Most Powerpoint presentations suck. That's usually because most speeches and presentations suck. And that's because most people don't like speaking or just aren't good at it.
Public speaking is really my bread and butter - much more so than writing.
But, if it's not your bag or it's something you're working on, here's a quick fix for your boring Powerpoint presentations:
A few weeks ago, Seth Godin suggested searching the Creative Commons pictures on Flickr to help spark ideas and creativity. I followed his advice and used some of those pictures as background images on my talk I gave today to workforce development professionals.
The slide deck doesn't make a lot of sense without the talk, but that's really the point. After all, your Powerpoint shouldn't carry the day - the content of your speech should. I'll be posting the video from my talk soon, but here's one way you can get creative with your Powerpoint.
I'm a fan of a thin slide deck, especially if each slide looks good. I put the bare minimum on each slide because I want people listening to me and not staring at words on a screen. This way, I can dwell on a point or allow for questions and what's on the screen is still relevant.
Enjoy: