Practice Makes Perfect Presentation

October 30, 2019 at 12:32 pm (communication, Marketing, Presentations)
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I am sure anyone reading this has had his or her fair share of PowerPoint presentations. After much feedback over the years, I thought that I was doing everything right, as you probably think too. I always figured you just need to add pictures, transitions, and make sure it looks well organized and not cluttered. However, after doing some research and watching this extremely helpful Ted Talk, I learned way more than I thought I would. Give it a watch:

To sum up the video, there are five key points David JP Phillips suggests we consider when making a PowerPoint.

First, make sure you only put one message per slide. This is because our brains are very limited on how much they can take in and concentrate on at a time.

Second, work the audience’s memory. To do this, only use short bits of text per slide and include images. If you find yourself using long sentences, then use that as the content you deliver verbally, but take away key words to put on your slide.

Third, watch your sizing. We often make the headline bigger than the content on the slide. However, the headline is rarely the most important part. The most important part of your PowerPoint should also be the biggest, because this is what your eyes will spend the most time on.

Fourth, use effective contrast. This will help show what needs to be focused on. A good tip would be not using white for your background. If you use black or a dark color, then the audience can relax its eyes and focus on the person delivering the presentation as well, and not only focus on the big white screen. YOU are the presentation. The PowerPoint is simply your visual aid.

Fifth and final, only put enough objects that can be seen. Do not put so many to where it takes the audience a while to count how many are on the slide. Personally, I think four or less objects per slide is acceptable. Otherwise, it causes the audience to use more energy, which also can exhaust interest in your content. Now, this may cause you to have more slides, but that is not an issue compared to having slides that are too content heavy.

Knowing how to present is very important in school and in many jobs. Practice using these five tips with every PowerPoint and I guarantee you will perfect each one. Hopefully you found this just as helpful as I did!

By Kamryn Cantu, Business Major-IUPUC

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6 Steps to an A on Your Presentation

March 7, 2019 at 4:07 pm (communication, Presentations)
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  1. First Impressions Matter

Watch those baby steps! The first thing people notice is your theme. The wrong theme and your PowerPoint already failed. Play to your audience and ask yourself if this is something you would want to sit through. A clever title is a dead giveaway of your work and lets the viewer know what’s in store for them. Don’t drag down your points because your title was “Cow Farts” in a presentation about methane.

  1. Organization, Organization, Organization

Keeping pace with the presentation is what makes you a successful speaker, so don’t forget to organize your points. Make sure to introduce your main ideas before speaking them. Give the audience a simple sentence to prepare for the next section. Something as easy as, that was Organization next is Consistency.

  1. Consistency is Key

No one wants to see a bunch of random nonsense cluttering up your PowerPoint. Watch where you place your pictures and keep them even in every slide. Just keep it simple and stick to set transitions that can still grab attention but don’t distract from the importance. So, it still looks like the same presentation but with all the pizzazz you intended.

  1. Word Count Those Slides!!

Watch the words on your slides no one really wants to sit through a presentation anyway so don’t add an essay on top of it. Stick to main ideas, unless you’re quoting something directly the PowerPoint is to aid your audience, not your script.

  1. Summarize and Conclude

Make it a spectacular finish and summarize your points for your audience. This can help them catch up on details they missed or allow them to review your points for questions at the end. If you want your audience to remember your points repetition is a surefire method of success. It lets your viewers relax and enjoy your presentation instead of working to learn it even after you are done.

  1. Spell Check

Never forget to review your presentation for clear errors when its done. It is always best to have someone else check your work but since we all know you did this an hour before it was due at least spell check your work. There is a big difference between “your” work, and “you’re” work.

There are a few tips to give yourself a shot at an A even if you aren’t a strong presenter. A good presentation doesn’t make quality materials, but it sure does disguise crap.

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Internships? How do I Get One? Are They Even Important?

November 7, 2018 at 9:58 am (career, Dream Job, job, Job Hunting, Presentations, Uncategorized, Welcome)

 

Internships are what sets you apart from every other college student who decided to “just” do well in school and not have a job. Those people never came to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe they needed some work experience to be considered for a job. As defined by the Dictionary-

In-tern-ship-noun-the position of a student or trainee who works in an organization, sometimes without pay, in order to gain work experience or satisfy requirements for a qualification.

There are a variety of internships; the ones that pay money and the ones that you do for free. In other words, just do it for the FREE experience. College students can barely afford a Polar Pop always scraping up spare change, let alone doing free labor. College is hard,  and the real world is even harder.

There are a variety of ways a student can get an internship. The major ways that helped me land the job are as follows.

  • Know what you want to do as a career.
  • Make sure your resume correlates to the desired field.
    • If your resume doesn’t have anything to do with the desired career field, some volunteer work is needed.
  • Develop important relations in high places.
  • Develop a strong work ethic  
  • Apply everywhere, not just places you want.
  • Get help from the school. Sometimes they offer intern help.
  • Search up the companies you are wanting to apply to and figure out the algorithms to their selection process.
  • Research the company you are applying for.
  • Research the role you are applying for.
  • PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! Interviewing whether it is with someone or in the mirror.

