout that we would have handled out before our presentation. It is therefore, not necessary to repeat this in our presentation.

In the airtime that we have for the presentation, we should get straight to the point and do not waste time presenting information that our client already know.

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Here are a few pointers that we should note.

1. Present important information first. In most cases, if you are presenting a proposal, it's the solution that you want to present first.

2. Next, present information that supports the solution. Also remember not to be too technical. Try to simplify technical information and make it easy to understand.

3. Break up complex information and present it in smaller chunks to allow your audience to follow you.

4. If you need to talk about your company, present it at the end. If you feel more

comfortable to present it at the beginning of your presentation, then keep it short. Two minutes is about the right amount of time to spend on company introduction.

5. Explain in nontechnical terms, why your solution works. Give a short success story if available. Use images if appropriate.

6. Do not present too many options in your solution. Two is good, and three is the most. It's usually confusing and difficult to make a decision when too many options are being presented.

Always remember that it's not about you (or your company). It's about your clients. Design your presentations for the benefit for your clients. Your clients usually do not have much patience.So get to the point.

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sing arrows in your presentation visuals is one of the many methods that can help lead your audience to focus on specific

information. Sometimes it is difficult to position information of deferring importance to make each one relevant. With arrows, we can effectively direct attention to areas of our presentation slides where the critical information is.

We do not need to use fancy arrows. Simple arrows that can easily be created with any presentation software are most effective. We want to

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lead audience to the information on our presentation visuals and not focus on the arrows. If done correctly, this can create higher impact in your presentation slides.

There are many exciting ways that you can use arrows for this purpose. Here are a few that you might want to try out in your next presentation.

Growing Trends. Instead of always using line charts for showing trend data, try using an arrow that curves up. Along the curve, you can overlay numbers (or percentages) growing in 3 to 4 intervals.

Process or sequenced information. Sometimes we have information that we want to present to illustrate steps in a process. Arrows can be useful in this situation to lead our audience from start to finish.

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Highlights. Pointing an arrow to specific information during a presentation to highlight words or numbers is better than turning your back to your audience while using a laser pointer.

Think about other possibilities of using Arrows to create an impact in your presentation design. There are no fixed rules on which are the correct methods. You decide the layout based on the type of content you are presenting.

Think of how your audience would accept certain information when they see it. Think of what you want to say about the information that you are showing.

Is the information clear to you? Is the information clear to your audience?

Always make a point to see it from the perspective of the person receiving the information—your audience.

Use Arrows to make an impact in your presentation design.

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o you sometimes wonder what to do with the empty spaces you have on your presentation slides? Leaving it empty seems unfinished and uninteresting. So we tell ourselves that we have

to do something about that space. A common practice might be to look for an image or some images to fill those spaces.

This can result in slides that are un-composed or uncoordinated. Worst of all, they cause distractions and are confusing to your audience. Sometimes these so-called decorations can increase the complexity of

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our slides, making it difficult to deliver our intended message effectively.

Decorating our presentation slides is not a good idea for an effective presentation. Decoration is an afterthought and is usually not part of the

design. Every element or object on your presentation slides must have a purpose. They must

contribute in helping you to effectively deliver the message in your presentation. Any element that is included without a purpose should be removed.

Practice design instead of decoration. Plan your presentation and decide how the content should be delivered. What is it that you want your audience to see and hear? Design your presentation slides so that it helps you deliver

your message with ease and persuasiveness. Design your presentation slides so that you can deliver your message with impact.

When an element in your slide is part of the design, your whole presentation will flow smoothly giving you the highest impact in line with your intention or objective of your presentation. However, when you decorate your slides by adding elements to fill in the empty space, you end up patching holes that you think should be covered with something.

Design. Not decorate. Now, go

create a presentation that will WOW! your audience.

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recently read an article in a photography magazine about posing positions for portraits. I thought I will share with you some of the

poses that are suitable for presentation slides. You can use these poses when taking photos of executives for your presentation visuals.

Take all photos against a white background in natural lighting when possible. Be sure to experiment with various positions to see which fits the individual.

