• Buying Guides

Complete Guides by How-To Geek

Our latest product roundups, reader favorites, more from how-to geek, latest geek news, latest reviews, across lifesavvy media.

Join 425,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, geek trivia, and our feature articles.

By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .

8 Tips to Make the Best PowerPoint Presentations

Bryan has worked in journalism and publishing for more than 15 years. For the last 10 years, he's covered the technology beat, including gadgets, social media, security, and web culture. Before working as a freelancer, Bryan was the Managing Editor for The Next Web. These days he spends his time at a number of publications, both online and off, including The New York Times, Popular Science, and The Next Web, among others. Read more...

The Microsoft PowerPoint ribbon on a computer monitor.

Slideshows are an intuitive way to share complex ideas with an audience, although they’re dull and frustrating when poorly executed. Here are some tips to make your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations sing while avoiding common pitfalls.

Table of Contents

Start with a goal, less is more, consider your typeface, make bullet points count, limit the use of transitions, skip text where possible, think in color, take a look from the top down, bonus: start with templates.

It all starts with identifying what we’re trying to achieve with the presentation. Is it informative, a showcase of data in an easy-to-understand medium? Or is it more of a pitch, something meant to persuade and convince an audience and lead them to a particular outcome?

It’s here where the majority of these presentations go wrong with the inability to identify the talking points that best support our goal. Always start with a goal in mind: to entertain, to inform, or to share data in a way that’s easy to understand. Use facts, figures, and images to support your conclusion while keeping structure in mind (Where are we now and where are we going?).

I’ve found that it’s helpful to start with the ending. Once I know how to end a presentation, I know how best to get to that point. I start by identifying the takeaway—that one nugget that I want to implant before thanking everyone for their time—and I work in reverse to figure out how best to get there.

Your mileage, of course, may vary. But it’s always going to be a good idea to put in the time in the beginning stages so that you aren’t reworking large portions of the presentation later. And that starts with a defined goal.

A slideshow isn’t supposed to include everything. It’s an introduction to a topic, one that we can elaborate on with speech. Anything unnecessary is a distraction. It makes the presentation less visually appealing and less interesting, and it makes you look bad as a presenter.

This goes for text as well as images. There’s nothing worse, in fact, than a series of slides where the presenter just reads them as they appear. Your audience is capable of reading, and chances are they’ll be done with the slide, and browsing Reddit, long before you finish. Avoid putting the literal text on the screen, and your audience will thank you.

Right off the bat, we’re just going to come out and say that Papyrus and Comic Sans should be banned from all PowerPoint presentations, permanently. Beyond that, it’s worth considering the typeface you’re using and what it’s saying about you, the presenter, and the presentation itself.

Consider choosing readability over aesthetics, and avoid fancy fonts that could prove to be more of a distraction than anything else. A good presentation needs two fonts: a serif and sans-serif. Use one for the headlines and one for body text, lists, and the like. Keep it simple. Veranda, Helvetica, Arial, and even Times New Roman are safe choices. Stick with the classics and it’s hard to botch this one too badly.

There reaches a point where bullet points become less of a visual aid and more of a visual examination.

Bullet points should support the speaker, not overwhelm his audience. The best slides have little or no text at all, in fact. As a presenter, it’s our job to talk through complex issues, but that doesn’t mean that we need to highlight every talking point.

Instead, think about how you can break up large lists into three or four bullet points. Carefully consider whether you need to use more bullet points, or if you can combine multiple topics into a single point instead. And if you can’t, remember that there’s no one limiting the number of slides you can have in a presentation. It’s always possible to break a list of 12 points down into three pages of four points each.

Animation, when used correctly, is a good idea. It breaks up slow-moving parts of a presentation and adds action to elements that require it. But it should be used judiciously.

Adding a transition that wipes left to right between every slide or that animates each bullet point in a list, for example, starts to grow taxing on those forced to endure the presentation. Viewers get bored quickly, and animations that are meant to highlight specific elements quickly become taxing.

That’s not to say that you can’t use animations and transitions, just that you need to pick your spots. Aim for no more than a handful of these transitions for each presentation. And use them in spots where they’ll add to the demonstration, not detract from it.

Sometimes images tell a better story than text can. And as a presenter, your goal is to describe points in detail without making users do a lot of reading. In these cases, a well-designed visual, like a chart, might better convey the information you’re trying to share.

The right image adds visual appeal and serves to break up longer, text-heavy sections of the presentation—but only if you’re using the right images. A single high-quality image can make all the difference between a success and a dud when you’re driving a specific point home.

When considering text, don’t think solely in terms of bullet points and paragraphs. Tables, for example, are often unnecessary. Ask yourself whether you could present the same data in a bar or line chart instead.

Color is interesting. It evokes certain feelings and adds visual appeal to your presentation as a whole. Studies show that color also improves interest, comprehension, and retention. It should be a careful consideration, not an afterthought.

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to use color well in a presentation. What I do is look for palettes I like, and then find ways to use them in the presentation. There are a number of tools for this, like Adobe Color , Coolors , and ColorHunt , just to name a few. After finding a palette you enjoy, consider how it works with the presentation you’re about to give. Pastels, for example, evoke feelings of freedom and light, so they probably aren’t the best choice when you’re presenting quarterly earnings that missed the mark.

It’s also worth mentioning that you don’t need to use every color in the palette. Often, you can get by with just two or three, though you should really think through how they all work together and how readable they’ll be when layered. A simple rule of thumb here is that contrast is your friend. Dark colors work well on light backgrounds, and light colors work best on dark backgrounds.

Spend some time in the Slide Sorter before you finish your presentation. By clicking the four squares at the bottom left of the presentation, you can take a look at multiple slides at once and consider how each works together. Alternatively, you can click “View” on the ribbon and select “Slide Sorter.”

Are you presenting too much text at once? Move an image in. Could a series of slides benefit from a chart or summary before you move on to another point?

It’s here that we have the opportunity to view the presentation from beyond the single-slide viewpoint and think in terms of how each slide fits, or if it fits at all. From this view, you can rearrange slides, add additional ones, or delete them entirely if you find that they don’t advance the presentation.

The difference between a good presentation and a bad one is really all about preparation and execution. Those that respect the process and plan carefully—not only the presentation as a whole, but each slide within it—are the ones who will succeed.

This brings me to my last (half) point: When in doubt, just buy a template and use it. You can find these all over the web, though Creative Market and GraphicRiver are probably the two most popular marketplaces for this kind of thing. Not all of us are blessed with the skills needed to design and deliver an effective presentation. And while a pre-made PowerPoint template isn’t going to make you a better presenter, it will ease the anxiety of creating a visually appealing slide deck.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Unsupported browser

This site was designed for modern browsers and tested with Internet Explorer version 10 and later.

It may not look or work correctly on your browser.

60 Effective PowerPoint Presentation Tips & Tricks (To Improve Your Skills)

Brad Smith

The best PowerPoint presentations shouldn’t be remembered. Instead, they should fall into the background to support you and the message you’re trying to get across. The PowerPoint presentation tips we share below will help you make a good presentation.

Young Entrepreneurs Presenting Startup Project

Unlike good PowerPoint presentations , bad PowerPoint presentation are a distraction. You may remember them, but not in a good way.

You've seen them before. They might have millions of lines of text. Or a disjointed flow to the slides. Even worse, some slides feature ugly photos and poor design that detracts from the message you’re trying to get across. That can even hurt your credibility as a professional or speaker.

This article will take you from finding your initial topic to learning how to make an effective PowerPoint presentation. Our guide covers everything in between so that you never wonder how to give a good presentation PPT, at any step. You'll learn how to present a PowerPoint like a pro.

These Microsoft PowerPoint presentation tips and guidelines are organized into sections. So, cut straight to the advice you need and come back when you’re ready for the next steps. You're about to see the best PowerPoint tips and tricks. (And be sure to check out our new advanced tips.)

Guide to Making Great Presentations (Free eBook Download)

Guide to Making Great Presentations Free eBook Download

Also, download our Free eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It's the deepest resource for learning effective presentation skills for a PPT. It covers the complete presentation process. It takes the PowerPoint tips and tricks you learn in this article further. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully. It's another great source for presentation design tips.

What Makes a PowerPoint Presentation Effective?

Knowing how to use PowerPoint and work within it quickly is helpful. But more important is making a good presentation that hits all your presentation goals. A great PowerPoint presentation is:

Consider this your all-inclusive guide of how to make a good presentation PPT. We’ll look at preparing your presentation, how to design it in PowerPoint. Plus, we'll explore how to practice and nail your delivery successfully come presentation time. 

We’ll also address what not to do in these tips for PowerPoint presentations—so you can sidestep any big mistakes. Effective presentation skills PPT tips are all you need to become a great presenter.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Where Can You Find the Best PowerPoint PPT Templates for 2022?

Want to make a good PowerPoint presentation? This article has so many PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks that you're sure to succeed. Before we dive into our massive list of presentation tips, we want to share our favorite resource. They show you how to do a good PowerPoint presentation with less work.

On Envato Elements, you'll find thousands of designs that show you how to present a PowerPoint . That's because they're built with the best designs that already have the work done for you. They're sure to show you how to use PowerPoint effectively.

Templates Elements presentation tips

If you're a rookie presenter learning effective presentation skills for PPT, a template is the best resource. They give you ideas for how to present your content with pre-built designs. Build a good PowerPoint presentation with less work than ever before.

Best of all, Envato Elements gives you more resources for good PowerPoint presentations with stock photos, graphics, and more. These help you use our top PowerPoint tricks at no extra cost. Effective presentation skills PPT designs help you race up the learning curve. Learn how to create with Envato Elements .

Note: We've also got a few of our high-quality  PowerPoint Presentation Templates   from GraphicRiver and Envato Elements featured in this post as well, such as the popular  Volt Template  (shown below):

Volt Template

If you're struggling with making a well-designed presentation, then a  ga-analytics#sendMarketClickEvent">great PPT theme  can help you achieve the creative and  professional results you're looking for . 

Now let's dig into these tips for effective PowerPoint presentations.

Killer Presentation Preparation Tips - To Get Started Right

Before even opening PowerPoint, start by addressing these things. These Microsoft PowerPoint tips and tricks will ensure that you're fully prepared for your presentation:

1. Know Your Stuff

Your presentation isn’t about your slides alone. It’s about the message you want to get across. Before filling in stats, facts and figures, think about the narrative that'll be discussed, why and in what order. It's a must as you learn how to give a good presentation PPT.

2. Write It Out

Start on a Word or Google doc. Storyboard or script the entire presentation to give you an idea of how the information presented will flow, and how viewers will see it in sequence. Learn the complete writing process: 

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

3. Highlight What’s Most Important

A presentation covers the most crucial pieces only. Whatever you’ve been working on that lead to this—a paper, a work project, a new product design—doesn’t need to be shared in its entirety. Pick key points and put the rest in an “Appendix” to refer to during the Q&A session at the end.

4. Know Your Audience

How you talk to a room full of medical professionals should be different from the way you address a room full of young entrepreneurs. Everything, in fact, is different. Your topic selection, the language you use, the examples you give to illustrate points. The little bits of humor included should be tailored specifically with your target audience in mind. 

Knowing your audience well—their fears, wants, and desires—is the first step towards making a PowerPoint presentation that persuades them: 

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

5. Rehearse! (Yes, Already)

It’s never too early to get used to the rhythm of your presentation and take note of points you want to emphasize. While saying it out loud, you’ll start to develop a “feel” for the material. You'll notice that some things work well, while others don’t and might need to be worked around.

6. Rewrite After You Rehearse

As you're rehearsing your presentation, you're bound to stumble over sections that don't quite flow naturally. Instead of reworking your delivery, it might be time to consider the content and rewriting the areas that served as stumbling blocks.

"Editing is hard. 'It's good enough,' is a phrase wannabes use. Leaders take editing seriously." - Anthony Trendl

The most important part of creating a great presentation is the writing stage. The second most important stage is  rewriting.

7. Share With a Friend

If the stakes are high for your presentation, it's never too early to get feedback from those that you trust.

Here's an article that helps you collaborate as a team on a PowerPoint presentation. Get PowerPoint design tips from those that you trust when you collaborate.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Simple Tips to Design Your PowerPoint Presentation Better

Second only to you (the information you bring and how you present it) is your PowerPoint slides. If not designed well, a PowerPoint can be disengaging or distracting (regardless of the content quality). Here are some presentation design tips to make sure this doesn’t happen to you:

8.  Keep Your Slides Simple

This is one of the most important PowerPoint presentation tips to follow when designing your slides. Keep in mind that less is more (effective.) A cluttered slide is distracting. It causes confusion for an audience: Which part of the slide should I focus on? Should I read the slide or pay attention to the presenter? 

But, a simple, visually appealing slide will engage your audience, keeping them on track with your main points. Here's an example of a simple slide that serves its purpose perfectly:

Nook Minimal Slide

9. Limit Words on Your Slides

Piggybacking on the last point—less is more effective. If possible, avoid bullets altogether. Otherwise cut them to just a few simple words. The audience should be listening, not reading.

10. Use High-Quality Photos and Graphics

One of the more important tips for quality PowerPoint presentations is to use high-quality photos and graphics.

Earlier in this tutorial, you saw Envato Elements, an all-you-can-download service with PPT tips inside of templates. Those pre-built designs are a beginner's best friend. They're even better when paired with Elements' unlimited library of stock photos .

Elements photo section PPT tips

People are more likely to take you seriously if your presentation is visually appealing. Users view attractive design as more usable. Similarly, they'll view a more attractive PowerPoint as more effective. 

11. Use Accurate and Relevant Charts and Graphs

Charts and graphs can also be distracting if they’re not used right. Make sure your information design is simple and clean so that the audience doesn’t spend the entire time trying to decipher what your X axis says. Learn more about PPT data presentation in the following article:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

12. Use High-Quality, Fresh Templates

Have you seen the old PowerPoint template that looks like worn paper and uses ink splashes? Yeah, so has your audience. Templates can be distracting if they're too basic or if the design feels dated. You need one with great design options. 

Costs are always a concern. But when you use Envato Elements, you've got everything you need to create a great PowerPoint presentation . That's thanks to the incredible all-you-can-download subscription package.

Envato Elements PowerPoint template library

On Envato Elements, there are thousands of PowerPoint design templates that are ready to use. Instead of designing a presentation from scratch, start with a template! Just add your specifics to the placeholders.

Galaxi PowerPoint template

The best PowerPoint design tips save you time. And there's no tip more powerful than this one: use a pre-built template . It helps you master how to present a PowerPoint without spending all your time in the app.

Learn how to make a good PowerPoint presentation with the help of the best templates below. You'll see PowerPoint tips packaged inside of templates by talented designers.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Another option is GraphicRiver, a pay-as-you-go option for   ga-analytics#sendMarketClickEvent"> PowerPoint Presentation Templates  to help you out if you’re not a designer yourself. If you’re looking for a multipurpose PPT theme, then you can’t go wrong with either ga-analytics#sendMarketClickEvent"> Motagua or ga-analytics#sendMarketClickEvent"> Ever . There are also specific ones for ga-analytics#sendMarketClickEvent"> Business Plans or ga-analytics#sendMarketClickEvent"> Finance Reports .

13. Choose Appropriate Fonts

Fonts are an important part of engaging your audience. Fonts and typography choices have a subconscious effect on viewers. They cause them to characterize your company's presentation and brand either positively or negatively. Make sure that you're choosing fonts that are professional and modern!

14. Choose Color Well

Like font choice, colors cause specific subconscious reactions from viewers. Choosing an outdated color combination for your presentation will render it ineffective. 

Below is an example of the Popsicle PowerPoint template , which has a modern presentation color choice:

Popsicle Powerpoint Slide

15. Clean + Simple Formatting Makes All the Difference!

We've got a full tutorial on formatting your PPT slides properly . Give it a read through and review the accompanying video. Just remember less is more. The focus is you and  your message , not your slides.

16. Make Sure All Objects Are Aligned

A simple way to create a well-designed presentation is to make sure all items on a slide are intentionally aligned. To do this hold down Shift + select all the objects you want to include. Then choose Arrange in the options bar and apply  Alignment Type .

17. Limit Punctuation

This isn't the place for exclamation points. Emphasize your points (while speaking). Don’t enlist punctuation to do this for you. (Leave these at home!!!)

18. Avoid Over-Formatting Your Points

This PowerPoint presentation tip is simple. There’s no need to have every word of every bullet point capitalized, or to have all your bullet points in title case. If possible, drop bullets altogether. Again, the simpler the better!

Overformatting presentation tips

19. Combine Information With Graphics in PowerPoint

One of the most powerful presentation skills for PPT is using infographics. With the right type of visuals, slides come to life and reduce the text in favor of graphics.

Infographics  help combine information with graphics. It's easier to explain complex ideas when you use visual formats that are intuitive. Learn how with the help of 30 templates in the article below:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Practice Presentation Tips: Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse!

Delivery is probably more important than the actual content. Here's how to become more aware of your own unique ticks, and how to present like a polished pro:

20. I’ll Say It Again - Rehearse

Just do it. Again and again. Experiment with pauses, gestures, and body language. Practice around one hour for every minute of your speech.

21. Practice With a Timer

Consistency is key to an effective PowerPoint presentation. Timing should be similar (ideally the same) each time you rehearse. This one will especially pay off when it’s time to present in front of your audience!

Envato Elements photo timer

22. Slow It Down

Many of the best speakers today intentionally speak slowly. You’ll have the chance to emphasize, appear more thoughtful, and make your information easier to digest.

23. Pause More Often

Like the prior tip. Pausing more often, allows main points to be emphasized and for information to sink in. You need to let key points breathe a little before rushing into the next section.

24. Record Yourself

Use your phone’s voice recorder. Assess and critique yourself. Consider: 

Recording Self PowerPoint tips

It’s always weird to hear your own voice recorded; don’t stress it. Use this as a time to adjust.

25. Choose Three Focal Points in the Room

If you stare at the same spot (or even creepier, the same person) the entire time, your presentation will be ineffective (and awkward.) People will be distracted by you, wondering what you're staring at. 

Try this: pick three points in the room (typically: left, center, right). Take time to direct your delivery toward each physical focal point in the room. Also, focus on the center when making your primary points.

26. Vary Your Sentence Length

This makes you sound more interesting and it's easier for your audience to follow. Think short and punchy. Or go long and complex for dramatic effect.

27. Modulate!

Don't speak in monotone for your whole presentation. Be conscious to raise and lower your voice tone. Otherwise, people will tune you out, and you'll come across like the teacher in Charlie Brown.

28. Practice in Front of a Mirror

What you look like is as important as how you sound. Pretend as though you're having a normal conversation and allow your hands to move with your speech—emphasizing your points. Just don’t get carried away! (I’m thinking Brene Brown or President Obama , not your Aunt Jamie after a few gin and tonics.)

29. Use “Present Mode” When Rehearsing

When you finally are ready to hit the Present button in PowerPoint, make sure you use the Present Mode option. This allows for you (and only you) to view extra notes about each slide—just in case you forget something!

30. Practice With New Audiences!

If possible, try doing a few real live test runs as a webinar or even at a local Toastmasters organization to get some feedback from a live audience.

Summit 2 PowerPoint presentation template

31. Engage the Audience by Asking Questions

There's no reason that a presentation should be one-sided. Why not invert the format and ask your audience a question?

To learn how to create a slide that kicks off a Q&A, use our article below. These PowerPoint design tips help you create an engaging and exciting discussion.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Helpful Tips to Step Up and Deliver Come Presentation Time

When the actual day arrives, there are only a few last PowerPoint presentation tips and guidelines to keep in mind:

32. Take a Deep Breath

Deep breathing is  proven to relieve stress. (Source: the NHS Website) It’s simple and it'll help you remain calm, and in the moment, as well. Even up to the last minute before starting.

