Which presentation methods are ineffective?

Error 4: Crowding a Slide

In addition to making mistakes with the use of colours, fonts and formatting, students should also be careful not to crowd their PowerPoint slides – which means making sure that there aren’t too many words, pictures, animations or other elements on any one slide at one time. As was explained in Chapter 2, effective PowerPoint presentations are usually the ones that are concise and roomy, with the text on the slide never being identical to the presenter’s script.

Error 5: Overusing Sounds and Animations

While it might be tempting to include exciting sounds and animations within your presentation, it’s generally inadvisable to do so – especially tacky sound effects such as clapping or explosions. Simple and consistent animations such as text that descends or appears upon entry is of course acceptable and advisable, but students should avoid using any animations that fly about the screen and inevitably distract the audience. The same is true for transitions between slides, of which there are many over-the-top options embedded within the PowerPoint software that students should aim to avoid.

Error 6: Not Practising Sufficiently

The sixth error on our list might be an obvious one, but students often appear to have forgotten to do this. The saying ‘practice makes perfect’ really applies when presenting in front of an audience, and academic presentations in particular, especially assessed ones, will need to be as precise, confident and rehearsed as possible – not only to impress your audience, but to also reduce your nervousness.

Of course, the presenter should still appear natural in their speech, and so students should try not to memorise every word, but should allow themselves plenty of time to practice their gestures and body language, their positioning on stage, the order of their content and any difficult vocabulary– remembering also to consider the types of questions that might be asked at the end of their presentation. Ultimately, because many aspects require careful consideration, students may wish to take our short readers on body language and delivery strategies to improve these aspects to a confident level.

Error 7: Going Over the Time Limit

Finally, students should do their very best not to overrun their time limit. In an assessed academic presentation, the presenter may be stopped short by the assessor as soon as they’ve gone over their allotted time. In such scenarios, students won’t be able to conclude their presentation, which could certainly cost them valuable marks. While you may not be stopped in a more general presentation by your audience, any presenter that goes considerably over the time limit will undoubtedly appear less prepared than they should be, weakening the strength of their arguments and limiting the efficacy of their presentation.

Now that you’ve completed all three chapters about using visual aids and building PowerPoint presentations in particular, you may next wish to study one of our other short readers about presentation skills. However, don’t forget also to unlock and complete our beginner, intermediate and advanced worksheets on this topic before moving on to check your progress and understanding.