Show your audiences “the way” when you speak
Powerpoint Ninja talks a lot about Powerpoint’s Best Practices.
One concept is about “wayfinding“
Ever sit through 23 slides of a presentation and still have no idea how many more slides are coming? Maybe the presenter is just getting warmed up or maybe they’re wrapping up — who knows? You can’t always assume just because there are 5 minutes left, the presenter must be wrapping up. It can be difficult to determine where a presenter is in their presentation without some guidance.
Whether you are using Powerpoint or not, it is a good idea to give the audience “connectives”. Tell an audience where you are in the presentation.
How many major points do you have?
Do you give a “roadmap” at the beginning? i.e. Tell the audience at the beginning of the presentation what you are going to be talking about.
Do you have “signposts”? Tell the audience signals during the speech, like First, Second, Third.
Every presentation should include some of these wayfinding elements, even if it is just an agenda slide and slide numbering. Depending on your audience and presentation type, it may make sense to leverage more wayfinding beyond the basics.
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