33. Lighten Up Your Mood

Tell yourself a joke or watch a funny video clip. Do this before the presentation, of course. Recent research concludes that happy people were more productive. (Source: Fast Company) More productive is more focused and able to perform better.

Tip for humor in presentation

34. Remind Yourself to Take It Slow

When we're stressed or nervous (or both), we tend to speak faster. Consciously, take yet another deep breath and remind yourself to take it slow!

35. Read the Room

Every presentation room has a temperature. It's your job as a speaker to gauge it and tailor your presentation to it.

Here's a great example. Layoffs are coming at a company, and you're asked to speak to an audience. Even if the audience isn't personally impacted by the actions, you've got to consider the morale of the workforce.

Presentation room energy

The  last  thing that group will want to hear is how strong the economy is and why the company is the best place to work. That doesn't mean that you've got to align to their uncertainty, but don't go too far against the grain while presenting.

Robert Kennedy III is a master of bringing energy and aligning a speech to the audience. Here's his advice for adjusting:

"It can be hard to wake up a "dead" crowd but go for it. Most of all, don't take their energy personally. Focus on serving them with every bit of your fiber then leave empty."

36. Fake It ‘Til You Make It!

Go forward with confidence. If you act confident, you'll start to feel more confident. Move slowly with grace, speak clearly, smile, wear something nice. You’ll appear confident to all attendees (no matter how you feel internally). 

Learn more about how to overcome your fears, reduce your anxiety, and become a more confident speaker in these Envato Tuts+ tutorials: 

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

PowerPoint Presentation Tips and Tricks to Help Avoid Mistakes (What Not to Do)

Most importantly, focus on what you can do to make your presentation better. There are a few important things not to do that we've got to address. Here are a handful of PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks to help you avoid missteps.

37. Stop With the Sound Effects

Sound effects—like that swoosh that used to happen when your college professor brought up a new bullet point in PowerPoint—are distracting and outdated. In most cases avoid it.

Tips for PPT presentation no sound

Add audio or music into your presentation to inject interest or highlight an important point, but it's something to take extra care with. If you insert audio, then make sure your use really connects with your audience and has a fresh approach. Otherwise, it's best to leave it out.

38. Don’t Use Flashy Slide Transitions

Again, this is distracting and outdated. Use transitions and subtle animations in your PowerPoint presentation. But you need to take care and do it right: 

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

39. Beware of Clip Art

This PowerPoint presentation tip shouldn’t even have to be said. But please, please don't use clip art. Use professional graphics instead.

40. Don't Be Afraid to Be Afraid

The fear of public speaking is a real one. Many beginners think that if they're feeling nervous that a presentation won't go well or succeed. That might lead them to cancel the presentation.

Many of the best PowerPoint tricks don't use the app at all! Here's a tip from expert Sandra Zimmer who leads The Self-Expression Center on conquering your fears before you take stage:

"Get out of your head and into your body. I do this through a grounding exercise that really works to calm nerves and bring you present in the moment."

Presentation tricks speaker

If you think that public speaking fears aren't normal, you might never give your award-winning presentation. So, don't be afraid to be afraid and acknowledge it's part of the process!

41. Read Directly During Your PowerPoint Presentation

If you spend your entire presentation looking at the screen or your note cards, you're sure to lose your audience's attention. They'll disengage from what you're saying, and your presentation will fall flat.

Reading from your paper or screen also makes it look like you’re not prepared. Many people do it, but no one should. As a general rule, only present something you know well and have, at least mostly, memorized the main points of.

42. Don't Miss Out on PowerPoint Customizations

There's a major mistake that rookie presenters miss when they start working with PowerPoint designs like those from Envato Elements.

The best way to see how to make a good presentation PPT is to start with designs from others. That means using a template, but that doesn't mean you can't customize them!

Template presentation design tips new

Don't skip PowerPoint templates as you learn how to use PowerPoint effectively. Think of those templates as guides with built-in presentation design tips.

Be careful with the visuals you insert, or with adding flashy effects. Here are some great uses of creative ideas that you can pack your PowerPoint presentation with to be more effective: 

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

To see more presentation tips that show you what  not  to do, make sure to check out our guide below.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Work in PowerPoint More Effectively (Tips & Tricks to Level-Up Your PPT Skills)

These PowerPoint tips will take you directly inside of PowerPoint. They'll help you level up your next PowerPoint presentation. Knowing these Microsoft PowerPoint presentation tips can build your confidence in your next presentation and help you deliver a great showcase to your audience. Let's dive in.

43. Use the Visual Guides

When you're designing your next PowerPoint presentation, it helps to create a sense of visual rhythm. Slides that have objects appropriately aligned and centered are naturally more likely to resonate with an audience.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

44. Use a Few Animations (Tastefully)

Animations in effective PowerPoint presentations are a slippery slope. We've all sat through presentations where there were so many objects in motion that it was easy to lose focus on the key ideas in the presentation.

But that's why animations get an unfairly bad reputation. Use animations to create motion and hold an audience's attention. Use them sparingly and on key elements on your slide and you'll capture that attention properly. 

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

45. Stage Key Content With Animations

You just learned that animations should avoid being distracting. But there's an important principle to using animations properly. It's called staging content.

Staging content means that the content appears step-by-step. There's nothing worse than overwhelming an audience with all your content at once. But when you stage content, bring it on step-by-step.

Take it from presentation pro Suzannah Baum :

"If you’re sharing a slide with lots of different points on it, using the animation to reveal those points one at a time is a way to keep the presenter’s content flowing smoothly."

For more animation presentation tips and tricks, follow our guide:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

46. Add a Video to Your PowerPoint

When you're sharing a big idea in your presentation, it helps to share your perspective from a few different angles. Adding a video to supplement your content can do just that. Luckily, it's easy to add and embed a YouTube video in your next PowerPoint presentation.

Learn how to add a video to your presentation in the quick tutorial below:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

47. Add Charts & Graphs

Charts and graphs can help you tell stories with data. It's easy for an audience to zone out when you throw a big data table or set of statistics at them. 

instead, convert those to charts and graphs. Try out the tutorial below to learn how to edit those graphs.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

48. Build Your Own Infographics With SmartArt

Earlier in this tutorial, we gave you one of my favorite PowerPoint design tips: use infographic templates.

Here's another. One of my favorite PowerPoint features is SmartArt, which allows you to build infographics right inside the app.

You don't have to use another graphic design app like Photoshop or Illustrator to add visuals. Instead, try out SmartArt to help you build graphics that are easy to update. 

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

49. Use Presenter View

Remember that when you use the PowerPoint,  you' re the presentation. The slides are just there to reinforce what you've got to say and support your speaking points.

That's why I always recommend using Presenter view. More often than not, you're going to have several displays. Use Presenter view to show the information that's relevant to you on your private screen, with your presentation showing on the extra display.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

50. Track Your PowerPoint Changes

One of my favorite PowerPoint design tips is to collaborate. Those who know you best will suggest compelling changes that are sure to help you succeed.

As you start collaborating on your presentation, it helps to keep track of proposed and included PowerPoint changes. Use the article to track changes made by others with the help of this tutorial:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

10 More Advanced PowerPoint Tips & Tricks

Really need to wow an audience with a good PowerPoint presentation? Give these tips a try to make an unforgettable impression:

51. Engage With an Interactive Quiz

A good PowerPoint presentation gets your audience involved. One of the best PowerPoint tricks is to do that with a quiz. By engaging audiences, a quiz makes your slides memorable.

Quiz midtest presentation tips

By adding trivia, you'll see how to present a PowerPoint in a way that people will love. Channel your inner game-show host today.

52. Illustrate With Custom Image Masks

One of the top PowerPoint tips is to illustrate your slides. But you can go beyond simple, rectangular images on each slide.

Masts burte PowerPoint tips

Image masks shape photos into unique works of art. And thanks to premium templates, you can style photos just like this. Masks overlay your photos onto geometric shapes, instantly elevating your style.

53. Print Handouts With Extra Notes

Wonder how to give a good presentation PPT that audiences will remember? Give them a piece of it to take home.

PowerPoint makes it easy to print handouts with room for notes on the page. This way, audiences can keep copies of your slides, along with their own notes. This is the perfect way to ensure everyone engages with and retains your content.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

54. Make Bulk Edits With Master Slides

When you think about how to present a PowerPoint, consider your branding. That means keeping your logo front and center in the eyes of an audience. But if you’re working with a lengthy slide deck, this could seem daunting.

That’s where master slides come in. They’re common in premium layouts, and they’re a leading example of presentation skills for PPT. Master slides let you make bulk edits fast. You can make a change to a master slide, and see it reflected throughout your slide deck. Learn how with our full tutorial:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

55. Shrink File Sizes for Sharing

Many of the top presentation tips involve making your slides more accessible. Often, that involves sharing them with audiences online. 

You’ll often find that email clients and cloud services limit the size of files that you share. This can be a problem with large PPT slide decks. But there are a few quick steps you can take to reduce PPT file size. Cut graphics, scale down photos, and more.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

56. Map Processes With Flowcharts

As you consider how to do a good PowerPoint presentation, think of ease of understanding. After all, you’re trying to explain something to your audience.

Infographics presentation skills PPT

A flowchart maps out a process in a visual way. Instead of resorting to endless narration, try a quick illustration like this. It saves you time and effort, and your audience is sure to thank you.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

57. Use Brand-Specific Colors

Using presentation skills PPT helps form an association between your message and branding. There’s no better way to do that than with your brand colors.

Presentation tips for branding

PowerPoint makes it easy to change color themes, adding your brand colors and logo to each slide. This is one of the top PowerPoint tricks for marketing presentations.

58. Build Social Media Posts in PPT

A good PowerPoint presentation doesn’t have to be shared through a projector. Use the app and templates to build amazing illustrations to use anywhere.

Soffee how to present a PowerPoint

Try using PowerPoint to create social media posts. It helps you engage with your audience, with no need to design custom layouts from scratch.

59. Be Industry-Specific

One of the top presentation tips in 2022 is to be industry-specific. That means avoiding generic layouts and choosing something more customized.

Conference room PowerPoint tips

This offers two key advantages. First, you save time by having layouts built for you. Second, you gain design inspiration for your specific topic. Themed templates are truly the best of both worlds.

Medical and health PowerPoint tricks

60. Design for Online (Virtual) Sharing

Last but not least in our list of PowerPoint tips comes virtual presenting. More and more often, slides will be shared with online audiences around the globe.

Why not design your slides for that very purpose? And then learn how to share flawlessly with a global team? It’s one of the top presentation tips for 2022. Embrace it today.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

More Great PowerPoint Tutorial Resources

We've built a resource for Microsoft PowerPoint that you're sure to want to try. It includes countless PowerPoint tips and tricks. It's called  How to Use PowerPoint (Ultimate Tutorial Guide)   and has all the PowerPoint design tips you need.

These tutorials will help you get started quickly. Start mastering PowerPoint's powerful presentation design tools today: 

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

You can also find more PowerPoint tips in this video lesson:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Discover More Top PowerPoint Template Designs From Envato Elements for 2022

You've just seen our favorite PowerPoint presentation tips and guidelines to help you improve your speaking. We've also mentioned Envato Elements, an incredible all-you-can-download source for top PowerPoint designs .

Here are five of the best PowerPoint templates that you can use to create your best presentation yet:

1. Galaxi PowerPoint Template

Galaxi PowerPoint Design template

Blast off to success with the help of this PowerPoint template! Think of the pre-built slide designs as pro PowerPoint design tips. They're built by professional graphic designers. All the popular and modern slide styles that are perfect for your next presentation. Use Galaxi's five styles and 30 designs to create a great presentation.

2. Masmax PowerPoint Template

Masmax PowerPoint Template

While choosing templates for this article, we featured options that aligned with the PowerPoint tips and tricks shared throughout. Masmax fits the bill perfectly across its 234 unique slide designs. These slide designs are sure to align with the latest in design expectations.

3.   STYLE - Multipurpose PowerPoint Template V50

Style Multipurpose PowerPoint template

Style is subjective, but we can all agree that this template is stunning! The light and airy slide designs are built with fashion-focused designs in mind. But that doesn't mean that it's not perfect for most presentations. Remember: as you're learning how to present a PowerPoint presentation, don't forget that templates are customizable to your purpose .

4.  Peachme Creative PowerPoint Template

Peachme Creative PowerPoint Template

Peachme has image-focused slides with splashy designs. The slides are colorful and perfect for a modern presentation. Don't worry about remembering all the PowerPoint design tips because they're included in the pre-built slides. Use Peachme's designs for your presentation today.

5. Buizi - Office Building Rent PowerPoint Template

Buizi Office Building PowerPoint template

Buizi markets itself as a real estate focused template. It's ideal for that purpose because of the minimal, image-focused slide designs. But that also makes it a perfect choice for presentations in many fields.

We've just scratched the surface of PowerPoint design tips with these five options. Here are many more, bundled inside of the best roundups on Envato Tuts+: 

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

How to Build a Good PowerPoint Presentation Quickly (In 2022)

You’ve already seen effective presentation skills PPT techniques. But you may be wondering exactly how to do a good PowerPoint presentation. It only takes a few clicks. Let’s learn how in just five steps.

For this mini-tutorial, we’ll use the Enjoy PowerPoint Template from Envato Elements. You'll see that it's a beautiful template that helps you learn how to present a PowerPoint by giving you every object and layout you need.

Enjoy presentation skills PPT

1. Choose Your Slides

As you can see, a template like Enjoy has dozens of unique slides inside. The key to how to give a good presentation PPT is to choose only the slides that you need.

Choose slides effective presentation skills PPT

In PowerPoint, scroll through the sidebar on the left to view different slide layouts. Right-click and choose Delete to remove unwanted designs. Plus, you can click and drag slide thumbnails to reorder them in the deck.

2. Add Text

Consider how to do a good PowerPoint presentation without investing a ton of time. That’s where premium templates come in.

Enjoy how to do a good PowerPoint presentation

To add custom text, simply click and select the contents of any text box on your slide. Then, type in your own words. Repeat as needed throughout your slide deck.

3. Customize Fonts

With text selected, it’s easy to customize fonts on each slide. Find the Font section on PowerPoint’s Home tab. From there, you've got a variety of dropdown options.

Custom fonts how to give a good presentation

Click to change the font, font size, and more. You can also use the buttons on the left to add bolds, italics, and more.

Need more custom font styles? As an Envato Elements subscriber, you've got instant access to thousands of custom fonts . Use them in your presentation with ease.

4. Insert Images

Slides like this one contain an image placeholder. That’s another advantage found only with premium templates. These make adding images a breeze.

Images presentation tips

To get started, find an image file stored on your computer. Then, drag and drop it over the placeholder. PowerPoint will import it, sized and scaled for a perfect fit.

5. Change Colors

One of the top effective presentation skills PPT ideas is changing shape colors. This helps you control the look and feel of each slide.

Change color PowerPoint tips

With a shape selected, find the Shape Format tab on PowerPoint’s ribbon. Then, click on the Shape Fill dropdown. You’ll see a color chooser menu appear. Click on any thumbnail to apply it to the shape or browse through the Gradient and Texture options.

Learn How to Make Great Presentations (Download This Free eBook)

Take the PowerPoint tips you learned in this article further with our eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations ( grab it now for FREE ) . 

It'll help walk you through the complete presentation process. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully.

Grab the Free Make Great Presentations eBook

Start Putting These PowerPoint Presentation Tips & Tricks Into Use Today!

Learning to write, design, and present a PowerPoint presentation is an invaluable skill, no matter where you use it. If you’re a good communicator of important messages, you’ll never go hungry.

Luckily, improving PowerPoint presentations isn't as hard as it seems. Follow these tips for PowerPoint presentations to design and deliver with greater confidence.

Remember: Less is more (effective) . Use  ga-analytics#sendMarketClickEvent">PowerPoint Presentation Templates  for better design and more effective visual impact. And you can customize a PPT template quickly , with the right workflow. 

Here's a showcase of simple, modern PowerPoint templates to start with:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Be sure to share your PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks in the comments below. How do you prepare a presentation quickly and then deliver it effectively?

Again, one of the most important tips for using PowerPoint is to focus your time on the content.   To do that, you'll want to outsource the work of designing your PowerPoint slides to the talented designers at Envato Elements. Go check out  top templates from Envato Elements  to explore options.

Editorial Note:  This post was originally published in December of 2015. It's been comprehensively revised to make it current, accurate, and up to date by our staff-- with special help from Andrew Childress .

Brad Smith

Search Form

Tips for creative effective powerpoint presentations.

The powerpoint presentation is ubiquitous, but just because everybody does it doesn’t mean everybody does it well. Here are some tips to help you save your audience from "death by PowerPoint." • Use the slide master feature to create a consistent and simple design template. It’s fine to vary the content of your slides (e.g., bulleted list, 2-column text, text & image), but be consistent with other elements such as font, colors and background.

• Simplify and limit the number of words on each screen. Use key phrases and include only essential information. o Generally no more than 6 words a line o Generally no more than 6 lines a slide o Avoid long sentences o Larger font indicates more important information o Font size generally ranges from 18 to 48 point • Limit punctuation and avoid putting words in all capital letters. Empty space on the slide will enhance readability.

• Use contrasting colors for text and background. Dark text on a light background is best. Patterned backgrounds can reduce readability of text. • Avoid the use of flashy transitions such as text fly-ins. These features may seem impressive at first, but are distracting and get old quickly. • Overuse of special effectssuch as animation and sounds are distracting and may make your presentation seem less than serious. • Use good quality images that reinforce and complement your message. Ensure that your images maintain their impact and resolution when projected on a largerscreen. • If you use builds, have content appear on the screen in a consistent, simple manner; from the top or left is best. Only "build" screens when necessary to make your point because they can slow your presentation. • Limit the number of slides. Presenters who constantly "flip" to the next slide are likely to lose their audience. A good rule of thumb is one slide per minute. • Learn to navigate your presentation in a nonlinear fashion. PowerPoint allows the presenter to jump ahead or back without having to page through all the interim slides. • Know how to and practice moving forward AND backward within your presentation. Students may ask to see the previous screen again. • If possible, view your slides on the screen you'll be using for your presentation. Make sure they are readable from the back row seats. Text and graphics should be large enough to read, but not so large as to appear "loud." • Have a Plan B in the event of technical difficulties. Remember that transparencies and handouts will not show animation or other special effects. • Don’t read from your slides. The content of your slides is for the audience, not for the presenter. • Don’t speak to your slides. It’s very easy to be distracted by the content on your screen. A minor exception to this guideline is a need to draw your audience’s attention to a specific part of your slide. For example, you could use a pointer to identify a trend in a graph. Otherwise, there's simply no reason to show your back.

Subscribe to Connections

Get the content and creative tools you need with an All-in-One plan and your first month free. Start your trial.

9 Tips for Making Beautiful PowerPoint Presentations

9 Tips for Making Beautiful PowerPoint Presentations

How many times have you sat through poorly designed PowerPoint presentations that were boring, cluttered, and distracting? Probably way too many. Even though we all loathe a boring presentation, when it comes time to make our own, do we really do any better?

The good news is you don’t have to be a professional designer to know how to make an awesome and attractive presentation. There are a few simple rules and tips you can follow for creating a professional, beautifully designed deck.

Since PowerPoint remains one of the most popular presentation design programs out there, we’re also going to walk you through some slide design tips and tricks to maximize your PowerPoint skills and make you look really good next time you’re up in front of a crowd.

