Before I proceed, let me define the symptoms of Acute PowerPoint Poisoning.

• The text of some laborious Congressional bill pales in comparison to the information contained on your slides (i.e., if you need paragraph delineations on any one slide, you have too much information).
• If the graphs or charts on your slides cause people to grimace and squint as they’re trying to decipher their meaning.
• You end up just reading off the slides because you could not possibly provide as much in-depth information verbally.
• Not one member of your audience is looking at you. They are looking solely at your slides.
• You cannot possibly finish this presentation in the time alloted.

When my boss expressed her disdain for this type of information overload I understood what she meant, as both Jon and I have always agreed that when dealing with information processing and design, less is more.

There is only so much information our brains can process at any one point. If you overload an audience with vast quantities of information, what you will ultimately find is not that you look smarter or more informed, but that your message has been totally lost.

The Law of Parsimony
What this all boils down to is what I will call the Law of Parsimony. If you want to get a message across visually or verbally, keeping it simple works best. You want people to digest the information you provide and the visual design standing behind it as a whole package.

It you overload any one audience with a library’s worth of information backed by a jam-packed set of design heavy slides, chances are that the message will not be conveyed as you intended.

Keep it simple, keep it clean. Allow the information you use to support the personal appeal of your presentation. Bear in mind the Law of Parsimony and you will never risk an untimely death by acute PowerPoint poisoning.

The hardest part about self-doubt is its merciless and reoccurring nature. No matter how many times you beat it back it still rears its ugly head. There’s no trick or quick fix advice I can give you. No magic words or meditation ritual. The only way to slay the dragon is to live with it. Get comfortable with it.

Think of the movie “A Beautiful Mind” with Russell Crowe. As Crowe’s character struggles with schizophrenic delusions, he realizes he can’t make them go away. The only way he can move on with his life and achieve his goals is to live with them. He knows they are there, but doesn’t let them dictate his life. It’s the same with self-doubt, all we can do is live with it, know it’s there and not let it get the best of us.

Mastering public speaking is all about managing fear and the doubt it brings. It’s only fear that can stop you from giving presentations and pitches to your best possible potential. If you have the mental discipline to keep working, you can function and thrive regardless of the situation. We choose what rules our lives and have full power over our demons. You certainly don’t have to love or even like them, but if you can learn to live with your demons you’ll realize they will only stop you if you let them.

When you’re dealing with public speaking, breathing is no longer an automatic and subconscious activity. In fact breathing often presents one the largest challenges for my clients and for public speakers in general.

As I’m sure you’re aware, when you are nervous your breathing becomes irregular. It’s shallow and your breaths are shorter. When this happens your body responds by tensing up, further exacerbating the situation. All this tension then feeds off itself and will inhibit you as a speaker.

That’s where good breathing technique comes into play. While you are preparing your presentation or keynote address it is just as important to practice breathing as it is to memorize your talk. As you work through your presentation make notes to yourself about where you want to breathe and practice breathing in that exact same spot every time. This will help you build up muscle memory (same as with certain words or phrases) so that when you are nervous your body will automatically take a breath in that exact spot.

The ability to rely on your breathing rhythm will also help if you get rattled. A strong, deep breath can allow you to reset your brain and collect your thoughts. If you feel yourself getting rattled at any point in your presentation, resist the urge to stammer, stutter or and/um and take a deep breath. Your body will relax, your brain will have a chance to catch up and you can move on with your presentation.

The better you master this technique, the more effective communicator you will become. Practice makes perfect, so keep on breathing.

1. Get Organized. Starting a presentation can be overwhelming. There are so many things you want or need to say, but you’re not quite sure how to put it all together. Begin by sitting down and getting those thoughts on paper. This will give you a better picture of where you want to go with the presentation and how you achieve those goals.
2. Work the slides. After you organize the presentation, its time to start visualizing. Putting your general ideas in slide form will help you to continue to organize your thoughts and provides an easy way to change things as your presentation develops. It will also enable you to start envisioning the experience of your audience.
3. A script is not just for the movies. Now that you have the slides drafted its time for the text. Writing out what you want to say exactly how you want to phrase it will help as you practice. Repeating the same phrases over and over again will not only allow you to memorize what you want to say, but will also develop muscle memory. This will come in handy when its show time and you’re nervous. That muscle memory will carry you through if your brain freezes at any point and give you time to catch up without missing a beat.

These simple steps can turn a daunting process into an manageable one and hopefully as you progress and develop your skills, an enjoyable one!

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