You've been asked to present the results of your latest project to a group of industry leaders. You have 45 minutes to present the issue, your solution, and answer questions. You know this topic inside and out, but how do you translate that knowledge into slides that will keep your audience engaged.
What makes and engaging presentation? It's one part what you're saying and one part what's on your slides. Practicing what you'll say will help you keep your audience's attention while the slides are there to support what you're saying.
These 5 tips will help you create presentation slides that support your message and not distract from what you're saying.
Establish a consistent theme
If you're constantly changing fonts and colors, your audience is having to use more brainpower to keep up which distracts (even subconsciously) from what you're saying. Make sure you're using the same font and color theme throughout your presentation.
Plus, a dark background with light text works better for larger rooms, while lighter backgrounds with darker text work better for smaller rooms or when your audience is remote.
Follow the rule of thirds
The rule of thirds is a best practice that graphic designers and artists have been using for centuries to better gauge proportions and create an eye pleasing layout.
Use the morph feature to modernize any transition
We've all seen presentations with transitions that seem silly or over-the-top. The morph feature within powerpoint takes a couple more steps to set up, but it will add a wow factor to your presentation.
Focus each slide on one point with 3-5 supporting bullet points
The #1 way to distract an audience is to give them too many things to read on your slide. They are more focused on reading than on the value that you are bringing.
So, keep your slides focused on one main point and include 3-5 short bullet points that support that main point. You can always include supplemental information later.
Add a QR code to your final slide to make your call to action easier to access.
On your final slide you'll want to thank your audience and leave them with your contact information and supporting data. Instead of listing that information in text, you can add that information to a landing page on your website, and then create a QR code to that landing page. Your audience can quickly scan the QR code with their phone's camera and access all of that information in one place.
If you really want to set your presentation slides apart, then get them professionally developed. We can take your existing presentation, or your outline and supporting documents, and we'll create a presentation that you can be proud of.