Tips for Making an IMPACTFUL PowerPoint Presentation

 

QUALITY POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS

1. Avoid using patterned backgrounds because they can reduce readability.

2. Use contrasting colors for text and background. Light text on a dark background is best.

3. Use great-quality images that reinforce and complement your message. Ensure that your image maintains its impact and resolution when projected on a larger screen.

4. Make sure the slides are readable from the back row seats. Text and graphic images should be large enough to read but not so large as to appear “loud.”

5. Have a Plan B in the event of technical difficulties.

6. Practice with someone who has never seen your presentation. Ask them for honest feedback about colors, content, and any effects or graphic images you’ve included.

7. Do not read from your slides. The content of your slides is for the audience, not for you, the presenter.

8. Know your audience. 

9. Select a single sans-serif font such as Arial or Helvetica. In addition, avoid serif fonts such as Times New Roman or Palatino because these fonts are sometimes more challenging to read.

10. It is more effective to have bulleted points appear one at a time so the audience listens to the presenter rather than reading the screen

11. Speak comfortably and clearly.

12. BE YOURSELF.

13. SHOW YOUR PASSION for the work your organizations offers to people in need. People can easily sense genuine, heartfelt presentations. 

PRESENTATION LIMITATIONS

1. Limit punctuation and avoid putting words in all-capital letters. Empty space on the slide will enhance readability.

2. Limit the number of slides. Presenters who constantly “flip” to the next slide will likely lose their audience. A good rule of thumb is one slide per minute.

3. Simplify and limit the number of words on each slide. Use key phrases and include only essential information.

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5 Ways to Practice Your PowerPoint Presentation

1. Rehearse in front of a crowd.

Standing in front of a group of people, giving your speech, and seeing their reactions is a great ways to boost your confidence in your material and delivery.  

Whether it’s a small group of friends, co-workers, family, or even a random group of strangers, giving your presentation allows you to see reactions and get natural human feedback.  This will calm your nerves and make you more comfortable with the entire experience.  

You’ll often find that your worst mistakes will surface on this first go-around, leaving you with plenty of time and feedback to correct and re-organize your thoughts.

2. Record yourself.

You can judge your voice's inflection, speed, and enunciation by hearing and seeing yourself.  You always want to put yourself in your audience’s position, seeing and hearing yourself as they would see you.  

It is not so much about perfecting your orating skills are essential. However, the most IMPACT and ENGAGEMENT comes from showing your passion and personality through your words.  To come across as original and confident, you want to show your true character and that you’re comfortable in your speech.

It comes down to carefully observing yourself and constructively criticizing the elements of your speech.  You have to take the time to honestly grade yourself before you can expect to deliver a solid presentation.  

For example, TED TALKS speakers train themselves and prepare extensively in advance for their talks.  

Comfortably, be yourself. Again, blend your passion and personality with your message and find the happy medium between your goals and the outcome.

Honestly, answer these questions to yourself: What do you think?  Was this helpful?  Do you have any additional tips or guidelines about preparing for a presentation? 

3. Experiment.

Refrain from repeating the same lines repeatedly if you think it sounds boring or awkward.  

Let loose and find ways to make your presentation exciting for your audience.  

Experiment with variations of words, including a funny story, and make a joke.  

Relax!  Remember, your presentation's two most essential things are being transparent and passionate. You can have a lot of fun if you free yourself from the boring presentation structure and have a little fun out there.

4. Time yourself.

Timing is crucial in presentations. 

Effortless presentations take practice. The general rule of thumb is to keep it short, simple, and to the point.  Since your goal is to decrease time while maintaining quality, practice trimming your message to include the most important and relevant information without the fluff.  

Set a goal of the time you think is appropriate for your audience, then refine or beef up your talk accordingly.  The more comfortable you are with your time, the more flexible you can be as you give your presentation.

5. Take notes.

As you practice, it is helpful to stop whenever you notice a mistake or an uncomfortable moment and jot down a few notes.  

In any practice situation, do not hesitate to analyze and re-analyze your presentation as you go.  

Write down things like cutting down on time on certain parts, making sure you enunciate tricky words, or refining the structure of your talk.  

You would be surprised by how many issues you can find when you take the time to look at yourself closely.

Good luck, and feel free to contact us for more help!

