PowerPoint Animations: Top 5 Irritating Ways To Use Them

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Are you irritating your audience with your PowerPoint Custom animations habits? Overcome these top five irritating habits while using animations in your critical business presentations.

Using PowerPoint animations the wrong way can irritate audiences:

The animations you use to ‘spice up’ your presentations may be driving your audience away. This article helps you take stock of some irritating habits in using custom animation, which you may have picked up along the way.

Bad PowerPoint Habit 1: Using Very Slow animation timing

Take a look at the animation in this slide:

This one really tops the list of the 5 irritating habits.

You may want the audience to REALLY enjoy your custom animation as it unfolds ever so slowly on your slide. But, the awkward silence between your click and the end of animation is unnerving. The worst part is - you can’t even talk while the animation happens on the slide, because your audience is busy watching the action instead of listening to your words.

Rule 1 : To avoid embarrassment make your animation move fast:

Use Fast or Very fast timing for your animations. Don’t rely on default timing for animations. Many of them are set to ‘Slow’.

Related: Top Bad Habits of Presenters in creating slides

Bad Habit 2: Using ‘Exciting’ animations without purpose

Take a look at this animated slide:

Realize that any movement on a slide attracts audience attention. If the movement has no specific purpose, the audience gets irritated. If you have been using ‘exciting’ custom animation options just to keep your audience entertained, it is time to stop it now. This is especially true when you make serious business presentations to influence audience decisions.

Rule 2 : Avoid disappointing your audience and use subtle animations:

Use only ‘Basic’ or ‘Subtle’ custom animations unless you have a very specific purpose to use ‘exciting’ option. Explain the reasoning for your ‘exciting’ animation to address your audience’s curiosity.

Related: 4 Creative Spin Animations

Bad Habit 3: Animating every word

This is one of the first habits you pick up as an amateur presenter. The habit really gets on to your audience’s nerves when you combine it with long sentences and multiple bullet points on a slide.

In fact, I remember attending a presentation where the letters appeared with typewriter sound and fonts changed color as they settled on the slide. I had a splitting headache after the presentation. This is what leads to death by PowerPoint.

Rule 3 : Save your audience’s lives and animate sentences:

Never animate by word. Never ever animate by letter if you want to face your audience outside the meeting room after your presentation. Use the power of PowerPoint animations wisely.

Bad Habit 4: Using inconsistent animations on the same slide

Take a look at the animations in the following slide:

When two or more elements are to be animated in a slide audience expects them to be animated the same way. Using different types of animation on the same slide confuses the audience.

Rule 4 : Avoid confusing your audience:

Keep your PowerPoint animations consistent across multiple elements on your slide. This allows you the opportunity to use a contrasting animation for a specific element, if you wish to draw audience attention to that specific point.

Bad Habit 5: Using animation against the flow

Take a look at the the direction of animation in this slide:

The direction of custom animation seems to go against the natural direction of the process flow. Though this seems subtle, it does have its impact on your audience’s understanding and retention of your message.

Rule 5 : Ensure smooth flow of your points:

Let the direction of your animation follow the natural direction of eye movement along the process. Use the reverse direction only for the last step to indicate end of flow.

Conclusion about PowerPoint Animations:

Custom animation is a wonderful tool to enhance the clarity of your message. Don’t waste the tool by using it to decorate your slides.

We recommend you take a look at these PowerPoint Diagrams to see how animation can add impact and clarity to your message. Spend a minute to see the preview of slide animations here.

Click on PLAY button to view

Source: PowerPoint Graphics & Concepts CEO Pack Vol. 2

These animations are from our CEO Pack Volume 2 that has 815+ high quality PowerPoint charts that are professionally animated to enrich your business presentations. This pack is a great resource for those who create strategy, consulting, business idea and other high-stakes presentations. Please browse the pack to know more.

Related: Using Multiple PowerPoint Animations Effectively

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