With tools like PowerPoint, Keynote and various online presentation applications, creating cool animations and transitions for you presentations is easy, a fifth grader could do it… fifth graders DO do it. The question is no longer can it be done, the question is should it be done, are you smarter than a fifth grader? When is it appropriate to include animations and transitions and when do you forgo the cool technology for simple straightforward text? This is what separates the professional men (and women) from the boys just showing off their tech savvy.
How Will You Deliver the Presentation
How you are going to deliver the presentation makes a big difference in how intricate or even if you should use animations or transitions. Here is a quick set of rules:
Live Presentations - Use animations and transitions if you want. In this setting you should not have bandwidth or delivery issues, and the fun stuff will help keep your audience awake!
Webinars or Online Conferences - Do not use animations or transitions. There are too many variables with load times and virtual participant’s bandwidth to contend with, the last thing you want is your participant cursing you before you ever begin!
Posted Online Presentations - Tricky question - You can use animations and transitions, but it is best to then create your presentation in Flash, which can be a complicated tool to use. Many online presentation-building applications will create this conversion for you automatically. Check out Slide Rocket If you can’t run with the Big Dogs, stay home, a simple presentation that loads quickly and runs smoothly is better than a flashy one that breeds frustration.
Animations and transitions do not work well for online webinars.
Does the Animation or Transition Help You Make Your Point?
Here is a quick tip. In general people hate transitions in presentations. Why? Because they’re too often lipstick on a pig and they come across as a “slick salesman” tactic to “church up” a tired product. Presentation transitions have been so over used since the introduction of presentation development software like PowerPoint, which many people just get turned off by it. That is not to say you should never use animation or transitions, it just means you need to know your audience is much more critical of them. Make sure they help make your point stronger or make it easier to understand. If they are just there to look cool, then ditch them all together. The whole key to cool, is not trying too hard.
If the animation and transition does not help make the point stronger or easier to understand don’t use it.
When to Use and Not Use Animation or Transitions
1.Live Presentations - Use animations and transitions if you want. In this setting you should not have bandwidth or delivery issues.
2.Webinars or Online Conferences - Do not use animations or transitions. There are too many variables with load times and virtual participant’s bandwidth to contend with.
3.Posted Online Presentations - You can use animations and transitions, but it is best to then create your presentation in Flash.