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How to deliver impactful virtual presentations.

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Delivering presentations is a powerful way to stand out at work. While presenting, especially via Zoom, can be daunting, mastering this skill can be a game-changer for your career. By delivering compelling presentations, you not only get noticed but also make a significant deposit in your personal brand bank. Here are eight tips to help you create presentations that are magnetic, mesmerizing, and memorable.

1. Grab ’Em From The Get-Go

First impressions are crucial due to a cognitive bias known as primacy, which means we form lasting opinions based on initial experiences. Start your presentation with something unexpected, interesting, and fun—like a riddle, quiz, inspiring video, or special guest. This sets the tone and signals to your audience that this presentation will be unique and engaging. Remember, if you don’t capture their attention from the start, you may lose them entirely.

2. Profit From The Power Of Three

Renowned keynote speakers and marketers often use the psychological power of three because it's a potent tool for making information memorable and easy to digest. Structure your content into three key themes or segments. One effective approach is Aristotle's triptych: tell your audience what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them. This repetition reinforces your message and ensures it sticks.

3. Increase Interaction

In virtual presentations, multitasking by the audience is your biggest nemesis. To combat this, incorporate interactive elements like word clouds, hand-raising, chats, whiteboards, or contests. Tools like PollEverywhere , Slido , and Mentimeter can help keep your audience engaged and focused, reducing the temptation to multitask.

4. Supersize Your Slides

For online presentations, it's crucial to ensure your slides are easily readable on all devices, including mobile phones. Use large font sizes (32 pt. or higher) and limit your text to 12 words or fewer per slide. Prioritize visuals and videos, which are more engaging than text alone. Platforms like Unsplash and Pexels offer a wealth of free images to enhance your slides.

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5. Vivify With Video

Incorporate short, impactful videos to add energy and reinforce your message. YouTube has a vast array of content on almost any topic. Choose videos that are both entertaining and relevant, keeping them brief (1-2 minutes) to maintain engagement without distracting from your presentation.

6. Make Mixed Media Your Mantra

Avoid monotony to keep your audience attentive. Vary the content, format, and medium of your presentation. Use pattern interrupts like animated GIFs or sound effects to re-engage your audience and prevent them from zoning out.

7. Say It With Stories

Stories are an incredibly effective tool for engagement. Neuroscience shows that storytelling can boost audience retention by up to 65-70%, compared to just 5-10% for facts alone. Personal stories, in particular, help build a connection with your audience, making your message more meaningful and memorable.

8. Exude Emotion

While facts and data lend credibility to your presentation, emotions create lasting impressions. As Maya Angelou famously said, "People will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel." Infuse your presentation with emotion to add a personal touch and foster a stronger connection with your audience. Before you start, ask yourself: How do I want my audience to feel after my presentation?

By incorporating these fun and engaging techniques, you can transform your online presentations into magnetic, mesmerizing and memorable experiences, enhancing your personal brand along the way.

William Arruda is a keynote speaker, author, and personal branding pioneer. Join him as he discusses strategies for delivering powerful presentations alongside Executive Coach Deborah Grayson Riegel in Maven’s complimentary Lightning Lesson on August 16th.

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Confidence is a Career Skill

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You can’t put “confident” on a resume but make no mistake: it is a skill and one you should cultivate. Being comfortable in your own skin and assured enough to communicate with others is a crucial  “soft skill” that can make or break your professional ambitions. It isn’t fair but the fact of the matter is that you’re more likely to  advance in your field if you possess a confident demeanor than if you don’t. You can have  too much confidence and still go far; if you don’t have enough, you may not feel secure enough to push yourself to take big risks at work, to go for that new position, to propose a bold new project that can turn things around. 

Faith in yourself can yield dividends professionally and personally. While it can be hard to build up your confidence, the good news is that it is doable. Self-assurance is like a muscle: with the right amount of practice and focus, you can build it up.

Start Small

Improving your confidence is a long game. Think of your progress in incremental terms. Take a close look at yourself and see if you can identify the areas where you lack confidence. Is it in how you communicate? How do you feel about yourself physically? Are you worried you seem unqualified or ill-prepared? What’s the “loose shoelace” of your being that you keep tripping over? Understanding where you feel vulnerable will help you set a plan of action that can help you improve over time.

If you’re not sure how you come across to others, talk to the people close to you. Ask your friends and family what your “tells” are. What are behaviors and patterns of speech you use that indicate you’re ill at ease? What kind of situations have they noticed you in where you seem insecure? This can be a hard conversation to have so be sure you do it with someone you trust who won’t deliver a body blow on your ego.

Sometimes all it takes to boost your confidence is to  wear nice clothes you feel comfortable in or to stop apologizing for everything you do. Celebrate your small victories as you progress: the meeting where you nailed a presentation, perhaps, or a lunch where you talked to someone new and left a good impression.

Express Yourself With Body Language

How you carry yourself and your facial expressions speak volumes about how you feel while you’re at work. Your  body language is one of the most important tools in your confidence repair kit. Doing something as simple as focusing on improving your posture can yield a boost in confidence that compounds over time. When you slouch, you’re compressing the space in your lungs, which reduces how much oxygen gets to your brain. A straight spine is an unobstructed highway for oxygen to circulate to your brain and down through the rest of your body, which helps boost your cognition and makes you feel more alert and energetic .

