Presentation Advisors Blog

Top 5 PowerPoint Presentation Design Posts of 2009 from Presentation Advisors

2009 was my first full year of blogging and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I was able to both educate and connect with my readers, two things I love doing. 

Like all blogs, 2009 had it's share of posts that were better received than others.  I wanted to aggregate them all in this post, so it can live as a quick reference base.  The best posts were voted on by the Academy (me). 

So without further adieu, here are the top Presentation Advisors posts of 2009.

1. PowerPoint Design Methods - There's much discussion about the best PowerPoint design method.  How many slides should be used?  What font size?  How fast should I transition through them?  I've insisted that there is no right PowerPoint method.  Your presentation design should compliment your presentation style, audience, content, and more.  But in this post are a few popular PowerPoint presentation design methods and theories that have worked well for some established presenters.


2. The Effective Use of White Space in Advertising - I'm a huge fan of utilizing white space (or blank space and isn't necessarily white).  I wrote this post to highlight some great uses of white space in popular ads, as well as how it can be applied to presentation design. 


3. A New Spin on the Old Agenda Slide - I had just recently sat in on a presentation that used, like many others, a bullet-point agenda slide with black text on a white background.  I decided to show how, with just a few steps, an agenda slide could be improved [before and after images included].  I credit the inspiration to Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen method and an agenda slide I saw during a live presentation of his I attended.


4. Book Review - Brain Rules by Dr. John Medina - One of my favorite books of 2009 was Brain Rules.  This book not only breaks down the mysteries of the brain using language that we all can understand, but many of the rules apply to presentation design (namely catching and keeping your audience's attention).  In the post I highlighted three of those rules that you can apply to your presentation tomorrow.


5. What's Wrong with PowerPoint Templates? - Templates and me have a love-hate relationship.  I love to hate them...especially those found within PowerPoint (there are a few nice ones on Keynote).  It's not necessarily the visual design, it's the tired, played-out road that the templates bring most presenters down.  I wanted to write a post that not only highlighted some of the pitfalls of using a template, but also the advantages of going "freestyle."  Some good comments as well.

I hope you enjoy them!

Photo courtesy of Darwin Bell on Flickr

Cooking Up a Healthy Presentation for Your Audience

Everyone likes to eat.  Well, nearly everyone does.  It’s certainly an enjoyable pastime for my wife and me.  But we also take our diets and exercise (fairly) seriously as well.  I often draw similarities between eating and presenting.  I mean, why not join two of my passions?

Your brain, like your stomach, can only accept a finite amount of information.  So when you deliver your presentation, you have to keep your audience in mind.  If a chef wants to give her diners the best meal they’ve ever had, she has to offer an amount of food that they can handle, in increments they can handle, using only the best ingredients presented in a delectable way.  A slide full of text with granular information is like serving them the entire chicken instead of just a 4oz portion.  There’s no possible way they could consume it (or enjoy it).  Even if they do, miraculously, consume the chicken, how are they going to finish the sides?  What about dessert? 

A presentation becomes ineffective not only when the information isn’t presented in an appealing way, but when there is too much information for the audience to handle.  I often see it in corporate presentations.  The “corporation” sees the presentation from their perspective.  “We want the audience to remember points a, b, c, d, e….x, y, and z, because those are important to us.”  Of course, the audience can only handle (and are only interested) in maybe a few of those points. 

Imagine if a chef served you mountains of food?  Trust me.  I know you smiled for just a second, but think of the reality.  You couldn’t consume it all.  It would overwhelm you.  It would disgust you.  You would ignore much of it because it’s an impossible task. 

An effective presentation delivers the information like a healthy meal should.  Small, manageable increments of information delivered in a simple, clean way. 

Image courtesy of Mait Jüriado on Flickr

No Bullets? No Agenda? No Question and Answer? Oh My!

This is Part 3 of a 3 part series, wrapping up my thoughts about Seth Godin's Linchpin Session in NYC on Friday, January 15th.

