You've probably heard the term, death by PowerPoint^®. This phrase refers to those never ending PowerPoint^® presentations where the presenter stands in front of the audience and reads every word on their slides. Whether you are the presenter or in the audience, these presentations are nothing short of painful. The presenter struggles to get through the information while the audience struggles to stay focused.

As the presenter, you want your audience to be interested, engaged and walk away knowing exactly why the information you presented was good for them.

The following techniques will eliminate the need to read your slides. These techniques will help you remember what to say and get you back on track when you lose your train of thought.

1. 4x6 Rule: The number one way to stop reading your slides is to use only bullet points. If you write out full sentences on your slides, you will surely stand there and read them. Your goal is to use the bullet points as a reminder of what you're going to say next. A good rule of thumb is the 4x6 rule. This means you should aim for either four bullet points per slide with no more than six words per line, or six bullet points per slide with no more than four words per line.

2. Variety: In order to keep your audience engaged, you'll want to use various kinds of slides throughout your presentation. While bullet points are good to keep you on track and to help your audience follow along, the slides do get boring after a while. Consider mixing up your presentation with pictures, graphs, charts or comparisons. These graphics will help you remember what to say while keeping your audience interested.

3. Font Guidelines: I recommend that you use a minimum font size of 28. This will ensure that your audience will always be able to see your slides. If you have to say, "I know you can't see this information" then you know your fonts are too small. Use a clean, easy to read font such as Arial. 

4. Sneak Peek: This is a delivery technique to help you regain your train of thought.  Assuming you've developed your visuals as outlined above, the Sneak Peek is an excellent "cheat" to keep you on track. The Sneak Peek is best used if you choose to move from one side of the room to the other. As you are walking to the other side of the room, look back to the screen and silently read one or two bullet points. When your thoughts are in order, stop walking, square up to one person and resume speaking.