1. Use Layout to Your Advantage

Most Western languages read left to right, top to bottom. Knowing this natural reading order, you can direct people’s eyes in a deliberate way to certain key parts of a slide that you want to emphasize. Using layout is a simple, but effective, way to control the flow and visual hierarchy of information.

You can guide your audience with simple tweaks to the layout. Use text size and alternating fonts or colors to distinguish headlines from body text.

Placement matters, too. There are many unorthodox ways to structure a slide, but most audience members will have to take a few beats to organize the information in their head—that’s precious time better spent listening to your delivery and retaining information.

Try to structure your slides more like this:

PowerPoint slide with Headline and information on the left and ocean and mountain visuals on the right

And not like this:

PowerPoint slide with headline under informational text and images

Layout is one of the trickier PowerPoint design concepts to master, which is why we have these free PowerPoint templates already laid out for you—use them as a jumping off point for your own presentation, or use them wholesale!

2. No Sentences

This is one of the most critical slide design tips. Slides are simplified, visual notecards that capture and reinforce main ideas, not complete thoughts.

As the speaker, you should be delivering most of the content and information, not putting it all on the slides for everyone to read (and probably ignore). If your audience is reading your presentation instead of listening to you deliver it, your message has lost its effectiveness.

Pare down your core message and use keywords to convey it—you should try to avoid complete sentences unless you’re quoting someone or something.

Stick with this:

PowerPoint slide with title above bullet points and abstract visual on the right

And avoid this:

PowerPoint slide with headline and information on left and abstract visual on right

3. Follow the 6 x 6 Rule

One of the cardinal sins of a bad PowerPoint is cramming too many details and ideas on one slide, which makes it difficult for people to retain information. Leaving lots of “white space” on a slide helps people focus on your key points.

Try using the 6 x 6 rule to keep your content concise and clean looking. The 6 x 6 rule means a maximum of six bullet points per slide and six words per bullet. In fact, some people even say you should never have more than six words per slide!

Just watch out for “orphans” (when the last word of a sentence/phrase spills over to the next line). This looks cluttered—either fit it onto one line or add another word to the second line.

Red PowerPoint slide with white text that says Less is More

Slides should never have this much information:

PowerPoint slide with paragraphs to the left and images on the right

4. Keep the Colors Simple

Stick to simple light and dark colors. Exceptionally bright text can cause eye fatigue, so use those colors sparingly. Dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background will work well. Also avoid intense gradients, which can make text hard to read.

If you’re presenting on behalf of your brand, check what your company’s brand guidelines are. Companies often have a primary brand color and a secondary brand color , and it’s a good idea to use them in your presentation to align with your company’s brand identity and style.

If you’re looking for color inspiration on your next presentation, check out our 101 Color Combinations , where you can browse tons of eye-catching color palettes curated by a pro. When you find the one you like, just type the corresponding color code into your presentation formatting tools.

Red PowerPoint slide with white text

Stay away from color combinations like this:

PowerPoint slide with gray background and black and neon text

5. Use Sans-Serif Fonts

Traditionally, serif fonts (Times New Roman, Garamond, Bookman) are best for printed pages, and sans-serif fonts (Helvetica, Tahoma, Verdana) are easier to read on screens.

These are always safe choices, but if you’d like to add some more typographic personality , try exploring our roundup of the internet’s best free fonts . You’ll find everything from classic serifs and sans serifs to sophisticated modern fonts and splashy display fonts.

Just keep legibility at the forefront of your mind when you’re making your pick.

Try to stick with one font, or choose two at the most. Fonts have very different personalities and emotional impacts, so make sure your font matches the tone, purpose, and content of your presentation.

PowerPoint slide with san serif font examples

6. Stick to 30pt Font or Larger

Many experts agree that your font size should be at least 30pt. Not only does it ensure that your text is readable, but it also forces you to include only the most important points of your message and explain it efficiently, since space is limited.

Red PowerPoint slide with white text showing 30 point font size example

7. Avoid Overstyling the Text

Three of the easiest and most effective ways to draw attention to text are:

Our eyes are naturally drawn to things that stand out, but use these changes sparingly. Overstyling can make the slide look busy and distracting.

PowerPoint slide with simple black text on the left and a pool image on the right

8. Choose the Right Images

The images you choose for your presentation are perhaps as important as the message. You want images that not only support the message, but also elevate it—a rare accomplishment in the often dry world of PowerPoint.

But, what is the right image? We’ll be honest. There’s no direct answer to this conceptual, almost mystical subject, but we can break down some strategies for approaching image selection that will help you curate your next presentation.

The ideal presentation images are:

Ground view of a plane flying over palm trees

These may seem like vague qualities, but the general idea is to go beyond the literal . Think about the symbols in an image and the story they tell.

Think about the colors and composition in an image, and the distinct mood it sets for your presentation. With this approach, you can get creative in your hunt for relatable, authentic, and inspirational images.

Here are some more guidelines for choosing great images.

Illustrative, Not Generic

So, the slide in question is about collaborating as a team. Naturally, you look for images of people meeting in a boardroom, right?

While it’s perfectly fine to go super literal, sometimes these images fall flat—what’s literal doesn’t necessarily connect to your audience emotionally. Will they really respond to generic images of people who aren’t them meeting in boardroom?

In the absence of a photo of your actual team—or any other image that directly illustrates the subject at hand—look for images of convincing realism and humanity that capture the idea of your message.

Doing so connects with viewers, allowing them to connect with your message.

Black and white photo of five people standing on a rooftop looking over a foggy evening

The image above can be interpreted in many ways. But, when we apply it to slide layout ideas about collaboration, the meaning is clear.

It doesn’t hurt that there’s a nice setting and good photography, to boot.

Supportive, Not Distracting

Now that we’ve told you to get creative with your image selection, the next lesson is to rein that in. While there are infinite choices of imagery out there, there’s a limit to what makes sense in your presentation.

Let’s say you’re giving an IT presentation to new employees. You might think that image of two dogs snuggling by a fire is relatable, authentic, and inspirational, but does it really say “data management” to your audience?

To find the best supporting images, try searching terms on the periphery of your actual message. You’ll find images that complement your message rather than distract from it. 

In the IT presentation example, instead of “data connections” or another literal term, try the closely related “traffic” or “connectivity.” This will bring up images outside of tech, but relative to the idea of how things move.

Aerial view of city highway at night

Inspiring and Engaging

There’s a widespread misconception that presentations are just about delivering information. This, in part, contributes to the dirge of lackluster PowerPoints that we’ve all sat through.

In fact, a great presentation is inspirational. We don’t mean that your audience should be itching to paint a masterpiece when they’re done. In this case, inspiration is about engagement.

Is your audience asking themselves questions? Are they coming up with new ideas? Are they remembering key information to tap into later?

You’ll drive a lot of this engagement with your actual delivery, but unexpected images can play a role, as well.

When you use more abstract or aspirational images, your audience will have room to make their own connections. This not only means they’re paying attention, but they’re also engaging with and retaining your message.

To find the right abstract or unconventional imagery, search terms related to the tone of the presentation. This may include images with different perspectives like overhead shots and aerials, long exposures taken over a period of time, nature photos, colorful markets, and so on.

Aerial view of a container ship in the ocean

The big idea here is akin to including an image of your adorable dog making a goofy face at the end of an earnings meeting. It leaves an audience with a good, human feeling after you just packed their brains with data.

Use that concept of pleasant surprise when you’re selecting images for your presentation.

9. Editing PowerPoint Images

Setting appropriate image resolution in powerpoint.

Though you can drag and drop images into PowerPoint, you can control the resolution displayed within the file. All of your PowerPoint slide layout ideas should get the same treatment to be equal in size.

Simply click File > Compress Pictures in the main application menu. 

Screenshot of how to compress an image

If your presentation file is big and will only be viewed online, you can take it down to On-screen , then check the Apply to: All pictures in this file box, and rest assured the quality will be uniform.

Screenshot of how to choose image resolution

This resolution is probably fine for proofing over email, but too low for your presentation layout ideas. For higher res in printed form, try the Print setting, which at 220 PPI is extremely good quality.

For large-screens such as projection, use the HD setting, since enlarging to that scale will show any deficiencies in resolution. Low resolution can not only distract from the message, but it looks low quality and that reflects on the presenter.

If size is no issue for you, use High Fidelity (maximum PPI) , and only reduce if the file size gives your computer problems.

Screenshot of image quality

The image quality really begins when you add the images to the presentation file. Use the highest quality images you can, then let PowerPoint scale the resolution down for you, reducing the excess when set to HD or lower.

Resizing, Editing, and Adding Effects to Images in PowerPoint

PowerPoint comes with an arsenal of tools to work with your images. When a picture is selected, the confusingly named Picture Format menu is activated in the top menu bar, and Format Picture is opened on the right side of the app window.

Screenshot of how to resize images

In the Format Picture menu (on the right) are four sections, and each of these sections expand to show their options by clicking the arrows by the name:

The menu at the top is more expansive, containing menu presets for Corrections , Color , Effects , Animation , and a lot more.

This section is where you can crop more precisely than just choosing the dimensions from the Picture pane on the right.

Cropping Images in PowerPoint

The simple way to crop an image is to use the Picture pane under the Format Picture menu on the right side of the window. Use the Picture Position controls to move the picture inside its box, or use the Crop position controls to manipulate the box’s dimensions.

Screenshot of cropping options

To exert more advanced control, or use special shapes, select the picture you want to crop, then click the Picture Format in the top menu to activate it.

Screenshot of cropping options

Hit the Crop button, then use the controls on the picture’s box to size by eye. Or, click the arrow to show more options, including changing the shape of the box (for more creative looks) and using preset aspect ratios , for a more uniform presentation of images.

Screenshot of Crop to Shape option

The next time you design a PowerPoint presentation, remember that simplicity is key and less is more. By adopting these simple slide design tips, you’ll deliver a clear, powerful visual message to your audience.

If you want to go with a PowerPoint alternative instead, you can use Shutterstock Create to easily craft  convincing, engaging, and informative presentations.

Nothing makes a presentation more engaging than a well-placed image. You can actually search, preview, and insert captivating images from the Shutterstock collection directly into your slides with our add-in for PowerPoint .

License this cover image collaboration via F8 studio and Ryan DeBerardinis .

Related Posts

A wild hare resting in a field of yellow flowers

10 Color Palettes Inspired by Nature in Spring Around the World

Discover 10 FREE color palettes that show Spring’s brilliant colors from deserts, mountains, and tropical islands around the world.

9 Interesting Construction Logo Ideas to Inspire You

9 Interesting Construction Logo Ideas to Inspire You

Explore what goes into creating a logo and why it’s so important. Plus, discover nine construction logo ideas you can make your own.

How Digital Coupons Can Supercharge Your Marketing Strategy

How Digital Coupons Can Supercharge Your Marketing Strategy

Looking to build brand awareness and bring in new customers? Discover how to reinvent the coupon to boost your online marketing strategy.

How to Make a PDF File Using 4 Simple Methods

How to Make a PDF File Using 4 Simple Methods

Learn how to make a PDF file using these four simple methods to easily convert images into PDF files. Tutorials included!

Recently viewed

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

© 2023 Shutterstock Inc. All rights reserved.

Logo-Orange-pahca2rkxuwrsw33mv6e1cl0ht6acwbnwkk9lzdrfu-pdq790zvgvuegp4ogdf4389m3ipr2y3mh6goixjpyi

10 Expert Tips to Make Your PowerPoint Presentations More Engaging and Effective!

PowerPoint presentations are an essential part of many business meetings, conferences, and even online classes. However, while PowerPoint can be a great tool to get your message across, it can also easily become boring and unengaging if not done right. Luckily, you can use plenty of tips and tricks to make your presentations more effective and engaging. 

powerpoint presentation

Here are ten expert tips to help you create powerful and engaging PowerPoint presentations.

Table of Contents

1. Organize your content for maximum impact

Use 10-20-30 rule, use colors, shapes, and images effectively to draw attention, ensure design consistency, use visuals to support the narrative, benefits of using animation, things to consider when using animation, incorporate audio, video, and interactive elements, balance multimedia content with other elements, use charts and graphs to illustrate data points, understand the audience, utilize a logical structure, incorporate design templates and slideshows, prepare a script to help you stay on track, 8. consider using presentation platforms, 9. encourage audience participation, ask for feedback, review the notes, check the presentation, follow up with the audience.

Organizing content for PowerPoint presentations is important as it helps to keep the presentation focused and engaging. When organizing content, it is important to create an introduction, body, and conclusion that flow logically. Additionally, it is important to use visual cues such as headings and images to help the audience follow the presentation. Finally, it is important to use a consistent color palette, font, and style to help create a cohesive presentation that is visually appealing and easy to understand.

2. Choose an engaging visual design

When it comes to making a PowerPoint presentation engaging, visuals are key. Visual designs can help set the tone of your presentation and get your message across. Here are some tips on choosing an engaging visual design for your PowerPoint presentations .

This rule suggests that you should have no more than ten slides, 20 minutes of content, and 30-point font size. This is important because too many words or slides can be overwhelming and distracting. Instead, focus on the most important points and let visual elements do the work.

Consider using abstract shapes, large-high-quality photos, and vibrant colors to ensure that the visuals you choose are appealing and draw attention. Additionally, make sure that the visuals you choose are relevant to your message. For example, use visuals to show off its features if you’re discussing a product.

To ensure that you keep your design consistent throughout the presentation, you must use similar colors and font sizes throughout. To make this easier, you can use dynamic presentation software or a template with hundreds of example slides that all follow the same design theme.

Visual design is an incredibly powerful tool for enhancing the narrative of a PowerPoint presentation. With the right elements, visuals can help to make a presentation more interesting and memorable for the audience. Visuals should be used strategically to support the narrative. Using visuals that reflect the presentation’s theme will help create a cohesive story that resonates with the audience.

Check out the video to learn about the core prinicple of visual design:

3. Enhance the presentation with animation

Animation can enhance a PowerPoint presentation by making it more visually engaging and helping control information flow.

How to make animated powerpoint slide?

4. Include multimedia components

Including multimedia components in PowerPoint presentations is an effective way to make them more engaging. Multimedia combines different types of media, such as audio, video, animation, and images, which can help capture and maintain your audience’s attention.

powerpoint presentation

Including multimedia components in Powerpoint presentations is quite easy. For example, you can crop images to fit shapes, play music in the background, embed YouTube videos, insert screenshots or screen clippings, remove background from pictures, combine shapes to create a custom shape, add sound effects to animations, etc.

Multimedia content can be a great way to bring your presentation to life, but it should not be the only element you use. While multimedia content can be eye-catching, too much of it can distract from the message you are trying to convey.

 Instead, try to use a mix of multimedia content, text, images, and diagrams that will help ensure that your presentation is visually appealing and informative. For example, if you have a video clip, don’t just rely on it to convey the message, but rather provide some additional information in the form of a text block or image that summarises the key points of the clip. This will provide context and help support the message you are trying to get across.

 Additionally, consider using multimedia content and other elements such as text, images, and diagrams to create a more interactive presentation. This will help keep the audience engaged and allow them to better understand the message you are trying to communicate.

5. Utilize data visualization and infographics

Utilizing data visualization and infographics in PowerPoint presentations can be beneficial for a few reasons. First, data visualization and infographics can help to illustrate complex concepts in an easy-to-understand way. Additionally, data visualization and infographics can help to make the content more engaging and visually appealing. Furthermore, data visualization and infographics can help ensure the audience can retain the information presented. Finally, data visualization and infographics can help to add a professional look to the presentation.

Charts and graphs are powerful tools to make your PowerPoint presentations more engaging and effective. Not only do they help to break up the presentation to make it easier for the viewers to digest, but they also allow you to provide a visual representation of complex data that is easy to understand.

Here are some tips on how to use charts and graphs effectively in your PowerPoint presentations:

How to make good infographic?

 6. Create an effective structure and flow

Creating an effective structure and flow to make your PowerPoint presentation more engaging is key to captivating your audience. Here are a few ways to create a flow and structure for your PowerPoint presentation .

The first step is understanding your audience and what their needs are. Knowing your audience’s interests can help you tailor your presentation to be more engaging and interactive. Once you have a good idea of who you’re speaking to, create an outline that will focus on the important points of your presentation.

powerpoint presentation

A logical structure helps to organize the information clearly and logically, making it easier for the audience to follow and understand. It also helps to keep the presentation focused and on track, preventing it from becoming disorganized or tangential. A logical structure can be achieved through the use of clear headings and subheadings and visual aids such as charts and diagrams to illustrate key points.

Use design templates and slideshows to keep the look of your presentation consistent and visually appealing. Ensure to align all objects with the grid to ensure your visuals are perfectly in line.

7. Rehearse and practice

Preparing and rehearsing your presentation allows you to get comfortable with the material and will help you convey your message in a more confident and engaging way.

Having a script for your PowerPoint presentation can be an invaluable tool to ensure that you stay on track and keep to the main points you want to make. In addition, by preparing a script, you can ensure that your presentation runs smoothly and is more engaging and effective.

powerpoint presentation

Here are some tips to help you write an effective script:

Presentation platforms offer a wide range of features to help you create an interactive, visually appealing experience for your viewers. Many of these platforms have built-in templates and tools that make it easy to customize the look and feel of your slides. They also provide interactive elements such as quizzes, videos, audio clips, and animations that can add life to your presentation and keep your viewers engaged.

Encouraging audience participation is key to making a PowerPoint presentation more engaging. There are several techniques that can be used to foster engagement with the audience during a PowerPoint presentation.

Effective methods to engage an audience in a presentation

10. Follow-up and review

Following up and reviewing a PowerPoint presentation is important in ensuring that the presentation is effective and that the audience understands the main points. There are several ways to follow up and review a presentation:

Ask the audience for feedback on the presentation, including what they found most useful or interesting and what they would like to see more of in the future.

Go over the notes you made during the presentation to see if there are any areas you may have missed or could have explained more clearly.

Review the presentation and make any necessary edits or updates based on the feedback you received.

Follow up with the audience after the presentation to see if they have any additional questions or concerns and to address any issues that may have come up during the presentation.

Creating engaging and powerful presentations with PowerPoint doesn’t have to be daunting. With the right tips and tricks, you can create presentations that will grab and hold your audience’s attention. Try out some expert tips to take your PowerPoint presentations from boring to brilliant! You can also take the help of professional designers to help you out with the visual aspect of  your presentation.

At Graphically.io , we are your go-to for all your creative needs! Our global network of customers can enjoy unlimited, custom-designed graphics and illustrations for one flat rate. We are committed to delivering exceptional and affordable designs, always ready for when you need them, no matter how soon. We also offer video creation in our standard package at no extra cost that can capture and captivate the attention of your clients and potential customers.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Reduce Your Creative Design Budget by 92% With Us!

Colby Wren

100+ Agencies use Graphically.io for their creative needs. Signup now for actionable content & GREAT deals. We won’t SPAM, we promise!

 Useful Resources

How To Create a Stand-Out Instagram Aesthetic: A Step-by-Step Guide

Unraveling the Mystery of Motion Graphics and Animation: How Are They Different?

Top 15 Graphic Design Best Practices for Beginners

Unlock the Secrets of Designing a Professional Food Truck Logo from Scratch

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Copyright © 2022 Graphically

All rights reserved. | Terms of Services

Quick Links

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Presentations Keep your audience engaged.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Documents Formalize your branding.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Videos Add movement to your brand.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Infographics Share information visually.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Printables Create content for printing.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Charts and Graphs Bring life to your data.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Social Media Graphics Create scroll-stopping content.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Mockups Create high-quality mockups in seconds.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Branded Templates new Get a bundle of templates that match your brand.