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Posing for

Presentation slides

An upper body shot with crossed arms. This can also be extended to a full body shot. Note that shoulders should be pulled back a little and stomach muscles kept in check.

Leaning against a wall makes another interesting pose for an upright position. Lean back against a wall and look slightly left (or right). Lift one leg off the ground to rest against the wall. Hands can either be folded or in the pocket as shown on the right.

A simple pose for a formal portrait like this example can be interesting when taken with full body. Hands can be holding on to the jacket. Alternatively the hands can be holding to work items such as a laptop, file, or books.

If the individual is a male subject, then the hands can be placed in the pocket. In the situation where one hand is carrying an item, the other can be placed in the pocket.

Holding a jacket over the shoulder, merely a thumb in the pocket (or tugged at the belt level), and legs crossed as shown in the illustration on the right can work very well for a business casual shot.

Leaning against the wall side ways. This is an interesting pose and can be a formal or casual shot. Instead of folding the arms as show in the illustration on the left, putting hands in the pockets and leaving the jacket unbuttoned will look good as well.

Sitting on a chair and leaning forward a little gives a pleasant uncommon pose in a formal shot. It works with or without the jacket worn.

Ensure that the sitting position is comfortable and that the height of the chair is adjusted correctly.

ou present to many different groups of audiences. And you need the flexibility to branch out to different parts of your

presentation depending on whom you are presenting to and what your audiences want to know.

How many presentation branches should you have? My answer to this is NONE.

If you are presenting content on a website or guided information on a CD/DVD-ROM, that would seem to be the right approach—giving options for readers to navigate at their own will. In these formats, we

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can provide links or buttons for individual readers (visitors/users) to click on to find additional information or branch out to other areas of interest.

And yes, your presentation software, such as PowerPoint, too is capable of providing links and buttons to enable branching beyond the main presentation path. But think again. What is the purpose of a presentation?

A presentation is a focused opportunity session for us to get our ideas across as quickly as possible within a given time limit.

With limited time, we need to plan our presentation to be concise and with very focused

objectives. We have to be decisive on the path to take so that we can deliver our presentation

effectively. Branches in our presentations will add complexity and create traps for us to make mistakes during our presentation.

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If you are developing your presentation slides for the purpose of a discussion session, then the rule changes. By all means, create links and buttons so that you can navigate to different segments of information depending on where your discussion brings you. However, in a normal presentation we should keep things simple.

You might have different presentations for different audiences—which we all do. In cases like these, select appropriate slides to build the presentation for your target audience in advance. This approach is more effective and gives you better control compared to having multiple branches in your presentation.

An effective presentation is linear and should be delivered from start to end with a very specific objective.

Make every effort to minimise distraction and keep to the planned path. This will ensure that your delivery is simple and effective.

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o you often face situations where you are being constrained by the number of slides you are allowed in a presentation? Or

maybe you were being told that you are only allowed 5-8 slides. It is a common belief that the more slides we have, the longer will be our presentation, and we will most likely over run the allocated time given to us. This is quite true if we approach presentation slides in the way 95% of presenters do.

With the constrain imposed on us, we usually try to squeeze more information on to each slide making it cluttered, unattractive, and difficult to comprehend. This might be acceptable to most in an

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internal meeting, but we shouldn't make this a norm for all our presentations.

In a meeting, we are sometimes required to present data using a pre-defined set of template—everyone has to use the template. Beyond the standard templates, I am sure there are ways that we can make our presentation slides more exciting.

Having more slides shouldn't increase the amount of time we take to deliver our presentation. We might

even take lesser time to present because breaking information into more slides will make each slide is more focused and easier to understand.

We should create as many slides as needed to present the information effectively. When we

start to break information into smaller chunks, we are validating the content of our presentation and realizing that certain information is not necessarily needed in our slides.

Unnecessary information can be additional footnotes; numbers or figures that are not key; text that seems like words you would say during the presentation; images that are small and do not help you convey your message; information that you will not be highlighting during the presentation, information for documentation purpose, etc.

Don't make the slide count a constrain to your presentation, but make your presentation slides count.