Yesterday I reviewed Seth Godin's Linchpin presentation, but promised to continue the discussion today.  I had mentioned that Seth did a few things that some people in the presentation community may find taboo. Here are three that stuck out to me, although just because I list them does't mean I necessarily think they're taboo.  I hope they'll be more of discussion items than anything, since most of these have good viewpoints from both sides.  I'll give my opinion, but PLEASE feel free to disagree!

1. Seth didn't use a single bullet point
   Okay, I realize that those "in the know" will wonder why I'm even listing it because it's obviously not taboo, but we're the minority, not the majority.  The majority of presentations today still use bullet points in mass.  They're all over the place, so I never miss an opportunity to talk about them. 
   
   Bullet (points) can kill, and often do.  I would venture to say that the reason most presentations are designed with bullet points is because the presenter simply doesn't know the material well enough.  There are definitely other reasons, but I believe that's the #1 reason.  Seth obviously knew his material in and out (he just wrote a book about it), so the necessity of him depending on bullet points to ensure he doesn't forget an important point is laughable.  I'm sure he forgot to mention a thing or two, but that didn't hurt his presentation one bit.
   
   The Takeaway: Preparation is the key to success.  If you give yourself enough time to prepare, you won't need bullet points to be your crutch.  Also, be confident in yourself.  Most presenters don't need bullet points, but leave them in there just in case.  Trust me, the audience definitely doesn't need them and chances are (if you prepared properly) you don't either.  Keep the faith.


2. Seth didn't use an Agenda slide
   Where is it in the presentation rule book that an Agenda slide is necessary?  I get the feeling that sometime, somewhere, someone proclaimed that it was necessary.  Now, I'm not being an "Agenda" hater.  One of my more popular posts highlights a redesign of a typical Agenda slide.  Even Garr Reynolds, the presentation guru, uses an Agenda slide (although way cooler than any standard slide).  Even some audience members get perturbed when they aren't presented with an Agenda slide.  However, Seth didn't use one and he did just fine.  I didn't need to know what was coming next.  Actually, I didn't want to know.  I feel as though he gave me 30 seconds of my life that would have been spent staring at an Agenda slide.
   
   The Takeaway: An Agenda slide isn't necessary, simply optional.  Like most elements, they add some good and some bad.  No way around it.  Some of your audience members will appreciate it, and some will be annoyed.  As long as you've structured your presentation in a way where the audience has a good feel of the pace and knows when it's going to end, you can get by without giving away the Agenda.  But if you do use an Agenda slide, please make it interesting to look at!


3. At first glance, Seth's presentation was completely one-way
   On paper, Seth's presentation looks like it was one-way.  I've written many times before that presentations are a conversation; a two way street where both the presenter and the audience participate.  Seth seemingly didn't interact with any of the audience members (other than asking who read the book) and didn't allow for any questions to be asked afterward.  Granted, he did stay after to sign everyone's books, so you had a few seconds of one-on-one time, and if you bought a VIP ticket you could be part of the 2-hour Question and Answer session which is far more than the average 5-10 minutes of Q&A most presentations allow for. 
   
   On paper, this is a one-way street.  But when you look deeper, and certainly from experience as one of the audience members, Seth's presentation had a two-way feel.  He certainly wasn't on the Gary Vaynerchuck side of the spectrum where he presents for 15 minutes and allows for a 45 minute Q&A, but he wasn't as one-way as a presidential address either (sans Joe Wilson).  Seth has a demeanor and a way of explaining his point that makes you, as an audience member, feel like he's talking just to you so you can understand.  He used comedy (and timing) very well to get some great audience reactions.  When you laugh, you feel like you've made a connection with the presenter.  They deliver a joke, you react (two-way).  Comedians give you the same feel.  They deliver a 15 minute set but you feel like you were part of it, not just being spoken at. 
   
   The Takeaway:  If you find yourself in a situation where actual two-way communication isn't prudent (asking the audience questions, answering questions, breaking into group activities), there are still ways to engage the audience.  Using humor and developing a solid story always makes the audience feel involved, similar to the way you feel while watching a movie.

I also had a 4th point written about Seth's request for no pictures or video, which while understandable was a slight bummer.  I removed it because I think it was more about me whining and there are pretty solid reasons why a presenter wouldn't want cameras flashing every 5 seconds and the talk was being professionally recorded (although I don't know where, if at all, that will show up). 

