Presentations with either PowerPoint 10 Tips to Improve PowerPoint Presentations with Office 2016 10 Tips to Improve PowerPoint Presentations with Office 2016 Microsoft PowerPoint continues to set new standards. The new features of PowerPoint 2016 show its top spot as the best choice for smart and creative presentations. Read More
Meanwhile, a lousy presentation can do the opposite. Poorly designed slides with walls of text or oversized blurry graphics can distract or irritate your audience. Sometimes PowerPoint is just the wrong tool 7 Free PowerPoint Alternatives for All Your Presentation Needs 7 Free PowerPoint Alternatives for All Your Presentation Needs Microsoft PowerPoint is a fantastic tool, but you may need a free alternative. We've rounded up the best presentation tools, just keep in mind that none of them are as good as the original. Read More
Here's a short guide to help you create professional-looking presentations with concise content, while avoiding the most common mistakes.
The first thing that gives a professional touch to any presentation is the design. It's the first thing your audience will see and can leave a lasting impression, for better or worse.
Do not copy and paste slides from different sources. You don't want your presentation to look like a rag rug. What you are looking for is a consistent look. This will help your audience focus on the essentials; Your speech and the key facts you're highlighting on your slides.
To that end, Use a basic template or make your own . PowerPoint includes a selection of presentation templates 7 Places to Find Beautiful Quick Presentation Templates 7 Places to Find Beautiful Quick Presentation Templates Your search for last-minute presentation templates comes to an end with these online resources. These template websites cover PowerPoint and Google Slides. Read More
Choose an easy-to-read font. It's hard to do this right. Unless you're a designer, stick to a single font and just play around with safe font colors and sizes.
If you're unsure about fonts, check out the 10 Typography Commandments above for guidance.
Select font sizes carefully for headings and text. For one, you don't want to create a wall of text. 9 PowerPoint Mistakes to Avoid for Perfect Presentations. 9 PowerPoint Mistakes to Avoid for Perfect Presentations. It's easy to screw up your PowerPoint presentation. Let's take a look at the mistakes you're likely to make when presenting your slideshow and how to fix them. Read More On the other hand, you want your audience to be able to read the text that you think is key. So make your fonts big enough.
Leave room for highlights, such as images or take-home messages. Some elements should stand out. So try not to bury them in background noise, but give them the space they need. This could be a single quote or a single image per page with nothing more than a simple header and plan background.
Decorate sparingly but well.. If you have good content, you will not need decoration. Your template will be decoratively enough.
Consistently use the font font and sizes on all slides. This again uses a template. If you choose a professional template, the designer will have taken care of this aspect. Stick to it!
Combine colors. This is where so many presentations fail. You may have picked a funky template and stuck to the designer color profile, then screwed it all up with ugly Excel charts. 9 Tips for Formatting an Excel Chart in Microsoft Office. Don't let an ugly Excel chart scare off your audience. Here's everything you need to know to make your charts beautiful and engaging in Excel 2016. Read More.
Take the time to match your images to your presentation design.
A poor choice of colors can ruin a presentation.
Black text on a white background will always be the best, but also the most boring option. You are allowed to use colors! But use them responsibly.
Keep it easy on the eyes and always keep good contrast in mind. If you're having color issues, use one of the many online tools to select a good-looking color palette. How to Pick a Color Scheme Like a Pro How to Pick a Color Scheme Like a Pro Colors are hard. It may seem easy enough to choose a handful of colors that look good together, but as any designer who has spent hours adjusting hues will tell you:it's tricky. Read more . Or just use a template.
Use color carefully to highlight your message.! Colors are your friends. They can make numbers stand out or your Take Home Message to appear.
Don't weaken the color effect by using too many colors in too many cases. The special effect only works, however, if used sparingly. Try limiting pop colors to one per slide.
Make a brilliant choice:combine colors for design and good contrast to highlight your message. Use a professional color palette to find out which color will work best with your theme.
Use the 10 commandments of color theory above to learn more about colors.
K eep me t S traight and S imple That means…
Remember that your slides are only there to support, not replace your talk! You want to tell a story, describe your data or explain the circumstances, and just give clues through your slides. If you read your slides and do it wrong, the audience will be embarrassed for you. Worse yet, they will stop listening and dive into their smartphones.
Always summarize your key point in a Take the message home . Ask yourself, if your audience should learn or remember just one thing from your presentation, what would it be? That's your Take the message home .
the Take the message home It is your key message, a summary of your data or story.. If you're giving an hour-long presentation, you may have several Take Home Messages . It's okay. Just make sure that what you think is key is really important to your audience.
Do your Take the message home memorable. It is your responsibility that your audience takes home something valuable. Help them “Get It” by making your Take Home Message stand out, either visually or through how you frame it verbally.
Images are key elements of every presentation. Your audience has ears and eyes, they want to see what you are talking about and a good visual signal will help them understand your message much better.
Having more images on your slides than text. Visuals are your friends. They can illustrate your points and support your message.
But don't use images to decorate.! It's a misuse of visuals because it's just a distraction.
Images can reinforce or complement your message.. So use images to visualize or explain your story.
In animations, there is a fine line between a comic impression and a professional one. But animations can be powerful tools for visualizing and explaining complicated issues. A good animation can not only improve comprehension but also make the message stick with your audience.
Use animations and media sparingly. You should really only use them in one of two cases:
How to Embed Media in Your Presentation How to Embed YouTube Video and Other Media in Your PowerPoint Presentation How to Embed YouTube Video and Other Media in Your PowerPoint Presentation Typical presentations are boring affairs with corporate text and backgrounds that provide little interest. . Multimedia files can lighten the experience. We show you how to embed even videos. Read More
Your target, that is, your audience, defines the content of your presentation. For example, you can't teach school children the complicated issues of economics, but you can explain to them what economics is and why it's important in the first place.
When building your presentation, ask yourself these questions:
Answer these questions and strip down your slides to the essentials. In your talk, describe the essentials. Enhance your PowerPoint presentation with Excel. Data Visualizations Enhance Your PowerPoint Presentation With Excel Data Visualizations Nothing makes information more vivid than a great visualization. We show you how to prepare your data in Excel and import the charts into PowerPoint for an animated presentation. Read More
A well practiced and enthusiastic talk will help you convince your audience and keep their attention. Here are some key points that define a good talk:
I've shown you how to think through your entire presentation, from choosing a layout to talking to your audience. Here's a mind trick:Never try to read the looks on your listeners' faces. Just assume they're focused and taking notes.
You've done your best to give them a great presentation and your audience wants to learn from you. The looks on their faces are neither doubt nor confusion. It's focus! Well oh! Obviously, you are the expert and they are the learners. If you can get into this mindset, you can relax and perform at your best.
For more help, check out these presentation resources. 5 Sites with tips and tools for creating presentations. 5 Sites with tips and tools for creating presentations. These tools just might have you taking on the stage with your next presentation. Read more.
What are your tips for a killer presentation? Let's hear in the comments! And if this article helped you, share it with your friends!
