Test Your PowerPoint On a fresh Set of Eyes and Ears

OK you’ve practiced on video numerous times you now love how you’re coming across.

You think you’re coming across your best in terms of style and substance.

Now it’s time to test it with the harder audience someone that isn’t in your brain.

My recommendation take the video you’ve done.

That’s great.

Or ideally if you have a live audience that you can bring in to see you send them your video or speak to them.

And when you’re done don’t ask them what they think they’re going to say oh great job good job.

You’re very professional.

Completely utterly worthless advice what you want to ask them is what messages do you remember what slides.

Do you remember

this is something that few organizations ever do it constantly amazes me.

Individuals who are highly analytical empirical with everything else they do in their life.

They want to maximize profits.

Ninety seven point two percent they want to cut costs twenty three point two percent every aspect of their professional life.

They want to quantify things they stand up to give a PowerPoint presentation and all of a sudden it’s.

Well it’s always they don’t make a fool of myself so long as I get through it as long as I don’t hurt myself.

That’s an extraordinarily low standard.

Your standard should be to people truly understand my ideas.

Remember my ideas.

So they act upon them.

So here’s the test you’re going to ask your test group ideally at least five six people what messages they remember what slides they remember any message that was important to you.

One of your top five that they can’t throw back in your face.

You now have empirical evidence that the way you presented it didn’t work.

It’s not the audience’s fault it’s your fault.

So you got to go back to the drawing board.

Now here’s the part that’s going to get a whole lot of people upset in corporate communications department and PowerPoint slide creation departments.

If you put up a slide and your sample group of three or four or five people if they can’t remember the slide and tell you the message behind it that now means your slide is completely useless.

I want you to take that slide.

Tear it up throw it in the trash can.

It’s a complete waste of time it’s a waste of space and you’re knowing your audience and you’re frankly being obnoxious you’re giving them something you know.

Does it work.

How do you like when a car dealership does that to you.

They just sold you a car and they know it doesn’t work.

You don’t like that.

So this is what requires discipline and this is what requires the attitude of gosh I realize I spend three hours on that slide but I have evidence that doesn’t work.

I’m going to throw it away or I’m going to tweak it simplify it enhance it.

So you’re not ready to give a PowerPoint presentation unless it passes the test.

You don’t want to take a new drug unless it’s been tested to have some level of efficacy.

Right.

You shouldn’t use a PowerPoint slide unless you have some evidence it works.

It’s very easy to find out of a PowerPoint slide works you deliver it you show it to people if they don’t remember the slide if they don’t remember the idea by definition doesn’t work.

If they remember the slide and they remember the idea associated with it it by definition works.

Now sometimes someone can remember the slide but it confuses them or they associated with an idea completely unrelated to what you were trying to convey that’s no good.

That doesn’t work.

Our goal is not to just put up pretty pictures and have people remember pictures.

It’s to communicate ideas.

So if they can’t remember the slide and the idea you were trying to convey associated with it doesn’t work.

This is now you starting to see why I am saying don’t keep rewriting your slides till midnight the night before or Seven thirty a.m. And it’s an 8 a.m. present day because if you do that by definition you’ll never have time to test it properly.

You don’t test it.

You really have no idea what kind of garbage you’re giving your audience so I beg you I plead with you.

Don’t give PowerPoint presentations certainly nothing that’s important without testing it to make sure your audience remembers your messages and understands them remembers your slides and gets the exact messages you wanted.