If your presentation includes any amount of data you are faced with a special challenge. The chances are that your audience needs extra care navigating their way through your number-filled content. Fortunately, they have an expert tour guide — you.

You are there to show them the data, maybe even in its rawest form; to tell them where it came from; how accurate it is and how it was gathered. You may display complex tables with hundreds of data points or intricate multi-level charts and graphs. Your audience may demand to see the actual information as you obtained it. Technical audiences, in particular, are often resistant to having the information presented to them diluted or “dumbed-down.”

But then you must tell them what it means. You are the driver of this tour bus. You know the territory. You are the expert. What does this data signify? Show them your complex information, if you must, but them give them the sound bite. Tell them in the simplest terms and using the clearest graphics — what does it all mean?

Consider the concept, the conclusion, the understanding you want them to walk away with. Make your numbers meaningful, if you saw them in a week, what big, clear idea would you want them to remember?

Like many forms of media that have come before — from newspapers and magazines, to television and movies — PowerPoint is a visual medium. PowerPoint allows you to display images that will coincide, illuminate and amplify your spoken words.

How can we do that most effectively?

The answer is simple but not necessarily easy: use big, clear images. Use photographs, artwork and illustrations that clearly extend your message. Use them as a backdrop to create a stage or atmosphere. Use them to illustrate a point. Use them to draw attention to a process or a detail in a process. Use them to stir the emotions. But don’t use them to just repeat your words.

My process begins after I have created an outline and used placeholders for each slide (an effective way to do this is with sticky notes). I will start working through my presentation and looking for opportunities to use images to help deliver a point.

Make sure your images are clear and easy to understand — in other words you want the audience “to get” your idea fast. The visuals should deliver your message quickly and efficiently and not overly distract. You don’t want your slides to draw attention away from you. You are the reason the audience is there, after all.

Use big images. I personally default to using singular, big, fill-the-screen images. I would encourage you to take full advantage of the real estate you have — don’t place a small, wimpy image in a large white screen. Take advantage of the drama that a big, well-done image can impart.

And speaking of well-done — use the best images you can get. Often that means investing time in your research as well as investing some money to get top quality, professional images. There are copious stock photography and illustration resources on the web. Don’t download cheesy, low-resolution images from Google images. It will brand you as an amateur and possibly expose you to legal action. If you want look like a pro, use professional images.

When you ensure that your images are clear and easy to understand, big and dramatic and of the best quality to can get you will be a long way towards building a powerful, effective and well-received presentation.

Next week: Step 4 — Making numbers meaningful.

Last week I suggested that a good first step to fixing a PowerPoint presentation is to develop a big idea – a singular, distilled concept that you could build your presentation around. Without that a speech risks bouncing aimlessly from one random idea to the next.

Next up, let’s fix those bloated word and bullet slides. Too many words and the tendency to read them to the audience is the number one complaint from most PowerPoint hating audience members. Let’s try some guidelines:

1. Only one concept or thought per slide. All slides should support your goal of delivering your big idea but they should also contain just one thought. Bullets or an outline style hierarchy is OK if it all flows from the one central thought for this slide.
2. Use only keywords – no complete sentences. Each bullet or point should be stripped of all unnecessary words. Use just the keywords to identify the topic. Think of it as a sparse chapter title in a novel – only the essential words. Then your spoken words become the rich details that illuminate the subject. This is the critical step. Edit your words on the screen so that there is almost nothing for you or your audience to read at length. This will help keep the focus on you, where it belongs.
3. Consider using a build slide. A build is a series of slides that begin with just the first item of a list and then add the next item in the next slide. This allows the presenter to keep the audience from reading ahead.
4. Sometimes each bullet point or list item deserves its own slide. If your bullet slides still seem overwhelming, consider breaking them into individual slides. Adding a consistent headline on all the slides in the series may help your viewers keep track of where they are.
5. Don’t worry that you are creating many additional slides. If your presentation flows well and is easily understandable the number of total slides means nothing.

The key to fixing text heavy slides is to be a ruthless editor. Reduce all your marvelous text to just keywords. Then let your oral delivery display your dazzling brilliance.

Next week — Step 3: Use big, clear images.

Of all the presentations I see, there are some very basic problems that keep cropping up. I have created a workflow to help the people I train and coach fix their existing PowerPoint and/or build new, more effective presentations. I call it “how to fix your PowerPoint” (catchy title).

Two of the most common problems have almost nothing to do with PowerPoint. They are 1) Too much information. This is typical of the expert who will try to cram 30 years of experience into a 15 minute speech. It can’t be done. And 2) Unorganized content. Many of us will jump from one idea to the next without a consistent flow. We often organize our content based on how we understand it not on how it makes sense to our audience.

So the first step to fixing your PowerPoint is to fix your basic presentation. The first step to doing that is to distill your message to a single, BIG idea. What single thought do you want your audience to get? What do you want them to remember if you see them on the street in a week or two? Can you distill that idea down to a short, lean sentence that will be easy for them to remember? 15 words? 12 words? Or less? A bonus: if you can create a memorable “sound-bite” quality phrase you can repeat it for emphasis at multiple spots in your presentation.

That is your BIG idea and it becomes the yardstick that you measure everything in your speech against.

Does everything in your presentation move your audience to this big idea? Does all your content relate to it? Do your slides and your arguments support it?

Define and distill your message. Evaluate everything you are presenting and then make sure it is delivering your BIG idea.

Next week — Step 2: Get rid of most of your words. (Don’t worry, I’ll show you how.)

Melissa was running through her upcoming slide presentation with me. She loaded up her PowerPoint deck with all the facts and figures she could find that would make her pitch irresistible. There was an almost endless march of slides with numbers, features and benefits.

I had to stop her and ask, “Why not tell your listeners a story? Or use a testimonial or a case-study?”

“Think of a success story that involves you and a client. Maybe you can get a quote from them or, better yet, a quote and a picture for your slide deck,” I said.

Stories of real people connect with real people. They can touch us all with common experiences. Unfortunately, “story” is often seen as a touchy-feely word that turns off many old-school business folks. Simple solution: call them testimonials, examples or case-studies.

Whatever words you use, stories are the ultimate, universal, deep-rooted, people-to-people connector. As listeners, we readily believe in the story and the story-teller. We overlay our experiences on what we are hearing and it becomes a shared occurrence. Get over the fear of being too soft and tell stories about your product or service, even about your challenges and how you overcame them. Your clients will open their checkbook in response.