Slideshows: Threat or Menace?
Many students use slideshow software to help them create presentations; little do they realize that this is quite possibly the worst thing they could do if they hope to get a good grade for their presentations.
Slideshows can be a useful tool – it allows you to easily put words and pictures together and flip through them. A good presentation is not about your slideshow, though – a good presentation is built on showing your audience that you know a lot about the topic on which you are presenting.
Too often, people fill up each slide of their slideshow, covering the screen with words and images. The presenter then reads off the information on the slides. This is the very definition of a bad presentation. The following are reasons why this makes a poor presentation:
· It shows the audience that the presenter does not know enough about the topic to talk about it without reading facts from their notes.
· It is boring for the audience, since having someone read to you something you can read for yourself is not entertaining.
· It prevents the presenter from making good eye contact with the audience.
· It does not engage the audience.
· Also, it is insulting to the audience, since it implies that the audience cannot read for themselves.
Clearly, using slideshows can easily get in the way of doing a good presentation.
A better plan is to work out how to do your presentation without slides, or to use slides only for visuals that go with what you will say during your presentation.