FDD | Fall 2010

FDD | Fall 2010

are you

innovative?

FDD | Fall 2010

you are

innovative!

FDD | Fall 2010

before

after mock-ups, including

directions for Flash animator

before

after mock-ups, including

directions for Flash animator

Becoming

Presentation Zen The Center for Teaching and Learning Page 1 of 6

The following handout is a supplement to the “live” workshop presentation. In harmony with the Garr Reynold’s Zen approach to presentation design and delivery, the detailed procedures were removed from the PowerPoint presentation, and placed into this handout for your reference and review!

Workshop Handout

Instructional Technology Series

B e c o m i n g Z e n

1 Let Go.

Let go of your preconceived notions about the proper uses of PowerPoint. What is “normal” is not necessarily right. For

example, your audience cannot read and listen at the same time, so don’t ask them to! Avoid “death by PowerPoint.”

Remember, YOU are the presentation, not your slides!

2 Be Creative.

If you are human, you are creative. Ask questions! Think like a child; be enthusiastic, fresh, habit-free, unbound by rules,

ignorant of what is not possible, and do not fear failure. Be courageous and different. Busyness kills creativity. Work within

a structure, but also remember to take your time. Aim to present with clarity and simplicity.

3 Plan analog.

In the initial planning stages, get away from you computer! Step back and look at the big picture. Identify your core

message. Do not dive into PowerPoint until you have planned the story out in your mind, and drawn it on a whiteboard

or a piece of paper. When you are ready to use the computer, use it as a bicycle for your mind (not a car).

4 Craft a story.

Stories are easier to remember than lists. Make your audience feel something. Avoid the “curse of knowledge,” in which

only you understand your lecture. Learn to use the Slide Sorter View in PowerPoint to organize your ideas. Exercise

restraint and relate everything back to the core message.

5 Design with simplicity, use the big 4.

Present like Steve Jobs, not like Bill Gates. Complication and elaboration is easy, but restraint is hard. Avoid clutter,

“cheesy” images, long lines of text, too many colors, and decoration. Simplicity is attained by careful reduction of the

nonessential. Be open to the idea of “amplification through simplification.” Do not be afraid of empty space on slides!

Mix in some asymmetrical slide layouts, which can be dynamic and interesting when used with images, empty space

and a minimal amount of text.

Use the “big 4,” which are simple design concepts that can help you create more satisfying and effective slide show

presentations:

1 Contrast – Using design elements such as color, placement, and size, make the most important subject clearly

dominant on your slide. Avoid adding clutter and distractions such as extra borders and lines, unnecessary text, or busy

backgrounds that may detract from the contrast you have created.

2 Repetition – Using similar elements throughout your design creates unity and consistency, allowing your design to be

viewed as a larger whole. It is possible to overdo repetition, however. For example, many of the built-in templates that

come with PowerPoint have been seen many times and become boring. Instead, subtly vary the size and location of

common design elements on each slide, and use consistent colors, fonts and styles that work together.

Presentation Zen The Center for Teaching and Learning Page 2 of 6

3 Alignment – Every element on your slide should be connected via an invisible line, even those far apart. Slides that

appear to be randomly laid out tend to appear less professional. Use PowerPoint’s “grids and guides” option (from the

View menu), and/or its “Align or Distribute” options (from the Drawing toolbar) to help you create alignment.

4 Proximity – The principle of proximity says that related items should be grouped together so they will be viewed as a

group. Audiences will do this naturally, based on how you position items on your slide, so be sure take a step back

(literally), to see how your eye flows through your slide elements. For example, do not make your audiences think about

the wrong stuff by placing captions and graphics too far from one another.

7 Use handouts to set you free.

Bullet points are not effective in a live talk, so use them sparingly on your slides. Whenever possible, remove bullet points

altogether and place them in the notes section of PowerPoint for your reference. Provide your audience with handouts

after the presentation, which can contain all of the details (and bullet points!) from your presentation. If you are utilizing

intricate charts or graphs, include those in a separate handout to be given out during your presentation, because details

are very difficult to see on a projected PowerPoint slide.

8 Use images and diagrams. Your slides should be used as visual reinforcement. Create meaningful diagrams and charts the illustrate relationships and

offer visual proof for your words. When using images, avoid cheesy clip art at all costs. The visual superiority effect states

that images improve recognition and recall of information anytime exposure to a concept is over 30 seconds. There are

many tools and options available to you (see the list later in this handout).

9 Delivery.

Be fully present in the moment you are delivering a presentation. Be friendly, confident, and exude passion for your topic

without going “over the top.” If you don’t believe in your message, no one else will! Know when to stop (more is not

always better). Deal with an aggressive audience member with a natural, non-aggressive response and do not let it

derail your presentation. Leave the lights in the room on (if you can), because it is difficult to connect with an audience

when you can’t see one another. And finally, don’t take yourself too seriously! A good way to do this is through the

injection of humor into your presentation.