POWERPOINT PRESENTATION SKILLS Tran Anh Thong, MA. Department of Foreign Languages

KEYS TO A SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION Think of your audience Make it clear Why should visual aids be used? Things to be considered

Purpose of your talk Talk to your audience Engage your audience by asking questions Keep it interesting: – Share interesting tidbits – Give unique examples or analogies – Humor disturbs slumber Make sure you can be heard!

Verbal Skills Slow down Don’t read your slides – use as cues Vary voice tone Genuine enthusiasm Speak up Body Language Eye contact Stand straight – breathe Don’t over-gesture with pointer Face your audience

Controls number of slides and provides balance Style and format: – Use colors to highlight and organize – Be consistent Read through presentation and see if main points stand out One concept per slide

Use visuals whenever possible Good visuals are: – Visible – Clear – Simple Text 7% Visual 55% Vocal 38% (Results from Professor Albert Mehrabian – UCLA)

Message Retention (Study at the Wharton Research Centre )

Objectives Achievement (Study by Decker Communications )

Don’t crowd with too much information Unreadable information wastes time and annoys audience Timing Don’t memorize entire talk Font size Text animations Layouts (background, font color)