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Craft Your Content With A KISS
by Glenna Raye Shaw
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 About
Glenna Raye Shaw
Glenna Shaw’s husband nicknamed her the PowerPoint
Magician because she loves the “magic” of PowerPoint.
Glenna likes to use PowerPoint’s native audio and video
features to create Flash-like effects. She calls this technique “PowerPoint
Sleight of Hand”.
Because of her quirky sense of humor and her advanced skills,
Glenna is frequently sought out for her expertise on presentations,
training and desktop publishing. Glenna teaches classes on
a variety of topics nationwide.
Visit Glenna's site at PptMagic.com
to learn more...
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For those of you who don’t know, KISS is an acronym for Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Simplicity gets right to the heart of communicating effectively.
The content of your presentation should be clear and simple so
that it’s easy to understand. Using clear and simple language
also benefits people whose first language differs from your own.
This includes persons who communicate in sign language.
Begin by crafting your message in an outline, preferably in a
Word document. Set up a more useful version of the Spelling and
Grammar checker:
- Hit the F7 key
- Click on Options
- Check the Check Grammar With Spelling box
- Check the Show Readability Statistics box
- Click OK
- Run the Spelling and Grammar checker
When complete, you will see a readability statistics box. Make
note of the statistics. Ideally, your Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
should be around 10 or lower. Increase the readability of your
presentation by using shorter paragraphs, sentences and words.
This isn’t “dumbing down” your presentation, it’s
communicating effectively. Resist the temptation to show off your
vocabulary. Your audience won’t appreciate your message if
it’s over their heads. As my granny says, “Why use a
$100 word when a $1 word will do?” To learn more, visit this
site: Who's
reading your writing?
The U.S. Federal Government has even established a www.plainlanguage.gov web site.
If you’re up for a little entertainment, Download Bullfighter at
http://www.fightthebull.com/. Bullfighter is an add-in for Microsoft
PowerPoint and Word. It’s
easy to install and is a lot of fun to use. For a real treat, submit
a request for the CD. It offers even more than the Download. What
more could you ask for? It’s fun, it’s free and it’s
useful.
So, what did Bullfighter have to say about this article?
The Bull Index:
Diagnosis: Congratulations - you rely upon standard words to
explain concepts. Most concepts will be clear and understood.
Keep clean.
Flesch:
Diagnosis: Mostly clear, with some unnecessarily long words
and sentences. You get to the point, although with an occasional
detour. Most educated readers will navigate the text with no
difficulty. Longer words and sentences appear occasionally.
Ah well, granny also said I liked to talk too much…
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