Interactivity

Integrations

Data Widgets

Collaborations

Presenter Studio

Free Educational Resources See All

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Visme Video Tutorials Watch videos on how to use Visme.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Ebooks Read in-depth knowledge for your industry.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Graphic Design Videos Learn design principles & best practices.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Live Webinars Interact with the experts live.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Free Online Courses Get certified with free online courses.

Our Blog See All

Video & Animations

Data Visualization

For Teams All Teams

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Agencies & Consulting Manage multiple brands.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Education Use Visme in the classroom.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Nonprofit Bring life to your cause.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Enterprises Create visual content at scale.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Marketers Creative content that shines.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Human Resources Improve internal communication.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Sales Teams Close more deals with your content.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Training Development Create interactive training content.

Templates See All

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Presentations 1000+ layouts and themes.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Chart & Maps Get data visualization ideas.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Social Media Graphics Browse templates for every platform.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Infographics Find the right format for your information.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Documents Templates for every business document.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Videos & GIFs Find the perfect preanimated template.

Branded Templates Get a bundle of templates that match your brand.

Website Graphics

Survey Results

How to Make an Effective Presentation (Guide, Tips & Examples)

How to Make an Effective Presentation (Guide, Tips & Examples)

Written by: Heleana Tiburca

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Learning how to make a presentation is an incredibly useful skill to have in your tool belt, especially since 55% of an effective presentation comes down to non-verbal communication .

We’ve rounded up the best tips for professional presentation-making and a step-by-step guide on how to make a presentation that will keep your audience engaged from start to finish.

If you're ready to create an engaging presentation, get started with our presentation software . Use hundreds of pre-made presentation templates , access built-in graphics, add multimedia and more.

Here’s a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit presentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Table of Contents

Planning your presentation, writing the presentation content, designing your presentation, giving a memorable presentation.

“A person without a plan is lost before they start.” - Lewis K Bendele

This quote stands true for many aspects of life, but especially for making a presentation that’s powerful and memorable.

If you’re wondering how to make a presentation amazing, then you need to know that it all starts out by choosing a great topic angle, deciding on your presentation’s purpose, and creating a solid structure and outline.

In this section, you’ll find tips and tricks to help you better plan your presentations.

1. Choose the topic of your presentation.

Choosing the topic of your presentation is arguably one of the most important parts of presentation creation.

If you’re a student looking for presentation topics, check out our list of 150+ presentation topic ideas covering various subjects to find something you like.

If you’re a business professional, and you don’t have the luxury of picking out your presentation topic, that’s okay. You can always find a unique angle, such as focusing on a specific problem.

Even if it doesn’t seem to be an exciting topic, you can still make your presentation engaging with the right presentation skills and eye-catching presentation visuals.

2. Research your topic and know it inside and out.

When the time comes to present your presentation, you need to feel confident in yourself and your abilities in order to win your crowd’s trust.

One way you can achieve this is by knowing all the ins and outs of your topic. This way, you’ll feel prepared for any questions and know just how to answer them.

You can do in-depth research on any topic by reading up on related material online or in a library. But if you want to walk the extra mile, you can even get in touch with some of your audience in advance and ask them what they’d like to see in your presentation.

Public speaking expert TJ Walker explains this well in the short video below:

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

This little trick will help you focus on the important areas, and find answers to legitimate concerns and questions that your audience will likely have.

Another positive note to knowing your topic well is that in case you’re zooming through your presentation and you end up having extra time on your hands, you can add in bonus information about your topic to educate your audience.

3. Consider your audience and speak their language.

Now, not only do you need to know your topic well, but you also need to know and study your future audience just as well. Why?

Because by knowing your crowd’s interests, attention span and pain points, you’ll be able to connect them through your presentation. Plus, you’ll be in a better position to solve their problems and add value to their lives.

For example, an advanced, data-driven presentation full of technical jargon might not be the best idea if you're presenting to someone who is new to your field and unfamiliar with complicated terms.

It might end up confusing them instead of leaving a strong impact. You need to be able to speak their language and meet them on their level.

Going back to the example above, your presentation would likely be more successful if you simplify the information and start with the basics before jumping into the data and technicalities.

Create a stunning presentation in less time

Sign up. It’s free.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

4. Decide on your presentation’s purpose.

For every presentation you create, you need to have an end goal and purpose in mind.

Every presentation’s goal can be summed up within one of the following purposes:

Your presentation’s purpose may even be a combination of the above four.

The idea of pinpointing your presentation’s purpose is to help you create your presentation’s subject matter, outline and structure more easily.

5. Create a solid presentation outline.

In order to make a great presentation, you need to have a great outline to piggyback off of.

According to the University of Arkansas , to create a compelling speech with impactful results, you’ll need three key things in your outline: a compelling intro, a strong body and a conclusion that drives your main points home.

Another important thing to consider when planning your presentation structure is how long your presentation is going to be, and how many slides you’re going to add.

That’s where the 10-20-30 rule can help you out.

The 10-20-30 rule represents 10 slides presented in about 20 minutes with a 30 point font minimum.

business presentation - infographic 10 20 30 rule guy kawasaki

This is not an end-all-be-all rule, but it is definitely great to follow loosely as it will help you stay on track and not overwhelm your viewers with too many slides with too little time or vice versa.

If you want a more in-depth guide on how to structure your presentation , we’ve created one just for you. Give it a read to take your presentation structure to the next level.

Now that you know how to create a presentation outline, let’s talk about what the content of your presentation should look like.

The content is the real “meat” of your presentation — you need to ensure that it’s credible, full of value and crafted in a way that makes it easy for your audience to understand it.

In this section, we’ll look at some tips to help you craft clear, concise and creative content that’s hard to forget.

6. Limit the amount of text on your slides.

Since we’re on the topic of not overwhelming your audience with too much information, it’s a great idea to try to keep your text to about 6-8 lines per slide, like in the example below.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

This will help result in clean and pleasing slides to look at and you won’t risk losing your crowd due to overstimulation.

7. Fact-check all your information.

If you want your audience to trust you, then make sure you’re getting all of your information from reputable sources and anyone can fact-check your data.

In fact, you’ll even sound more confident and authoritative when you’re able to prove what you’re saying is true.

Here are some resources to help you fact-check your information:

The worst thing you can do is use faulty information and lose your crowd’s trust because once you do that, it’s near impossible to get it back.

If you’re planning to share your presentation slides online, it’s a good idea to add your sources at the end of your presentation or at the bottom of your slides as footnotes.

8. Use storytelling to your advantage.

People are more inclined to remember stories that touched them rather than statistics simply listed out on a slide.

To make your presentation the most effective, you can use a combination of the two and tell a story to back up your main points and data.

For example, instead of simply presenting the numbers upfront, you can give some context by introducing the problem, and explaining what the statistics mean and who they’re affecting.

Learn more about finding stories in data in our detailed guide. Or, watch the video below for a quick summary:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Another storytelling technique to keep in mind is to focus on characters, not objects and numbers. Humans are innately emotional creatures, and understand things best when they can relate to them on a personal level.

For example, if you’re presenting an environmental problem, talk about how it’s affecting people and animals instead of just introducing the problem in technical terms.

9. Include lots of practical examples.

Including numbers and data in your presentation is great, but if you don’t relate that information to the real world (i.e. give it context), your audience might get lost or bored.

One way to add context to your presentation content is to include a lot of practical examples. Telling people what a certain piece of information can mean for them in their everyday life can leave a much stronger impact than simply telling them the information exists.

Plus, relatable examples can make your presentation’s take-home message easier to digest and understand.

To explain this better, let’s consider an example (see what I did there?)

Look at the slide below — it’s taken from a redesigned Uber pitch deck that explains briefly how the ride-sharing service works and its key features.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

On its own, the slide above communicates little value. The audience knows how the service works, but they might not be clear about its real-world applications.

Following up with a slide like this one can help:

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Sharing potential use cases with the audience is a great way to show your audience why your idea is interesting, and how it can make a difference. In Uber’s case, it showed investors why the service was worth investing in.

10. Use presenter’s notes for additional information.

If you’re afraid that you’re going to forget important information and you’re tempted to write out all your talking points on your slide, stop right there.

Don’t make the mistake of cluttering your slides with text. If the information is too important to leave out, you can always add it into your presenter’s notes.

If you’re using a presentation software like Visme, you can include your presenter’s notes in the designated area at the bottom without sacrificing beautiful slide design.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

These notes will pop up as needed when you’re presenting, and you can choose to have them open on your computer screen while presenting the actual slides on the projector.

11. Incorporate your data in a visual way.

We’ve all been there; those long corporate meetings where you give it your all to pay attention to the statistics and numbers slowly being read off of an interminable spreadsheet.

Don’t make that same mistake in your presentation. Incorporate your data in a visual and engaging way by using charts, graphs, maps and data widgets.

The slide template below visualizes website traffic data with the help of a line graph.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Imagine if all of this information was written out in the form of a complex table full of intricate rows, columns and numbers — yawning? So are we.

When you use a presentation software like Visme, you can add 15+ different types of charts and graphs to your slides, and customize them to fit your design needs. Change their colors, add or remove legends, and even animate the charts.

You can also drag and drop thermometers, progress bars, radials and other data widgets to visualize percentages and stats. Or, use the map generator to visualize geographical information, like in the slide template below.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

You can make this map interactive, too. So, for example, when someone hovers on one of the regions on the map, additional data can be displayed.

Learn more about what data visualization is , why it’s important, and how to create your own impressive visual data.

Or, watch the quick video tutorial below to learn how to create a chart or graph in Visme.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

12. Use multimedia to engage your audience.

People’s brains love to be met with the unexpected. Unfortunately, many times presentations are just predictable slides with some text and bullet points on them.

You can make your presentation more exciting for your audience by adding multimedia into the slides. But multimedia presentations include more than just static photos.

They can also include media like embedded videos, GIFs, audio narrations, music, or interactive elements like quizzes, forms, hover effects, links, pop-ups and more.

You can easily create a similar presentation of your own using Visme’s presentation maker , which comes with a built-in GIPHY integration.

Another benefit of adding multimedia is that it will give you a nice little break from talking where you can regroup your thoughts and get ready for your next big point.

If you want to learn more, check out our complete guide on creating a multimedia presentation .

13. Prepare thought-provoking questions.

We humans are curious creatures who love to learn and have our brains picked at.

Use this to your advantage and captivate your audience’s attention by preparing some questions that require deep thinking on their part.

Here are some ideas:

Preparing questions in advance for your audience will have their wheels turning and attention on you for the upcoming answer.

14. Simplify your sentences.

One of the best ways to minimize the number of text on your slides is by using punchy phrases that aren’t full sentences.

For example, instead of writing, “The advantages of social media marketing are that it increases brand awareness, generates more inbound traffic, improves search engine rankings, higher conversion rates, provides more brand recognition authority and much more,” you can simplify this idea as:

SMM Advantages:

As you can see, these concise phrases aren’t full sentences and include less punctuation but still communicate the same message without distracting text.

Now that we know how to create a presentation outline and we also know what kind of content we need to prepare for our presentation, it’s time to jump into the actual design side of our presentation.

There are so many stunning presentation design ideas and trends you can follow, as well as presentation design tips you can implement to your presentation.

We’re going to cover a few of the most important design tips for you to follow to create a sleek presentation design your audience will love.

15. Consider your presentation’s mode of delivery.

Just as it’s important to figure out your presentation’s purpose in order to create its structure, likewise, you need to know how you will deliver your presentation in order to determine the design of it.

For example, for standalone presentations, it’s a great idea to add more text into your slides. But on the other hand, if you’re holding an in-person presentation, it might be a good idea to have less text on your slides.

Once you determine your presentation’s delivery, you can then determine the best presentation design style for it.

16. Choose your fonts carefully.

One of the best tips we can give you for sleek presentation design is to use only up to 3 fonts per slide.

If you end up using more than 3 fonts, you forfeit having a nice presentation design and you’ll risk looking messy and unprofessional.

Not only should you limit yourself to using 3 fonts, but you need to make sure that they are similar in style and complement each other, like in the example below.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

One way you can do this is by using font templates from Visme that are predesigned and handpicked by professional designers.

This way, you’ll never have to wonder if your fonts match or look good together ever again.

It’s also important that you keep the fonts you choose consistent throughout your design. This will give your presentation a polished and professional look overall.

If you want to change up the appearance of your font throughout your presentation, then play with the weight, styling, color and size of the text.

17. Use high-quality images, icons and visuals.

It’s very important that whatever visuals you choose to add to your presentation are of high quality.

Avoid using pixelated photos, images that have watermarks on them or blurry vector icons in your presentation. By not using high-quality content, you risk off-putting your audience.

Our presentation software has millions of high-resolution stock images and videos, and thousands of high-quality icons for every occasion for you to choose from.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

You can also upload your own images, videos, icons and other visuals from your computer, such as branded graphics or original photos.

By using high-quality visual content for your slides like in the example above, you’ll be taken much more seriously by your audience.

18. Keep everything in line with the grid.

Another key point to mention for optimal presentation design is to make sure every element lines up well with each other and is visually pleasing.

Symmetry is directly correlated with beauty , so integrate this knowledge into your slide design and try to keep everything balanced, symmetrical and pleasing to the eye.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

You can easily line everything up to each other by using a grid within our presentation editor, like in the example above.

19. Use a single, eye-catching transition.

Static presentations are a thing of the past. Make your presentation more engaging for your audience by using an animated transition between slides.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Visme has lots of different transitions that you can choose from, as seen above, but we recommend that you use one style of transition for your entire presentation to keep everything cohesive.

20. Focus on one main idea per slide.

In order to keep your design sleek and to not overwhelm your audience, it’s best practice to have one main idea or take away per slide. This way, you stay on track, your audience isn’t overwhelmed and your design will be on point because nothing will be cluttered.

You can also use an entire slide to ask a crucial question or highlight an important quote. If you want to bring attention to your next big point, try displaying a single concept on an entire slide.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

This will make for a great change of pace for your audience by quickly going through your slides, thus keeping them engaged with your presentation, and it will also showcase the importance of your next point.

21. Choose a cohesive color scheme.

There’s no doubt that color is important. In fact, studies show that colors can directly affect our mood and the way we feel.

Doing some research into the colors you should use for your presentation will greatly benefit your outcome.

This applies not only to the primary color you choose, but the supporting colors as well. It’s important to have a great complementary color scheme throughout your presentation.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

If you’re not sure what colors work well together, you can choose one from Visme’s color theme presets, as seen above, that are hand-picked by professional designers for your presentation.

If you have a business, then using your brand colors in your presentation is a great idea and will help with building brand recognition. With Visme, you can upload your brand colors directly to the editor or extract them from your logo.

It’s also important to note that you don’t use two light shades for both the background and text of your slide. To make your text stand out, you need to use contrasting colors.

For example, you can make the background black and your text a bright shade of green to make it stand out, or vice versa. Just be sure that your text is easily readable for your audience.

22. Proofread and polish your presentation.

As soon as you have a rough draft of your presentation, you need to begin the proofreading and polishing process.

One helpful trick of the trade when it comes to writing is using free grammar and spell-checking tools. Many times, they’ll catch things you may have never even noticed or seen before.

There are lots of free grammar tools out there for you to use. To name a couple, you could use Grammarly or ProWritingAid .

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

After going over your presentation a few times, it becomes easier for you to start seeing unnecessary information on your slides.

To make your slides more visually pleasing and less cluttered, you can shorten your text and sentences and condense them into main points and ideas. This will increase negative space in your slide and make it more aesthetically pleasing.

Don’t just quickly glance over your presentation once and call it a day. Go over your presentation a second, third time and even fourth time to make sure that it’s absolutely perfect.

In fact, have a second pair of eyes read over your presentation.

Many times, we become desensitized to our own work and miss out on little mistakes here and there. So, it’s important to let someone else have a look over it before you call it in.

23. Keep your slides on-brand

While designing your slides, always keep your brand identity in mind, especially if creating a crucial business presentation. It will distinguish you from competitors, prompt people to refer your products and services to others and connect people with your brand emotionally.

So, consider your brand colors, brand fonts, logo and other elements of your company’s visual identity. If you have not defined any of these elements, try choosing the design elements that match your brand personality and the theme of your presentation.

Use the presentation template below to put together brand guidelines for your company.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

However, if you are struggling to define your brand’s visual identity, you can download our free Brand Guide Handbook to get help. If you already have set your brand guidelines, you can use Visme’s Brand Design Tool to create slides according to your branding easily.

Visme's Dynamic Fields can help you ensure key brand information is accurate across all your slides. Simply create new dynamic fields or edit existing ones and assign values and your data will be updated in real-time.

You can have the most amazing presentation in the world on paper, but without proper delivery, it can turn into a complete flop.

So, now that you have all the knowledge on how to make a presentation, it’s time to discuss how you can deliver that presentation in a powerful way.

In this section, we’ll cover tips on how to give a killer presentation that leaves an impact.

24. Rehearse your presentation.

Practice, practice and practice again. That’s the way to presentation perfection.

That’s right, no matter how crazy you might sound to the downstairs neighbors practicing your speech out loud alone in your apartment, you need to do it.

Why? Because when you can actually hear yourself present your ideas out loud, you may realize that you’re missing key points of information.

While you’re at it practicing out loud, go in front of a mirror and strike some power poses.

Body language is everything when it comes to presenting your presentation in a powerful way. It can make or break your entire speech. So, use open-handed gestures, smile often and loosen up a bit to come across as a confident presenter.

If you’ve been allotted a certain amount of time for your presentation, then you need to practice while using a timer.

By practicing out loud with a timer, you’ll be able to adjust and readjust the information on your slides to make sure you get all your important information across to your audience.

Another way you can boost your confidence and kick stage fright before the big day of your presentation is to do a practice run of your presentation in front of others.

This will not only help you get used to public speaking, but it also gives them a chance to give you honest feedback on your presentation and let you know if there was anything that could use improvement.

25. Memorize your presentation.

Memorizing your speech for your presentation is no easy task. But the more you can remember while you’re up on stage and the fewer “umm’s” and “uh’s” you say, the better.

We rounded up the best ways to memorize a presentation that will significantly help you with your presentation delivery, but we’ll share a few with you here as well.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Apply the memorization techniques above while you’re rehearsing your presentation, but make sure you also understand each and every word.

26. Start strong to hook your audience.

When it comes to giving presentations, first impressions are extremely important.

The way you start can set the stage for the rest of your talk — you can either have the audience sit up in their seats and give you their full attention, or have them ready to doze off.

There are several proven techniques you can use to start your presentation in a powerful way, such as:

If you want to learn more about these presentation hooks and more in detail, read our guide to starting a presentation with examples from famous TED talks.

If you prefer watching a video instead, we’ve got you covered.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

27. Observe your audience’s behavior.

Remember, a presentation — or any talk for that matter — is not a one-way conversation. Effective communication involves constant feedback from the listener, and requires the speaker to react to that feedback appropriately.

So, how does this apply to presentation delivery?

When you’re up on the stage giving your presentation, make sure you constantly observe your audience and their reactions — this includes their facial expressions, body language and even questions.

You might sense your audience is getting bored, for example, if you see a few people fidgeting in their seats, yawning or looking at their phones.

This is your cue to switch things up a bit. For example, you can:

Similarly, if you see your audience is engaged with what you’re saying, continue with your enthusiasm and try to keep them hooked till the end.

28. Be authentic and vulnerable.

When giving a presentation, the worst thing you can do is try to be someone else and come across as pretentious and unoriginal.

In this TED talk, Brene Brown starts by revealing that she felt so vulnerable and embarrassed after one of her talks that she didn’t leave her house for three days.

