Sounds like a challenge to endure through a 20mins presentation on such a dry topic? Don’t worry, it’s engaging and easy to understand.

It’s a mix between a documentary and a presentation. For more information, here’s the Wikipedia page and the official page: Story of Stuff

This is how the typical student approaches his presentation.

With a report already created, he copies and pastes what he has into different slides, trying to fit the maximum number of points into the least number of slides. After this is done, he will try to summarize the contents into bullet points. Finally, as an afterthought, he will add in some cheesy clipart not seen since 1998. If there is time, basic animation will come in. This habit is brought along when he graduates and enters the corporate world. This is what it’ll look like.

(Thank God theatric sounds like fake applause and glass breaks were removed in Powerpoint. It was cool when we were twelve.)

The above example, is not only wrong, but the end result will be a disastrously boring presentation. A report and a presentation essentially serve different purposes.

A report should be exhaustive with all relevant data documented and conclusions drawn through a detailed analysis. A presentation should inform your audience of your most important findings, pique their interest, move them to action, or inspire them for greatness.

Your presentation does not start with your report.

Here’s how a proper presentation should be done:

1. Know your audience, their age and their general interests. It’s about them, not you.

2. Prepare a speech that conveys what you want to tell them while cursorily referring to your report. I find that I am more productive when I use the pen and paper. (The specifics of a proper speech will be covered in another article) The computer provides way too many distractions eg formatting, spelling, other programs, facebook.

3. Stand in front of the mirror and read your speech, like you would to an acquaintance. Keep it friendly but formal. Does it sound smooth or weirdly contrite? Keep editing till it sounds smooth. Throw in bits of humor.

4. Start preparing your slides. I like to use a storyboard to plan out my slides. If properly planned, the above overly-bulleted slide could look like this.

5. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, till you almost do not need your script.

These steps are definitely a little more tiresome than the easier way but the effect on the audience and their reaction will make your time worth it. I promise.

My personal favourite font is Helvectica Neue. You can see the 3 popular variations of it, Regular, Light and Ultra Light below.

What makes this my favorite font is how versatile it really is. With a single font structure, you are able to convey 3 moods yet not disrupt the overall consistency of the presentation. The problem with using different fonts to create a different moods is that it creates an overall messy slide. The 3 variations brings about a different emphasis on the words.

• Regular – Steady and serious
• Light – Dependable but bordering on a little playfulness
• Ultralight – Present, but not attention seeking

In this example, it’s Regular, Ultra Light, and Light.

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Other Recommended Fonts:

Gill Sans has the same properties as Helvectica Neue, but I personally feel it exudes more playfulness and can be used in informal presentations.

Edwardian Script can be used to portray classiness. This font is beautiful.

Adobe Garamond is used as a substitute for Times New Roman. It could be a human reflex, but because we have been working with most of our documents in Times, there is this certain tiredness associated with this font. Garamond is updated, yet it does not compromise on the formality.

Century Gothic is a favorite among Windows Users, and I won’t recommend it unless you have no choice as it has been overused. Nice basic font.

Arial Black is my final recommendation. Like “Impact” font, use it for impact! However, kern it (-100, makes the letters closer to each other) and caps them. Otherwise, the font looks pretty bad.

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I have come to the end of my first post, do you have your own favorite fonts for presentation use? Please share them with me!

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