Items on Creating Effective Visual Presentations

1. Tell a great story that engages the audience and creates curiosity.

2. The 10/ 15/ 30 Rule of PowerPoint.

• 10 slides – too many slides overload information. Pick the most important points and focus on them.

• 15 minutes – present in less than 15 minutes; any longer and you will lose the engagement of the audience.

• 30^PT Fonts – choose the right font and size; large fonts are easier to read, small font sizes are hard to read.

3. Less is more – use headlines, not paragraphs. Use single words or simple phrases for information.

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” (Antoine de Saint Exupery).

4. Photos = 1,000 words – use high quality images, they say a thousand words. Pictures can help listeners to remember and understand information more effectively than words.

5. Use symbols and graphs to visualize text.

6. Typography is important.

7. Pick the appropriate colour combination – colour palette makes good design and looks great. Colour also helps to show the organization of the presentation and to separate ideas where necessary.

Colour combinations for good visibility:

• black on yellow

• black on orange

• bottle green on white

• scarlet red on white

• black on white

• navy blue on white

• white on black

• white on purple

• yellow on black

• purple on orange

• emerald green on yellow (white)

8. Structure slides – use guides for consistent alignment; master slides for consistent formatting.

You’re giving a presentation …

1. Introduction (Why) = Opening a Presentation (Tell the audience what you are going to say!)

• Welcoming the audience

Good morning/ afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Hello/ Hi, everyone.

First of all, let me thank you all for coming here today.

I’m happy/ delighted that so many of you could make it today.

• Introducing yourself

Let me introduce myself. I’m Kate Needham from …

For those of you who don’t know me, my name’s …

As you probably know, I’m the new top manager.

I’m head of logistics here.

I’m here in my function as the Head of Controlling.

We haven’t all met before, so I’d better introduce myself. I’m …

I hope you’ll excuse my English. I’m a bit out of practice.

My name is … and I’m the … (your position) at … (your company).

• Saying what your topic is

As you can see on the screen, our topic today is …

Today’s topic is …

What I’d like to present to you today is …

The subject of my presentation is …

I’d like to tell you about …

• Explaining why your topic is relevant for your audience

My talk is particularly relevant to those of you/ us who …

Today’s topic is of particular interest to those of you/ us who …

My/ The topic is very important for you because …

By the end of this talk you will be familiar with …

The purpose of the introduction is not only to tell the audience who you are, what the talk is about, and why it is relevant to them; you also can tell the audience (briefly) how the talk is structured.

• Structuring a presentation (The most common way to structure a presentation is to have three main parts, and then subdivide them into smaller sections)

I’ve divided my presentation into three (main) parts: x, y, and z.

In my presentation I’ll focus on three major issues.

First (of all), I’ll be looking at …, second …, and third …

I’ll begin/ start off by explaining …

I’ll start/ begin with …

Then/ Next/ After that, I’ll go on to …

Now I’ll move on to …/ turn to …

Finally, I’ll offer some solutions.

The final part of the introduction deals with the organization of the talk: how long it will last, whether there will be handouts, and how questions will be handled.

• Timing

My presentation will take about 15 minutes.

It should take about 20 minutes to cover these issues.

• Handouts

Does everybody have a handout/ report? Please take one, and pass them on.

Don’t worry about taking notes. I’ve put all the important information (statistics) on a handout for you.

I’ll email the PowerPoint presentation to you.

• Questions

There will be time for questions after my presentation.

If you don’t mind we’ll leave questions to the end.

Feel free to ask questions at any time during my talk.

2. Body (How) = Main part (Say it!)

• Signal the beginning of each part

In this part of my presentation, I’d like to tell you about …

Let me give you a brief overview …

This means that …

• Talk about your topic

I must emphasize …

At this point we should consider …

As I mentioned before, …

This leads directly to the next part of my talk.

Let’s go back to what we were discussing earlier.

This now leads us to my next point.

I’d like to stress the following point.

I’d like to draw your attention to the latest figures.

I’d like to emphasize that …

It would be completely wrong to …

I think this fact is extremely important.

• Signal the end of each part

I’d like to sum up the main points.

Let me briefly summarize what I’ve said so far.

Finally …

• Talking about visuals (visuals should be clear and easy for the audience to follow)

Let’s now look at the next slide which shows …

First, let me quickly explain the graph.

You can see that different colours have been used to indicate …

Have a look at this slide.

As you can see …

This graph/ diagram/ table/ slide shows …

The map in the bottom (upper) left (right)-hand corner (in the centre) shows you …

3. Summary (What) = Conclusion (Tell them what you said!)

• Quoting a well-known person

As … once said, …

To quote a well-known economist, …

To put it in the words of …, …

• Referring back to the beginning

Let me just go back to the story I told you earlier.

I’d like to quickly go over the main points of today’s topic.

Before closing I’d like to summarize the major points again.

That’s all I have to say for the moment.

• Dealing with questions

Now if you have any questions I’ll be happy to answer them.

Does anyone have any questions or comments? Any questions?

Please feel free to ask questions. Would you like to ask any questions?

I’m sorry. Could you repeat your question, please?

I’m afraid I don’t quite understand tour question.

If you don’t mind, I’d prefer not to discuss that today.

Perhaps we could deal with this after the presentation.

Sorry, that’s not my field. But I’m sure Peter Hot could answer your question.

I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to your question. Perhaps Maria could help.

• Calling the audience to action

So now it’s your turn.

So that’s the plan. Now let’s go and put it into practice.

Now let’s make a real effort to achieve this goal.

• Make your final statement (thank the audience)

Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank for your listening.