It’s been 5 days since I turned 19 and realized that I had to start to try to influence the public about doing Power Point Presentations before National Service. Hence, my first blog post:
Presentations In Singapore
How I dream of a world where everything is beautiful and visual. In Singapore, the majority have yet to see the dire importance of doing better PowerPoint Presentations. It’s tragic really, especially in school where everyone possesses a certain amount of substance. The part where it all falters begins with visuals and delivery.
Many people don’t care!
They don’t see the point of why presentations should look like this:
Tell me more!
instead of this:
Oh.. The Horror…
Even though many recognize that their presentations look like the latter, most of them are unwilling to even attempt to change their ways. Many feel that design is a form of decoration – unnecessarily added element to beautify something. Either that or they just don’t want to. Copying and Pasting full reports on to PowerPoint slides can be considered a social norm in society. Maybe it can be attributed to our conservative culture, but doesn’t everyone want to do well? We study hard and work hard; are presentations any much different?
“It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.†– Steve Jobs
Bad design overwhelms audiences negatively and impedes good communication which should be avoided by every human being for the sake of their audiences. Designer or not, we all have it within us to be better communicators.
Simple first step would be to exercise restraint. Putting less words, less colors, less rubbish on PowerPoint.
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The First Step
Image Credits: mdezemery @ Flickr
I believe, the First Step is in all essence of the word, taking the first step. There is no way around it, you gotta have the intention and aspiration to do better PowerPoint presentations and striving towards it at full throttle. There is no written law on the definite first step that an individual should take when embarking on a long and treacherous journey.
There are tons of resources that are available over the Internet to build your Presentation Design Knowledge Base. Inculcating simple habits like browsing through Slideshare Presentations for inspiration and reading speaking/design blogs like AdvanceYourSlides. More of which I will share as time progresses.
Take the first step on your journey to better presentations. Because bad PowerPoints kills ideas and put people to sleep.
Upcoming Project
Currently Working on a new personal project : Â Becoming a Presentation Jedi. Stay Tuned.
Upcoming Slide Deck (Image Credits: JD Hancock @ Flickr)
Also, feel free to follow me on Slideshare or Connect with me on LinkedIn
