How to Make a Striking Powerpoint Presentation
Slideshows are an intuitive way to share complex ideas with an audience, although they're tiresome and frustrating when poorly executed. Here are some tips to make your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations sing while avoiding common pitfalls.
Starting time With a Goal
Information technology all starts with identifying what nosotros're trying to achieve with the presentation. Is information technology informative, a showcase of data in an easy-to-understand medium? Or is it more of a pitch, something meant to persuade and convince an audience and pb them to a particular outcome?
It's here where the bulk of these presentations become wrong with the inability to identify the talking points that best support our goal. Always beginning with a goal in listen: to entertain, to inform, or to share information in a fashion that'due south easy to understand. Utilize facts, figures, and images to support your conclusion while keeping structure in mind (Where are we now and where are we going?).
I've institute that it's helpful to start with the ending. Once I know how to end a presentation, I know how best to get to that point. I offset past identifying the takeaway—that one nugget that I want to implant before thanking everyone for their time—and I piece of work in reverse to effigy out how best to get there.
Your mileage, of grade, may vary. But it's ever going to exist a good idea to put in the fourth dimension in the beginning stages so that yous aren't reworking large portions of the presentation later. And that starts with a defined goal.
Less Is More than
A slideshow isn't supposed to include everything. It's an introduction to a topic, one that we tin can elaborate on with speech. Annihilation unnecessary is a distraction. Information technology makes the presentation less visually highly-seasoned and less interesting, and it makes you lot await bad as a presenter.
This goes for text as well as images. There'south nada worse, in fact, than a serial of slides where the presenter just reads them equally they announced. Your audience is capable of reading, and chances are they'll be done with the slide, and browsing Reddit, long before you cease. Avoid putting the literal text on the screen, and your audience will thank you lot.
Consider Your Typeface
Correct off the bat, we're only going to come out and say that Papyrus and Comic Sans should be banned from all PowerPoint presentations, permanently. Beyond that, it'south worth considering the typeface you're using and what it's saying well-nigh you, the presenter, and the presentation itself.
Consider choosing readability over aesthetics, and avert fancy fonts that could show to exist more of a distraction than anything else. A good presentation needs two fonts: a serif and sans-serif. Use one for the headlines and one for body text, lists, and the similar. Keep information technology simple. Veranda, Helvetica, Arial, and even Times New Roman are rubber choices. Stick with the classics and it'south hard to botch this ane too badly.
Make Bullet Points Count
There reaches a point where bullet points become less of a visual aid and more of a visual test.
Bullet points should support the speaker, not overwhelm his audience. The best slides have little or no text at all, in fact. As a presenter, information technology'due south our job to talk through complex bug, but that doesn't mean that we need to highlight every talking point.
Instead, remember about how y'all tin suspension upwards big lists into 3 or four bullet points. Advisedly consider whether yous need to use more bullet points, or if you tin combine multiple topics into a single point instead. And if you tin't, think that at that place's no one limiting the number of slides you lot can have in a presentation. It's always possible to break a listing of 12 points down into iii pages of four points each.
Limit the Utilise of Transitions
Animation, when used correctly, is a good idea. It breaks up tiresome-moving parts of a presentation and adds action to elements that require it. But information technology should be used judiciously.
Adding a transition that wipes left to right betwixt every slide or that animates each bullet point in a list, for example, starts to grow taxing on those forced to endure the presentation. Viewers get bored quickly, and animations that are meant to highlight specific elements speedily become taxing.
That's not to say that you tin can't use animations and transitions, just that y'all demand to pick your spots. Aim for no more than than a handful of these transitions for each presentation. And apply them in spots where they'll add to the sit-in, non detract from it.
Skip Text Where Possible
Sometimes images tell a ameliorate story than text tin can. And as a presenter, your goal is to describe points in detail without making users do a lot of reading. In these cases, a well-designed visual, like a chart, might improve convey the data you're trying to share.
The right image adds visual appeal and serves to break upward longer, text-heavy sections of the presentation—but merely if yous're using the right images. A single high-quality image tin can make all the deviation between a success and a dud when you're driving a specific point dwelling house.
When considering text, don't think solely in terms of bullet points and paragraphs. Tables, for example, are oftentimes unnecessary. Ask yourself whether you could present the same data in a bar or line chart instead.
Remember in Color
Color is interesting. Information technology evokes sure feelings and adds visual appeal to your presentation every bit a whole. Studies show that color also improves interest, comprehension, and retentiveness. It should be a conscientious consideration, not an afterthought.
You don't have to be a graphic designer to use color well in a presentation. What I practise is look for palettes I like, and so notice means to use them in the presentation. There are a number of tools for this, similar Adobe Colour, Coolors, and ColorHunt, just to proper noun a few. Afterward finding a palette you enjoy, consider how information technology works with the presentation yous're about to requite. Pastels, for case, evoke feelings of freedom and low-cal, so they probably aren't the best selection when you're presenting quarterly earnings that missed the mark.
It'south also worth mentioning that you don't demand to use every color in the palette. Often, you lot tin can get past with just 2 or 3, though you should actually call back through how they all work together and how readable they'll be when layered. A simple dominion of thumb here is that contrast is your friend. Dark colors work well on calorie-free backgrounds, and light colors work best on dark backgrounds.
Take a Look From the Top Down
Spend some time in the Slide Sorter before you lot finish your presentation. By clicking the 4 squares at the bottom left of the presentation, you can accept a expect at multiple slides at in one case and consider how each works together. Alternatively, you can click "View" on the ribbon and select "Slide Sorter."
Are you presenting too much text at one time? Move an image in. Could a series of slides benefit from a nautical chart or summary before y'all move on to some other point?
It's here that nosotros have the opportunity to view the presentation from across the single-slide viewpoint and think in terms of how each slide fits, or if it fits at all. From this view, you lot can rearrange slides, add additional ones, or delete them entirely if you lot find that they don't advance the presentation.
The difference betwixt a adept presentation and a bad one is really all about preparation and execution. Those that respect the process and program carefully—not just the presentation as a whole, only each slide inside information technology—are the ones who will succeed.
Bonus: Commencement With Templates
This brings me to my last (half) point: When in doubt, simply buy a template and use information technology. You tin can find these all over the web, though Creative Market and GraphicRiver are probably the two most pop marketplaces for this kind of affair. Non all of us are blessed with the skills needed to pattern and deliver an effective presentation. And while a pre-fabricated PowerPoint template isn't going to brand you a better presenter, it will ease the anxiety of creating a visually appealing slide deck.
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How to Make a Striking Powerpoint Presentation TUTORIAL
Posted by: jeannineboulied.blogspot.com
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