PowerPoint Presentation Tips You Need to Know

Introduction

Whether you’re a university professor, businessperson, or salesperson, you’re surely no stranger to giving PowerPoint presentations. In fact, you may give so many presentations that you no longer put much thought into building your slide decks.

Just because you’re an experienced presenter doesn’t mean you’re an effective one. Giving a good presentation that captivates your audience and gets your point across is a skill that goes beyond just the presentation’s content.

Although it may not seem important, something as simple as a cluttered slide can turn an excellent presentation into a bad one. To avoid having the design of your slide deck impact your presentation, here are four things to keep in mind when assembling your next big presentation.

Top 4 PowerPoint Presentation Tips

Try out these four tips to take your PowerPoint presentation game to the next level…

1. Design Matters

It’s easy to overlook the design of your presentation with the assumption that the content is all that matters. However, if your presentation is filled with mismatched fonts, weird colours, or isn’t eye-catching at all, your audience may struggle to stay focused on the points you’re trying to get across.

Most presenters don’t moonlight as graphic designers, and that’s ok! Instead of spending your precious time trying to create the perfect slide deck, consider working with a presentation design company. PowerPoint designers understand how to use creative elements to tell a story effectively and will be able to optimize your presentation so all you have to worry about is the talking.

2. Less is More

When it comes to how much content you put on each slide and how many slides to have in your entire deck, less is more. Your slides shouldn’t write out what you’re saying word-for-word. Instead, they should include bullet points to help guide your audience and keep them on track.

While it may be better to have more slides with each slide having less information, you also don’t want to overkill the number of slides that you have. This is because you can only hold your audience’s attention for so long and having an overwhelming number of slides will make your audience feel like your presentation is never going to end.

3. Connect with Your Audience

You’re not a robot, so don’t speak like one! Even if you’ve given the same presentation a hundred times, you need to remember that this is the first time your audience is getting this information. Talk slowly, throw in some anecdotes, and speak like you would in a one-on-one conversation.

Although this may seem daunting, a great way to avoid speaking robotically is to avoid writing out a full script. Instead, write out your main talking points and fill in the details while presenting. This will allow you to speak much more organically and have a better connection with your audience.

4. Use Media to Support You, Not Carry You

Adding visuals to your presentation can help keep your audience engaged and give context to the information you’re presenting. However, when overused, they can become a distraction. To avoid this, focus on using media to support your points, i.e., only using media when it adds important information or context.

For example, using charts and graphs when talking about statistics can be beneficial for your audience to visualize the numbers you’re talking about. However, adding a picture of a calculator to fill space because your topic relates to math is not worth adding.

The Takeaway

Although it may not seem important, something as simple as a cluttered slide can turn an excellent PowerPoint presentation into an ugly one. To avoid having the design of your slide deck impact your presentation, keep these four things in mind when assembling your next big presentation.