Successful presenters are authentic, even if they are not perfect. They are relatable, grounded and vulnerable. Instead of hiding their failures, imperfections and insecurities, they share them with the audience and build an emotional connection.

When the audience finds you relatable, they are more inclined to listen to you and take you seriously.

29. Conclude your presentation on a high.

Just like it’s important to start your presentation with a powerful hook, likewise, you need to conclude your presentation in a way that it impacts your audience and leaves them thinking about your take-home message for a long time after.

There are several ways to close your presentation with style:

Here’s an infographic summarizing the main points above and more.

how to end a presentation visme infographic

Read our guide to learn more about how to close a presentation in a powerful way.

30. Leave time for questions at the end.

Our last piece of advice for preparing for and presenting an effective presentation is to get your audience involved and allocate time for their comments and questions at the end of your presentation.

Everyone wants to be heard, and if you did your job correctly, you should have sparked some conversation starters from your audience by the end of your presentation.

Give them your time and attention at the end of your presentation to show them you care about your presentation and most importantly, them.

31. Prepare backup content.

No matter how well prepared you are, it’s always better to have a backup because not everything may go the same as you planned.

Despite whatever your intention is, as a presenter, you should always have a plan B, C and sometimes D for your presentation. Put together statements that will cover you if you find yourself upsetting the audience.

Problems may occur due to location changes, technical difficulties and many other factors; you must always be prepared. Your backup content can be anything that can change the game as needed.

For example, you can prepare some backup questions that you can ask according to the situation, some additional relatable examples or even a few slides with different design elements that you might need to meet the requirements of your audience.

Ready to Make a Powerful Presentation?

Creating an impactful presentation requires careful planning, attention to content details and a good eye for design. But even the best presentations can fail if they’re not rehearsed and delivered properly.

If you’re ready to create an engaging presentation, we recommend using an intuitive presentation software like Visme.

Sure, you can whip up a plain-looking presentation in PowerPoint any day. But if you want your presentation to look creative and different from the rest, you need to use an innovative tool.

With features like data visualization tools, built-in stock images and videos, the ability to add your own fonts and brand colors, and hundreds of presentation templates for you to choose from, once you try it, you’ll likely never go back to anything else.

Not only will you be able to create stunning presentations, but you’ll also be able to share them, embed them and present them right from inside the editor.

Create beautiful presentations faster with Visme.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Recommended content for you:

3 Real-Life Elevator Pitch Examples to Help Nail Your Own [Including Templates]

Speak Loudly. Speak Visually.

Receive weekly practical tips on how to communicate visually, right in your inbox.

Please leave this field empty.

Create Stunning Content!

Design visual brand experiences for your business whether you are a seasoned designer or a total novice.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

About the Author

I’m Heleana and I’m a content creator here at Visme. My passion is to help people find the information they’re looking for in the most fun and enjoyable way possible. Let’s make information beautiful.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

We've updated our privacy policy. Click here to review the details. Tap here to review the details.

Activate your 30 day free trial to unlock unlimited reading.

How to make effective presentation

Satyajeet Singh

You are reading a preview.

Activate your 30 day free trial to continue reading.

Creating an effective power point presentation

Check these out next

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Download to read offline

Some guidelines to make an impressive presentation.

Recommended

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

More Related Content

Slideshows for you (20).

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Viewers also liked (20)

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Similar to How to make effective presentation (20)

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Recently uploaded (20)

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Share Clipboard

Public clipboards featuring this slide, select another clipboard.

Looks like you’ve clipped this slide to already.

You just clipped your first slide!

Create a clipboard

Get slideshare without ads, special offer to slideshare readers, just for you: free 60-day trial to the world’s largest digital library..

The SlideShare family just got bigger. Enjoy access to millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more from Scribd.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

You have now unlocked unlimited access to 20M+ documents!

Unlimited Reading

Learn faster and smarter from top experts

Unlimited Downloading

Download to take your learnings offline and on the go

Instant access to millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, podcasts and more.

Read and listen offline with any device.

Free access to premium services like Tuneln, Mubi and more.

Help us keep SlideShare free

It appears that you have an ad-blocker running. By whitelisting SlideShare on your ad-blocker, you are supporting our community of content creators.

We've updated our privacy policy.

We’ve updated our privacy policy so that we are compliant with changing global privacy regulations and to provide you with insight into the limited ways in which we use your data.

You can read the details below. By accepting, you agree to the updated privacy policy.

SlidesCarnival

SlidesCarnival

How to Create an Effective and Engaging Medical Presentation in 6 Easy Steps

Very few people seek out jobs based on public speaking opportunities — and that’s particularly true for medical professionals. 

But while life-saving research and discovery is some of the most important work medical teams will do, they also need to know how to share what they’ve learned .

Presentations are an effective way of unveiling new findings within scientific communities, training peers and juniors on essential new measures, and advancing your medical career — but there’s a great, and not so great, way of doing it. 

When the content is as important as this, you simply can’t run the risk of misleading, misinforming, or disengaging your audience. Your medical presentation needs to be concise and to the point, yet detailed enough to get buy-in. 

Whether you’re presenting a case for grand rounds, or lecturing a class of students, the information should be the center of attention — if your listeners are distracted by unnecessary clipart, or confused by the hierarchy of information, they won’t take away half of what you’re saying.

In short: getting the presentation design right is just as important as delivering it well. Here’s how to create an effective and engaging medical presentation — without wasting hours on PowerPoint!

Simple is better

Be wise with your color choice, don’t overcrowd slides with text, give your audience time to process, make graphs work for you, start with a template.

Those fancy templates in PowerPoint might look tempting, but when they are up on the big screen your audience may well find them distracting and confusing. 

When it comes to a medical presentation template, you want to avoid:

Now this is not to say that the best design is a barren one. Black text on a white background, slide after slide, won’t do much to inspire your audience either.

Create an Effective and Engaging Medical Presentation: Simple but not boring

Instead you want a minimalist design using a small but impactful color palette . Avoid unnecessary visual details, and let your content really do the talking. 

Our brains are hardwired to associate colors with feelings and emotions. For example, yellow is typically associated with extraversion and optimism, while green is evocative of peace and tranquillity (thanks to its links with nature).

But what color denotes “medical professional”?

Blue is widely used in both medical and business spheres, to convey reliability and trust. In fact, blue is the single most common logo color among the leading healthcare organizations in the USA and around the world!

And different shades of blue imply different things — lighter shades are gentle (good for pediatric care, for example) while darker shades like navy carry more weight and impact.

Gray can be a useful secondary presentation color, thanks to its neutrality, but use red sparingly — if at all. Red, while bold and assertive, tends to convey feelings of aggression. Hematologists are the only ones who can get away with using red in a medical presentation — and even then, it should still be used judiciously ! 

Create an Effective and Engaging Medical Presentation: Use blue to convey reliability and trust

If you want to learn more about this, take a look at our full guide to the psychology of color .

When you’re passionate about the work you’ve done, it’s tempting to lay it all out for the world to see. We’ve all been there before, but try to hold fire.

The more text you pack on to each slide, the less your audience will take away from the presentation. Remember: your presentation is not a document — even lecture slides should be designed as a presentation first and foremost. 

As a presenter, it’s your responsibility to land the most salient points in the moment . If that means having just two or three words on your slide, and verbalizing the rest, then do it.

Create an Effective and Engaging Medical Presentation: Don’t overcrowd slides with text

If you’re really worried about getting the finer details across, then supplement your slide deck with a printed handout and really take the time to expand on key messages as you speak. This may sound like double the work, but it’s simply counterproductive to crowd your slides with text.

Use visuals in place of text wherever possible, and try to avoid bullet points — they’ll just tempt you into writing more! 

Even if you’re talking to a room full of the brightest medical minds, they’ll still need a moment to catch up with what you’re saying.

And this pause can be delivered in a number of ways.

First, you can separate your presentation into several sections, thereby helping your audience navigate the overall flow of what you’re saying. For example: ‘Key findings’, ‘What this means for the medical world’, and ‘Next steps’. After each section, pause for a moment to let your message land — this is especially important for long or very dense presentations. Then, when you’ve got the room with you again, you can carry on.

Create an Effective and Engaging Medical Presentation: Time to process

You can use visuals to remind yourself to pause, too. When we’re nervous, we tend to rattle on to fill the silence. So a strategically placed slide, with nothing but a relevant image, will be your cue to take a breath and summarize what you’ve said before continuing.

Graphs and other visual data displays are the staple of all good medical presentations. Nothing beats a graph for highlighting trends and correlations, or the need for action in a particular area.

There are plenty of existing graphs you can find in textbooks and journals, but these are often low resolution and not suited to presenting to an audience — think about those at the back of the room! 

Instead, look for a better version online. And if you can’t find one, you can create your own.  

This is easy enough if you know your way around Excel. Using simple tables to input your data, you can create graphs that are hi-res enough to work in your presentation.

Create an Effective and Engaging Medical Presentation: Make graphs work

But, again, simple is better here. You want to use a clean design with no unnecessary data — use colors, text, and visuals to highlight your message. A blurry, overwhelming or hard-to-decipher graph will only muddle what you’ve got to say.

As a medical professional, you’ve probably got far more pressing things to worry about than upskilling yourself on PowerPoint, right? And that’s where presentation templates come in. 

Templates give you the bare bones of what you need for an engaging presentation design, allowing you to fill in the gaps with your expertise.

Even when you do that the time to sit down and dedicate a couple of hours to presentation design, it’s reassuring to know you’re starting from the right place. The best templates can either be rolled out within half an hour — just add in your findings, and go — or they can be tweaked and reworked, to include specific medical branding or other visual elements.

At SlidesCarnival we have a wide range of templates, specifically designed for medical presentations. The colors have been carefully chosen, the layouts lend themselves perfectly, text boxes are used just sparingly enough, and there’s a host of visual tools (like specialized icons) to help you keep your points tight. Sometimes a professional grade presentation is all you need to step up with confidence in front of colleagues, peers, mentees and other revered individuals from the medical and scientific community. So why worry about getting the design right? Just follow the tips we’ve laid out today, and lean on our medical presentation templates to get you started.

Best Medical Templates at SlidesCarnival

Free medical Powerpoint template and Google Slides theme with blue 3D shapes

Free medical Powerpoint template & Google Slides theme with blue 3D shapes

Free medical Powerpoint template and Google Slides theme with doctor and patients illustrations

Medical Illustrated. Free PowerPoint Template & Google Slides Theme

Free medical Powerpoint template or Google Slides theme

Free medical Powerpoint template or Google Slides theme in blue color

Free medical Powerpoint template or Google Slides theme with virus theme

Free medical Powerpoint template & Google Slides theme with virus

Free medical presentation - Powerpoint template or Google Slides theme

Free medical and health Powerpoint template or Google Slides theme

Reader interactions, leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Professional designs for your presentations

SlidesCarnival templates have all the elements you need to effectively communicate your message and impress your audience.

Suitable for PowerPoint and Google Slides

Download your presentation as a PowerPoint template or use it online as a Google Slides theme. 100% free, no registration or download limits.

Welp Magazine

Tips For Designing Effective PowerPoint Slides

March 6, 2023, 11:35 am

Tips For Designing Effective PowerPoint Slides

Designing effective PowerPoint slides may seem too easy at first. But, once you sit in front of your computer, you realize you don’t have a design in mind. Hence, if you use default designs on your computer, you may end up having a bad Powerpoint presentation.

You can make your presentation slides memorable for your target audience by looking at PowerPoint design ideas and using professionally made slide templates from Simple Slides. Not only do these slides look great, but they also help save time, for you don’t have to make everything from scratch.

This article will share some useful tips for designing effective PowerPoint slides. You and your slides will wow the presentation room with your amazing presentation.

10 Tips for Effective Powerpoint Presentations

You can create your own presentation that is engaging and interactive. Using all the animation or transition features of PowerPoint can be tempting. However, that doesn’t mean you must use all of them to make your slides awesome.

Below are some design tips for effective PowerPoint presentations. You can improve your presentations big time with the help of these tips.

1 . Use the Slide Master Feature

Before you become too excited to start working on your slides, you must first focus on the slide master of your presentation. The slide master feature allows you to make a consistent design template for your presentation. The slide master ensures you consistently use the same font, color, and background in your presentation.

The slide master is the very first slide in your presentation. This slide stores all the information for your presentation, including the overall theme or background, slide layouts, and font and color.

Using the Slide Master feature, you can instantly make changes to all the slides in the presentation. When you edit the slide master, it also affects all the other slides in the presentation. Though, you can still make changes to the content presentation on individual slides.

2. Choose Appropriate Fonts and Colors

When choosing a color scheme for your presentation, it is best to use contrasting colors for readable text. Dark text is paired with a light background, while light text is readable on dark background. Avoid using patterned backgrounds for the text may be unreadable.

Sans-serif fonts (Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica) are highly recommended for PowerPoint slides, for they are easily readable. Avoid using serif fonts (Times New Roman) as much as possible. Using a font size of at least 24 pt or higher is recommended.

Use bold fonts instead of italics because the text is more readable and gives more impact to your presentation.

In one slide, use a maximum of four colors and font only. Test your presentation slides on the projector screen before your live presentation begins.

3. Use Graphical Images and High-Resolution Pictures

It is highly recommended to use good-quality images for your PowerPoint presentations. Your choice of images should relate to your topic. Choose only one or two images per slide instead of using several small images.

With a simple design template, layout all the images to be the same size. If you include graphs or charts in your slide, you can label or explain them briefly.

4. Do Not Use Clip Art

There are several amazing pictures that you can use to make your presentation amazing. Do not use clip art on any of your slides, for it is a thing of the past and doesn’t add any impact to your presentation.

5. Apply the 6×6 Rule

The 6×6 rule suggests typing your thoughts or key ideas in one line. Each line should include no more than six words, and each slide should only have a maximum of six lines. You want your audience to enjoy your presentation, not bore them.

6. Avoid Text-Heavy Slides

Your PowerPoint presentation is not a cheat sheet that you can read during your presentation. Instead, your slides are there to emphasize key points to grab your audience’s attention.

Limiting the number of words per slide by typing only the important points of your topic is advisable. You can use bullet points to express your ideas. As much as possible, do not capitalize all letters in your presentation, and limit punctuation usage.

Also, when creating your slides, it is best to follow the natural reading order that the Western languages follow, which is from left to right.

7. Limit Animation or Effects

Use a single slide transition throughout your presentation so your audience can expect you to move to the next slide. Do not use flashy images or noisy animations unless it is part of a joke. But, otherwise, do not use it, for they are more of a distraction than an attraction.

Don’t just randomly choose sound effects, animations, or slide transitions that you feel look nice. All the elements that you use on your slides should have a purpose.

8. Use Empty Space

If your slides have many empty spaces, don’t be anxious that you need to fill them up with more text or images. Several elements in a slide can result in confusion and clutter. The use of empty space can enhance readability of your presentation.

9. Keep your Presentation Design Simple

Everyone wants to make the best PowerPoint presentation. But, many equate best with overly decorative slides. You cannot create a great presentation with so much going on. The best presentations are simple yet appealing.

A minimalist design template offers clarity and consistency. A simple design template is not distracting; instead, it can attract or sustain your audience’s attention.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. what are the tips for designing an effective powerpoint presentation.

There are several tips for designing an effective PowerPoint presentation. Some of these tips include using appropriate fonts and colors, using high-quality images and avoiding clip art, using animations, effects, and transitions sparingly, and applying the concept of empty spaces in your presentation.

2. What is the 5-5-5 PowerPoint rule?

The 5-5-5 PowerPoint rule states that each slide should have only five lines of text, and each line should not exceed five words. Also, there should be no more than five consecutive slides loaded with text.

When designing effective Powerpoint slides, always keep the design simple. A simple design is not boring when using professionally made PowerPoint templates.

A simple design is effective because it has the power to deliver a clearer message and offer a better visual impact to the audience. The tips listed above are straightforward; you can try them immediately on your next presentation.

Photo by Tomasz Gawłowski on Unsplash

The Best Video Conference Headsets

Which is the best headphones color | bright and beautiful colored headphones.

© 2023 by Fupping Media

Username or Email Address

Remember Me

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Privacy policy.

To use social login you have to agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website. %privacy_policy%

Add to Collection

Public collection title

Private collection title

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.

RGBLatte

5 tips to create an effective presentation (with images!)

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

PowerPoint remains a highly popular tool from the Microsoft Office suite. Sources estimate that more than a billion computers have it installed , and that up to 30 million PowerPoint presentations are created daily. When you open a new PowerPoint presentation, you will be faced with a bare-bones, blank canvas that you will build into a presentation for whatever purpose it may be. You can also use one of the many presentation templates for your effective presentation, which should do the trick (though there are also a few very questionable templates available). A bad template will be bad for your presentation, no matter how good the content itself is (there are also a few awful ways of presenting your data, which will be detrimental to your presentation even if the presentation you create or template you select are good).

In this article, we share how you can create a visually effective PowerPoint presentation for work, an interview, for school, or any other occasion where you need to capture your audience with visual storytelling. Read all the way to the bottom for a list of free resources to create excellent presentations.

Steve Jobs always knew how to put together an effective presentation

Steve Jobs was famous for his effective presentations. Photo via Blake Patterson on Flickr.

Liam Curley is the founder of Motivado and an expert in creating business presentations that effectively help his clients secure clients and business deals via pitches and presentations. In his Twitter account ,  he has shared a very useful thread listing five design principles to create an attractive and effective PowerPoint presentation inspired by Apple’s legendary design. For your convenience, we also lay out these points here for you, with some of our on thoughts and advice on the topic. All information and images are copyright of Liam Curley.

1) Effective Presentation Tip: Background Color

→ what you do for the presentation deck:.

Use a dark background. We want them focused on you, the speaker. Plus, bright visuals pop more against dark (We fully agree, remember that if the presentation will be projected into or casted on a screen, a dark background will create a lot more contrast, make text and images stand out more, and also be easier on the eyes of the viewers.)

→ What you do for the takeaway deck:

Use a light background. It’s easier to read black on white (Once more, great tip! The takeaway deck will be the last slide and likely also present in the printed version of the presentation. It will visually separate it from the rest of the presentation as the last slide offering the main takeaways).

Presentation Deck vs. Takeaway Deck

A Presentation Deck (left) is your visual support during an oral presentation, while a Takeaway Deck (right) is a slide shown towards the end of a presentation, normally so your audience can consult at a later time. Image © Liam Curley

(A bit of extra information: A Presentation Deck is what you use as visual support during an oral presentation. A Takeaway Deck is a slide offered towards the end of a presentation, normally so your audience can consult at a later time).

2) Effective Presentation Tip: Layout

Ever wondered how Apple create a beautiful aesthetic with seemingly very little content? They use a consistent layout. Everything is working towards a grid. The spacing isn’t random, it’s all aligned.

→ What you do

Turn on gridlines. ( This is a key point. Consistency and uniformity are key in keeping your viewers engaged. Colors, styles, and borders should also remain consistent. If you work for a company, chances are they already provide a corporate template designed by professional and with uniform design elements. If you are a freelancer, we highly recommend you create a template of your own following the principles show in this article. It will not only make you look professional, it will become an integral part of  your branding.)

Use a consistent, minimalist layout

Use a consistent, minimalist layout in your presentations. Image © Liam Curley

3) Effective Presentation Tip: Typography

You can create interesting slides with nothing other than great font. They have a voice, so choose your font with intention.

