11 Steps to Presentations - Page 3 of 4

Last time, you went shopping. You came home with text, data, visuals, media, and a receipt or two (legal clearances count). The groceries are on the counter. Now it's time to cook.

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Step 5 - Attempt
Step 6 - Architecture
Step 7 - Navigation
Quick Quiz

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This part covers three steps: Attempt, Architecture, and Navigation. They’re the steps most people skip. It’s a bit like driving to a new city, then checking the map only after you’ve already missed two turns. Give these steps a few minutes, and the rest of the trip gets a lot smoother. Here’s the quick route:

Step 5 - Attempt

Attempt means assembling all your content in a linear order. Leave interactivity for later. The result is a rough cut. Think of it as a test batch of cookies. Nobody serves the first tray without tasting it. Play the rough cut through and use it to:

• Check the flow and edit where it breaks.
• Set timings, either manual or automatic.
• Test builds and transitions.
• Remove content you don't need and add what is missing.

Repeat this cycle as often as necessary. A rough cut is meant to be revised.

If you storyboard on screen, an ink-enabled device such as a tablet PC can help. Handwritten notes and sketches can sit alongside your slides, and Microsoft Word can double as a storyboard. You can also build presentations from Word outlines.

Step 6 - Architecture

Think of it as tidying a closet. Everything is in there, but can you find anything? Architecture is where you step back and look at how your presentation is built. Do you need new slides? A different order? Fewer slides overall? Be ready to move things around and throw some things out.

Here are four house rules:

• Split crowded slides. Picture a dinner party where every dish goes on one plate. Soup, salad, pasta, and dessert all run together, and nobody enjoys the meal. A crowded slide does the same thing to your audience. Serve the content in courses instead: spread it over two or more slides and give each slide one idea to digest.
• Test readability. Think of your slide as a road sign. A driver has a second or two to read it from far away, so it must be big, bold, and clear. Adjust the size, weight, color, and shadows until the text stands out. Then walk to the back of the room and check again. Text that looks fine at arm’s length can vanish from ten feet away, like a restaurant menu you can read at your table but not from the street.
• Keep it consistent. Think of your presentation as a book. Imagine reading a novel where every chapter title changes font, and the body text keeps getting bigger and smaller. You’d spend more time adjusting to the page than following the story. Your audience feels the same way. Use the same text styles and sizes from slide to slide, so they can stop noticing the type and start listening to your ideas.
• Use no more than two fonts. Use no more than two fonts. Think of fonts as clothes. A top and a bottom make an outfit. Five different patterns at once make a costume, and your audience will remember the costume instead of your message. Pick two fonts, one for headings and one for body text, and stay with them. Dingbat fonts, the ones made of little symbols and icons, don’t count. They’re accessories, like a watch or a scarf.

Step 7 - Navigation

Think of it as adding a few shortcuts to a building. A simple linear presentation is like a short hallway. You walk straight through, so it doesn't need a map. Your presentation software already gives you shortcut keys to move between slides or jump back to the start. On Windows, many of them appear when you right-click during a show.

Still, shortcuts cost almost nothing to add, so why not? Any object or piece of text can link to another part of the presentation, or to somewhere else entirely.

Here's a favorite trick: hide a few links for your client. Link the logo on each slide back to the start of the presentation, the same way a website logo takes you home. The start is usually slide 5 or 6, because the first few slides act as a multimedia introduction.

If you want a presentation that works like a theme park, with paths in every direction, you've outgrown presentation software. Dedicated interactive authoring software handles that better.

Your presentation now has a rough cut, a clean structure, and working links. It looks ready, but it hasn't met a real audience yet. That is what comes next.

On the final page, we cover the last four steps: Beta, when your client gets a first look. Overhaul, your last chance to rework the layout. Fine Tuning, the polish. And Delivery, the handoff.

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