1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:21,480 Speaker 1: tip is that if you are giving a presentation, don't 4 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: read your slides. The only reason to have slides is 5 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: to show something visually beyond what you are saying. Every 6 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: meeting will be better if you keep this rule in mind. 7 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: Today's tip was inspired by Bill McGowan's new book, Speak Memorably. 8 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:49,520 Speaker 1: McGowan is a communications coach. He teaches people from lots 9 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: of different walks of life how to present more effectively. 10 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: As you might imagine, a lot of speakers use PowerPoint, 11 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: a lot of people presenting at meetings use PowerPoint. There 12 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: is almost no getting away from Microsoft's presentation software, and 13 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 1: it does do some useful things. But you know what 14 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: PowerPoint isn't a script to be read from mcgwen uses 15 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: the phrase good PowerPoint hygiene, and a key part of 16 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: that is that you should not read your slides. There 17 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: is no quicker way to forfeit the engagement of the 18 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: audience than to narrate your deck. He says, the more 19 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: text you have on your slides, the less your audience 20 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: will listen to you. After all, they don't need to 21 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: if whatever you are going to say is written right 22 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: there on your slide. I suspect people do this narrating 23 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: their slides so they know what they should be saying. 24 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: They treat their slides as notes, But then why not 25 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: have notes? In most cases that is okay if you 26 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: are on a big conference stage giving a ted talk 27 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: or something that is different. But if that is the case, 28 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: I hope you know your material well enough that you 29 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: don't really need it written out word for word. Those 30 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: people shouldn't be reading their slides either. The purpose of 31 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: a slide is not to provide notes. It is to 32 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: show something visually that will reinforce the point you are making. Truly, 33 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: that is the only point of having slides. So you 34 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,799 Speaker 1: could talk about boosting sales and then show a graph 35 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: where your sales are clearly going up. Or you can 36 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: talk about a confusing interface and then show a picture 37 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: highlighting exactly why it's confusing. Or you can show a 38 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: picture that illustrates your point that people are always looking 39 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: at their phones, because it is a photo of people 40 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: in front of the Grand Canyon and they are all 41 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: staring at their phones. Those are interesting slides. Your script, 42 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: on the other hand, is not an interesting slide. People 43 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 1: will glance at the words and then tune you out. 44 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: They might wonder why all of this couldn't have been 45 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: an email instead. Longtime listeners know that I don't use 46 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,080 Speaker 1: PowerPoint in my speeches most of the time. Most of 47 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: the time, conference hosts are actually excited about this, because 48 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: the audience has seen so many slides that it's kind 49 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: of nice to have a break. My time management speeches 50 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: are done more as a one woman act, and just 51 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: as with performing a play, I have memorized the various 52 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: versions of my talk that I might give. I know 53 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: that is not feasible for your average two PM meeting, 54 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: where you are simply showing the management team your progress 55 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: on a project. It wouldn't really make sense to treat 56 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: this as a one person show. But that said, thinking 57 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: a bit more about what should be on a slide 58 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: and what shouldn't, and making sure that the slides compliment 59 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: rather than duplicate your talk, we'll go a long way 60 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: toward making that two pm meeting a little less boring, 61 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: and that would make the world a better place. In 62 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's 63 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening 64 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, 65 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. 66 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts 67 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 68 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.