→ What you do:

Identify 4 qualities you’d like to be associated with and look for a font conveying them.  (We could not agree more. A font can make or break and presentation or piece of graphic design. You can go for safe options such as Garamond, Futura, or Helvetica. You can also try something bolder, but use it sparingly such as just for Headers. We personally recommend using one or two fonts maximum, and being consistent with text elements such as the already-mentioned Headers, as well as Sub-headers and Paragraphs. You can learn more about the principle of fonts and typography here ).

use simple and clear fonts

Select a great font and be consistent with its use. Image © Liam Curley

4) Effective Presentation Tip: Negative space

Apple use negative (white) space in their stores and design. Firstly, because we all associate big space with luxury. Secondly, they use it to draw attention to key messaging.

Give your content room to breathe. (Negative space is an incredibly effective and powerful design principle. It is overall useful in graphic design, but also crucial in UX, and UI, to which digital presentations belong. ( Learn more this design principle’s application in design here ).

Use negative space

Use negative space – It is based on the principle of “less is more”. Image © Liam Curley

5) Effective Presentation Tip: Photography

Apple use great photography. You can see the subtle difference in the visual of a real photo taken in context versus a stock image (fake happy).

Don’t be lazy. If you don’t have access to great photos, take real ones yourself.   (Here we’ll have to disagree. While it is true that “stocky” stock photography should be avoided, there is a plethora of websites with vibrant, authentic stock images. Check our list of resources below).

use good photography

Use authentic, professional photography that doesn’t look stocky. Image © Liam Curley

And those are the five tips to make your next PowerPoint presentation more visually appealing. These design principles don’t apply just to presentations, that is why we’ve added a few recommended readings throughout the article. Take a look at them and apply them to your creative projects and branding.

An important takeaway here is that while Apple’s main products are electronics, their presentations follow the exact same design principles and choices as their products, creating a unified brand identity. You can do the exact same with your projects and personal branding to become recognizable and transmit the quality of your work through every visual support you use. As promised, below are a few FREE resources to help you with your next presentation:

A few alternatives to PowerPoint:

PowerPoint may be the most well-known tool for digital presentations, but there are a few alternatives out there:

Resources for free stock images:

As we mentioned during the article, long-gone are the days where stock photos all looked cheesy and staged (though that still can still hold true with a few agencies). Here are some pages offering you amazing free stock photos:

We have also compiled a list of websites for free historical photos for you!

Resources for free fonts:

In the “Typography” section of this article we said that you can play it safe with some classic fonts, most likely readily in your computer and on online software. However, if you want to try something out-of-the-box, find your new signature font here:

We have also compiled a list of over 100 free fonts for you!

Cover Photo by Alex Litvin on Unsplash

Share this article

hello[at]rgblatte.com

© RGB Latte 2022 |  Pr ivacy Policy

Website redesign by Mutual Design

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Create a presentation

Create a presentation in PowerPoint

Your browser does not support video. Install Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flash Player, or Internet Explorer 9.

Create presentations from scratch or start with a professionally designed, fully customizable template from Microsoft Create .

Open PowerPoint.

In the left pane, select New .

Select an option:

To create a presentation from scratch, select Blank Presentation .

To use a prepared design, select one of the templates.

To see tips for using PowerPoint, select Take a Tour , and then select Create , .

Create new PowerPoint

Add a slide

In the thumbnails on the left pane, select the slide you want your new slide to follow.

In the  Home tab, in the  Slides  section, select  New Slide .

In the Slides section, select Layout , and then select the layout you want from the menu.

PowerPoint slide layouts

Add and format text

Place the cursor inside a text box, and then type something.

Select the text, and then select one or more options from the Font section of the Home tab, such as  Font , Increase Font Size , Decrease Font Size ,  Bold , Italic , Underline , etc.

To create bulleted or numbered lists, select the text, and then select Bullets or Numbering .

PowerPoint format text

Add a picture, shape, and more

Go to the  Insert  tab.

To add a picture:

In the Images section, select Pictures .

In the Insert Picture From menu, select the source you want.

Browse for the picture you want, select it, and then select Insert .

To add illustrations:

In the Illustrations section, select Shapes , Icons , 3D Models ,  SmartArt , or Chart .

In the dialog box that opens when you click one of the illustration types, select the item you want and follow the prompts to insert it.

Insert Images in PowerPoint

Need more help?

Want more options.

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Microsoft 365 subscription benefits

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Microsoft 365 training

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Microsoft security

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Accessibility center

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Ask the Microsoft Community

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Microsoft Tech Community

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Windows Insiders

Microsoft 365 Insiders

Find solutions to common problems or get help from a support agent.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Online support

Was this information helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

12 Effective PowerPoint presentation tips

Introduction.

PowerPoint presentations are quite popular in the business world, especially in corporate offices. Yet, so many people don’t know how to put together an effective presentation or create good slides, as you will see later in this article. I will share with you some of the best PowerPoint presentation tips and 12 tips for creating better PowerPoint presentations. But first, we will look at the best way to deliver a PowerPoint presentation to an audience and get the best results.

What is the best way to give a PowerPoint presentation? 

Many people will tell you the different ways they give their presentations. Still, the following remains the main tips for a good PowerPoint presentation that you should follow to give a great presentation.

1. Make use of the stage

One of the PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks you have to follow is to make good use of your stage and use your movement to tell your story. Instead of standing stiffly in place, you can walk around purposely and keep your audience’s attention on you. Walking around doesn’t mean wandering; instead, you have to stride purposefully and confidently. This is one of the tips for a great PowerPoint presentation for keeping your audience alert.

2. Use the proper body language

Body language is very important for storytelling , and one of the important tips for a good PowerPoint presentation is to master the art of positive body language . When you know how to use body language , you can add to your speech and win your audience’s trust, as you will see in my next point.

3. Be authentic and relatable

One of the top PowerPoint presentation tips experts tell new presenters is to connect with their audience and get them to relate to them. You can’t connect with an audience that finds you fake or stiff. Be yourself, and don’t try to show off a false personality

4. Maintain eye contact with the audience

Maintaining eye contact is important for any presenter because it helps you build rapport with the audience. Most PowerPoint presentation tips say that the best way to do this is to pick 4-5 random members of the audience and maintain eye contact with them for some seconds. It helps you feel less nervous and helps them remain connected to you and your presentation.

5. Practice the presentation days beforehand

You have to practice at least a few days before your presentation. Consistent practice helps you master your presentation to the point that you sound like you are talking by heart. You can practice on your own or with the help of some tools . Also, try out the speech on people who can give you feedback.

6. Defer to your audience’s needs

One of the PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks is kowtowing to your audience and giving them exactly what they need . You do this by first studying the audience and finding out what makes them tick. You can even ask them leading questions to help you understand.

7. Be entertaining

No matter how good your presentation is, your delivery determines how your audience will receive it. If you’re stiff and boring, you can lose interest within minutes. Some of the PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks for entertaining your audience are to tell stories and make jokes. A good story can deliver the point of your presentation faster than you can explain it .

8. Train your voice

Y our voice is an important tool for your presentation as it can add any meaning you want to your words. Your speech won’t make an impact without the backing of a well-cultured speech . One of the PowerPoint presentation tips that many uses are to speed up or slow down their voices to incite excitement, sadness, anger, or any other emotion into their speech .

What are some tips for making a good PowerPoint presentation?

1. keep things simple (words and transitions).

This is one of the most important PowerPoint presentation tips in this article. Your aim is to leave your audience enlightened or inspired, as the case may be. Your best bet at that is to use easily understood language to ensure that everyone understands you.

2. Add good quality pictures

Every picture you put in your slides has to be of high quality, especially if used to illustrate a point. Ideally, you should have one picture per slide for detailed pictures. One of the PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks is to use two pictures max on a slide if they aren’t detailed or labeled.

3. Learn how to navigate your screens

There are few things more annoying than a presenter who is confused by their slides. You need to master the slides beforehand so you can switch them as needed. In fact, one of the PowerPoint presentation tips is to memorize the slide changes until you can change them without looking.

4. Don’t read from the slides

Reading directly of the slides is a rookie mistake that can ruin your presentation. Your slides are for the benefit of your audience and not you. Reading from them shows you are not fully versed in what you’re presenting and can cost your presentation.

5. Don’t use too many animations

Some people get carried away with PowerPoint animations, especially if the topic requires interesting animations. While it isn’t wrong to use animations, one of the PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks is to stick to one animation throughout your slide. 

6. Use large text

Using large text is one of those PowerPoint presentation tips that seem obvious. But, several people make the mistake of sizing their text without considering the people standing the farthest away. Your slides should have large enough text that every member of the audience can see.

Put these tips to work and practice your presentation with Orai

Why are most PowerPoint presentations terrible?

Too much packed in.

Too many people fall for the wrong idea that their slides have to show everything included in their presentation. On the contrary, one of the top PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks is to keep your slides as simple and neat as possible. That way, your audience can read what you have on easily without straining their eyes.

Extreme animations and transitions

Another misconception people tend to have with their PowerPoint slides is that they need different animations and transitions to keep them interesting. That is far from the truth and only serves to make the presentation look messy. One animation and transition per slideshow does the job and doesn’t distract from the topic.

Overdoing it with pictures

V isual aids are great to use in your PowerPoint slides, but some people take it over the top . The main PowerPoint presentation tips state that you should only use relevant visual aids per slide. Else they can crowd your slide and make it harder to understand.

Funny fonts

Fonts can be quite boring, so it makes sense for people to avoid having a plain slideshow by using interesting fonts. However, using too many fancy fonts or extremely cursive fonts that are hard to read can be detrimental to your presentation. 

Boring color schemes

As much as too colorful slides are considered bad, boring slides aren’t much better. You don’t want to bore your audience to sleep during the presentation, so you should use some more interesting colors. The main PowerPoint presentation tip and trick regarding colors is to use three different colors at most in your slide.

How to create a unique presentation

These are the top 12 tips for creating better PowerPoint presentations that you should follow

1. Create a color scheme

One of the top 12 tips for creating better PowerPoint presentations is to create a custom color scheme using complementary colors. It will make your work look more polished and put together.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Image source

2. Highlight large images

If you have large enough images to fit in your slide, you can highlight them instead of placing them next to some text. This creates a cleaner slide that your audience can still understand fully.

3. Match your fonts to the topic

Fonts can tell different stories. Some are more suited to formal presentations, while you can get away with using more interesting fonts in informal situations. Make sure your fonts match and keep them readable.

4. Use audio and video files

Using a video in the middle of a slideshow is one of the PowerPoint presentation tips. Instead of just text and images, you can include audio and videos explaining your slide in a captivating way.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

5. Use a unique background image

Your background image should be unique and well-thought-out. You can use any picture, but make sure it is also good enough to place text without distraction.

6. Use speech bubbles

Instead of writing out thoughts or notes, one of the 12 tips for creating better PowerPoint presentations is to use speech bubbles. They add a bit of whimsy to your slides, and they can be a creative method if you use them correctly.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

7. Try out different styles

One of the PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks is to try out different styles until you find the one that resonates with your best. When you find your style, every other thing can fall into place.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

8. Don’t follow the regular PowerPoint rules

There are preset themes and defaults on PowerPoint that tend to show up in many slides. One of the tips for a good PowerPoint presentation is to avoid them and customize your slide to your tastes.

9. Get rid of bullets

Bullets are boring, and they can make an otherwise beautiful slide look bland. You can try using visual charts to show your points. They look much better, and you can customize them to match your theme.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

10. Include interesting touches

You can create unique slides using animations that can set your slides apart. However, you have to be careful not to go overboard with them.

11. Create a timeline to illustrate your story

Adding a timeline is one of those PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks that adds a bit of uniqueness to your slides. The timeline can show your presentation’s direction, and you can signify each step with a different icon.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

12. Steer clear of the traditional slides

The last 12 tips for creating better PowerPoint presentations are to dump the traditional slide transition method. Instead, you can make an infographic, scroll vertically, or use features to improve the slides’ look.

What are the rules of a good PowerPoint presentation?

In addition to the PowerPoint presentation tips you can find, there are still some rules you have to follow when creating a presentation. These rules help you to create a great PowerPoint presentation that you can use anywhere.

The 10/20/30 rule is the most popular in PowerPoint, and it states that your entire presentation should only have 10 slides, last for only 20 minutes, and with a font of at least 30 minutes. An audience won’t pay too much attention to a presentation much longer than ten minutes, and thirty minutes is the smallest font you can use for the audience to read your slide. Also, the rule states that you should talk for twenty minutes regardless of how much time you have – you can use the rest of the time for answers and discussions.

The 5/5/5 rule states your slide should have 5 words per line of text, no more than 5 lines per slide, and 5 text-based slides in a row, so your slides don’t overwhelm your audience.

The 2/4/8 rule states that you should spend at least 2 minutes on one slide , don’t use more than 4 bullets in the presentation, and have at most 8 words in each bullet.

The 7/7 rule states that each line of your slide should have 7 words at most, and each slide should have no more than 7 lines. With this rule, you are less likely to put too much information into your slides.

The billboard test is for checking the readability of the presentation. Your audience should be able to read your slides as easily as they can read a billboard while on the move.

What are the top presentation skills?

If you work in an office or in any formal capacity, you need PowerPoint presentation tips and presentation skills to help you deliver effective and clear presentations . Most businesses depend on presentations to thrive, so you need to show that you’re a valuable member of the organization. Everyone needs these skills regardless of their position.

These are some of the skills you need in every stage of your presentation, from the preparatory stage to the delivery and then the follow-up.

What separates a good presenter from a bad one?

How to prepare yourself for a presentation.

Some of the PowerPoint presentation tips include having a good night’s sleep, doing some light exercise, practicing self-care, eating well, and practicing the presentation speech .

What should be the word limit on a PPT slide?

The average word limit per PPT slide should be 30 words.

What makes an effective PowerPoint presentation?

Many tips for a good PowerPoint presentation give confidence , articulation, humor, statistics, suitable slides, and an engaged audience as some of the bases of an effective presentation .

What are some cool Microsoft PowerPoint presentation tricks?

Some tips for a good PowerPoint presentation include putting pictures into shapes, customizing icons, editing and merging shapes, writing curved text on shapes, embedding fonts, audio and video files, flipping shapes, images, and clip art, and drawing on your slide. If you want the audience to concentrate on you, you can use the ‘B’ and the ‘W’ buttons to blackout your slides or white them out, respectively.

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

How to prepare myself for an online presentation

An online presentation is not that different from an in-person presentation, so you can use the same PowerPoint presentation tips. Additional tips include dressing appropriately, ensuring your devices and wi-fi work well, and arranging your background.

The PowerPoint presentation tips in this article will help with creating the best PowerPoint presentations. Incorporating them into your presentations can drastically improve your presentation skills. Also, the 12 tips for creating better PowerPoint presentations will make you a better PowerPoint presenter. 

12 Effective PowerPoint presentation tips

About the Author

Abhishek kg.

I like building and growing simple yet powerful products for the world and the worldwide web.

You might also like

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Presentation Software: PowerPoint Alternatives

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

2022 Complete Guide to Presentation Templates 📊

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

4 Steps To Deliver The Best Graduation Speech 👩‍🎓

Other stories, 5 worst presentations ever & why they went wrong, 7 tips to acing your interview presentation.

Master Public Speaking

Trent Forward: Learn more about our response to COVID-19.

Home

A female student writing in her notebook

Creating Effective Powerpoint Slides

Plan: look at the big picture.

Keep It Simple and Clear

Oral Presentation

A good PowerPoint slideshow complements your presentation by highlighting your key message, providing structure, and illustrating important details.

While it is not difficult to create a good PowerPoint presentation, it is very easy to create a bad one. Bad PowerPoint presentations may have one or more of the following characteristics: too much specialized detail, too many slides, too many colours, unnecessary images or effects, small text, unreadable figures, and/or unclear slide order.

The strategies below can help you to create effective presentations and to save your audience from “death by PowerPoint.”

Creating Slides

You are now ready to create individual slides. If you have never used PowerPoint before, you can find hundreds of good tutorials online. Find one that works for you.

The classic PowerPoint error is to write sentences on a slide and read them. Rather than treating your slides as a script for your presentation, let the content on your slides support your message. Remember: LESS IS MORE .

Figures and Images

General Design Principles

Even with the best of PowerPoints, good presentations require practice and refinement Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! Listen for awkward or unclear wording and make edits as needed. Keep an eye on time limits. Practice presenting alone, but also for friends.

Advance the slide when you reach that point in the presentation. Do not stand in front of the screen or talk to it. Face the audience at all times.

Try to test your presentation in the room before your talk; you may need to adjust the colours or font size for the room and equipment. For further information, see How to Prepare and Deliver an Oral Presentation .

Have a Back-Up Plan

Remember that PowerPoint may look great, but technical failures do happen. Mentally prepare for any eventuality. Make sure to save the presentation several ways: save on a USB stick and email it to yourself. Print out the slides to have a paper version in case of equipment failure and practice giving your presentation without your slides.

How To Guides

Home Blog Presentation Ideas 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

PowerPoint presentations are not usually known for being engaging or interactive. That’s often because most people treat their slides as if they are notes to read off  and not a tool to help empower their message.

Your presentation slides are there to help bring to life the story you are telling. They are there to provide visuals and empower your speech.

So how do you go about avoiding a presentation “snoozefest” and instead ensure you have an engaging and interactive presentation?  By making sure that you use your slides to help YOU tell your story, instead of using them as note cards to read off of.

The key thing to remember is that your presentation is there to compliment your speech, not be its focus.

In this article, we will be going over several tips and tricks on how you can become a storytelling powerhouse by building a powerful and engaging PowerPoint presentation.

Start with writing your speech outline, not with putting together slides

Use more images and less text, use high-quality images, keep the focus on you and your presentation, not the powerpoint, your presentation should be legible from anywhere in the room, use a consistent presentation design, one topic per slide, avoid information overwhelm by using the “rule of three”.

Avoid unnecessary animations

Do not use PowerPoint as a teleprompter

Re-focus the attention on you by fading into blackness

Change the tone of your voice when presenting, host an expert discussion panel, ask questions, embed videos, use live polling to get instant feedback and engage the audience.

He was known to practice, practice, and keep on practicing.

Summary – how to make your presentation engaging & interactive, fundamental rules to building powerful & engaging presentation slides.

Before we go into tips and tricks on how to add flair to your presentations, it’s essential to get the fundamentals of your presentation right.

Your PowerPoint presentation is there to compliment your message, and the story you are telling. Before you can even put together slides, you need to identify the goal of your speech, and the key takeaways you want your audience to remember.

YOU and your speech are the focus of this presentation, not the slides – use your PowerPoint to compliment your story.

Keep in mind that your slides are there to add to your speech, not distract from it.  Using too much text in your slides can be distracting and confusing to your audience. Instead, use a relevant picture with minimal text, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Use more images and less text

This slide is not unusual, but is not a visual aid, it is more like an “eye chart”.

Aim for something simpler, easy to remember and concise, like the slides bellow.

Keep in mind your audience when designing your presentation, their background and aesthetics sense. You will want to avoid the default clip art and cheesy graphics on your slides.

Use high-quality images for engaging presentations before and after

While presenting make sure to control the presentation and the room by walking around, drawing attention to you and what you are saying.  You should occasionally stand still when referencing a slide, but never turn your back to your audience to read your slide.

You and your speech are the presentations; the slides are just there to aid you.

Most season presenters don’t use anything less than twenty-eight point font size, and even Steve Jobs was known to use nothing smaller than forty point text fonts.

If you can’t comfortably fit all the text on your slide using 28 font size than you’re trying to say and cram too much into the slide, remember tip #1.4 – Use relevant images instead and accompany it with bullets.

Best Practice PowerPoint Presentation Tips

The job of your presentation is to help convey information as efficiently and clearly as possible. By keeping the theme and design consistent, you’re allowing the information and pictures to stand out.

