Power Point Animation

I was recently in a meeting where the presenter had obviously spent a lot of time making her slides visually interesting through the use of color. As she talked us through her presentation I was struck by how pleasant her color scheme was and how she obviously had a good eye for design.

Unfortunately, at the point in her presentation where she wanted to make a really powerful statement, the projector was not able to show all the colors in her slide correctly. Most of the text in her examples was illegible, resulting in the slide looking much like a green - blue blob. Not only did this disrupt her presentation, but it made her point very difficult to get across. It was a shame because, up until that point, her presentation had been quite convincing and the slide that did her in, so to speak, was the one that needed to make the ultimate point.

PowerPoint gives us users a lot of options to enhance our presentations. This often translates into us users falling on our faces because we simply dont know where to draw the line when trying to (in the words of an infamous British Cabinet minister) sex-up our presentations. This is true of something as seemingly straight-forward as the use of color.

With that in mind, Ive compiled a list of things that you should consider when including color in your presentations.

1) Projector proofing: Do your colors work with all projectors?

As in the example given, what may look excellent on your own laptop monitor may look quite different when projected on a screen. Professional designers know about this fact and thats why they spend lots of money on software and other tools to calibrate their monitors and printers. Chances are that this is overkill for your presentation so try to keep a couple of things in mind when employing color.



- Text should usually be dark against a lighter background, ideally black on white. The background color should be significantly lighter than the text, so that should your colors not be projected well, the text will still be legible.

- When using more than two colors, ensure that you use variations of the prime colors for each separate object rather than different shadings of a single primary color. For example, lets say that you have three objects on your slide that you want to color. I would suggest that you use blue, red and yellow rather than red, maroon, orange. Why? Well, the primary colors blue, red and yellow are significantly different form one another and even when projected onto a screen should look different enough to be recognized a different objects. Whereas different shadings of a primary color (e.g. red, maroon and orange) can turn out looking the same when projected.

2) How do the colors look when printed out?

- Ive already mentioned that professional designers use specially calibrated printers to print out their artwork. Since this usually isnt an option in most of us, I strongly suggest test-printing your presentations ahead of time to see if your colors look the way you want them to.

- Also, color handouts are nice and when going to big client meetings, I always use them. However, big client meetings are the exception to the rule and so I usually print handouts from a black and white printer for most of my normal presentations purposes. This is more cost efficient and many companies prefer that employees do use black and white (or grey-scale) printouts. Therefore, make sure that your color slides translate into understandable black and white printouts too.

3) Are you using colors to emphasize a point or to make up for bad structure?

Oftentimes people use color to show the difference between objects or ideas or to emphasize an idea or a point. This is not bad, generally speaking, but do try to be honest with yourself about whether you are using colors to make-up for a lack of good structure in your slide. If you find yourself resorting to colors to make your point, then you most likely need to re-think the structure and design of the objects that you are using in your presentation. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, can I make the same point with this slide without the color? if the answer is no, than you need to work on how you are showing what you want to say first before you use any colors.

4) Does it look professional?

Last but certainly not least, you should always make sure that your presentation maintains a certain level of professionalism. This is really just a question of appropriateness. Is it appropriate to have ten different colors in your presentation? Does the super-cool background you recently downloaded really make you seem like an authority or does it make you look like you are trying too hard? Obviously this is a subjective point, but do take the time to reflect on whether you are keeping within the standards (formal as well as informal) of your company or school. After all, your presentation is not taking part in a design contest; it is you vehicle for making your point. Dont distract from the point you are trying to make by trying to look pretty. Pretty is not always professional. If you doubt this, have a look at a typical McKinsey presentation.



Personally, I prefer very little color in my presentations. I think that a more purist look is less distracting, more elegant and clearer for the audience. That being said, I have seen some really knock-out presentations that have used much more color than I would ever dare to. At the end of the day its your decision but do make certain to use colors wisely in your presentations. It can make all the difference.

Benjamen Bauer is the pen name of an active management consultant who enjoys discussing and writing about good (and bad) presentation technique. Since he currently is still in the employee of a big name consultancy he prefers to remain anonymous whilst writing about of contemporary business presentation culture from the front lines. You can read his blog and tutorials at http://www.professional-powerpoint.com

Microsoft's Shellie Tucker reports in this Office Hours column, "Could we give a PowerPoint presentation and use NO BULLET POINTS? Could we divorce ourselves from the tried and true and deadly boring? We decided to try."

Presentation is a performance -- and stage fright is common. Think about it. You stand in front of an audience and hope to engage them from your very first word. You want to separate yourself from the parade of vendors coming before and after you, so you think about every facet and plan for every contingency. And because you are nervous about it, you may write down what you want to say -- to be sure you get it right.

But somewhere between the clear thoughts in your head and their expression as you write, what you want to say transmogrifies into another language. It becomes stilted, pretentious, maybe even condescending. You want to be impressive, so you try to sound impressive.

Conversely, you decide not to write it down because you want to sound authentic and spontaneous -- and because you plan to make good eye contact as you speak. But when you deliver, you search for the biggest, heaviest, most impressive word you can think of. Maybe you believe bigger words sound more professional. Perhaps you need to prove that you are educated or seasoned. Could be you want to demonstrate your facility with a dictionary. It doesn't matter why you do it. What matters is to stop!

A recent article in the journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology reports that when a speaker uses complicated or unnecessarily long words, listeners -- no matter their level or status -- evaluate the intelligence of the speaker lower than they otherwise would. In other words, if they struggle to understand you, they assume it must be your fault.

If you want to perform at your best when you present, it's clear you must avoid the fifth fatal flaw.

You choose words to impress.

When you meet a friend for coffee, you don't say you utilized your computer today; you say you used it. You don't ask if she'll facilitate with your report; you ask if she'll help. And you don't asked the server to interface with your needs, you ask him to bring you a menu. There are lots of "you" and "I" and "we" in friendly conversation because real people use personal pronouns. Lots of them.

There is very little passive voice in real conversation because real people generally use clear, uncomplicated, assertive sentences. And while those ten dollar words may not be all that hard to understand, you know instinctively that they interfere with real communication.

Indeed, when you're talking with a friend, you choose a ten cent word because you know it works best. Why look for the longest word you can find when a short, crisp alternative works better conversationally? Don't talk to impress; talk to express.

Real people engaged in friendly conversation use real, everyday language to communicate without pretension or an air of self importance. Speak to express, not to impress. You'll be less nervous and more importantly, your audience will respond more positively. Impress them with clarity, simplicity and authenticity.

Yes, a presentation is a performance and the best performers look and sound like real people. So when you want to engage your audience right from the get-go, capture their attention with a friendly conversational style. Your audience will be happier - -and so will you, because it's just plain easier on your nerves to be yourself. I call it shirtsleeve English. Use it.

P.S. Discover more about fatal flaws and how to eliminate them in the next article.

Fern Lebo is president of FrontRunner Communications, adjunct faculty at Auburn University, consultant, trainer and frequent keynote speaker. A respected communications expert, Lebo focuses on presentation and writing for sales. For nearly 20 years, she has helped Fortune 500 companies create and deploy star sales performers. Lebo's clients learn the secrets that set them apart and discover the professional techniques they need to achieve outstanding success. Find out more at http://FRcommunications.com

If you want your presentation to contain more than one theme (layouts that contain colors, fonts, and effects), apply muliple slide masters to your presentation This article shows you how.