A little while ago I was watching a speech given by someone I knew to be a confident and knowledgeable speaker. Unfortunately, her well-delivered words were overshadowed by what was on the projector behind her. Every. Single. Point she brought up was demonstrated by a jam-packed slide. The momentum of her speech ground to a halt, and the confidence I had in her message, and in her, was diminished.
You want to be the speaker that can share stories and deliver amazing messages so that your audience are on the edge of their seats. But there’s something holding you back: You’re overdoing your slideshows. Too often, untrained speakers think that by spending a lot and time and energy in PowerPoint, their hard work will result in a better presentation. It doesn’t. Slides aren’t meant to be used as speaking notes or a bullet-point summary of your speech.
Slides are used to compliment or enhance your words with an image, a caption, a chart, or some other visual aid.
So, how do you make a good slideshow? Don’t open the PowerPoint software until you have finished writing your speech. Once it’s written, go through your speech and ask yourself: “How can I enhance this point with just one image, chart, or caption?” If you can’t think of something to add, don’t sweat it. Not every point in your speech needs to be accompanied by a slide. Don’t worry if this is the least amount of time you’ve ever spent on your slideshow, or if it seems really short. I promise the end product will be much better. That extra time is going into rehearsing your speech since you won’t be reading your slides.
In fact, your speech should stand on its own without the slideshow. There are three good reasons for this:
1) if you encounter technical difficulties with the slideshow program you can still give your speech.
2) If your slideshow has all the same, detailed information as your speech, why should the audience come to see you speaking? They could just sit at home and look at your slides from the comfort of their home with a cup of tea and PJs.
3) Your slideshow is always competing with you for the audience’s attention. But you get to decide how much.
When it’s time to bring out that carefully selected visual aid, direct the audience’s attention to it and pause. Give them time to process what they’re seeing. A clear and simple slide will cut this time down, and the silence won’t go on too long and get uncomfortable. You can also leave a slide of a high-quality image as a backdrop while you speak over it.
Remember: You are the star of the show. Own the stage and be confident in yourself as a speaker. Don’t let your slideshow hog the audience’s attention, or I guarantee it will suck the life out of your presentation.