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Reflection: "How To Avoid Death by Powerpoint" by David JP Phillips

David JP Phillips discussed five principles for using PowerPoint effectively in presentations: 1) Have one main message per slide to avoid cognitive overload. 2) Use images and bullet points instead of long blocks of text for easier comprehension. 3) Draw attention to important content using size differences rather than just headlines. 4) Ensure sufficient contrast so the audience focuses on the right information. 5) Limit each slide to around six items so the audience can absorb the information. The overall message is that PowerPoint should enhance a presentation by the speaker, not replace it, in order to most successfully engage the audience.

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Ferl Diane Siño
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1K views2 pages

Reflection: "How To Avoid Death by Powerpoint" by David JP Phillips

David JP Phillips discussed five principles for using PowerPoint effectively in presentations: 1) Have one main message per slide to avoid cognitive overload. 2) Use images and bullet points instead of long blocks of text for easier comprehension. 3) Draw attention to important content using size differences rather than just headlines. 4) Ensure sufficient contrast so the audience focuses on the right information. 5) Limit each slide to around six items so the audience can absorb the information. The overall message is that PowerPoint should enhance a presentation by the speaker, not replace it, in order to most successfully engage the audience.

Uploaded by

Ferl Diane Siño
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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  • Reflection on "How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint" by David JP Phillips
  • Continuation of Reflection

SIÑO, FERL DIANE S.

BSA15

REFLECTION:
“HOW TO AVOID DEATH BY POWERPOINT”
By DAVID JP PHILLIPS

David JP Phillips discussed the five principles to avoid death by PowerPoint and implies
in his talk on how to be a better speaker by means of using a PowerPoint presentation as a visual
aid only to support a speaker in his or her talk and not treat the PowerPoint as the presentation
itself because this would just lead to ineffective speech. He discussed how to cognitively and
psychologically optimize the PowerPoint slides one is using during his or her presentation.

Nowadays, PowerPoint itself has a bit of a bad reputation. Many people see it as boring,
outdated, and old-fashioned. But the truth is, it is not PowerPoint that makes for a poor
presentation. It is how people choose to use it. The number of slides used has never been the
problem but the objects within and how people use the slides can create an issue in regard to
engagement. Phillips gave five key tips to follow to avoid death by PowerPoint: 1 + 1 = 0,
Images + bullet points > sentences, use size to your advantage, contrast is important, and 6
is the perfect number.

In the first principle, the 1 + 1 = 0, it just means that a presenter must have one message
per slide only because according to studies, people will tend to forget almost everything they just
heard if there are two different messages at the same time.

In the second principle, images + bullet points > sentences, presenters are advised not to
create slides with too much text, which is impossible to read and replace those long and tiring-to-
read sentences with related images and shorten the texts to bullet points in order for the audience
to understand the message more easily and quickly.
The third principle, which is using the size to your own advantage, presenters are
encouraged to just make smaller headlines and draw our audience’s attention to where they want
to which is usually the content of the slides because most of the time, presenters use large texts
for headlines and people’s attention is drawn by the large items first but usually, headlines are
not the most important part of the presentation.

Contrast is important, the fourth principle, which conveys that presenters must make
their presentation in a way that the audience can focus on them and on what they are saying. Like
there is no chance that the audience are focusing on the ‘wrong’ bullet point, because there is a
contrast between it and the rest of them.

Lastly, the fifth principle which is 6 is the perfect number and it simply means that a
presenter must only include up to 6 items in one slide in order for the audience to easily
comprehend and see whatever the presenter wants them to understand.

To wrap it all up, every individual is boundless in the ways of presenting his or her ideas.
As a speaker or presenter, he or she must always keep in mind the objective of presenting in the
first place in order to have an effective engagement with the audience and to successfully deliver
the message across the audience. The PowerPoint presentation must be simple and precise and it
must not become the center of attention in a presentation and it must be the presenter. However,
it does not mean that the PowerPoint is irrelevant but because it is only a visual aid for both the
speaker and the audience for them to easily comprehend the things regarding the presentation.
Using of PowerPoint presentations are not bad rather it helps the presenter but it is necessary to
not just rely on those visual presentations too much because it is not always consistent and there
are always discrepancies or problems to encounter. It is significant to know how to communicate
ideas effectively even without the use of visual aids. Moreover, the presentation is not about the
slides in the PowerPoint. It is all about the messages that a presenter wants to convey to the
audience, in order to have an impact to them.

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