TECH-Tip
From the PowerPoint Trenches

by Dr. Jeanette Cates

I often liken my computer to a ventriloquist's dummy - I'm lost without it. It's not because I can't present without it - it's because with a technical topic like mine (Internet marketing and online technologies), it's virtually impossible to just "tell" someone about it. You have to show them as well. So I'm a strong proponent of presenting with PowerPoint.

If you're like me and use it all the time, I think it's doubly important that you use it well. Here are a few pointers that will help with your next PowerPoint presentation.

1. Use a remote control. There's nothing worse than being restricted to the length of the mouse to present. You need to be able to move around the room. A remote allows you to "magically" change the slides - forward and backward. My favorite? The ESP from www.dynamx.com/remote.html.
2. Don't read your slides. Your slides are there to give a visual guide to your audience. When you read them you're repeating what they can already see - and have probably already read. Reading your slides makes you look foolish - and useless.
3. Don't turn your back on the audience in order to see your slides. You need to position your computer monitor so that it faces you. You can see which slide you're on by looking at your monitor. You don't need to look at the screen. Trust me. It looks exactly the same as your monitor!
4. Print your presentation. You need to have a copy of your slides in print. That way, if the electricity goes out, you can still present. If a connection doesn't work or a cable is missing, the show still goes on. I print my slides 3 to a page, then make notes next to the slide to remind me of important points.
5. Put all of the attention on you occasionally. You can do this by turning off the slides. To black out the screen, press B on your keyboard. The audience will automatically look at you. When you're ready to share the stage again with your slides, press B again.
6. If you're presenting in a dark room, use W to white the screen. It will put plenty of reflective light back into the room.
7. Speaking of dark rooms, I used to present in educational classrooms a lot. There, the choices are "lights on, lights off." In the case where we needed to turn off the lights in order to see the slides, we used an overhead projector pointed toward the back wall to create enough ambient light to be safe in the room. No tripping allowed!

Hope your next presentation is a winner!

About the Author: Dr. Jeanette S Cates, The Technology Tamer, works with business owners who want to turn their website into gold and with experts who want to sell their information online. She is a professional speaker and author of Online Success Tactics: 101 Ways to Build Your Small Business - www.OnlineSuccessNews.com.