However by varying the design from slide to slide, you will be causing confusion and distracting from the focus, which is you and the information to be conveyed on the slide.

Looking for beautiful PowerPoint Templates that provide you with a consistent design

Each slide should try and represent one topic or talking point. The goal is to keep the attention focused on your speech, and by using one slide per talking point, you make it easy for you to prepare, as well as easy for your audience to follow along with your speech.

Sometimes when creating our presentation, we can often get in our heads and try to over explain. A simple way to avoid this is to follow the “ Rule of Three ,” a concept coined by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

The idea is to stick to only 3 main ideas that will help deliver your point.  Each of the ideas can be further broken into 3 parts to explain further. The best modern example of this “Rule of Three” can be derived from the great Apple presentations given by Steve Jobs – they were always structured around the “Rule of Three.”

Rule of Three PowerPoint Presentation

Display one sentence at a time

If you are planning to include text in your slides, try to avoid bullet lists, and use one slide per sentence. Be short and concise. This best practice focuses on the idea that simple messages are easy to retain in memory. Also, each slide can follow your storytelling path, introducing the audience in each concept while you speak, instead of listing everything beforehand.

Presentation Blunders To Avoid

In reality, there is no need for animations or transitions in your slides.

It’s great to know how to turn your text into fires or how to create a transition with sparkle effects, but the reality is the focus should be on the message. Using basic or no transitions lets the content of your presentation stand out, rather than the graphics.

If you plan to use animations, make sure to use modern and professional animations that helps the audience follow the story you are telling, for example when explaining time series or changing events over time.

Only add engaging content that supports your main points

You might have a great chart, picture or even phrase you want to add, but when creating every slide, it’s crucial to ask yourself the following question.

“Does this slide help support my main point?”

If the answer is no, then remove it.  Remember, less is more.

A common crutch for rookie presenters is to use slides as their teleprompter.

First of all, you shouldn’t have that much text on your slides. If you have to read off something, prepare some index cards that fit in your hand but at all costs do not turn your back on your audience and read off of your PowerPoint.  The moment you do that, you make the presentation the focus, and lose the audience as the presenter.

Avoid To Give Out Copies of the Presentation

At least not before you deliver a killer presentation; providing copies of your presentation gives your audience a possible distraction where they can flip through the copy and ignore what you are saying.

It’s also easy for them to take your slides out of context without understanding the meaning behind each slide.  It’s OK to give a copy of the presentation, but generally it is better to give the copies AFTER you have delivered your speech. If you decide to share a copy of your presentation, the best way to do it is by  generating a QR code  for it and placing it at the end of your presentation. Those who want a copy can simply scan and download it onto their phones.

Avoid To Give Out Copies of the Presentation

Tips To Making Your Presentation More Engaging

The point of your presentation is to help deliver a message.

When expanding on a particularly important topic that requires a lengthy explanation it’s best to fade the slide into black.  This removes any distraction from the screen and re-focuses it on you, the present speaker. Some presentation devices have a built-in black screen button, but if they don’t, you can always prepare for this by adding a black side into your presentation at the right moment.

“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Part of making your presentation engaging is to use all the tools at your disposal to get your point across. Changing the inflection and tone of your voice as you present helps make the content and the points more memorable and engaging.

One easy and powerful way to make your presentation interactive is experts to discuss a particular topic during your presentation. This helps create a more engaging presentation and gives you the ability to facilitate and lead a discussion around your topic.

It’s best to prepare some questions for your panel but to also field questions from the audience in a question and answer format.

How To Make Your Presentation More Interactive

What happens if I ask you to think about a pink elephant?  You probably briefly think about a pink elephant, right?

Asking questions when presenting helps engage the audience, arouse interest and curiosity.  It also has the added benefit of making people pay closer attention, in case they get called on.

So don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if rhetorical; asking a question engages a different part of our brain. It causes us to reflect rather than merely taking in the information one way. So ask many them.

Asking questions can also be an excellent way to build suspense for the next slide.

Steve Jobs iPad launch presentation in Macworld 2008

(Steve Jobs was known to ask questions during his presentations, in this slide he built suspense by asking the audience “Is there space for a device between a cell phone and a laptop?” before revealing the iPad) Source: MacWorld SF 2018

Remember the point of your presentation is to get a message across and although you are the presenter, it is completely fine to use video in your PowerPoint to enhance your presentation.  A relevant video can give you some breathing time to prepare the next slides while equally informing the audience on a particular point.

CAUTION: Be sure to test the video beforehand, and that your audience can hear it in the room.

A trending engagement tool among presenters is to use a live polling tool to allow the audience to participate and collect immediate feedback.

Using a live polling tool is a fun and interactive way to engage your audience in real-time and allowing them to participate in part of your presentation.

Google Slides Poll with Audience Questions

Google Slides has a built-in Q&A feature that allows presenters to make the slide deck more interactive by providing answer to audience’s questions. By using the Q&A feature in Google Slides, presenters can start a live Q&A session and people can ask questions directly from their devices including mobile and smartphones.

Key Takeaways from one of the best presenters, Steve Jobs

He kept his slides uncluttered and always strove for simplicity.

In this slide, you can easily see he is talking about the battery life, and it uses a simple image and a few words. Learning from Jobs, you can also make a great presentation too. Focus on the core benefit of your product and incorporate great visuals.

Battery Steve Jobs Slides

Source: Macworld 2008

SlideModel.com can help to reproduce high-impact slides like these, keeping your audience engaging.

Engaging PowerPoint template with battery and minimalistic style

He was known to use large font size, the bigger, the better

A big font makes it hard to miss the message on the slide, and allows the audience to focus on the presenter while clearing the understanding what the point of the slide is.

He found made the complex sound simple

When explaining a list of features, he used a simple image and lines or simple tables to provide visual cues to his talking points.

Steve Jobs Presentation Styles

(This particular slide is referencing the iMac features)

What made Steve Jobs the master of presentation, was the ritual of practicing with his team, and this is simple yet often overlooked by many presenters.  It’s easy to get caught in the trap of thinking you don’t need to practice because you know the material so well.

While all these tips will help you create a truly powerful presentation , it can only achieve if applied correctly.

It’s important to remember when trying to deliver an amazing experience, you should be thoroughly prepared. This way, you can elevate your content presentation, convey your message effectively and captivate your audience.

This includes having your research cited, your presentation rehearsed.  Don’t just rehearse your slides, also take time to practice your delivery, and your tone.  The more you rehearse, the more relaxed you will be when delivering. The more confident you will feel.

While we can’t help you with the practicing of your next presentation, we can help you by making sure you look good, and that you have a great design and cohesiveness.

How to deliver your next presentation

You focus on the message and content; we’ll focus on making you look good.

Have a tip you would like to include?  Be sure to mention it in the comments!

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Like this article? Please share

Audience, Engaging, Feedback, Interactive, Poll, Rule of Three, Steve Jobs Filed under Presentation Ideas

Related Articles

A Manager’s Guide to Interpersonal Communication

Filed under Business • April 30th, 2020

A Manager’s Guide to Interpersonal Communication

People are promoted to management positions for a variety of reasons. For many, they rise to the top because of their knowledge, technical skills, and decision-making capabilities. As a manager, your effectiveness also strongly depends on your ability to communicate well with your team members and other stakeholders. Here is a quick guide on Interpersonal Communication for Managers.

Using 360 Degree Feedback in Your Organization

Filed under Business • June 27th, 2019

Using 360 Degree Feedback in Your Organization

Many organizations use 360 degree feedback to provide assessment for employees via multiple sources to analyze the knowledge, skill and behavior of employees. It is also known as multi-rater feedback, multi-source feedback, 360 Degree Review and multi-source assessment, since it is used frequently for assessing the performance of an employee and to determine his/her future […]

Using the Zeigarnik Effect for Presenting Like a Pro

Filed under Presentation Ideas • April 4th, 2019

Using the Zeigarnik Effect for Presenting Like a Pro

Motivating yourself to complete a task using out of the box methods can be a great way of improving your performance. If you’re a presenter looking to rope in your audience with an intriguing speech or a killer presentation, you can learn a trick or two from the entertainment industry; which often uses compelling content […]

2 Responses to “23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations”

Very great advices!

Greetings ! A compact composed communication for the host to have an impact -VOICE

Thank You ?

Leave a Reply

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Salawu Habeeblai

5 AI Tools using ChatGTP to Create Impressive PowerPoint Presentation design

PowerPoint presentations are a great way to convey information and ideas in a structured and engaging manner. However, creating visually appealing and effective presentations can be a time-consuming and challenging task. This is where AI-powered tools can come in handy. In this blog post, we will explore five different AI tools that use GTP (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) to help you create impressive PowerPoint presentations effortlessly.

In conclusion, AI-powered tools that use GTP technology can be a game-changer for creating impressive PowerPoint presentations quickly and effortlessly. These tools analyze your content, understand your message, and generate slides that align with your narrative and style. Whether you’re a startup looking to pitch your idea or a professional looking to create a stunning presentation, these tools can help you achieve your goal with ease.

Have you used any of these AI-powered tools before? Which one is your favorite, and why? Do you have any tips or tricks for creating impressive presentations? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Note: It’s important to note that while AI tools have become increasingly popular in recent years, they are not a substitute for human creativity and expertise. While these tools can certainly help automate certain tasks, they cannot replace the insights, critical thinking, and nuanced design decisions that a skilled presentation designer can bring to the table.

More from Salawu Habeeblai

Product Designer (UI/UX | Web3 | AI) I design interface and experience for digital products. | Building Waaprint

About Help Terms Privacy

Get the Medium app

A button that says 'Download on the App Store', and if clicked it will lead you to the iOS App store

Salawu Habeeblai

Text to speech

10 Tips to Make Your PowerPoint Presentation Effective

24Slides

You may have heard of the famous 10/20/30 rule , devised by Guy Kawasaki , for designing presentations. This rule states that using 10 slides in 20 minutes at a 30 point minimum font size is the most effective presentation strategy—but what does this really mean?

The most important thing to remember, particularly if you’re using PowerPoint to convey your message, is to keep your audience in mind when preparing your presentation. Your audience wants a relevant presentation, not just something that is visually appealing .

A common mistake speakers make when designing PowerPoint presentations is being too passionate about it that they put everything they know into it. In trying to get their point across, presenters tend to use complex jargon and impart too much information, leaving the audience confused about the actual purpose of the presentation.

So how can you simplify your information but still convey a powerful message to your audience?

Here are 10 suggestions:

1) Cut out the wordiness

Ironic as it may seem, an essential part of proving a point is to use a minimal amount of words per slide so that the audience is focused on you, not on the screen. It’s rather difficult for any kind of audience to read texts and listen to you at the same time. If you have longer statements, break them down into multiple slides and highlight the key words. This doesn’t mean you limit your content to dull, boring facts. Feel free to incorporate anecdotes or quotes as long as they’re relevant and support your message.

2) Add pictures

Instead of more words, supplement your ideas with vivid imagery. Again, the key is not overusing photos to the point that it makes your presentations look unprofessional. Photos should only be used if they promote or emphasize the main idea of your slide.

3) Use appropriate animation

Like pictures, use animation only when appropriate and only if you’ve completely rehearsed your presentation with the animation flow. Otherwise, they will be distracting and will make it appear that you’ve designed your presentation in poor taste.

4) Don’t overuse numbers

As with words, minimize the amount of numbers you present in each slide. If you have charts that summarize the total figures toward the end, then you no longer need to fill up your entire chart with the little numbers on the scale.

5) Use large fonts

Aside from the obvious reason that larger fonts are more readable, size dictates the impact of your message and a larger one makes it easier for your audience to clearly grasp what you’re saying or want to highlight. Aside from font size, pay attention to the spacing between paragraphs, rows, and columns; you don’t want your text to appear jumbled.

6) Maintain consistency

The whole objective of your presentation is to drive home a point, not to make your presentation look cheesy. Keep your font sizes and the size and format of a box on one page consistent throughout your slides.

7) Limit bullet points

Keep your bullet points to a maximum of 5-6 per slide. In addition, the words per bullet point should also be limited to 5-6 words. It’s also wise to vary what you present in each slide, such as alternating between bullet points, graphics, and graph slides, in order to sustain the interest and focus of your audience.

8) Choose colors and contrast effectively .

Use bold colors and high contrast. A color may look completely different on your monitor than it will when projected on a large screen.

9) Tell a story

Everyone loves a good story , especially if it’s something that they can easily relate to. A good story begins with a problem and the more irritating the problem is for the audience, the more effective your presentation will be once you’ve provided a possible solution for them.

10) Be flexible

In order to develop a strong connection with your audience, you need to be flexible with your slides. During your speech, you may feel that some slides have become unnecessary; therefore you want to prepare your presentation in such a way that you can easily interchange or eliminate them. Conversely, prepare some optional slides in anticipation of questions or ideas you expect from your audience. This will give your presentation the “wow” factor.

When using PowerPoint to deliver a PowerFUL point, your goal isn’t to design the best presentation but the most effective one. This means creating a presentation that your audience can connect with through interest, participation, memory recall, and ideally, learning something useful.

Create professional presentations online

Other people also read

9 ideas for your next powerpoint presentation, 10 ways to make academic presentations more interesting, using copyrighted materials for your presentations: make it ....

How can a virtual assistant help you create presentations using ChatGPT?

Presentations are an invaluable asset in the business world. They enable individuals to share vital information with clients, colleagues, and other stakeholders. They can be used to explain new ideas, demonstrate products or services, or give updates on projects or initiatives.

However, creating presentations is a job on its own. Imagine the time and effort you put into researching, writing, editing, formatting, and designing your slides. Research suggests that 47% of presenters take more than 8 hours to design their presentations! Not only this, but 41% of presentation creators find it challenging to find good visuals for their presentations.

On top of all the time you have to dedicate to presentation creation, there the other tasks you have to do on a daily or weekly basis. Now add in the pressure of meeting a deadline. All this is enough to make you feel overwhelmed and nervous.

Fortunately, there’s a better way to approach this challenging task. By hiring a virtual assistant who is proficient with using ChatGPT, you can create engaging, persuasive, and impactful presentations in no time!

HireNow-13

How can ChatGPT help you create an attractive and impactful presentation for your business meetings?

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence language model that is developed by OpenAI. It has emerged to become a popular and powerful tool that can understand and interpret human language. It has been trained on millions of examples of text and can generate responses that are similar to what a human would say.

Thus, ChatGPT offers a large number of benefits to the users. It is cost-effective, automated, and can be used at any time you need.

Image outlining the benefits of ChatGPT for creating presentations for your business and how hiring a virtual assistant can be helpful in this regard.

Image source

Today, this model is being used for a variety of purposes including, answering questions, aiding research, producing content, and creating presentations.

In this section, we will have a close look at how ChatGPT can help you create well-researched and impactful presentations for your business meetings.

Why do you need a virtual PowerPoint assistant for creating presentations with ChatGPT?

Image depicting the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant for your company

1. Hiring a virtual assistant for creating your presentations will help you save time

Hiring a virtual assistant to create presentations can offer substantial time savings. Creating a quality presentation requires research, preparation, and design expertise that not everyone has. Thus, entrusting this task to a virtual assistant allows you to concentrate on other critical duties while still making sure that the presentation is done on schedule.

2. A VA will help you create attractive PPTs that are tailored according to your unique needs

Virtual assistants are highly adept at creating presentations that effectively communicate your desired message. They will work with you to gain an understanding of your objectives and then use ChatGPT to develop a presentation that meets your criteria. Through this process, a VA will ensure that your individual needs are met.

3. You can access their expertise and skills

Virtual assistants with expertise in developing presentations are aware of the most recent design trends, applications, and presentation practices. They know how to use various advanced tools like ChatGPT and other software applications and techniques to produce outstanding results. This guarantees that all your presentations are engaging, modern, and effective.

4. A VA will help you create professionally designed presentations

An experienced virtual assistant can help you make your presentation stand out with professional design and formatting skills. By utilizing their expertise, they can craft visually striking slides that are simple to comprehend and feature high-quality visuals, icons, and graphics.

5. Hiring a PowerPoint presentation assistant is cost-effective

Lastly, hiring a virtual assistant to create presentations can be a great cost-saving option, especially for small businesses and startups. Instead of bringing on a full-time presentation expert or designer, you can work with a virtual assistant on a project-by-project basis. In this way, you will only have to pay for what you need in terms of time and resources.

100-offbanner-13

Are you ready to hire the best virtual assistant for PowerPoint presentations? Wishup can help!

If you are looking for a reliable and experienced virtual assistant that can meet the needs of your company, Wishup is here to help!

We are a reliable VA outsourcing agency that can help you find the best virtual assistants for your company. Our virtual assistants can specialize in different areas. From virtual marketing assistants to PowerPoint presentation assistants, we can help you find the most qualified and competent virtual assistant for your business.

Here are some of the reasons why you should choose Wishup as your virtual assistant agency:

Frequently Asked Questions

1. can chatgpt make presentations.

Yes, ChatGPT can help you create presentations that are both professional and visually appealing. Thanks to its advanced language processing capabilities and design software proficiency, it can provide content development, research, and editing services to ensure your message is effectively communicated in your PPTs.

2. What is the importance of having a virtual assistant?

Hiring a virtual assistant can be a great way to increase productivity, while also being cost-effective and flexible. With the right virtual assistant, you can gain access to the expertise you need without needing to hire additional staff. Moreover, this can help to improve your work-life balance, as you can offload some of your tasks to the virtual assistant, freeing up your personal time.

Wrapping Up

So there you have it! That was all about how a VA can help you create business presentations with the help of ChatGPT.

Overall, by utilizing a virtual PowerPoint assistant to develop presentations for your meetings with ChatGPT, you can benefit from saved time, professional design, tailored services, and cost-effectiveness. Doing so will ensure your presentations are of the highest quality, freeing up your attention for other important aspects of your business. Ultimately, hiring a virtual assistant is a great way to optimize your presentation needs.

So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us at Wishup to hire a remote assistant for presentation creation. Email us at [email protected] to learn more and book your free consultation today!

Subscribe to Wishup Blog | Remote Teams | Remote Employees

Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox

Wishup Blog | Remote Teams | Remote Employees  icon

Stay up to date! Get all the latest & greatest posts delivered straight to your inbox

Speaking about Presenting

How to Plan your Presentation in Half the Time

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

When you download “How to make an effective PowerPoint presentation” , you’ll also receive my free email course to help you make the most of the Guide and the monthly Speaking about Presenting email newsletter:

“It’s awesome. I downloaded it and used it straight away. The step-by-stepness of it all just really worked for me (I’m big on processes anyway!). It was just so quick to create a shape better than I would have gotten to, in probably less than half the time.” Steve Bent
“I’ve been devouring (best word I can think of) your guide and love the way it links to useful articles on your site.  I’m working on a presentation and have completely redesigned it (by planning first) thanks to your guide. Thank you.” Gavin Hedrick
“I enjoyed reading it. I especially like that your presentation is congruent with its content – very clear, concise writing, good use of visuals (colour, shapes, relationships) and nice layout. I can’t remember how many books and articles I’ve read on learning/presenting/training etc that tell me how important it is to use visuals but hardly use any themselves.” Ian Bell

… and about the newsletter:

“I stumbled across your website a month or so ago. I just wanted to say that you have made the world of difference to how I present now. The content you send in your newsletters is invaluable and I send them to all my speakers.   Thank you for really making a difference in my life and making me a better speaker. You rock!” Veronique Palmer “Thank you so much for this newsletter. I have culled many useful techniques from it and my presentations have ROCKED because of them. Standing ovation for you.” Kim Horne
“I have been reading your tips on presentations for quite a while now and have found them very helpful. You inspired me to revise a presentation and it worked out very well. People said they were inspired. So, thank you for all the great ideas!!” Marcia Sagendorph
“I really like your newsletter. For me you continue as THE source for relevant thinking.” Michael Parker, Pitch Coach

Here’s what our course participants have said about the presentation planning system you’ll get access to in the Guide:

You’ll save time planning your presentation

“It enabled me to put together an effective presentation ready to present to senior management in half-a-day. Normally this would have taken me two weeks.” Simon Lloyd-Evans, Infrastructure Manager, IAG

“It has enabled me to focus the content in such an efficient manner that I will save hours on preparation.” Niels Meinderts, Solicitor

You won’t get stuck

“I used to get stuck at the beginning of writing a presentation. I found your design process very helpful.” Jagdesh Prasad, Policy Analyst, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

Your presentation will be engaging and effective

“Tremendous for crystallising structure/design of presentation – will make it much easier to prepare quality material and genuinely communicate with audience.” Allen Browne, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, Opus International

“Initially I thought the concepts were too simplistic to apply to the sort of work we do. I was wrong! Applying the concepts to a presentation I had already given made it 10x better than it was before.” Lauren Donnellan, Solicitor, Simpson Grierson

“I was able to design a presentation which was truly targeted to my audience and gave me credibility in front of a group that I needed to impress.” Kelly Tafatu, Key Account Manager, Datamail

70 Comments

Tim

Thanks for this!