What do you think?

Image courtesy of •●pfaff on Flickr

Presentation Review: Seth Godin's Linchpin Session

This is Part 2 of a 3 part series, wrapping up my thoughts about Seth Godin's Linchpin Session in NYC on Friday, January 15th.

On Friday, January 15th, I was lucky enough to join my wife (@weddingistas), Emily (@emilyspearl), Susan (@trueblindfaith), and David (@davidwakeman) for Seth Godin's Linchpin Session in New York City.  It was an amazing experience and I am so happy to have shared it with such great people. 

I'll break down his presentation into three parts so it can be more easily digested. 

The First 30 Minutes:
As long as you got there at the suggested time of 9:30am or prior, you were able to get a great seat.  We were about 7 rows back on the right side of the auditorium.  As we sat, we noticed a bunch of instruments set up directly in front of us on the far right of the stage.  To the entire audience's surprise (and ultimately delight), The Ebony Hillbillies, a bluegrass band, came out and played about 3 songs.  Especially since it was so early in the morning, this was an incredible way to start the day.  They got everyone clapping and dancing in their seats, energized and ready for Seth. 

Getting presentations going is like pushing a car - very hard to get going right off the bat.  This was a way to get the crowd excited and smiling so Seth could hit the ground running.  It was pure genius.

Seth's Presentation:
First, I can honestly tell you that I haven't a clue how long Seth spoke.  I never looked at the time.  I rarely ever looked away.  That's how engaging he was.

Second, I won't be explaining exactly what he spoke about.  I'll simply be outlining some parts of his presentation that I found interesting from a presentation skills and design perspective. 

Seth began his presentation standing beside a podium with the curtains closed behind him.  His wireless mic actually wasn't working - a bad thing when the auditorium was filled with about 500 people.  Instead of freaking out, Seth simply stated "It's not working?  Okay, well, it will be working in a minute."  He then began to project his voice as well as possible until the lavaliere mic was turned on/up after about 10 seconds.  Most presenters would focus on fixing the problem, but Seth just marched on.  Like a pro, he didn't let a little hiccup slow down his presentation. 

After about 10 minutes of speaking, Seth broke out the slides!  I was pretty excited because I thought he may not be using them.  I was also excited because I know how great Seth is at presentation design.  Even better, Seth dispels the myth that only people with artistic skills can create effective PowerPoint presentations (from what I could tell, Seth designed his slides using Keynote on his Mac).  Unfortunately, Seth asked that we not take any pictures.  I was able to snap one from my phone, but that was it.  They mostly consisted of images and minimal text.  Seth's slides were wildly effective and the creation of them took very basic design skills.  Of course, the ability to actually create the presentation from a framework and storyline perspective took immense skill.  I was greatly humbled.

The Number of Slides - Seth used a ton of slides.  Easily over 100.  I won't comment on whether or not this was the "right amount" because I'm a firm believer that there is no optimal number of slides.  It has everything to do with your presentation style, preparation time, dedication, and story.  Seth's choice of number of slides was right on, because you felt like you were watching a movie.  He moved briskly from slide-to-slide, never letting one get too stale.  I'm sure it's because I'm a presentation geek, but I couldn't wait for the next one.

Slide Design - As mentioned previously, from a technical perspective, Seth's slides were basic.  That's not a critique.  Merely a statement of fact.  While I'm not saying it hurts, being artistically gifted and well versed in the Adobe Creative Suite isn't a prerequisite for effective slide design.  Seth merely imported images and, while sparingly, used small amounts of text in large fonts. 

What was more impressive was Seth's choice of images.  I have seen thousands of photos on iStock.  So many that I can often pick out when a photo is from iStock.  Trust me, it's a lame skill and no fun at parties.  I recognized less than 3 iStock images in Seth's presentation.  This means Seth 1) knew what he wanted to represent on the slide and 2) took vast amounts of time and effort to seek out the perfect image.  I wish I knew what resources he used.  (Tip: I'm a big fan of Flickr instead of iStock)  Image searching is a tedious and frustrating endeavor.  One can often get caught up looking for the Unicorn (an image that doesn't really exist) and waste hours of precious time.  But it's also an endeavor that can be incredibly rewarding when you do happen upon a great image.  

