The first rule of using Powerpoint is don't use Powerpoint. But if you must use Powerpoint, at least don't make your slides distracting, or you risk losing your audience.

In the last few years, I have seen several presentations that were examples of how not to use Powerpoint. The most common mistake: using too much text on a slide. In these cases, I found myself reading ahead, no longer paying attention to the presenter.

Another typical mistake: using distracting images. The presenter sometimes included them to help make a point, and that's okay if the image is immediately related to the topic. But unless the image is directly and simply related to the contents of the slide (for example, a chart) then it's a wasted image.

For example, I once watched a presentation at a conference where the speaker included little computer-rendered cartoons in each slide in the presentation. One slide in particular discussed "common vocabulary" plus "common approach", and had a little picture of a computer-rendered person coming out of a laptop screen to shake hands with another compute-rendered person.

When I saw this slide, I paid more attention to the little picture than to the presenter. "Is that a Mac laptop, or a PC laptop?" "Did they render one person, or glue two images together?" "Did they do complete raytracing, or are any reflections missing?" "Why isn't there a reflection of the person in the laptop screen, yet you can see the keyboard?"

Suddenly, I realized that several minutes had passed, and I hadn't heard what the presenter had said. The presenter's message was lost because the image was distracting, and not at all tied to the topic of the slide.

As leaders, we often need to prepare presentations for others. Remember the general rules to give a truly outstanding presentation:

1. Avoid distractions.
2. Use slides that are visual, not wordy.
3. Share your enthusiasm.
4. Leave room to talk around the bullet points.