Contract Worker - Freelancing Experiences

Why Crying With Laughter Helps You Learn How to Use PowerPoint Effectively

by Rico on April 19th, 2007

We’ve already established that giving great presentations are important for freelancers and contract workers. It lets them:

1. Successfully pitch a project to a client
2. Provide updates on a complex project
3. Establish themselves as an expert in their field.

Sometimes the best way to show how not to do something is to make fun of mistakes. Just like how Don McMillan:

…and Doug Zongker:

…do it. In case you can’t watch the videos (bandwidth and proxy concerns come to mind), let me summarize:

1. Don’t put every word you say on your PowerPoint slides
2. Don’t forget to run spell check!
3. Don’t use too many bullet-point
4. Don’t make your text hard-to-read
5. Don’t use too many slides
6. Don’t put too much stuff on a slide
7. Don’t overuse animations
8. Don’t cover up with PowerPoint if your have nothing to say!

Eight great points that will help you get your message across. And Presentation Zen, a blog by Garr Reynolds devoted to “issues related to professional presentation design,” has more on this. Good luck with your next presentation dear readers!

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