Finally, Seth did a great job designing his slides to only slightly corresponded with his point.  In other words, you couldn't just look at his slide and know what he was about to say.  But once he explained his point, then came the "Ah Ha" moment (a.k.a. Oh, I get it now!).  Great presenters only give part of the information on the slide (most often sans-text), filling in the blanks with the words coming out of their mouth!  Thus, the presentation couldn't exist as a slide deck on its own.  Without the presenter, it's just a bunch of seemingly unrelated images.  The living, breathing presenter is the Star!  And with Seth's words the slides became a perfect visual backdrop. 

Concluding Seth's Presentation
Once it was over, Seth deservedly and graciously received a standing ovation from the packed auditorium.  He quickly jetted to the back where he sat and signed everyone's books (which were free to each person who bought a ticket) and/or posters (also free).  I realize it's standard business to sit and sign autographs after speaking about your book, but I still think it's a nice gesture.  Nothing creates evangelists better than personal connections.  I tried to avoid acting like a fanboy and simply told him the presentation was great and thanked him for commenting on my blog.    

So that's it?  It was perfect?
That's up for debate, but Seth definitely did a few things that many consider "taboo" in the presentation world.  I'll cover those in the final part of this 3 part series.  Stay tuned!!

Why are you afraid of sharks? Honesty and the Fear of Presenting

This is Part 1 of a 3 part series, wrapping up my thoughts about Seth Godin's Linchpin Session in NYC on Friday, January 15th.

Who is afraid of sharks?  Raise your hand.  Are you raising your hand?  Probably.

Okay, who is afraid of deer?  Raise your hand.  Are you raising your hand?  Probably not.  Deer are cute.  I'm lucky enough to be able to watch them often out my office window. 

Deer cause far more deaths per year than sharks.  It's not even close.  Yet if you ask the average person I'm sure they'd say they sharks frighten them the most.  Shouldn't you be scared of deer then?

During Seth Godin's Linchpin Session, Seth spoke about this interesting observation.  It certainly relates to the fear of public speaking.  I've spoken about managing the fear of public speaking before, but I don't claim it to be a fail-safe solution (that's why I say "managing" instead of "overcoming" or "beating").  It's a difficult process because public speaking, by nature, is terrifying.  It takes a lot of work, and I'm the first one to say that I definitely get scared before speaking.  Heck, I'm scared of sharks!

So what are we afraid of when it comes to public speaking and presenting?  What is honestly the worst that can happen?  Are you going to get booed off the stage?  Are they going to throw tomatoes at you?  Are they going to get up and leave in mass?  Are they going to laugh out loud?  (I ask myself these questions ALL the time).  Why am I scared of sharks and not deer? 

Why are we afraid of things that rarely, if ever, happen?  Shouldn't we be scared of the things that may ACTUALLY happen?  Shouldn't I be scared of stubbing my toe?  I do that on a weekly basis, yet when I walk down the street I'm constantly preparing for an attack by a group of hoodlums (which is not likely).  In my unscientific opinion, it seems that by nature we, as humans, tend to fear the worst case scenario.  It's not a personal shortcoming.  It's nature.  Thus, it takes work to overcome it.  

When preparing for a presentation, try to quell the nerves by being honest with yourself and the probabilities of your worst case scenario.  What is in your control?  What is out of your control (and thus ignored)?  Often many of these fears can be quelled when your honest about your preparation.  If you prepared correctly, they won't laugh at you.  If you prepared, they won't walk out on you.  If you are truly passionate about your topic, then they won't fall asleep.  It may not cure it, but if you are truly honest with yourself then you'll be able to reduce the fear of public speaking and presenting.

The Positive Effects of Riding the Social Media Wave

Aside: I originally started writing this post about the similarities between Social Media and effective presentations, but it quickly morphed into something much different. While I will write the aforementioned post, I hope you enjoy what became of the original attempt.

