10 min presentation

[rainydogday]

I have a 10 min presentation to do.....bit daunting as last time I did one it was with over head projector! I have sussed out google slides. Any top tips for a successful PowerPoint type presentation? It's for a job/course and change of direction within my job so keen to make a good impression. Any help or ideas of 'dos or dont's' gratefully received!

Don’t put more than 15 words on each slide
Title
Aims
Content
Summary
Thanks
Blank slide to end
Handout to audience.
Dark blue backgroup works well with white text
Meaningful images
Don’t just read the slides.

Definitely agree on thesandwich's last point: don't read out text from slides. I try to avoid text-heavy slides (bullet lists, etc.), partly because of the temptation to read the points out and partly because it just looks lazy. A picture's worth a kiloword, as long as you remember what point it was meant to be making.

Where are you giving this presentation? I would be cautious about getting too creative with colours (particularly using dark-coloured backgrounds). Most of my presentations are given in universities and schools; very often the projectors are faulty and colours don't project correctly. If you're in a private-sector organization that has an adequate budget for AV facilities you can probably afford to take this risk.

10 min isn't very long and you won't impress anyone if you go over time. If you have a particular point you need to get across, start from that (probably the last slide) and work backwards to put the appropriate details into the earlier slides. Don't try to fit in everything that might possibly be relevant (nobody will remember it all): focus on that key message and only include things that contribute to it. If you're going to digress - and interesting asides can be useful to retain the audience's attention - do it deliberately, tell everyone you're doing it, and then make clear when you've finished digressing and got back onto track.

I try to put a teaser in toward the beginning: something like three apparently random images and a question about what connects them. I can then either use the answer to this as my summary or use it to add a significant point after the summary that didn't really fit into the main narrative but might make an impression. So you might have a picture of yourself as a child or a student, a picture of something that can be achieved in the role you aspire to and something representing the outcome of the course (a diploma, for example). You can then include a smaller version of the first picture in a slide about your background, the third picture in a slide about the course and the second in a slide about your plans for the new role. In the summary you can bring them together but would probably update the picture of yourself.

Thank you so much! That's great advice from both. I have found it really helpful and well on my way now.

Glad to be of help! Great advice from skill too. Simplicity and clarity are worth far more than whizzy pointless animations! Good luck.