The 7X7 Rule for Presenting Information (and other handy tips)

When creating slides in Microsoft PowerPoint, a good tip for presenting information is to have no more than 7 points on a slide, with no more than 7 words per point.

This slide utilizes the 7X7 rule.

Why do this? The 7X7 format ensures that you aren't presenting too much information at once, which could overwhelm your audience. It also ensures that your information is readable, especially if you are presenting to a large audience, where members may be some distance away from the presentation screen.

Presenting, especially live presentations, can be scary. Here are a few tips to help you out with presenting and speaking publicly:

• Include visuals in your presentation, as well as handouts to supplement the material being shown. PowerPoint 2010 allows you to print out handouts of your slide show, with room for your audience to take notes.
• Use the introduction to capture interest and set the tone of the presentation. Strong introductions may use statistics, quotes, or narrative history, ask a question, or refer to a common event.
• Focus on the back of the room to project your voice.
• Speak a little too fast rather than too slow (aim for about 145-180 words per minute). Adjust your speed depending on your material and audience.

For more tips on presenting, stay tuned for our course on Public Speaking, coming soon. Also make sure to explore our new course on Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 for additional insights into creating dynamic presentations. Remember, the first 3 tutorials are FREE!

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Microsoft PowerPoint: Enemy of the State?

Ever since its introduction to the business industry in 1984, Microsoft PowerPoint has been a staple present in the boardrooms of the business, academic, and military world. A slideware computer program that easily generates charts, graphs, and bullet points, presenting research and data in an easy format revolutionized the time spent on data-driven presentations. But while some praise the invention of the software, there are those who disagree as well. In fact, prominent U.S. generals and professors think PowerPoint is an evil entity.

According to Edward R. Tufte, a political science professor at Yale University who wrote an article on Wired.com, “PowerPoint is Evil,” says the Microsoft presentation software induces stupidity, turns everyone into bores, waste time, and degrades the quality and credibility of communication. Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of the Joint Force in the Marine Corps who was interviewed for a New York Times article, “We Have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint” says the slideware makes us stupid.

The argument presented in these two articles is that PowerPoint creates the illusion of understanding and control when there really isn’t. By oversimplifying interconnected data, statistics and conclusion in simple bullet points, the complexity or the significance of the issue being presented is not getting through as important, vital, priority number one.

Commanders in the New York Times article believe that not only are vital sources being left out to simplify the presentation report, but by using PowerPoint as information training tutorials is stifling critical thinking and decision making. Instead of producing an environment that encourages thought provoking group discussions, PowerPoint presentation brings a numbing sensation.

“In a business setting, a PowerPoint slide typically shows 40 words, which is about eight seconds’ worth of silent reading material. With so little information per slide, many, many slides are needed. Audiences consequently endure a relentless sequence, one damn slide after another,” Tufte says.

But can a software program be the blame? Is a comprehensive report with all the critical data and statistics gathered any more effective than a PowerPoint presentation? Is relentless sequence of reports any more cognitively stimulating than a relentless sequence of PowerPoint slides?

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