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Don't Rush Things

I am a big advocate of our mental health coming first. If you're reading this, then there is a great chance you take your career and works seriously. Superman or Superwoman is a title many strong leaders bear by their colleagues ad constituents. Being a fearless opportunist is one of my strengths and weaknesses. Back in 2016, I realized I needed to start practicing what I preach. I removed myself from the workplace environment for almost three years and focused on a healthier mind. Yes, taking time off for health and wellness was incomparable. Yet, I stalled the process for decades because I was afraid of losing income, my clientele, respect from other Black people, and self-purpose. There is a ginormous negative stigma of laziness or gold-digging among women and my race and culture. At some point, I knew I needed to throw my hands up and have faith. The process began abruptly and unforgiving. However, by the end of my journey, I learned to trust myself more and know my worth. My judgment is the only opinion that matters to me - and hopefully for you too. All of this is to say that go at your own pace. "Now" will always come tomorrow and you do not always have to strike while the iron is hot. Don't rush yourself. Listen to body. Listen to your mind. Listen to your needs.

Understanding Facebook Business Page Lingo

Each year, about twice a year, I teach a social media marketing crash course in Philadelphia. For the last ten years I have seen at least 100 different Facebook business and personal page themes. The website and application updates are visual, loading time, and effective navigation.

For business owners, it can be frustrating keeping up with Facebook updates – especially once you are in a comfortable groove. The reality is more than half of U.S. small business owners do not specialize in marketing and branding. The thought of self-training is daunting, and outsourcing is overpriced.

To ease your pain, this article addresses common social media marketing verbiage or lingo used. I will also discuss frequently asked questions about Facebook business page feature. As a result, you will be able to understand the marketing terminology used by Facebook. This knowledge will allow to spend more time focusing on messaging and reviewing analytics.

Commons social media terms

Actions on Page:  The Actions on Page insight allows you to understand what people do when they are on your Page. The few actions that Facebook considered are clicking on “Get Directions”, clicking on your phone number, clicking on your website, and clicking on your action button.

Algorithm: an algorithm is a set of formulas developed for a computer to perform a certain function. This is important in the social sphere as the algorithm’s sites like Facebook and Google use are critical for developing content promotion strategies.

Avatar: An avatar is an image or username that stands for a person online, most often within forums and social networks.

Blog: Blog is a word created from two words: “web log.” Blogs are  supported by an individual or a business with regular entries of content on a specific topic, descriptions of events, or other resources such as graphics or video. "Blog" is  used as a verb, meaning to keep or add content to a blog.

Clickbait: Clickbait is a term to describe marketing or advertising material that employs a sensationalized headline to attract clicks. They rely heavily on the "curiosity gap" by creating just enough interest to provoke engagement.

Comment: A comment is a response or reaction to a blog post or message on a social network.

Crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing, like outsourcing, refers to the act of asking for ideas or content from a group of people, typically in an online setting.

Engagement: Engagement is the interaction between people and brands on social networks. For example, on Facebook, engagement includes likes, comments and shares.

Engagement Rate: Engagement rate is a popular social media metric used to describe the amount of interaction -- likes, shares, comments -- a piece of content receives.

Facebook Group: Pages allow real organizations, businesses, celebrities and brands to communicate broadly with people who like them. Official representative creates and manage Facebook Groups. Facebook Groups supply a space for people to communicate about shared interests. Anyone can create a one or more Facebook Groups.

Facebook Stories:  Facebook Stories are short user-generated photo or video collections that can be uploaded to the user's Facebook.

Fan Page: A fan page (also referred to as a business or like page) is the only way for entities like businesses, organizations, celebrities, and political figures to represent themselves on Facebook. Unlike a personal Facebook profile, fan pages are visible to everybody on the Internet.

Fans: Fans is the term used to describe people who like your Facebook Page.

Follower: In a social media setting, a follower refers to a person who subscribes to your account to receive your updates.

Friends: Friends is the term used on Facebook to stand for the connections you make and the people you follow. These are individuals you consider to be friendly enough with you to see your Facebook profile and engage with you.

Geotag:  Geotags are directional coordinates that attach to a piece of content online. For example, Instagram users take photos and often use geotagging to highlight the location.

Hashtag: (on social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook) a word or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign (#) and used to show messages on a specific topic.

Movies:  U.S. Facebook allows users to see which movies are playing nearby, available showtimes and a list of local theaters and their movie selections.

Social media:  a form of electronic communication (as websites for social networking and blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content (i.e. videos, photos).

Social media platform: a social media platform is a type of software of technology that enables users to build, integrate or help community, interaction and user-generated content. Blogs and wikis are both social media tools, while, Facebook, Wordpress and Wikispaces are social media platforms for people and companies to use to engage in blogging and creating wikis.