Pieter Spaans

I’m interested in the Guide

Matt S

Looking forward to it! Thank you in advance

HL Enterprise Inc

Hello there, I discovered your site by means oof Google at the same time as looking forr a comparable matter, your webb site came up, it seems to be great. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.

Hi there, simply became allert to your log via Google, and located that it’s really informative. I’m going to watch out ffor brussels. I will bbe grateful iff you happen to continue this in future. Numerous other people shall be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

Karen Conway

Thank you in advance – sounds very useful as I am planning my webinar!

Hidde van Erp

Thank you very much for sending me the guide to improve my presentations.

Monti Tanner

Thank you in advance!

Ana Brito

Looks great! Can I please have the free guide? Thanks

?????? ????? ?????

About to create my first presentation for grad school!

Need to get organized for an Ignite Presentation.

Valerie Pfeiffer

May I have the free guide? I need to create an Ignite presentation for grad school. Thank you!

Jennifer Waldo

I would like your free template on how to plan your presentation.

Michelle Varraveto

where can we download this guide?

Kay

I want the presentation planner. Thank you.

Lewis T Tait Jr

I want the presentation planner.

Thank you, Lew

iz

I want the presentation planner. Thankyou

Stephanie Hall

Please send me the presentation planner. 🙂

valvesend

Would love this presentation planner

SuJo

Thanks in advance for the planner

Martin Taylor

Please share presentation planner tool – thanks kindly in advance.

Susan Hannah

I would love to see the planner. Thank you.

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Got an important presentation coming up?

Got an important presentation coming up and: You have so much content that you can't figure out what to leave out? Don't know where to begin your design process? Worried that your material won't be of value? Feeling overwhelmed and can't get started? Can't figure out your theme? Concerned you won't be engaging? Time is running out?

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Recent posts

Connect With Me

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Recommended Books

Click here to see my favorite presentation books.

I earn a small commission when you buy a book from this page. Thank you!

Sorry to interrupt your reading!

how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

Want to create your most engaging presentation ever?

Plan your presentation with the SpeakerMap™ - a proven system that will have you feeling confident and credible.

Success! You'll soon receive an email from us with a link to step 1 of the SpeakerMap system.

Heads up: I'll also send you useful tips to improve your presentations. If you no longer need them, you can unsubscribe at any time.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Free course, how to tame your fear of public speaking.

In this video-training series (plus workbook with transcripts) you’ll learn:

I ask for your email address to deliver the course to you and so that I can keep on supporting and encouraging you with tips, ideas and inspiration. I will also let you know when my group program is open for enrolment. I will keep your email safe and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Slide Marvels Logo

How To Make An Effective Powerpoint like McKinsey Presentation?

PPT Advertising Campaign

Effective Powerpoint

If you love to create a Powerpoint-like a McKinsey Presentation , it is not sufficient that you simply complete off. It is of high significance that the presentation is madeeffective to make sure that it will give the message you wish to part.

One Click Template

MS Powerpoint has done making a project convenient for you. With the PPT templates and impacts immediately available for you, creating a McKinsey presentation is as simple as some clicks of a button. Yet, to have the project effectively, you must get a note of many briefs in the making process. Go through and locate how to do an effective Powerpoint presentation for whatever reason it may help you.

3 Rules of PPT

There are mainly 3 rules while it is of creating an effective McKinsey presentation . The debut one is to make sure that the project design suits any purpose is for making one. The font colors, templates, and pictures in the project should all compare your goals like intimating, convincing, marketing and the similar.

One more vital rule is to have all easy. There is no use muddling one slide with a lot of fonts or pics. The spectator will applause a McKinsey presentation that is simple to their lens in place of one that looks really heavy and smothered for them.

Logical Slide

Finally, mark it a point that your McKinsey presentation is logical all over. Utilize the similar type of template for all slides and colors as well as texts. Though images can often differ per slide, at least do it a point that the style of every image is nearly the same. This is particularly real if you are making a Powerpoint presentation in the professional manner.

The process on doing an impact Powerpoint presentation does not cease in just making the presentation itself. Once made, it should be transformed into one more format to promise you that it can be displayed successfully. The project template can be easily converted to DVD, flash, video and other popular formats. This can be useful specifically at instances while MS Powerpoint is not handy in the spot where the slide will be presented. For example, if it is of video format, it can be run utilizing almost any type of media player.

Best Powerpoint Converter

With this, it is vital that you find a best Powerpoint converter to make sure that the standard quality and program features of the original files will all be sustained. Though there are more converters that you can get download online over the internet, you should be careful while opting software to rely on. Verify the features of an exclusive converter very first and also study many reviews of it to guide you fix the best one for your requirements. For example, not every converter can make the conversion of a presentation into flash so ensure that while you require a flash conversion, buy a converter that can aid such want.

Study note that in building an effective project, it is not just about designing it. The impacts of a presentation can too be relied on how good it is shown. Hence, converting it into a various file will have the creation of an effective project a victorious one.

Share This Article

Related posts.

The main Presentation design ideas to follow in 2020

The main Presentation design ideas to follow in 2020

SmartArt explained by our Designers

SmartArt explained by our Designers

Morph transition with our Presentation Designers

Morph transition with our Presentation Designers

SlideBazaar Blog Logo

How to Create a Business Case Presentation [Templates and Examples]

How to Create a Business Case Presentation [Templates and Examples]

As an executive in an organization, there may come a time when you need to convince others to take certain actions – and you may have to do it formally, even if you have a very convincing verbal argument to present. In such a situation, what you need is a  business case presentation , which can be made easily using a business case PowerPoint template, some of which we’re going to mention here.

What is a Business Case?

A business case is a document containing all details of a specific initiative – the costs, benefits, and associated risks, and the ‘Why’. Why should the initiative be undertaken; why invest in it? MBA students are often assigned to prepare business case studies and present them, as it can help them in their marketing skills, improve their forecasting, and get better analytical skills.

There is no hard and fast rule for creating business case studies; it could be a simple, informal document, to a formal  business case template PPT  presentation in front of all the stakeholders. Whatever the format, the purpose is the same: convincing the audience about the feasibility and worth of a particular project and why a certain approach is preferred over others.

A Business Case Vs. Project Proposal Or Project Plan

A business case is not the same as a project proposal; true, both have almost the same goals and will cover roughly the same topics. However, they are not the same thing. A project proposal discusses several project details, mentioning budgets, milestones, deliverables, timelines, etc. Project plans contain even more details, explaining how someone will implement a particular project. A business case is for getting people to invest in your initiative. If your business case is accepted, you can draft the project proposal and plan.

When Do You Need a Business Case Presentation?

Presenting a business case  can be undertaken whenever you have to persuade management, customers, or other stakeholders to back your initiative and where an informal conversation simply will not do the job.

Here are some of the most common reasons that you may need to present a business case:

The Business Case Template

While the template will differ according to the purpose behind your presentation, there are some logical elements that your  business case template PowerPoint  needs, and can be broadly divided into:

business case presentation template

How Do you Create a Business Case Presentation?

You can use a PowerPoint business case template if you have not prepared such a document before .  Doing this will simplify your job, guiding you through all the steps. To prepare a business case properly, first and foremost, you need to evaluate the following:

Getting carried away with one’s idea, especially that which one is enthusiastic about and firmly believes in, is easy. It makes sense, therefore, to take a step back, view it dispassionately, and consider it from all angles. This will help you prepare a watertight case. You can make a strong case when you can work out or collect and present as many details as possible – including numbers. The problem statement, situational context, financial study, opportunities, and description of the solution form the bulk of the document. 

Let us now take a quick look at what you need to include in your  business case slide  to make it a convincing presentation:

1. Establishing the Context

Every person attending your presentation is not likely to know what the background is. Therefore, as the first step, explain what made you feel that such an initiative was required in the first place. This is why you should establish the context and explain the background as the very first slide of your business case presentation.

2. Problem Statement

This is the slide where you have to make your audience realize that there is a problem and stress the significance and magnitude of the problem. You must also explain the necessity of the solution you are about to present. Finally, you need to consider the ramifications the situation has – both direct and indirect, while you are talking about the problem, along with what they imply, internally and externally. If it is possible to do so, include statistics and analysis if you foresee negative consequences that the situation could cause.

3. Evaluating Opportunities

Your solution must be related to the problem you spelled out earlier. Along with it, you can mention the potential opportunities available that can help you resolve these issues. This slide or section is a transition area – from the problem, progressing toward the solution. You could also approach it in another way: assess the possible reasons which caused the problem you presented to the audience earlier; then you could introduce them to possible approaches and solutions, and finally, stress your chosen solution.

4. Financial Analysis

This is the most important thing occupying the minds of stakeholders for any business case or project. If you don’t do a thorough job here, your presentation may not have the impact you desire. Therefore, it is a good idea to first talk about the financial situation as it is at present and compare it to the possible outcome you can achieve if you receive funding from them for your solution or initiative.

5. Describing the Solution

This is the moment you’ve been waiting for; you have convinced the audience that there is a pressing need for change. This is where you talk to the audience about your solution. How you lay it out depends on the action you want the audience to take. You have to outline what has to be done, when it should be done, and who has to do it.

Tips for Presenting Effective Business Cases

Here are some tips that can help you present your business cases successfully.

There you go – all set to deliver a killer of a business case presentation! We have done our best to include everything possible to help. Do you have any more tips for creating the perfect presentation for your business case? Let us know!

slidebazaar logo

The Bazaar for premium and free PowerPoint templates and Keynote slides. Slidebazaar is a dedicated team of energetic designers who are specialized in Presentation Template creation. We want to offer you our best works of high quality resources that will take your presentation to the next level.

BROWSE BY CATEGORY

QUICK LINKS

EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Get updates of our PowerPoint templates and slide designs before anyone else.

IMAGES

  1. PowerPoint Tips For effective Presentations

    how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

  2. How to Make Effective Powerpoint Presentations

    how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

  3. An Insider’s Tips About Powerful Presentations

    how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

  4. How to make effective powerpoint presentation

    how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

  5. How to Create an Effective PowerPoint Presentation

    how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

  6. Professional Presentation Templates OR Free PowerPoint Themes

    how to create an effective presentation in powerpoint

VIDEO

  1. How To Create a PowerPoint Presentation

  2. Meta World Themed PowerPoint Template

  3. Guide To Create PowerPoint Presentation Including Video1

  4. #PublicSpeaking #Masterclass

  5. What Are Business Presentations? Keynote vs Business Presentations

  6. How To Make An amazing Professional PowerPoint Presentation 2016_Full PowerPoint Tutorial

COMMENTS

  1. Tips for creating and delivering an effective presentation

    Tips for creating an effective presentation Top of Page Tips for delivering an effective presentation Top of Page Need more help? Expand your skills EXPLORE TRAINING > Get new features first JOIN MICROSOFT 365 INSIDERS >

  2. How To Make a Good PowerPoint Presentation (With Tips)

    Follow these steps to create an engaging presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint: 1. Change the template design Instead of using a pre-made template from PowerPoint, customize it to fit your needs. Try different fonts, colors and designs to help differentiate it from common templates.

  3. 8 Tips to Make the Best PowerPoint Presentations

    Adding a transition that wipes left to right between every slide or that animates each bullet point in a list, for example, starts to grow taxing on those forced to endure the presentation. Viewers get bored quickly, and animations that are meant to highlight specific elements quickly become taxing.

  4. 60 Effective PowerPoint Presentation Tips & Tricks (Skills)

    Start on a Word or Google doc. Storyboard or script the entire presentation to give you an idea of how the information presented will flow, and how viewers will see it in sequence. Learn the complete writing process: How to Write a Professional PowerPoint Presentation (Discover the Writing Process) Brad Smith 26 Jan 2020 3.

  5. Tips for Creative Effective Powerpoint Presentations

    • Overuse of special effectssuch as animation and sounds are distracting and may make your presentation seem less than serious. • Use good quality images that reinforce and complement your message. Ensure that your images maintain their impact and resolution when projected on a largerscreen.

  6. 9 Tips for Making Beautiful PowerPoint Presentations

    Three of the easiest and most effective ways to draw attention to text are: Bold Italics A change in color Our eyes are naturally drawn to things that stand out, but use these changes sparingly. Overstyling can make the slide look busy and distracting. 8. Choose the Right Images

  7. 10 Expert Tips to Make Your PowerPoint Presentations More Engaging and

    Here are ten expert tips to help you create powerful and engaging PowerPoint presentations. Table of Contents [ hide] 1. Organize your content for maximum impact 2. Choose an engaging visual design Use 10-20-30 rule Use colors, shapes, and images effectively to draw attention Ensure design consistency Use visuals to support the narrative 3.

  8. 13 Dos and Don'ts for Effective PowerPoint Presentations

    How to create an effective PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint can be a useful tool for professionals with public speaking opportunities, such as speeches or meetings. Here are suggestions to make your PowerPoint presentations more effective: 1. Assess your audience. Your first consideration when preparing a PowerPoint presentation is the ...

  9. How to Make an Effective Presentation (Guide, Tips & Examples)

    To make your presentation the most effective, you can use a combination of the two and tell a story to back up your main points and data. For example, instead of simply presenting the numbers upfront, you can give some context by introducing the problem, and explaining what the statistics mean and who they're affecting.

  10. How to make effective presentation

    16 Simple Tips to Make Effective PowerPoint presentations @dan _steer • 1.4k views Public speaking nstoll • 5.3k views Creating effectivve visual aids sjbians • 3.1k views Presentation layout tips seandeetlefs • 23.7k views power point presentation Dr. Hina Kaynat • 59.4k views How to Give A Better Presentation 24Slides • 22.4k views

  11. Basic tasks for creating a PowerPoint presentation

    In the slide area, click and drag to draw the shape. Select the Format or Shape Format tab on the ribbon. Open the Shape Styles gallery to quickly add a color and style (including shading) to the selected shape. Add speaker notes Slides are best when you don't cram in too much information.

  12. How To Make A Slideshow Powerpoint Presentation

    Presentations are a great way to inform and inspire your audience. But, do you feel lost when it comes to creating an effective slideshow presentation? Don't...

  13. How to Create an Effective and Engaging Medical Presentation in 6 Easy

    In short: getting the presentation design right is just as important as delivering it well. Here's how to create an effective and engaging medical presentation — without wasting hours on PowerPoint! Simple is better; Be wise with your color choice; Don't overcrowd slides with text; Give your audience time to process; Make graphs work for you

  14. Tips For Designing Effective PowerPoint Slides

    Designing effective PowerPoint slides may seem too easy at first. But, once you sit in front of your computer, you realize you don't have a design in mind. Hence, if you use default designs on your computer, you may end up having a bad Powerpoint presentation. You can make your presentation slides memorable for your

  15. 5 tips to create an effective presentation (with images!)

    PowerPoint remains a highly popular tool from the Microsoft Office suite. Sources estimate that more than a billion computers have it installed, and that up to 30 million PowerPoint presentations are created daily.When you open a new PowerPoint presentation, you will be faced with a bare-bones, blank canvas that you will build into a presentation for whatever purpose it may be.

  16. Create a presentation in PowerPoint

    Create a presentation Open PowerPoint. In the left pane, select New. Select an option: To create a presentation from scratch, select Blank Presentation. To use a prepared design, select one of the templates. To see tips for using PowerPoint, select Take a Tour, and then select Create, . Add a slide

  17. How to Make an Effective PowerPoint Presentation (Part 1)

    A straightforward way to create a well-designed presentation is to make sure all items on a slide are intentionally aligned. To do this, hold down Shift + select all the objects you want to...

  18. 12 Effective PowerPoint presentation tips

    One of the top 12 tips for creating better PowerPoint presentations is to create a custom color scheme using complementary colors. It will make your work look more polished and put together. Image source 2. Highlight large images If you have large enough images to fit in your slide, you can highlight them instead of placing them next to some text.

  19. Creating Effective Powerpoint Slides

    The strategies below can help you to create effective presentations and to save your audience from "death by PowerPoint." Plan: Look at the Big Picture Plan: Plan your talk first (see Academic Skills Oral Presentations) and then plan your PowerPoint to accompany your argument and evidence.

  20. 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging Presentations

    Fundamental Rules To Building Powerful & Engaging Presentation Slides Start with writing your speech outline, not with putting together slides Use more images and less text Use high-quality images Keep the focus on YOU and your presentation, not the PowerPoint Your presentation should be legible from anywhere in the room

  21. 5 AI Tools using ChatGTP to Create Impressive PowerPoint Presentation

    PowerPoint presentations are a great way to convey information and ideas in a structured and engaging manner. However, creating visually appealing and effective presentations can be a time ...

  22. 10 Tips to Make Your PowerPoint Presentation Effective

    When using PowerPoint to deliver a PowerFUL point, your goal isn't to design the best presentation but the most effective one. This means creating a presentation that your audience can connect with through interest, participation, memory recall, and ideally, learning something useful. Aug 26, 2013 3 mins read Share this article

  23. Hire a PowerPoint presentation assistant to create PPts with ChatGPT

    5. Hiring a PowerPoint presentation assistant is cost-effective. Lastly, hiring a virtual assistant to create presentations can be a great cost-saving option, especially for small businesses and startups. Instead of bringing on a full-time presentation expert or designer, you can work with a virtual assistant on a project-by-project basis.

  24. How to make an effective PowerPoint presentation

    How to Plan your Presentation in Half the Time. This Guide will help you make an effective PowerPoint presentation quickly and easily. You'll learn: The one sentence that will make your presentation memorable. Three questions to answer to create rapport with your audience. The key factors in keeping your audience engaged.

  25. How To Make An Effective Powerpoint like McKinsey Presentation?

    3 Rules of PPT. There are mainly 3 rules while it is of creating an effective McKinsey presentation. The debut one is to make sure that the project design suits any purpose is for making one. The font colors, templates, and pictures in the project should all compare your goals like intimating, convincing, marketing and the similar.

  26. Creating a Business Case Presentation [Examples + Templates]

    How to Create a Business Case Presentation [Templates and Examples] By Swathi Krishna Published On: March 3rd, 2023 Categories: Blog Post Swathi Krishna Published On: March 3rd, 2023 Categories: Blog Post