1. Suck at
Power
Point!
You
5 shocking design Mistakes
you need to avoid

2. Peopleworkinginnon-profits,
government,schoolsandcubiclesall
aroundtheworldhatePowerPoint,

3. butit’snotPowerPoint
thatsucks.
It’sthespeaker(that’syou)
whoisresponsibleforusing
iteffectively.

4. Yourslidesarethereto
supportyouandunfortunately
iftheysuck,sodoyou.

5. Thereareendlessbooks
writtenon thetopicbysome
verysmartpeople.
Buttherearelotsofwaysof
designingagreatlooking
presentation,anddefinitely
morethanoneopinion.
Ultimatelyoneofmyfavourite
waystolearnisfromother
people’smistakes.
Sohereare...

6. 5 shocking design
mistakes you
need to avoid

7. mISTAKE #1
too
much
info

8. Ifyou’regoingtoputwordforwordwhat
you’rearegoingtosay,handoverthe
slidesandtakeaseatbuddy.
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

9. Putting all your points
on one slide sucks.
You’renotgivingadocument,
you’regivingapresentation.
Themoreyouraudiencehastoread
thelesstheyarelisteningtoyou.

10. Agoodtrickisto
keeponlyonepointperslide.
Thishelpsyouwithtimingand
keepspeoplefromskippingahead.
POINT 1 POINT 2
SUBPOINT
POINT 3
SUBPOINT

11. Effectivecommunicationis
knowingwhattocutout.
Beamercilesseditorand
keepitrelevant.

12. Whileyou’reatit...
Onceortwiceisok.
30times?Thatsucks.
We’re So Big
InternationalLook at our BIG logo!
Getridofyourlogooneveryslide.

13. mISTAKE #2
not
enough
visuals

14. Visualsaremoreinterestingthanwords.
Thereareendlesssourcesofimagesandvideos
youcanusetobringyourpresentationtolife.

15. Ifyou’regoingtousestandardMicrosoft
clipartthere’snohopeforyou,sorry.
Agoodplacetostartishere:
iStockPhoto.com:
bestforroyaltyfreeimages($$$)
COMPFIGHT.com:
bestforCreativeCommonsimages(free-ish*)
*withconditions

16. Youdon’thavetouse
cheesystockphotos.
(isitreallythatmuchfun
toworkinacallcenter?)

17. Whichevervisualsyou
usejustrememberto...

18. If it’s unreadable, don’t use it.
Designforthisguy.

19. mISTAKE #3
horrible
quality

20. Pixelation sucks.

21. Usehigh-qualityimagesattheirrightsizes.

22. Withabitofdiggingaroundit’s
easytofindhigh-resolutionimages.

23. Tahoma
Microsoft Sans Serif
Arial
Verdana
Courier New
Times New Roman
Trebuchet MS
Lucida Console
Comic Sans MS
Asforfonts,thesearenotyouronlyoption.

24. Google‘beautifulfonts’andyou’llfindplentyof
handpickedfontsbysomeverygooddesigners.

25. Here’sanexampleofafreefontthatlooks,um,delicious.

26. mISTAKE #4
ALL-OVER-
THE-PLACE

27. Bemindfulofthingslikespacing
andalignment.
Keepeverythingniceandtidy.
POINT 1

28. Whenyoumoveyourpresentationfromonemachine
toanotheryoucanlosesomeofthatbeautifuldesign
you’vebeenworkingon.Thatcansuck.
Tofixthis,exportyourpresentationas
aPDFandpresentitfullscreen.
Itwilllookexactlythewayyouintendeditto
andyou’llbeabletoleaveacopybehind.
MYPRESENT-
ATION

29. Having a consistent use of colors,
images & alignment gives a cohesive
look to your presentation.
It also helps to separate your
presentation into sections.

30. Useacollectionofimagesthatbelongtogether,

31. and always stick to a color scheme.

32. and the most common mistake...

33. mISTAKE #5
lack
of prep

34. Most presentations suck
because not enough time
went into making them.
Youneedtogatheryourcontent,
createbeautifullookingslides
andrehearse,rehearse,rehearse.
...andnotthenightbefore.

35. get organized
and plan ahead.

36. Source: www.distinction-services.com
oftopexecutivessaythat
communicatingwithclarity
directlyimpactstheir
careerandincome.
25%
86%
Yetonly
Spendmorethan2hourson
‘high-stakes’presentations

37. Anoutstanding
1hourpresentation
cantake30hours
ormoreofpreptime.
ShockingIknow.

38. but It’s all worth it.
Givinga‘high-stakes’presentationisyourmoment
toshine,toinfluenceandtospreadideas.
Howmuchisthatworthtoyou?

39. Ifyou’reuploadingtoslideshareabeautifullydesigned
andwellplannedpresentationmightbeseenby
hundredsofthousandsofpeopleallaroundthe
world.
Putinthehours,
giveiteverythingyougot
andpresentaworkofart.

40. Ifyourpresentationsucks,don’tblamePowerPoint.
Design,
don’t just slap
something together.

41. Too much
info
NOT ENOUGH
VISUALS
horrible
QUALITY
ALL-OVER-
THE-PLACE
LACK OF
PREP
MISTAKES
TO AVOID
Let’srecap:

42. (yousignhere)
I promise to never
design a presentation
that sucks ever again

43. Clickheretodownload:
Sharethispresentationwithyour
colleagues,yourbossorwiththe
speakerofthathorriblepresentation
yousatthroughlastweek.
Theywillthankyou,trustme.
Togetherlet’sridtheworld
ofPowerPointthatsucks.

44. thank
you
Jesse Desjardins
twitter.com/jessedee
slideshare.net/jessedee