Tweaking Presentations

They Snooze You Lose

Chapter 1

Tweaking Presentations

                In this chapter Lynell Burmark introduces us to the different ways we can improve our old power point presentations.  Burmark states that color, type face, and visuals make a difference between a boring or successful presentation.  It is estimated that about 30 million power point presentations are given around the world daily, and the majority of the audience pay no attention to them.  Burmark suggest giving our old power point presentations a “tweak” to make them more appealing to viewers.  She suggests that is as easy as changing templates, color, and type.  When changing or choosing a template think of what is intended to communicate and our personality.  It has been studied that when the right scheme of color is applied to a power point the audience comprehension and retention is greater than what black and white visuals provide.  She went ahead and explains that warm colors are seen before cool colors.  So it would be a good idea for now on to use yellow and reds in our presentations.  It is very common to see presenters using the newest technology available, yet they continue to use the same old practices.  Instead we should use more pictures and fewer words.  Nancy Duarte mentioned that presentations should be like billboards.  If our message is processed effectively within seconds, we are in the right track.