Speaker Tips: PowerPoint Kills....

....at least that's what the oft-used phrase "death by PowerPoint would suggest."

So, you know.  Don't do it.  We want our attendees to live.

I came across this bit of commentary: "It's Time to Replace PowerPoint".  It reminded me to post something about slide decks, and also because our deadline for presentations for our speakers is coming up.

We've all sat through enough bad PowerPoint presentations to understand its shortcomings.  And it's not necessarily with the technology, but rather how they're put together.  The perspective mentioned in the link above notes how visuals, dense charts and lengthy slide decks can get in the way of communicating effectively.  So tip no. 1 - be careful of all these.

I'm not an advocate of doing away with slides altogether.  Too many of our attendees come strictly to learn and make sure they have information to reference both during, and also once they leave the conference.  Tip no. 2 - Remember these people.

Engaging the audience is one of the best ways to get them to hear your message, or learn something from you.  We've had great speakers who don't use slides at all, or just use a bunch of great visual queues to help them illustrate their points.

Here's a nice, simple video on making good use of slides.