The 7 Deadly Sins: 7 Ways to Kill Your PowerPoint Presentation

presentation problems

You might have heard some people say that they hate PowerPoint, and wondered why anyone would hate PowerPoint. The truth is that such people do not really hate PowerPoint, but instead hate how some individuals use it, or their own lack of understanding of how to use it.

Do not ditch PowerPoint, instead, change the way you use it, and watch your audience like it. So many people ruin PowerPoint presentations because of avoidable presentation problems.

Keep in mind that whenever you are making a presentation and the audience does not seem interested in it, they are most likely busy spending their precious time on social media.

That is not a good thing, because whatever message you are trying to pass across goes unnoticed.

7 Common Presentation Problems People Make

So what are some of the common presentation problems that people encounter when working with PowerPoint? These mistakes can ruin even presentations worthy to be termed as the best.

Here are 7 presentation problems that will completely ruin your demonstration.

1. Changing Fonts Frequently

So you want to impress the audience by decorating your slides. That is not a bad thing, but some go to some dangerous extents that leave presentations freaking out our audience instead of impressing them.

One of the simplest ways to lose your audience’s attention is changing fonts too much. When you use too many font styles in your PowerPoint presentation, you trick the readers’ eyes and they will not concentrate on the message in your slides.

No one wants to work too hard just to read your words; words that should be easily visible to you and to the audience.

Create a professional presentation by avoiding using too many fonts. If possible, only switch the title fonts on the slides, and let the text on each slide be of a uniform font. The simpler it is to read your slide, the more people will actually take time to read it with you.

2. Leaving out Images

Why do you think a bored audience switches to Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube? It is because social media mostly communicates using catchy images and videos.

This is what people enjoy looking at, and if your presentation does not contain even a single image, people’s eyes will definitely wonder away from it, and that is when you will find them on their phones. Learn from the portfolios of the successful video creating companies and understand what can keep the attention of your audience.

So how do you ensure that your audience’s remain glued to your presentation? Incorporate images in your PowerPoint presentation. It is that simple. Use relevant images on some slides and chose to leave out text in some of them.

Use the images to communicate certain messages, together with your speech.

However, do not use complicated graphs and unnecessary photos to hide the fact that you did not do your research well. People notice such stuff so only use images to emphasize key points. Use the images for illustration, rather than decoration.

3. Animating All Slides

So you just discovered very cool animations and you decided that 90% of your presentation will incorporate them just so you can impress your audience. Wrong move!

The audience will be so confused on where exactly to look, that they will decide not to look at all. Animations are good for your slides, and so is sound, but only if used well.

In fact, if you use the two well enough you can heighten people’s interest to the point that no one will want to look away or at their phones. Just don’t overdo it because too much of anything, as you know, is poisonous.

Use the “less is more” rule while creating your PowerPoint presentation. You don’t want your audience to suffer from animation and sound overkill.

4. Filling Each Slide with Text

You probably have a lot to say during presentations, creating the need to fill each slide with exactly what you want to say on the day of the presentation. This is a recipe for disaster for your presentation.

You wonder, “How will people know all this if I don’t include it in the slides?” Trust us, no matter how detailed your slides are, the audience always needs you to explain things elaborately and clearly in a verbal manner.

When you fill your slides with too much text, the audience chooses to look away. How can you be in front of them repeating the same things you have written on your slides?

Give your audience the element of surprise and just include main points in the slides. Remember that the slides should not match your final presentation on the D-Day.

5. Punctuation and Grammatical Errors

Just because you are working with PowerPoint and not Word, does not mean you should not take punctuation and grammar seriously. You might be in a hurry to finish preparing the slides, and that is very understandable, but make sure you proofread your work.

Take time to use spell check and ask someone to proofread your work when you think you cannot spot any errors.

6. Using Too Much Color

You do not want your presentation to look like a rainbow so please keep off using too much color in your slides. Colors inspire emotions, but one of those emotions is not the audience’s love for your presentation.

Too much color can distract your audience from the presentation so keep it simple. Switch colors only to emphasize key points.

7. Too Many Slides

You might find that the presentation you are working on is so interesting to the point that you think using 200 slides is the way to go. After the first 100 slides, you will hear snores all over.

Yes, from the same people you are supposed to be telling something. Make sure you use a few slides approximately 10 to 12 to make your presentation a success. Be kind and do not leave out the most interesting information you would not want to miss if you were part of the audience.

Do Not Let These Presentation Problems Be the Downfall of Your Demonstration

Avoid too much decoration in your slides, and keep the number of slides at a minimum, unless you want your audience to sleep. Look for grammatical and punctuation errors in your work, only use necessary images, and steer off these presentation problems.

Lastly, avoid too many animations and sounds. Follow this advice and you will not have to worry about an embarrassing presentation.

Contact us and get a quote for video creation services to help push your brand to great heights.

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