In order to make a good presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint, you don’t have to be a genius, but you do need to know a few things. A presentation does not have to be very fancy in order to be effective, but it needs to be easy to follow and interesting to watch.
No matter whether you are in school or presenting to potential clients as part of a company pitch, creating an informative and enjoyable presentation is vital to its success.
Here are several easy tips to consider that will help you improve the quality of your presentations.
Don’t clutter your slides
You are not limited to a certain number of slides, so don’t be stingy. Use each slide to communicate one idea; do not throw all of your ideas onto one slide. You will have a better chance of keeping your audience’s attention if change slides frequently and tie them all together with explanations than holding one slide on the screen for an hour and talking everyone through it.
Pick a transition and stick with it
Transitions between slides are great, but find one that you like and stick with it for the entire presentation. Picking a different effect to transition between each slide will not make your presentation more interesting, it will make it exhausting to watch.
Less words is more
If you are giving a presentation, then it should be assumed that you will be speaking as well. If you want people to listen to what you are saying, keep the slides simple. Include only the most vital text and highlight the key points of what you are going to talk about on your slides. Your slides should be complementing what you are saying, not the other way around.
Consider the colors you use
You want your slides to be readable and easy to understand, so make sure that you are using high contrast colors that make the text very clear and do not distract anyone. Simplicity is usually a lot more effective than overdoing it. Also make sure to use fonts that are legible and easy on the eyes.
Create separate screen and print versions
It is always a good idea to offer print-outs of your presentation for people who follow along with. This is especially a good idea if you are speaking to a large group of people. But remember to prepare the print version separately and print it out beforehand to see how it looks, because simply clicking “Print” from your screen version will usually not come out that well.
These are a few simple tips to follow in order to make your PowerPoint presentations more effective and hopefully more successful. Let us know if you have any other good tips.
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