• 1. Start with a Rewrite:
  Start with an existing PowerPoint presentation - yours or someone else’s. It’s much easier to rewrite. This way you don’t have to start from scratch. The blank page can inflict writer’s block in even prolifically creative minds. You may also search the web and download a PowerPoint presentation that you really like. Study it’s structure, flow, and format. Craft your own presentation in a similar style. Ask for help from your successful friends and colleagues. They will be thrilled and honored you’ve turned to them for support.

• 2. Cook Bouillabaisse:
  Now throw everything into one pot. Force yourself to stay in the creative, left side of your brain.  Copy all the slides from one or two key presentations and paste them into your master presentation.

• 3. Delete Your Darlings:
  Now transition to the right side of your brain, the editor. Your slides need to be trimmed back. You’re forced to delete slides that you love. You may have several “darling” slides that have to go! Don’t worry; you can resurrect these for another presentation.
   
• 4. 10/20/30 Guideline:
  We reference this from The Art of The Start, by Guy Kawasaki. Guy advocates having no more than 10 slides for a 60 minute presentation. He suggests that for this duration of time, you speak for no more than 20 minutes and leave 40 minutes for an open discussion. The format of your presentation should be short bullet-points using no less than a size 30 font. Guy calls this the 10/20/30 Rule. We will use it as a guideline. Only expert presenters can pull off a one-hour presentation using only 10 slides. You’ll most likely need 15-25 slides for a one-hour presentation. If you have 30 or more, you’re in trouble. We recommend Guy’s book - click here.
   
  
• 5. Cut the Clip-art:
  Some very well-meaning people advocate not using PowerPoint at all. We suggest you “cut the fat”, but keep the muscle. Clip-art is “fat”. Don’t use PowerPoint’s embedded clip-art. Affordable stock photography is readily available. Refer to Garr Reynolds’ link below which offers some very valuable advise on creating memorable and compelling slides. Click here.
   
• 6. Animation=Irritation:
  Aside from clip-art, nothing gives your audience indigestion like the overuse of animation. The only animation you should use is fade-in. If you use fade-in for your bullet-points, the audience won’t read ahead. The bottom line is to drop the fancy special effects. We’ve all seen them far too many times before, and we’re not impressed.   
   
• 7. Practice, Practice, Practice:
  Many business professionals spend countless hours a year trying to learn how to hit straight golf balls. These people fully understand the importance of practice. However, the same professionals may never practice delivering their presentations. The best way to practice is to deliver your presentation in private, out loud, using a stopwatch. We recommend practicing with our presentation NavigationChart™ PDF. Best printed as “11X17” color. To learn how to best use this unique presentation tool, please send us an email.
   
  
• 8. Handouts
  Audiences expect a copy of your presentation. Give your audience a printed copy at the beginning of your talk. It’s always best to print your slides with a high quality color printer. With PowerPoint, we prefer two slides per page. If your material isn’t confidential, and there aren’t too many people attending your presentation, you can really impress your audience by providing them with a complementary USB stick with your slides saved on it. But, never pass around supplemental material during your presentation. Passing things out during your presentation is a sure sign of a rookie. You will immediately lose three people - the person who currently has the material, the person who had the material last, and the person who’s waiting to get the material next. Let your audience know upfront that they will all get a chance to see additional material at the end of your presentation.
   
• 9. Right Equipment
  Don’t blow your performance because you have a cheap projector and a remote that doesn’t work. You worked too hard creating and practicing your presentation to have technical difficulties disrupt and destroy your peak performance. Make sure you have a great projector and a decent radio-frequency (RF) remote control. Most standard remotes are infrared-red (IR).  IR remotes are limited to line-of-sight.  With an RF remote you can be virtually anywhere in the room and advance your slides.
   
• 10. Keep Learning
  We believe that excellent training is critical to your future business success. Those who stop learning are left behind. Contact us to learn more about our next learning event.

From the Sales and Marketing Management Advisor Newsletter.

Let's face it—public speaking can make or break a career. So what if your skills aren't particularly up to par? If you can't escape feeling that if your presentation skills had been a little sharper, you would have landed that job, kept that prospect or made the sale, then it may be time to seek some professional help.