Your slides don't look retro ... just old

Sorry to be so blunt, but you're among friends here and we can speak frankly, right? Whether you are giving presentations in meetings or using slides in the classroom or for marketing purposes, it's time to take a hard look at what you are sharing with the world. And yes, it is the world in this age of people snapping pics of your slides with their smartphone/tablet/gadget-o-rama and sharing them via social media (much like I shared the image above that I snapped & retrofiltered at one of my favorite Starbucks shops near Times Square).

Now here we are with a bright, shiny, new year, so why are you using the same old slides? How long have you been using those by the way? Really? Hmmm. Don’t you think it’s time you gave those a makeover? Haven’t you learned anything from your past presentations that you could use to improve them? No feedback? Yikes. Is that because your audience kind of checked out?

Even if your slides have been well received in the past, it is still a great time to take a fresh look at them. Even good stuff can get better. Perhaps just freshen them up to a more contemporary style? Does your audience already know what to expect before you start presenting? I mean are you still wearing the same shoes, suit, tie, clothing item of your choice you were last year or the year before that? Styles change. Things wear out. Things need to be replaced now and then.

And yeah, if you are still using the templates that come with PowerPoint I can tell that you are using an old version of the software or at least a presentation built on an old template. And odds are I’ve seen that template other places. That means when I see it again, I won’t think of you and your presentation I’ll think, oh look someone else is using that same one. I’ll be distracted by the packaging and not the content. I won’t be able to differentiate your content from the other guy’s. I had this happen once in a class where two grad students put up final project slides based on the same template and I kept thinking, gee "Sue" used the same template as "Bob."

So how about you break out those presentations and give them a fresh look. I bet there is something you can do to improve them. And hey, if you want some suggestions, get in touch with me and I’ll take a look.

Before I sign off for today, here are some suggestions from others on freshening things up for the new year:

10 Presentation Trends to Watch Out For in 2016

Impress Your Audience by Following These 5 Presentation Design Trends

Stale PowerPoint Templates