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MLDP Recap: Presentation for the User Experience with Dave Uejio

Read a student's account of our most recent session in our Management Leadership and Development program below. For more information, about MLDP, click here. 

David Uejio presents "Presentation Design for the User Experience"


We subconsciously design presentations for ourselves— Microsoft PowerPoint tends to be used just to serve as an outline for us, the speakers. However, according to Dave Uejio, Lead for Talent Acquisition at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and President of Young Government Leaders, Microsoft PowerPoint is a tool that should be used to enhance a presentation’s message. In Dave Uejio’s MLDP session, Design for the User Experience, he mentioned two specific points that we should always be conscious of when we design presentations: 1.) Design for them and 2.) Design for you.

“Design for them” may sound obvious to us. But Dave Uejio emphasized how we tend to forget that presentations must be clear, concise, and precise for the audience. Regardless of whether the audience is within a non-profit, private, public sector, people are most receptive to presentations that include these three main components. In order to reach all three, we must design presentations that have compelling images, considerable whitespace, professional font, unique color pallet, etc. Examples of compelling images may include Lego Star Wars images that not only engage the audience but also reflect our personality.

“Design for you” may sound odd to us. But it is crucial that we are able to “market” our presentation’s message, so we must use Microsoft PowerPoint to our advantage and reflect our personality. If we do this then we will be able to tell a story, and as the storyteller—we are able to be both the author and the illustrator, which means we can choose the content (personal anecdotes) and the images. This power of choice should allow us to always convey ourselves as confident supporters of the presentation’s message. 

-- Written by Yaritza A. Gonzalez ’15