Tag:   You can tag a photo to show who is in the photo or post a status update and say who you're with. If you tag a friend or business like page in your status update, anyone who sees that update can click on the hyperlink (your friend's name or like page) and go to their profile.

User-generated content: the production of content by public rather than paid professionals and experts in the field. Also called “peer production”. User-generated content refers to materials such as blogs, daily news, encyclopedias and other references, product and movie reviews as well as articles on any subject. Editors, journalists, students generate content for school or work. Content creation is even a form of leisure, like journaling or personal blog post.

About the author:  DeAnn Cox is an E-Commerce Entrepreneur, Management, Development & Stewardship Specialist, and Founder of South Jersey Gay Pride. DeAnn enjoys owning and running own five companies. Each of her companies allows her to travel the world, make great friends, impressive networking, and plenty of business opportunities. She has over seventeen years of experience in fundraising, social media, market research and administration with a strong visual sense, excellent writing skills and ability to translate ideas and design concepts across all organizational levels. In her spare time, DeAnn enjoys working out, volunteering, video and board games, and spending time with her family.

6 Quick Tactics That Will Super Charge Your Annual Campaign

6 Quick Tactics That Will Super Charge Your Annual Campaign 

As you and your colleagues rush to wrap up projects and begin new ones, nonprofit teams who participate have only one concentration: increasing campaign financial results.

Fundraising campaigns are a necessity to non-governmental charities who provide food, shelter, mental health, immigration services and so much more to our community members in need.

While it’s important to keep your head in the game while fundraising, it’s perilous when it comes to your strategic fundraising efforts. Annual campaigns typically take place during a few powerful fundraising months, but a good portion of all donations comes in during the last three days of the year.

So, while you’ve been promoting your campaign continuously up to this point, within the next 12 months it’s time to super charge your campaign results. Here are six steps you can take to power through your campaign.

1.     Say Thanks (With a Soft Ask)

You’ve been sending out innovative and targeted emails and making follow up phone calls, but at this point, you worry you might fatigue your donors and prospects. Then again, you still must lock in those cruicial gifts.

Try a soft-ask. To give your donors some breathing room between your hard asks, send an email at the start of the week that includes a delicate or “soft” ask. The emphasis of your email should be on thanking your donors or sharing impact stories, but then you can hyperlink to your donate page or include a donate button in the footer.

2.     Whip Up a Quick eCard

An eCard (electronic card) allows a donor to share the goodwill they experience when donating. Rather than receiving a note that a donation was made in their honor, the dedicatee gets a personalized, stylized eCard for a much more meaningful and delightful experience.

3. Emphasize Any Matching Campaigns

If there’s one thing donors like more than making an impact, it’s the ability to double it. Now’s the time to promote your donation matching campaigns at full throttle. Announce them in your email campaigns and on social media.

4. Maximize Last-Minute Email Appeals

Your targeted email appeals are some of the most critical messages in your entire campaign. You want to amplify the sense of urgency as the crusade draws to a close.

To creatively ramp up the sense of urgency, you can even include a graphic or GIF that counts down the remaining time to contribute.

5. Reach Out to Your Campaigners

If you’re leveraging peer-to-peer fundraising this season, reach out one last time to your fundraisers. Send an email thanking and celebrating supporters for their efforts up to this point, and then inform them that this is the final stretch; the heightened sense of urgency will motivate people to boost their efforts. If you have the resources, take the time to call your power fundraisers to share your goal progress. This individualized outreach can refresh their enthusiasm to help close out a solid year.

Invite your heavy-hitters to help give your campaign one final push. To make it easier for them, send them tailored communications. Include any emotional invoking stories, photos, or videos that will help motivate prospect donors to give.

Also, remind fundraisers that if they haven’t done so already, they can kick off some campaign momentum by making their pledge first.

6.  Wrapping up the Year-End Campaign

These final month, days, and hours are potentially the most important of the entire campaign.

Make sure you plan your final strategy. What emails are you sending out, and when? Are you focusing on engagement on social media? Are you making any phone calls, and if so, when? These are just a few of the questions to ask yourself as you lock down your game plan for the next week. It’s time to cross the finish line strong.

It’s important to always push your fundraising campaigns to a strong finish, but it’s crucial when dealing with a year-end campaign. This is a time of year when people are most apt to donate, and a large percentage of your annual donations will come in during the final hours and via paper pledges.

As always, if you are looking for service, have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us.

Written by DeAnn M. Cox
Original Date Posted:  January 14, 2019
Cox Consultant and Management Firm - All Rights Reserved. 

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