Just last week Haiti was probably the last thing on most people’s minds and Conan O’Brien was still the host of the Tonight Show. But today, as I read the Mashable headlines and my Twitter feed, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti and Conan’s departure from NBC were being talked about in mass.

While the ability of news to spread at real time is the same, the way readers react to these stories is vastly different than even 3 or 4 years ago. Social Media has given everyone a voice…a way to speak up or help. Campaigns to help all those affected by the earthquake were nearly instantaneous. Not only were the campaigns quick to sprout, but the message spread like wildfire. Tweets promoting the aid campaigns led to ReTweets, spreading the message exponentially every second. "Help Haiti" and "Red Cross" were two of the top trending topics on Twitter. Social Communities reached out to their user base pleading for donations. Blog posts were written, newsletters went out to email lists, videos were posted to YouTube…the list goes on and on. Within hours of the disaster it was nearly impossible to NOT know how you can help. I’ve never seen a disaster relief effort like this, ever. Now you can simply send a text to donate money to the relief fund. In just one day, the Red Cross raised over $1,000,000 via a $10 text-message campaign, spread via Social Media channels.  How recently could this not have been done?  1 year?  2 years maybe? 

While not NEARLY as important (not even in the same galaxy), Conan’s departure from NBC left his fans heated, to say the least. Once again, Facebook and Twitter exploded with "I'm with COCO" related content. A Facebook fan page, with over 60,000 fans (not counting those fans of numerous copycat fan pages) as of this posting, was created to support Conan, complete with a graphic creeping into profile pictures and avatars all over the world. Conan’s fans now have so many outlets to voice their displeasure that it’s impossible for NBC executives to ignore it, although it's probably too late.

And that’s just one week.

The game has changed. That’s it. The consumer has been handed the tools to voice their support or displeasure and watch it spread. Jay Baer’s blog post today highlighted a number of companies that embraced the fact that their customers were talking about how much they suck. This is something that was unheard of even 5-10 years ago. But now they have to. If they didn’t, they’d sink. The power of the consumers’ voice would be too much.

Simply put, I’m amazed at the imaginative ways that social media tools are being put to use. I’m amazed at their power and their ability to make a difference, fast. But easily trumping those two points is how amazed I am by companies who refuse to embrace Social Media. The tidal wave is coming. You can grab a surfboard and let it take your organizations to places it has never been, or you can do nothing and let the wave demolish you. Your choice.

If you'd like to help with the Haitian Earthquake Relief Effort, check out the Red Cross website or read Mashable's post about "9 Ways to Help Now".

Image courtesy of lolapaipro on Flickr

Bill Cosby and why the Presentation is so Important

One of my all-time favorite sitcoms is/was the Cosby Show.  I'm a child of the 80's, so I grew up on the parenting of Cliff and Claire Huxtable. 

While there were 200 episodes, a few moments stick out in my mind: Cliff getting pelted with snowballs on the front stoop, Cliff and Theo learning economics with monopoly money where having a girlfriend takes all of Theo's remaining money [first episode], and of course, the Gordon Gartrell shirt.  I often find myself thinking of one particular episode where Vanessa introduces the family to her new boyfriend, Dabnis Brickey, who happens to be significantly older than her.  Not only that, but for the first time Vanessa divulges they've been engaged for six months.  You can watch the introduction here.  While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, Vanessa doesn't do that great of a job with the presentation of Dabnis, thus Cliff proclaims to Dabnis, "We just don't like you."

Watch this video to see how Cliff explains why the presentation is so important.  Click here to watch it on Youtube [embedding was disabled], but make sure you come back!.  If you want to go directly to the quote, fast forward to 1:15.

"You see, it's in the presentation.  That's the way she brought you here...on a garbage can lid"

Many people have messages or stories that they want to share.  They are passionate about their message and can't keep it inside anymore.  Like the porterhouse steak, they love it and know you'll love it too.  Unfortunately, too often these messages are presented on garbage can lids.  The presentation can change the viewpoint of the audience.  While Dabnis seemed like a great guy, the engagement didn't go over well because of Vanessa's presentation of their new found love.

