No wonder they’re called “bullet points.” Load too many into your presentation and you’ll destroy any enthusiasm your audience might have for the subject.

PowerPoint isn’t the enemy.

It’s how people misuse the program that has led meeting attendees to despise it and some executives to ban slide decks in their meetings.

Common slide-deck sins include:

• Creating your slide deck before writing your presentation.

• Transferring your speech outline to slides.

• Relying on standard templates, which make your slides look like others’.

• Using your slides as notes you read to the audience.

• Writing text in a font that is too small for the audience to read.

• Choosing colors that make the text difficult to read.

• Packing too much information into a chart or graph.

• Formatting slides to serve as your handouts.

• Adding animation that distracts the audience.

Creating great slides is just one of the things you must do to make your presentation memorable instead of mediocre. Discover how to make your speeches outstanding at the two-day Dynamic Presentations Training Camp next month in Las Vegas.

You’ll learn how to take your slides “from mess to success,” how to manage your anxiety and create a commanding physical presence, and how to handle the most difficult audiences masterfully.

What is your pet peeve about bad slides in presentations?