Exercise: PowerPoint Facilitation

 10min
Screens and Displays Powerpoints Exercise: PowerPoint Facilitation
As you prepare for presentations on a stage, in a classroom or in a meeting space, plan out how you will interact with your audience physically. How will you utilize the tools to facilitate the focus relationship? Decide when to direct focus to the screen or request focus toward your own delivery. This preparation can begin early, even alongside development of your content. You can lay out the patterns of movement and gesture that you will use to present your slides. Imagine how you will interact with the PowerPoint as you organize your content. Think about what specific tools of Physical Orientation and Spatial Navigation will be most effective for the type of presentation, screen setup or display you will be using. When will you adjust your Line Focus and Orientation to the screen, if at all, and at what important learning moments? Remember, if you want the focus of your audience to stay on you, you can remain in Full Front and gesture to the screen to reference your material. 

In theater arts we rehearse. We plan and practice our movements on the stage or set we will perform on. This is an important step for all presenters. If not a rehearsal, at the very least plan a practice opportunity to mark out where you will stand or sit and how you will orient toward the presentation screen, visual aid, or audience to facilitate meaning and meet your communicative goals. 

Preferably well in advance of any presentation, determine the technology, position of the presentation screen, visual aid or exhibits, and whether or not you’ll be mic’d. Practice with the type of microphone that you will be using. Make sure that the size of the screen is large enough to display the slides so that the content projects effectively.

Mark out patterns and timing for slide advancement as you rehearse, keeping in mind that as a slide advances it also becomes a focus-requesting event. You may want to pause for the audience to visually take in the next slide before you continue to speak, or if under the pressure of a time limit, you will want to immediately direct the visual focus relationship with instructions as to where to focus your audience’s visual attention. 

An important part of maintaining the focus relationship during a presentation is the use of both verbal and visual instruction. Whenever you are sharing your content on a slide, practice verbally directing your audience’s visual focus. You can simply say “Look at the upper right side of your screen”, or “Do you see that yellow dot on the bottom center of the screen?”. Once you begin to practice telling people where to focus their attention, you may also find that you are more engaged.

In your rehearsal process, when you forget a word, phrase, or even a section of text, practice substituting other words that are suitable. Developing a practice of improvising within a predetermined boundary will set you up for success when you must improvise in performance. The more you practice your content out loud the more comfortable you will become with substituting words when necessary. The more you practice with your slides the better you will become at advancing slides seamlessly and pairing the prepared content with your slides.

Learner Milestones

  • Demonstrate use of spatial navigation and strategic planning to help an audience better engage with a PowerPoint style presentation.

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Screens and Displays

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  1. Powerpoints
    13 Topics
  2. Posters
    2 Topics
  3. Whiteboards
    1 Topic
  4. Video Calls
    5 Topics

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