Last week I was in Singapore and I was attending the 'Creatures of the Night Show' in the famous Night Safari. The show was all about animals performing interesting acts on stage in front of a large audience. The show ended with an important conservation message. Such messages are usually boring and difficult to make people to care and act.
In this case, the message was: segregating the waste. We should throw aluminium, paper and plastic in separate garbage bins.
This message can be given simply. We request you to throw aluminium, paper and plastic in separate garbage bins. It is good for the environment.
But this would be lame. Plus, how do you make people pay attention, care about the message and finally act upon it?
What the host did was awesome. She threw some coke cans, paper and plastic cups in front of us and asked an animal (otter in this case) to come. The first otter picked up the plastic cups and put it in the bin marked 'plastic'. Then the second otter came and put paper in the bin for paper. Then came the third otter.
The message was simple. Even animals know what to do and what is right for the environment. We all got the point :)
Here are 7 PowerPoint tips no one knows. You can have some fun and can put it to good use. Check it out on slideshare here:
Law #1: The understanding, attention and retention of your audience is inversely proportional to the length of your presentation.
The longer your presentation, the lesser your audience pays attention, remembers and understands. Keep your presentation as short as possible.
Law #2: A picture is worth a thousand words. A video is worth a thousand pictures.
Sometimes just one picture is equal to a paragraph full of words. A video is even more powerful. It an audio visual medium and engages the audience better than even pictures. Stop your reliance on plain text. Make it interesting and entertaining with pictures and videos.
Law #3: The power of a slide is inversely proportional to the amount of words on the slide.
The more words on the slides, the worse the slide becomes. Great slides are low on text. Bad slides are text heavy.
Law #4: Effective delivery of your presentation is directly proportional to the amount of practice you have put in.
The more you rehearse, the better you deliver the presentation. The more you practice, the more confident you become. There are no naturally born presenters. Practice is the difference between great and average presenters.
Law #5: Your audience mirrors you.
Your audience mirrors your behavior and state of mind. If you are positive, passionate and confident, your audience feels the same way. If you enjoy the joke you just made, your audience will enjoy the same. A nervous presenter makes the audience uncomfortable too.
