Comments on: Five Rules for PowerPoint Presentations That Don’t Suck

By: Canister Set

Canister Set — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:18:17 +0000

i think that everyone have a fear of public speaking in one way or another ,’”

By: Oscar Turner

Oscar Turner — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:24:29 +0000

when i were in high school, i am always afraid of public speaking:~*

By: Jaclyn

Jaclyn — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:46:49 +0000

This is a great post. I’ve sat through MANY meetings where people just read directly off the PP slides. What’s the point? If you’re going to just read and then show your notes on a big screen, you might as well just e-mail them to me, we can skip the “presentation” and only meet to have a discussion.

If you know you’re someone who is anxious about public speaking, then you need to make a big effort. to avoid using text on PP slides.

By: Andrew Dlugan

Andrew Dlugan — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:35:48 +0000

Good rules, Matt. I recall an experience not long ago where one senior manager was reviewing my presentation before I stood before upper management. Nearly all of his suggestions would have bloated my slides tremendously. My advice is to listen the feedback (because after all, their experience is valuable), particularly as it relates to the content of your message. Having said that, resist the "advice" to adopt bad presentation skills. Your "5 rules" match up quite well with the results of a public speaking audience survey where people are asked what they wish speakers would do better. Three of your rules appear prominently in the survey results (do not read slides; use visuals, not words; avoid PowerPoint entirely).