A bad presentation is often referred to as a boring presentation. Because of this, some people go out of their way to make their presentations as animated as possible. But, does this really solve the problem?
What is the Goal of a Good Presentation?
A good presentation facilitates communication between the presenter and their audience. It would take a lot more time to get the same message across to many people without using a good presentation. It is true that an entertaining presentation would be able to retain the attention of the audience. But, this does not necessarily mean that people will be able to understand the message. Presentations often fail not because they are boring, but because they are confusing.
Why are Confusing Presentations so Common?
One of the biggest reasons for confusing presentations is the presenter’s inability to structure the presentation. The presentation should have a clear main idea around which it is built. Many presentations lack the correct flow of ideas. Instead, some of them simply appear to be a collection of data and information. The fact that this information is only going to be on the screen for a brief period of time, makes it even harder to understand if you’re not careful.
The Result of a Confusing Presentation
Even if you have painstakingly collected the right data; people might leave confused because the information was not communicated correctly. Even valuable information can become useless if presented poorly.
How to Make a Presentation Less Confusing?
You can do a few things to make sure that a presentation empowers your audience. Understand your audience’s attention span. Write descriptive Titles and Headings at the start of each slide, and use less text in the slide itself. It is okay to increase the number of slides, as long as each slide does not contain more than one or two important points.
What does the audience want to know? Try to look at the presentation from their perspective. One way to make a presentation clear is by making it concise. Be very aggressive in rooting out any information that does not need to be in the presentation.
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