Plan well to avoid PowerPoint anxiety
For some, making a presentation can be a rather nerve-wracking experience. Throw high-tech gadgetry on top of all the jitters and you’ve got yourself the makings of a real ticking time bomb.
But presentations don’t have to be so anxiety-laden. As long as you plan appropriately and anticipate possible catastrophes, your main concern will be to just get up in front of the audience and speak
This article describes some common PowerPoint mishaps and offers some proactive measures you can take to avoid them:
- No computer or projector available
If you are an invited speaker, the hosts will often ask what equipment you’ll need or tell you what will be available. Whether you are expected to provide your own equipment or not, it is always wise to at least take an available laptop with you as a backup. If one is provided for you and it unexpectedly hits a brick wall, you can easily switch to the one you have in tow.
Sometimes, no matter how much backup equipment you have, it will seem like your PowerPoint presentation is just not meant to be seen. If this should happen, take handouts that sum up your overall points. At least, at this point, you still have a chance of maintaining control of the presentation and getting your message out to your audience. Remember, people were giving presentations just fine for years before PowerPoint came along.
- PowerPoint file too big
There is nothing worse than carefully putting together a fantastic presentation with great photos, graphics, and whirligigs, only to witness a continuous computer freeze due to a whopper-sized file. As tempting as it may be to produce a Grammy-winning presentation, simple is good, simple is reliable, and simple keeps the audience’s attention on you. When you do include photos and other visual pieces, be sure to check the file size. For those over 500K, it is worth the effort to reduce the file sizes before you import them. If possible, try to keep your entire presentation under 5MB.
- No Internet access available
Although more and more meeting places (hotels and conference centers) have Internet access, do not rely on it for a significant portion of your presentation. Unless there is a compelling reason to show specific navigation paths or access files or videos, it is best to take the IDNI (I-Don’t-Need-the-Internet) approach.
If applicable, make screen captures of important Web pages for your presentation and paste them into the PowerPoint slide(s). And, never ever post your presentation to the Web, with the intention of downloading it to the computer (which may or may not be provided to you).
- Video issues
It is always nice to have a brief video to show during your presentation, especially if it really supports a point you are trying to drive home. If you choose to include it, handle it one of two ways:
1. Be sure the video file size is less than 1M and embed it in the presentation itself
2. Save the video file to a thumb drive or CD-ROM and load it as a separate file to the computer you’re using for your presentation.
- The obvious problem
To dwell or not to dwell? That is the question. But, the answer is clear. Don’t dwell! If an anticipated feature of your presentation is noticeably missing (like Internet access) don’t apologize or bring it up every time you come across a point in your presentation that is a reminder of the problem. This can be very distracting to your listeners. Your main focus should be to tell your audience what you want them to know, not to remind them of what you wanted them to see.
|
This is just a short list of the many mishaps that can happen during a PowerPoint presentation. No doubt, some bad memories of personal experience have been resurrected as you read through this. But, regardless of the pitfalls, the best thing you can do is arrive early and give yourself plenty of time to deal with any unavoidable issues. If the technology prep work goes flawless, then you’ve just bought some spare time to psych yourself up for a brilliant presentation.
Abigail Borron, aborron@purdue.edu
Do you want On Target to cover a topic that interests you? E-mail your ideas to Kevin Leigh Smith.
