Animation, Video and Special Effects in PowerPoint Presentations

00:00 So how do you use special effects and animation video for your PowerPoint presentations and should you use them? Now, some of you are not going to like my answer here.

00:11 I think it's not particularly helpful.

00:12 But here's my advice.

00:14 Focus first on actually having really good ideas for your speech and presentation. Then focus on having an interesting, compelling story for each one. Then think of a visual way of making that idea come alive. Then, and only then, think about animation or video. Here's the problem.

00:35 As a practical matter, you could spend three days coming up with some little animation for your PowerPoint presentation, and next thing you know, hour after hour has been spent on this.

00:48 And what happens is that crowds out your own schedule to actually rehearse your speech and to rehearse your presentation.

00:56 And the whole focus becomes on this little technology of, you know, a butterfly flying across the page.

01:02 Here's the problem.

01:03 Your audience is sophisticated because most people in the world have spent thousands of hours watching video, watching TV, watching special effects movies, watching Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer movies.

01:17 So it's highly unlikely that your special effects are going to wow them , and they can say, wow, did you see that? That's tough competition.

01:26 So I don't want to compete in the arena of special effects.

01:31 I'd much rather compete in the arena of something interesting to say. The other problem with video is it's very easy for it to malfunction and not to work properly.

01:44 So you've got to make sure that everything works.

01:48 You've got to practice, rehearse in the venue.

01:50 If you don't do that, you could end up with egg on your face.

01:53 My advice, unless it's really something of a visual nature that involves video.

02:01 Just stick to images.

02:02 You'll be much better off.