Some presenters may spend countless hours crafting and developing their story (and rightfully so!).  Unfortunately, they leave the practice and the presentation design to the last minute.  They may feel that they can throw the slides together the morning of the presentation and "wing it" since they know the message inside and out.  This leads to poor presentations that lack anything interesting, fail to engage, and are quickly discarded by the audience.

It's tough to sell, educate, inspire, or spread your message if you're presenting it on a garbage can lid.  Even if you're as eloquent as Obama or as funny as Bill Cosby, poorly designed slides, minimal practice, and a general lack of concern for the actual delivery of the message can quickly sink your presentation.  Make sure you dedicate enough time on the presentation to ensure that your "porterhouse" is delivered on a silver platter, not a garbage can lid.  It could make all the difference.

Free Tickets to Seth Godin's NYC Linchpin Session

On Friday, January 15th at 9:30, Seth Godin will be doing a 2-hour live talk and book signing for his new book entitled, "Linchpin: Are You Indespensable?"  I purchased a group set of tickets, which includes 5 tickets.  Myself and my wife (Weddingistas.com) will be going, and I wanted to give away three tickets to my readers.  The details about his talk can be found on Seth's Squidoo page here.  The details about the free tickets are at the bottom. 

The winners have been chosen and notified.  Thanks to everyone who participated and all those who helped spread the word!

I love Seth from two standpoints.  First, and most dearest to my heart, he's an incredible presenter.  He's engaging, interesting, and most of all, knows how to design an effective presentation.  He's actually a champion against really bad PowerPoint.  He wrote an eBook about really bad PowerPoint (that you REALLY need to download) and he comes up twice on the first page of Google when you search "bad powerpoint."  You can see his incredible T.E.D. presentation about standing out below.

Secondly, he's aptly referred to as a "Marketing Guru", and I'm a marketer at heart.  He truly get's what marketing is all about.  His blog is one of the most popular marketing blogs in the world, and his insights are nothing short of profound.

His talks are usually pretty pricey, running in the hundreds of dollars per ticket.  They're also rare.  When I heard he was speaking in NYC and for a very reasonable price, I jumped on the chance.

So I've got three tickets I'd like to give away.  All you have to do is comment on this post and let me know that you're interested.  I'll pick three at random.  You'll have to make sure you're on time and meet me prior to the start of the talk (no later than 9:15am).  Oh, and you have to be nice...and tell my wife she looks pretty.  Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you there!

Oh, and please ReTweet this if you can.  Thanks!

DETAILS:
Start time: Friday January 15, 2010 doors open at 9:30 AM - Eastern Time
End time: 11:45 AM
Where: Haft Auditorium, 227 West 27th Street , New York, NY 10011

Six Presentation Mistakes that Insult Your Audience and Destroy Your Credibility

There's an inherent relationship between a presenter and his/her audience.  The presenter hopes that the audience shows up (on time), with sincere interest in what the presenter has to say.  That's pretty obvious.  But the audience has expectations of their own.  They expect the presenter to show up practiced, prepared, and passionate.  They expect the presentation to be created with care, with obvious attention to detail paid to make sitting through the presentation as enjoyable as possible.

Unfortunately for the audience, not all presenters take the time to ensure they're delivering the highest quality presentations they can.  I realize there are certain circumstances that make creating an award-winning presentation difficult, with "time-constraints" being the most often used excuse...er...reason.  However, I feel that there are some errors and omissions that are simply inexcusable and when they show up in a presentation, the audience should rightfully feel insulted.  If nothing else, give your presentation a quick run-through to ensure none of these have reared their ugly heads.

Here are six presentation mistakes/snafus/faux-pas that when used for evil can destroy your credibility and even leave your audience feeling insulted:

1. Black font, white background, no images throughout the entire presentation
   This is the ultimate sign that a presenter has given up on their presentation, at least from a PowerPoint design perspective.  By default, PowerPoint presentations use a black font with a white background.  When this is used throughout the entire presentation, it is safe to assume that the presenter cares as minimally as possible about visually engaging the audience and is only using PowerPoint because someone held a gun to their head.
   
   
   EXAMPLE:
   
   
   Solution(s): Use a preset slide background (not to be confused with a template or theme).  Use full slide images (or any images).  Reduce the amount of text and practice.  Care.  Lot's of options. 


