The fewer, the better

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests ball room presentations should have as few slides as possible. As much information as possible should be put on each slide to make sure that your audience understands the entire idea under discussion and sees the interconnecting points of your idea.

Connected,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Giving up control

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela says, while ball room style presentations are all about keeping control over the presentation and over the audience, board room style presentations are about sharing control. Handing out copies of  your slides allows people to proceed at their own pace and take notes on the slides if they want. It also allows you the presenter to easily see who is having problems keeping up (they keep looking over the previous slides) or who thinks the presentation is going too slow (they keep reading ahead to the upcoming slides).

Out of control,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

About the board room style

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests when you use a board room style presentation you have less than 100 people in attendance, use lots of detail, text, small point sizes, and print out your slides. This allows for more information on the page and for producing useful conversations about the information.

Under an hour,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Here's a story you might know...

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Judy Carter suggests you open your speech with a personal story taken from an audience member (interview the person beforehand).

Storied,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Ballroom-45

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests when you use a ballroom slide presentation you have over 100 people in attendance and give no more than 45 minutes for the entire presentation.

Under an hour,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

At the right time

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests when you design a ballroom slide presentation you have between 1-5 minutes per slide.

Timely,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

If you can see it...

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests when you design ballroom slide presentations you use visuals such as:

• Video segments
• Photographs
• Diagrams

Visually,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Color! Sound! Action!

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests when you are presenting a ballroom slide presentation you project it on a screen so you can make use of color, sound, and animation that conveys the information in your presentation.

Informatively,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Beyond the text

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests when you create a ballroom slide presentation you use as little text as possible, and with relevant visuals that attract the audience and stick in their mind.

Visually,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Squint when you say that!

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests when you design a page in your presentation, you use the squint test to tell if the page's purpose if obvious enough to your audience. Squint your eyes at the page and try to guess what the page is about, using only the blurry information you can see. If you can successfully guess the purpose of the page while squinting, your page is obvious enough For example, if you squint at the page and you clearly see that the items on your page are converging together and your presentation is about items converging, your page is obvious enough for your audience.

Obviously,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

The page is the thing!

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests when you design a page in your presentation, you design it so the page layout reinforces the message of that page (e.g., if the page is about converging, layout your page so that the various points on the page seem to be coming together).

Laid out,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Inspiration vs. Motivation

Fellow speaker,

In the professional speaking world, there are basically two types of speakers: inspirational speakers and motivational speakers. Inspirational speakers want to make their audience feel good. Usually they have had great challenges in their life which they have overcome, and they use their own life as an inspiration to others to overcome their personal struggles (e.g., a person with no hands living their daily life successfully).

A motivational speaker is there to get the audience to do something. While they may use inspirational techniques to make the audience feel good, their focus is on motivating the audience to take a particular action or actions. They have overcome their life challenges by taking certain actions or doing certain processes which they encourage the audience to take or do as well, to get similar successful results.

People who pay professional speakers tend to be looking for motivational speakers, not inspirational speakers. They people who pay have specific actions in mind they want their audience to take, and they want the speaker to motivate their audience into taking those actions.

Speaking of speaking,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

The chart is more than the sum of its parts

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela's research suggests when showing parts of the whole horizontal bar charts are more effective than pie charts or cumulative stacked charts.

In parts,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

A chart divided...

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela's research suggests when doing multiple comparisons use divided bar charts with the same height instead of pie charts.

Divided,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Avoiding the pie

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela's research suggests when showing quantities use a bar or column chart instead of a pie chart.

About quantities,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

A little scattered

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela's research suggests when using scatterplots use different colors to make it easy for your audience to see the differences.

Scattering,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Dare to compare

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela's research suggests when comparing among variables use a horizontal bar char instead of a vertical column chart.

Variably,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Being trendy

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela's research suggests when showing trends use line graphs instead of bar graphs.

Trendily,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Making a composition - 3

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with composition data which is changing with many periods you use one of two types of charts:

Relative and absolute distances - Stacked Area chart

Only relative differences - Stacked 100% Area chart

Composing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Making a composition - 2

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with composition data which is changing with a few periods you use one of two types of charts:

Relative and absolute distances - Stacked Column chart

Only relative differences - Stacked 100% Column chart

Composing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Making a composition - 1

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with composition data which is unchanging use one of three types of charts:

Share of total - Pie chart

Addition or subtraction to total - Waterfall chart

Components of components - Stacked 100% Column chart with Subcomponents

Note: C is a subcomponent of D, B is a subcomponent of C, A is a subcomponent of B

Composing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Comparing the data - 4

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with comparison data which is unchanging with one or two variables you use one of two types of charts:

One variable - Bar chart

Two variables - Variable Width Column charts

Comparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Comparing the data - 3

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with comparison data which is unchanging with three or more variables you use one of two types of charts:

Many items - Table

Few items - Multiple Bar charts

Comparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Comparing the data - 2

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with comparison data which changes over time for many periods you use one of two types of charts:

Non-cyclical data - Line chart

Cyclical data - Circular Area chart

Comparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Comparing the data - 1

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with comparison data which changes over time for a few periods you use one of two types of charts:

Single or few items - Column chart

Many items - Line chart

Comparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Making relationshps

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with relationship data you use one of two types of charts:

Two variables - Scatter chart

Three variables - Bubble chart

Relating,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Distributing the data - 2

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with distribution data with a more than one variable you use one of two types of charts:

Two variables - Scatter chart

Three variables - 3D area chart

Still distributing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Distributing the data - 1

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests if you have a board room presentation with distribution data with a single variable you use one of two types of histograms:

Few items - Column histogram

Many items - Line histogram

Distributing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Distribution Confusion

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests in your board room presentations you use charts that are specific to the data's characteristics:

• Number of observations
• Number of variables in per observations
• Point in time vs. series

Characterizing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Move it!

Fellow speaker,

If you get flustered or upset by something that happens during your speech, pause, take a breath, and move to a different part of the stage. This will "reset" yourself so you can get focused back on your speech.

Moving,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Who's your data?

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests in your board room presentations you use charts that are specific to the data's characteristics:

• Number of observations
• Number of variables in per observations
• Point in time vs. series

Characterizing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

What do you need?

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests in your board room presentations you use charts that are specific to the presentation's need:

• Relationship
• Comparison
• Distribution
• Composition

Needily,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Getting graphic

Fellow speaker,

Presentation professor Andrew Abela suggests you only use graphics that are directly relevant to the subject you want to discuss and to completely avoid using clip art of any kind.

Against clip art,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com