PowerPoint is a great application to use to make your presentations more memorable. PPT presentations can help to get all the important points across… if you use it properly. I have seen several instances where a speaker’s PPT slides actually made their presentation worse. So if you use PowerPoint for your presentations, be sure to read the points below so you can avoid making some very common PPT mistakes.

• Do not try to cram as much information into a slide as possible. Only include in the key points. PPT is not a word processing application.

• Expand on the points in your slides but do not read them to your audience word for word. Assume that everyone is capable of reading for themselves.
• Use pictures instead of bullets when ever possible. Pictures are more powerful than text.
• Run through your PowerPoint presentation before hand so there are no surprises. Stumbling across something in your presentation makes you look unprepared and even unprofessional.
• Think about where you are presenting when putting the slides presentation together. Don’t use a white background with black font if you are going to be in a dark room.
• Don’t make your audience squint to read the key points on your slides. Make sure you use font that is large enough. Ideally, you should start with 18 and go up from there if necessary. Anything less is too small.

Tags: powerpoint, business, office, diana huggins, ppt