Internships determine a lot when starting a career field. Many jobs look for “experience” and apparently bagging groceries doesn’t cut it. Go figure? Jobs base the hiring process through the amount of experience and qualifications you have. Remember, dress for the job that you want, never the job that you have.Presentation is key you only have one chance to impress the boss once you get the interview.Polish that resume to look and be the part.

Check out the video below to get some tips on polishing a resume.

 

ByTeresa Idett Cardozo Garcia, Business Marketing Major-IUPUC

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Is This Graphic Really Fantastic?

October 25, 2018 at 4:50 pm (Effective Communication, Presentations)

By Kaylee Burriss

Well, no, not always. Choosing the wrong graphics can distract from your message. When adding graphics to your writing and presentations it is important to make sure that the graphics are enhancing your message. There are also several different kinds of graphics that can be used and it is important to choose the one that best fits your message. The most used graphics are images and graphs.

CameraImages are easier to use in all forms of writing, while graphs are most useful when displaying lots of numbers about a specific topic. When selecting an image for a paper or presentation it is important that the image is not distracting and that the reader will still be more interested in the content that you are sharing than the image. Images with too many details, a lot of bright colors, or extra information that is irrelevant to your topic can all lead to your readers being distracted. The best images will be simple while still fitting in with the content in your writing or presentation.

When using graphs it is important to use a format that shows your data in a relevant way.  It is important that the type of graph you use makes sense for your data. For instance, using a pie chart for data that is not measured in a percentage does not make sense. In the first image above, Smartphone Ownership, it is easy to see how much smartphone sales have increased over time just based on the sizes of the bars. By adding the percentage values on top of these bars, anyone who wants more specific information, such as how much sales increased from 2012 to 2013 it is easy to find this information.

The second image above, Time Spent on Mobile Devices, is confusing. This graph compares the average usage of smartphones in the first quarter of 2013 and 2014, then switches to using the fourth quarter for 2015 and 2016. It would be easy to assume that based on this graph Americans were using their mobile phone twice as much in 2016 than they were in 2013, but since the entire year is not being represented in either case there is no way to know if this is really true.

Regardless of what kind of graphic you are using it is important to remember that you need the graph or image to enhance what you’re saying; not distract from the message you are attempting to convey to your readers or listeners.

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Power Point-ing: Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should

October 24, 2018 at 7:53 pm (career, Effective Communication, job, Presentations)
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In college or at work, at some point you are going to create a power point presentation. You may prefer Prezi, Google Slides, or the most commonly known Microsoft PowerPoint itself. These programs offer endless options in colors, themes, graphics, animations, and even cute little icons for bullet points to personalize your message. But please remember: Just because you can, does not mean you should! Yes, it is cliche, but it is true: Less is more. You can use catchy phrases and cheesy jokes to gain the attention of your audience, but let it end there. Here are a few helpful hints on how to make an awesome power point presentation without losing your credibility.

There are so many rules to follow when you are creating a presentation. Know your audience to better determine which approach to take. The ever popular 10-20-30 rule is a favorite. Your presentation should be no more than 10 slides, 20 minutes, and use 30 point font or larger. This is a great tool for the novice presenter. Keeping a simple theme with little or no animation and using a standard font will get your point across.

Maybe you have heard of the 5 by 5 rule (5 words per bullet point, 5 bullet points, and no more than 5 text heavy slides in a row). There is also the 1-6-6 rule (each slide has one main idea, 6 bullet points, with no more than 6 words each). It is safe to consider both of these concepts outdated, based on the average 8 second attention span. Text is evil and will lose your audience quickly.

The most important thing to remember as a presenter using PowerPoint, is the slides do not replace you. The images you provide are nothing more than a prop. Do not let your audience get caught up in reading and stop listening to your message.

Here is a new style of PowerPoint that is simple, easy to follow, and even easier to remember for your next engagement. “B4 You Present” is here to sweep the nation. The 4 B’s will save your audience from needing that second shot of espresso.

*Beyond the basic font – find a happy medium between boring and comedy. The font you use speaks volumes.Choose your style carefully, and stay consistent throughout your presentation.

*Big and beautiful – Create a clean slide with large font. Can you see me now?

*Browse for high quality images- Use one or two pictures per slide, no fuzz no pixels

*Boil it down – Break up your bullet points to their own slide, no more than 8 words per idea.

Let’s be honest with ourselves. No one wants to read a slide show, even if it contains graphics and bright colors. What we really want is to be entertained. So, treat each slide like its own individual advertisement. Use meaningful info graphics to display those boring figures and follow those four steps when building your PowerPoint slides. You will be the star of the show.

dosndonts

-Tiffany Riggs-Kredit, IUPUI

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