Over 20+ years of presentation training, I’ve had the pleasure over and over again of watching my training participants “get it.” Those “ah-hah” moments are immensely powerful and help transform presenters from tentative or nervous or insecure to confident, assertive, and powerful. In this year of 2011, I have chosen my top seven favorite ah-hah moments to share. In each of seven communications (in no particular order), I go into some detail and guidelines about each one of these transformative tools… Last month, my Ah-hah was “I can do without PowerPoint!” Here’s number two of seven in eleven…
Ah-ha #2: I never knew about the black slide!
I’m forever preaching to my clients about the overuse of PowerPoint, pleading with them to cut back on its usage, use it only when it serves a purpose. Then they get frustrated because they don’t understand what other options they have other than running a slide show. Until… I introduce them to the black slide. It’s amazing how few people know about this fabulous tool. But a black slide simply makes the screen go dark. There’s nothing on the screen. This means, of course, that the audience will be focused on the speaker. Which, I submit, is where the focus should be!
Keep in mind, the objective of visuals is to complement what you’re saying, to help the audience understand or remember a point. So it stands to reason that if your visuals are purposeful, then you won’t have a visual up all the time. Think about it: you don’t need a visual up to relate an anecdote or have interaction with your audience. Neither is a visual necessary to set the stage or to wrap up or to signal the start of Q&A. A slide that has no purpose is distracting and takes the focus from you as the speaker. What are your options if you don’t want to have a visual showing?
Enter, the black slide. A black slide makes the screen go dark. Wherever you insert one into your PowerPoint presentation, there will be nothing on the screen. This enables you to tell that story or give that example or make that transition without the distraction of purposeless visual. And you now have the focus on you (where it should be!).
Don’t know how to create a black slide? Not surprising, since PowerPoint has no vested interest in helping you not use a slide! Here are some basic instructions (this is for PowerPoint 2007):
- Create a new slide, right-click on it and from the options, click on: “Format Background”
- In the box that comes up, select:
- Solid Fill
- Hide Background Graphics
- Color: Click on the down arrow and select black
3. Click Apply
Your slide will now be black and when projected in a room, will simply look like there’s nothing on the screen. A great opportunity for the speaker to capture the focus! And a great ah-hah moment for my students when they realize it doesn’t have to be all or nothing—they can use a few strategic slides and then have the screen go dark, which will put the focus on them.
