5 Tips to improve your presentation
There are numbers of ways improve your PowerPoint presentation, but often what
people miss to mention, and something that really makes a difference, are the very basics.
I would like to discuss these basic points to improve your presentation.
The First Step – Effective content
The first and foremost step for creating a killer presentation is effective content. It is often difficult to concentrate on content rather than the various features available in PowerPoint. It is important to create effective content because the prime objective of the presentation is not to showcase various features of any application but to convey clear message to the audience. And all the exercise and effort of creating a presentation is an attempt to explain your content. Hence, you should plan appropriately what you are going to say before you begin creating the real presentation.
The Second Step – Simple content
Second important point to keep in mind is not to put too much content on a single slide. As a rule you should not depict more than 3-5 bullets and 7 lines of text at the outside. It is also advisable to reduce the text if you plan to use charts, tables and other graphics. Always remember that as a presenter, one is supposed to add only most important items on the slides. You can always use the speaker’s notes section to write presentation notes and print out a script that has a both the notes and slides.
The Third Step – Font selection
Yet another extremely basic and equally important component of creating an effective presentation is font selection. Appropriate font selection affects the readability of the presentation directly. Font selection consists of size and color as well as style of the font. One should always select font size to keep fonts big enough to read conveniently. Considering the criterion that 72 points equals 1 inch and 36 point equals half an inch, font size for body text ought to be 24 points at the least, while the headings need to be at least 36 points. Color of the fonts should also be chosen wisely with regard to the background used in the presentation.
To cite an example: while using dark background, light blue, yellow or white fonts appear elegant. For the lighter backgrounds, blue, black, dark green work fine. For titles, mainly the flashy and bright colors such as red are advisable. Though hundreds of options for font type are available it is good to stick to simple fonts such as Arial, Tahoma, Calibri etc.
The Fourth Step – Background graphics
A fourth important point that is often considered neglected is background. Believe me, if appropriate background is used it can greatly enhance the quality and value of the presentation. However, always go with simple backgrounds that do not distract the audience. Also check you don’t use a background that is too busy. You should not compromise the readability of the presentation merely to use a sophisticated background.
The Fifth Step – Graphics and Animations
And here is the fifth, the last but not the least step, correct use of graphics and animations. You should limit yourself to using no more than 2 graphics per slide. And if you wish to use a photo, chart or a graphic, which is a key element of the presentation, it is good to allot an individual slide to it. Thus you free yourself to enlarge that key object for optimum visibility for the audience. The most important advice I would give is that all graphics and animations used must have a purpose.
The golden rule
Keep bold animations for the title slide and use simple animation effects throughout the presentation.
If you want to test these simple but effective skills one of our products, you could use this Checklist Presentation that greatly illustrates the points of this blog.
Rasmus Waldemar, Sales and Marketing Director
