PowerPoint? Laptop?

Discussion in 'Employment & Jobs' started by djjohnmerry, Jun 15, 2010.

  1. djjohnmerry

    djjohnmerry New Member

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    Hi all

    Just after a bit of advice really on this great forum :-)

    I am going for a job interview next week and I have been asked to do a 10 minute presentation (which is fine) and it says there will be a laptop and projector to use.

    I was going to do a PowerPoint to bullet point some of my key points of the presentation to go along side.

    I was after thoughts on peoples thoughts about best things to do and avoid.

    i.e colour schemes of powerpoints etc, what to add and not add.

    And any feedback or advice

    Many thanks in advance

    John :biggrin
     
  2. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Keep it simple - the powerpoint presentation won't get you the job.

    No crazy colour schemes either! :biggrin
     
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  3. UncleBeard

    UncleBeard Nibble Poster

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    Don't just keep it simple, make it almost boring :blink

    Standard advice is no (or not too many) flashy animations, not too many colours, no silly random transitions, and not too many bullet points on each slide.

    No more than 6 bullet points on a slide, and if possible no more than 8 words in any bullet point.

    Don't use too many different fonts or font sizes.

    Keep it consistent, and you will look like you know what you are doing :D

    You shouldn't just read from the slides, but it looks like you have grasped that from the way you worded the question.

    But it depends on the audience of course.
     
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  4. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    A presentation on what?
     
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  5. volatile

    volatile Nibble Poster

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    Probably about himself and why they should hire him. I actually like this idea.
     
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  6. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    Under no circumstance should you use any sound effects whatsoever, nothing more bloody annoying than having to sit through 10 minutes of silly swishy noises every time the slide show moves on. :x
     
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  7. Phoenix
    Honorary Member

    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    hmm, interesting thread,
    But i dont aggree with the vast majority of whats been said so far :)

    don't use bullet points if you can help it (unless they fit)
    DO use transitions, ones that work with the flow of the presentation, not random stupid ones, transitions can be VERY important to the overall flow of the slide deck though

    DO use a color scheme, but keep it consistent, I suggest picking a few stock images to use and generating a color wheel out of them, there's your theme

    I'll agree with the no sound option, it adds very little without being a professional score

    don't use clip art, ever, go to istockphoto.com or something and get something professional

    read the following blogs sometime
    powerpoint ninja
    presentation zen
    duarte

    Guy Kawasaki recently listed a PowerPoint 'rule' the 10/20/30 rule, 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30pt font,
    i don't buy it as a rule, at least outside of his specific focus area (he listens to a lot of VC pitches) but it may work for your situation based on the fact your really just trying to pitch yourself to someone :)
    edit: ok its not that recent, i only recently read it :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2010
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  8. djjohnmerry

    djjohnmerry New Member

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    Thanks for the feedback guys :-) Taking all thoughts on board
     
  9. supernova

    supernova Gigabyte Poster

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    i thought they were a positive thing to use?
     
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  10. Phoenix
    Honorary Member

    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    bullet points are crap
    big blocks of text in size 10 font are ALSO crap

    a slide should make a point, and what you SAY fills in the gaps, you dont need a slide to repeat what your saying, you dont want people looking and reading slides while your talking
    there should be a big impact from visuals, and a bit of text they can swallow in seconds, so you can speak about the point your trying to make

    why use three bullets when you could have three well formulated slides with big impact?

    in slide:ology they mention something like a 3 hour slide deck taking 300 man hours to compile properly, but they do the crazy hardcore slide decks that you see in TED talks and in movies like An Inconvenient Truth, Duarte = big wig slide pr0s!

    the bottom of this post highlights the impact argument, the post is about asymmetry and not bullet points, but i think you can see how the same holds true for bullet points, being those statements/stats could well of been bullet points and a graph in someone elses world! :)
    http://www.presentationzen.com/pres...cancy-asymmetry-lessons-from-the-tearoom.html
     
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