2. Watermarks on stock imagery
   Purchasing stock imagery is a common method to make a presentation more visual.  A common practice is to "download a comp", which is a free copy of the image.  These comps come with "watermarks" on them, which is some form of shape or logo that would basically render the image unusable except for testing in designs.  Some of these are quite faint, however, and are often forgotten about by the designer and possibly missed during dry runs of the presentation.  Make sure you purchase all your watermarked images and replace the comps, otherwise you'll either seem too cheap to buy the image or too lazy to proof your presentation.
   
   
   EXAMPLE:
   
    
   
   Solution:  Proof your presentation.  Then ask a colleague or friend to proof it as well, not only for watermarks but spelling mistakes and a variety of other errors.


3. Improperly re-sized images (stretched/squished or pixelated)
   Images have a specific size.  Thus, when you resize an image to make it larger or smaller, you must ensure that the dimensions remain in proportion.  Not only that, but the image must have a large enough original size to avoid pixellation.  Often presenters grab images off Google or the like and they are small on the screen.  Instead of finding a larger image, they simply increase the size of the image on the slide, making the image blurry and pixelated.  This can even result in an image being undecipherable.
   
   
   EXAMPLE:
   
   
   Solution: When purchasing and/or downloading an image, ensure that the dimensions are large enough to suite your needs.  When I purchase an image off of iStock, I always choose at least the "Small" which usually starts at around 700-800px.  To resize an image properly, hold the SHIFT key and drag the corner of the image.  This will lock the dimensions in place so the image remains in proper proportion.


4. Not knowing what a slide means
   There's nothing that says "I don't know what the heck I'm talking about so don't take me seriously" like a presenter who looks at a slide and clearly has no idea what it means.  This happens often with slides that have a single image, or graphs/charts, or pretty much any slide that doesn't spell out exactly what the point is.  You may think this is so obvious that I didn't need to list it, but it's happened to me (as a designer).  It made me sick to my stomach watching the presenter stare at the slide, pause for a few agonizing seconds, proclaim he didn't know what the slide meant, and then blamed me, personally, by name.  Regardless, he made it clear that he didn't care enough about the presentation to run through the slides, even once.  If you don't care, why should your audience?
   
   Solution:  Practice.


5. Animation, and lots of it
   I find nearly all of the animation options in PowerPoint to be criminal.  The only animations I use in my presentations are Fade and Wipe.  I use Fades pretty much exclusively, both for between-slide animations and with items on the slide.  I use Wipe (for objects) when I want something to seem as if it's moving, but these are few and far between, at least on a personal level. 
   
   I simply see no value in star wipes, random bars, spinners, boomerang, and light speed, just to name a few.  Your slides act as a visual backdrop, amplifying your message.  These animations only startle the audience and, in my honest opinion, make a presentation look amateurish.  It's the equivalent of designing a beautiful wedding dress and then Bedazzling it.
   
   Solution: Unless using a specific transition like Push Down or Push Left to simulate movement across a larger space, stick with one simple transition throughout your presentation.  Again, my preference is Fade for both slide transitions.  As for items on your slide, stick with Fade or Wipe, and try to keep it consistent throughout the presentation.


6. Clip-Art
   With the popularity of low-cost stock imagery sites like iStockPhoto and user contributed photo sites like Flickr (as long as you respect the image's copyright license), Clip-Art is a thing of the past.  I'm honestly stunned that they still offer Clip-Art.  It's like walking into a music store and finding no CD's, only cassette tapes.  Sure, I used to rock cassettes in my '87 Honda Accord LXi (hatchback baby), but I've moved on.  Clip-Art made sense when our computers had limited memory to hold images, but the size of a common computer can easily hold more up-to-date images.  Image searching can be a time consuming process, but if you care enough about your presentation, you'll dedicate the appropriate time (and your audience will thank you).
   
   
   EXAMPLE:
   
   
   Solution: If you want to make your presentation look like you dreamed it up in '83, use Clip-Art.  Otherwise, take a look at the sites I previously mentioned.

What aspects of a presentation make you cringe?  What could you add to this list?