Common PowerPoint mistakes—and how to fix them

It’s easy to develop bad habits—drinking too much coffee or always running late—but it can be much harder to break them.

In the corporate world, there is one bad habit (or collection of bad habits) we’d like to see everyone kick: poor use of PowerPoint. Even the most skilled presenters can do better.

Replacing bad PowerPoint habits with more effective techniques helps you tell a more engaging story, connect with your listeners and even change the conversation.

You might feel stuck in a rut with your PowerPoint slides. If so, imagine how your audience is feeling. Do you notice people’s eyes glazing over? Can you blame them?

Ask yourself: What can you do to liven things up, bring a fresh perspective to your presentation visuals and help your listeners to “get it”?

Here are three common PowerPoint mistakes that you can easily replace with more savvy tactics:

1. Following equations of ‘X slides per minute’

Have you been asked to limit your presentation to a certain number of slides? Some mistakenly believe that the length of a presentation should be measured by the number of slides you show. That misconception leads people to look for a magic number of slides per minute for an ideal presentation. There is no such thing.