Almost each of us has ever made a PowerPoint presentation. As students, we presented our reports to classmates. Having started to work, we prepared presentations for our colleagues. Speaking at conferences and round tables, researchers and scientists usually arm themselves with presentations. Therefore, it is important for everyone to know how to create a PowerPoint presentation in a proper way.
Take a few minutes and read 8 secrets to making an unforgettable presentation.
1. Determine the purpose of your presentation.
What goal do you want to achieve with your presentation? Do you want to inform the audience or to convince them about some issue? The content, structure and design of the presentation will depend on your objective.
2. Follow a presentation structure.
Once you have decided on the goal, write an outline. The presentation, like any other text, should have an introduction, main part and conclusion. Express your thoughts in a logical and simple way.
3. Select the appropriate template.
PowerPoint offers several pre-designed templates. Choose the one that is suitable for your presentation. If you're not satisfied with any of them and you want to have a custom template, there are many companies on the Internet ready to help you. I order templates from specialized providers like poweredtemplate.
4. Use bullet points.
You do not need to write long sentences. Use key words and bulleted lists. There has to be no more than 6 bullet points on one slide. Each bullet should have up to 6 words.
5. Replace text with visuals.
It will be much more interesting for your viewers to look at the pictures than to read the text. If possible, insert the representative diagrams, tables, and photographs. The visual elements are easier to comprehend and memorize.
6. Say no to animation.
Movement of slide elements will distract your viewers. They will not listen to you because it will be much more exciting for them to keep track of what is happening on the screen. So forget about such thing as animation.
7. Choose the fonts that are large enough.
For headlines, use 36 to 44-point fonts size to make them really visible. For the rest of the text, the font size should be at least 20.
8. Pick high contrasted colors.
Your presentation should be visible even from the back rows. Therefore, select colors with high contrast. A good option is to place a light-colored (white or yellow) text on a dark-colored (dark purple or navy blue) background.