Presentations – 7 Easy Ways for Creating a Powerful Presentation

Have you ever experienced the all too often death by PowerPoint? Or maybe, you were the guilty party during a presentation massacre. Guess what, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can prepare awesome presentations that will enhance and engage your audience. You just need to follow a few simple principles to create great PowerPoint presentations that even Tom Antion can enjoy. So, read and apply the following tips to your presentations to capture your audience’s attention every time.

#1 – Remember Who’s the Show

Your PowerPoint is not the show. Your audience came to hear you and that’s what they want. Don’t disappoint your audience give them what they want. Prepare your PowerPoint to enhance your presentation not replace it.

#2 – Limit Your Slide Text
The biggest problem with most slides is the content; there is way too much text. Don’t try to place all your information on your slides. It turns your presentation into a boring reading assignment. It turns you into a boring speaker and you will lose your audience. Keep the text on your slides to a minimum and deliver the message yourself.

#3 – Keep Your Slides Simple

PowerPoint is so amazing that you can become mesmerized by all the bells and whistles available to you. There are animations, sounds and special effects galore. But, you don’t need to use everything in one PowerPoint. Simple slides with few special effects are usually the best. A slide with only a picture (that relates to your message) and one keyword can be very engaging. Try it, you will be surprised.

#4 – Choose Your Fonts Wisely

It is very important that when you do use text that it be readable. It needs to be large, the right color and the right font. The size of your fonts should be large and bold. If you are using a small font to get everything on a slide you have too much text. The color of your font should contrast with your background color like black on white or white on blue. However, you should avoid colors like red, yellow, orange or black for backgrounds.

Also, you should avoid using too many fonts. Choose a serif font (like Arial) and a sans serif (like Times New Roman) that will complement each other. Save fancy fonts for the title slide or the ending slide.

#5 – Use Pictures and Graphics

Pictures and graphics must be colorful and large. Your pictures should be at least 50 percent of your slide with limited text. Your slide engage and attract your audience not bore them. Appropriate pictures and graphics (not clip art) are your most effective types of content, especially pictures of people your audience knows.

#6 – Use Video

Insert video into your PowerPoint for a change of pace, especially if your presentation is a long one. A good video from You Tube or a similar site can be used to add humor or relief from the usual routine. Or even better create some of your own videos.

#7 – Tell a Story

People enjoy stories and will be much more receptive to what you have to say if you have captured their attention with a story. Stories help you connect with your audience and get them to accept you and your message. So, make sure that your content, slides and pictures tell a story.

Perfect Christmas Presents For the Grandparents

Its Christmas time once again, and everyone is having a shopping rush, a grocery rush, all are busy listing and preparing things for Christmas, well almost all of us waits and very much excited for this special day that is happening only once a year, so we tend to be more precise and concise with this day. Christmas is said to be the perfect day to make reconciliations, this works for almost all of us, we can’t do anything but forgive and forget during this day, heehaw.

Also this day suggest family gatherings and reunions, our relatives from different provinces and from abroad are coming home, usually the Christmas celebration is being held at our grandparents old houses, this is because most of them are not advisable to travel far and long, also this is the perfect time to see them and have some quality and quantity time with them.

As we aged our wants and needs decreases, we only want things that we usually need, and the things that we can really afford, we only rely on our personal savings, sometimes from our children’s if they have a good income and from our pensions, if we are hard working and saved a lot from during our younger years then we will not have that big problem with money when we are old.

Our grandparents usually are the ones who are giving us presents during our birthdays, when we excel in our academics and during Christmas, but it is also nice that we as their grandchildren would give something in return to them, maybe not that expensive but what matter is the intention and the tough of the gift you give. Here are some of the perfect Christmas gifts you can do and give them.

1: you can give them a Christmas cards, you can make them or you can also buy some, all you need to do is write your dedications or something that you want to say to them like thank you and I’m sorry, stuff like that, it’s simple but it means a lot.

2: you can give them a large or Big Scarf, it will be very useful for them as they can use it during cold and hot days.

3: You can also give them nice footwear, something that has a soft sole, easy to wear and comfortable.

4: you can give them a nice soft blanket, as elders usually have a decreased tolerance to cold.

5: you can give them a pain of pyjamas, blouse and polo, it will be the perfect sleeping attire for them

6: you can also give them a commode, diapers, this will be a lot of help for them they will no longer be tired of going to the Comfort room at night.

Something that cannot be bought, and is very much important, give them all you love, care, comfort and attention not only on this day but for as long as they are here with us. Loving and serving them is like serving and loving our own parents, and it is much pleasing top God’s eyes.

Speeches and Presentations – Guidelines on How to Say it Best

Everyone can find the right words – all it takes is practice and some guidelines to help you structure an effective presentation.

Firstly, and most importantly, start with the end in mind. Set aside enough time to determine your purpose and intention in preparing and presenting your speech. Your purpose may be to entertain, to educate, to inform, to persuade or even a combination of the fore mentioned. A clearly defined purpose is a blueprint or a template that structures a meaningful and focused speech.

Your second step to finding the right words will be to brainstorm the topic by spontaneously writing down your keyword ideas.

The third step is the planning phase. People tend to rush through this important phase, but it is time well spent. Plan your speech here. You may wish to use a mind-map, a flow chart or even a horizontal plot-line to help structure your thoughts. Concentrate on the introduction, the development of the body of your speech and finally the conclusion.

These three phases can be likened to a sausage dog. Picture a sausage dog in your mind.

The head is your introduction. It should introduce your topic, capture your audience’s attention and lead the audience into the purpose of the presentation. Remember, that the sausage dog’s head is relatively small in comparison the rest of its body – so short, pertinent and gripping work well here.

The introduction is followed by the body of your address. A visual reminder is the long body of the sausage dog. This section of your speech should consist of four or five paragraphs that individually develop a different aspect of your speech, but at the same time are all linked to a common purpose – pretty much like the body of our dog.

Finally, the tail – possibly with a twist or a loop? The conclusion should sum up your speech. It may tie up loose ends, finalize an argument or highlight the end of your speech. Either way, your audience should clearly see that this is the end of your speech, just like the tail is the end of our dog!

It is only now that the planning phase is over, that you will choose your words to achieve your initial aim and the purpose of writing your speech.

This is the easy part. There are so many resources out there to help you to find the right words to say it best. The Internet, book stores, friends, magazines and libraries are all invaluable resources at your disposal. Finding the resources is relatively easy, but it is very important that you personalize the content.