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t's Presentation Day. You have invested time and effort to ensure everything in your presentation is the way you wanted. You have

done your research. You know your content. You have rehearsed well. You have dry-run your presentation over and over again and everything works perfectly. You are confident, so what could possibly go wrong?

Surprises are good. But if it happens on Presentation Day, it can be quite a disaster. Many, including myself, assume that it just works! What could possibly go wrong? In fact, many things could go against

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you, if it's not your day. So, if the presentation is important, it doesn't hurt to take extra steps to ensure higher success on Presentation Day.

Here are 5 key pointers to help you avoid surprises on Presentation Day.

Projection SystemWe always assume that it's all plug and play. Trying out the projection system before Presentation Day is not always a luxury we have. When possible, make the extra effort to try out the projection system that you are going to use on Presentation Day. This is to ensure that the projection system is able to reproduce the colours from your presentation with acceptable resolution, contrast and brightness.

Computer SystemWhose computer are you using on Presentation Day? Is it yours or someone else's computer?

If it's your own, then you have less problem. However you will need to ensure that you know how to operate your own computer while connected to the projection system. Ensure that you know how to toggle your computer screen to display on the projection screen. Figure that out before Presentation Day and not

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when it's your turn to be up on stage. If you are using a MacBook, remember to bring your VGA adaptor.

If it's someone else's computer then you need to be cautious. Ensure that the PowerPoint version installed in the other computer can work with your presentation file. If you are using fonts that are not the standard ones, ensure that you embed those special fonts into your presentation file or install it onto the other computer. Better still, use only standard fonts.

Wireless ClickerIf you are using your own computer on Presentation Day, be sure you have your own wireless clicker. Besides being familiar with your presentation slides, you need to be familiar with the device that controls your slides. Make effort to rehearse using your wireless clicker. Many presenters only bring out their wireless clicker on Presentation Day. If you do not rehearse with your wireless clicker, you will not know if your clicker is still working; you will never realise that the battery in the clicker is weak and is not responsive to your click.

Plan Version 1.1You might not always get to know your audience before the presentation. Sometimes halfway into your presentation, you realised that the audience does

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not respond well to your planned presentation. Having Plan B might not be practical, for that would mean switching to another presentation. What required is Plan Version 1.1. This is not an entirely different presentation but a variation of how you would deliver the message. Instead of memorising your script (which is not recommended), associate your messages through keywords. This will give you the flexibility to adjust your delivery according to the situation on Presentation Day.

VoiceIf you have prepared well and know your content, your presentation can go on even if technology fails you. However, without your voice there is no presentation. On Presentation Day, avoid food and drinks that might give stress to your voice. Sugared drinks, coffee and tea are bad for your voice. Always drink plain water. Have a glass of water with you while you speak. It is okay to pause in the middle of your presentation to take a sip.

Make the extra effort listed above before Presentation Day. The chance of surprises will be highly reduced thus boosting your confidence level towards a successful presentation session.

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Learn more

Never stop learning.

There are many resources that you can tap on to learn more. Videos from YouTube are a good place to start. Search for presentations or public speaking and you will find millions of videos that you can learn something from them.

If you are looking of more slide ideas, visit SlideShare.net. This is a great resource for getting ideas on presentation slide design. See what people are doing to their presentation slides. Get some ideas, change them and make them your own.

Attend a presentation workshop. I am sure there are plenty of training organisations at your locations that provide such courses. Attend conferences. See what speakers are doing. Learn from them what to do and what not to do in your presentations.

Most importantly, you must have fun and be inspired in your journey towards effective presentations.

You can see and experience Sticky Presentations® LIVE in action at one of our workshops in Singapore.

To attend a Amazing Sticky Presentations® workshop www.stickyspy.com/workshops

Sticky Presentations on Facebookwww.facebook.com/StickyPresentations

Please contact aki@stickyspy.com or call +65 9680 4313

Other References

Sticky Presentations - A different approach to presentation design and delivery.

Multi-touch Book for iPad available at selected iBookstores.

Sticky Presentations® LIVE!

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Download the Multi-touch interactive iPad version of this book from iBookstore on your iPad.

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www.stickyspy.com