Dave Paradi conducts a global survey every two years. He asks what annoys them the most about PowerPoint Presentations. Respondents are asked to pick the top three from a list of twelve options. As a presenter, this survey helps you figure out the top mistakes that you need to avoid, because they annoy your audiences the most. Here is the result from Survey 2017: "The speaker read out the slides to us" (68%) "Full sentences for text" (52%) "Text too small to read" (49%) "Visuals too complex" (34%) What does this mean for you as a presenter? Never ever read out the text from your slide. Your audience can read it themselves. They don't need you to do it. When presenting a deck in-person, do not write full sentences. Write 2-3 words and explain the rest of your content orally. Use large and legible fonts. Never go below 20. If you are presenting in a very large venue, try to visit the venue beforehand to test your slides o...

I am organising a day-long presentation workshop for startups in Kolkata on February 4, 2018. If you are interested, enter your mobile number by clicking here .  It is ideal for early-stage startups looking to raise their first/second round. 3 hours: Workshop by me 3 hours: LIVE Pitching by each startup + Feedback to each startup AGENDA 1. How to pitch to angels and VCs? 2. What does the investor look for? 3. How to structure your pitch? 4. What to say to an investor? (complete template) 5. How to design good slides? 6. Common mistakes to avoid while pitching Book now by clicking here

You have prepared your slides. But you are unsure if your slides are really good. What if you had a checklist through which you could run your slides. Here is one checklist. Your slides are good if your response is YES to all the items on this checklist. I have not used bullet points I have prepared a slide ( with few words ) and not a report (with lots of words) My photos are not hazy (pixellated) I have not used cliched images and WordArt I have not distorted the image while enlarging it My fonts are legible. I have not used fonts below size 18 My charts are simple and easy to understand I have not used 3-D charts I have not used boring fonts like Arial, Calibri or Garamond I have used a sans-serif font. I have not used a serif font I have not used fancy fonts I have not used more than 3 colours in my presentation I have not used watermarked images If your answer is NO to any of the above points, it is time to fix that problem. Unsure about how to fix? A...

#1 Too much information on one slide #2 Long list of bullet points #3 Using cliched, overused images #4 Using WordArt. That's so 90s #5 Trying to impress with extra-stylish charts #6 Illegible fonts #7 Using 3-D charts #8 Difficult-to-read chart legends #9 Too many colours All slides taken from public sources. For academic purpose only.