Recently I spent a week in California speaking to 5 HDI chapters to share points from my book 10 Ways to Make It Great! Every time I do the presentation, I mix it up, re-do parts of my PowerPoint slides, and think about things a little differently.

What follows is the presentation for those who wanted to see it. It’s meant to be delivered, not to stand alone, but I think you’ll get the big points.

A few things I’ve learned from giving presentations that may be helpful if you use PowerPoint to do presentations.

Less is more – By less, I mean less TEXT. Don’t stuff slides full of text, just add a point and a photo and talk to the photo. It makes sure people pay attention to what you’re saying, and you don’t insult their intelligence.

Keep it simple – I used to worry about sharing all the information from my book, and focused on the 10 points in my book…and I’d lose folks and not connect with them. Now, I focus on 4 key points and share multiple stories about each of them…and folks get MORE out of my speeches. Sounds counterintuitive, but it works.

Make it personal – Don’t make fun of other people, make fun of yourself. Use your own stories. Find stats that are relevant to the people you’re speaking to.

Keep everyone in mind – Pictures work…for some people. Stats work…for some people. Nothing works for everyone. Keep everyone in mind, and try to offer a little something for everyone.

Create a call to action – Motivational speeches are great…but about an hour later, you wonder what you just heard. I now try to include something folks can actually DO to put the tips I offer into action in each speech I give.

Review your points – Some folks like to make sure they got all your points. For these folks, reviewing your points makes them very happy, so they can fill in the gaps in their notes or can take down just those 4 points and have something to take home with them and take back to their manager.

What are your best tips on how to use PowerPoint to enhance your presentation and avoid death by PowerPoint?

This week I was in Canada to present to two HDI chapters, Trillium HDI (in Toronto) and Ottawa HDI (obviously in Ottawa). It was my first trip to Canada, and I must say, the folks I encountered all throughout the country were wonderfully welcoming and amazingly approachable. The cab driver even took me through a drive-through so I could get some food on my way to the hotel in Ottawa because it was VERY late and nothing was open close to my hotel. Awesome!

I promised all the great folks I met that I would upload my presentation to Slideshare, and I thought I’d share it with you as well.

If you can’t see it above, or if you get my articles via e-mail, you can Recession Proof Your Life via Slideshare.

Questions for you:

• Do you like the presentation? 
• Do you see things that could make it better?
• Anything else you’d like to share? 

I’d love your feedback. Please share it below in the comments.