Eye contact  can be difficult for many people to sustain but being secure enough to check in with your coworkers with eye contact can be a powerful confidence booster. The key is to be sensitive to social cues; when someone breaks eye contact, don’t try to maintain it. Another way to feel more comfortable around people is to mirror their body language. As social animals, humans tend to unconsciously mirror each other. This  Chameleon Effect  can be a way to build a quick rapport with people, but like eye contact, a little goes a long way. Too much mimicry can create an uncanny effect; we’re not trying to do the  Marx Brothers mirror gag here. It’s simple things: smile when they smile, tilt your head at the same angle they do.

Cut Out the Qualifiers 

One of the most common ways we can signal our lack of confidence or unease to people is to use too many  qualifiers  in our speech and writing. Qualifiers are a kind of linguistic hedge-betting where we throw in a “maybe we could” or “I don’t know, what if we” or “I’m not really sure this is correct but” instead of getting directly to the point. People often do this as a way of appearing less bossy or forceful but it comes across as insecure and waffling. Qualifiers make it sound like you’re not sure you should even be saying what you’re saying.

The next time you find yourself about to use this kind of “maybe/I don’t know/what if” type of speech, skip over it and go straight to the thing you were going to say. You don’t need to build an on-ramp to your point.

On a related note: making an effort to cut out  “filler” words like “like” and “uh” in your speech can have a similar effect. Filler can sometimes make us sound like we’re inarticulate or stalling to finish a thought, so eschewing these zero-calorie words whenever we can is a good idea.

If you’re doing a job that’s very sedentary, that inactivity could lead to  more stress, anxiety, and depression , all of which can do a number on your self-esteem. Taking quick breaks throughout the day to get up and move around isn’t just good for your physical health; it’s an opportunity to touch base with co-workers if you’re working on-site. If you’re working from home, taking a quick walk to stretch your legs can offer a moment to hit the group chat. 

“If you are working remotely and you need to talk with a colleague, why not schedule a ‘walk and talk’ meeting and walk during your meeting,” said  Gina Pinch , Rio Salado Faculty Chair for Business, Management, and Public Administration.

The actor  Michael Caine  in his book Acting In Film observed that the  speed in which we talk  can reflect our confidence level.

“The basic rule of human nature is that powerful people speak slowly and subservient people quickly, because if they don’t speak fast nobody will listen to them,” Caine  wrote . 

Caine observed that people who talk very fast often show their insecurity because they’re afraid if they talk too slow they’ll lose the attention of their audience; a confident person takes their time because they know they have your attention. When you’re at work, pay attention to the pace of your speech. Are you rushing to finish speaking, or are you taking the scenic route?

If you’re a fast talker, you can use your physicality to slow down. Focus on your  posture ; it’s easy to talk fast when you’re slouching. Using hand gestures will also pump the brakes a bit because it requires you to think about what you’re doing. That split focus that comes from coordinating your movements eases off the gas pedal a bit.  Enunciate  your words more clearly and stretch out those vowels. Make eye contact when you need to be grounded in the moment; sometimes people can  “go blank” and forget what they’re about to say when they make sustained eye contact in the middle of a conversation, so it’s best to time these “slow down” eye contact moments when you want to pause and catch your breath.

Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Theodore Roosevelt once said “comparison is the thief of joy.” Few things can kill your sense of self-worth more than comparing yourself to others . Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. While a sense of competitiveness can be healthy at work, a little bit goes a long way. If you find yourself wilting at meetings because “everyone else” is better at public speaking or funnier or more creative, remind yourself that many of those people who are “better” than you feel just as intimidated and uneasy in their own way. The vast majority of us are trying to “fake it til we make it;” some of us are just better at hiding it. There’s a very good chance that you work with someone who looks at YOU and wishes they could do something as well as you can.

It’s also important to remember that we don’t all start at zero. Some people have had years of experience to participate in activities and/or cultures that have honed their social skills and elevated their self-esteem. Kicking yourself for being a “bad”  public speaker when half of your team polished their skills at Toastmasters is as silly as a non-athlete beating themselves up for not acing a sport on their first try. Be honest and comfortable with your capabilities; that’s the first step toward building them up.

Article by Austin Brietta

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Alysha Newman sets Canadian record to capture women's pole vault bronze medal

Delaware, ont., native jumps for 4.85-metres to make podium in paris 2024.

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Alysha Newman fulfilled a goal and made Canadian history in the process.

Newman won Canada's first-ever Olympic medal in women's pole vault, claiming bronze on Wednesday with a Canadian-record height of 4.85 metres. Newman said it had been a goal of hers to medal for Canada in the event, and did so in her first Olympic final at her third Games.

"I'm so excited," she said. "I laugh because getting third is, I mean I've never got third, but it's funny because you have to still wait and sit there and wait until the other girls are done. So I'm so awkwardly standing there like, 'What do I do? Do I celebrate? Do I kiss everyone? Do I cry?'

"It was a really surreal moment and it was awesome. I just feel like I'm very emotionally stable right now and just feel so honoured to be the first [women's] pole vaulter to bring home an Olympic medal for Canada."

WATCH l Alysha Newman of Delaware, Ont., clears 4.85m for Olympic bronze :

Canada's Alysha Newman captures pole vault bronze medal

Newman, from Delaware, Ont., finished at the same height as silver medallist Katie Moon, but had one more missed attempt than the American.

Nina Kennedy of Australia cleared 4.90m to win gold.

Newman is the first Canadian pole vaulter to win a medal since William Halpenny took bronze in the men's competition at the 1912 Stockholm Games.

Edward Archibald's bronze in the men's event at the 1908 London Games is the only other Olympic pole vault medal in Canadian history.

It's the third medal in athletics for Canada. Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, B.C., won gold in the men's hammer throw on Sunday, and Camryn Rogers of Richmond, B.C., claimed gold in the women's hammer throw on Tuesday.

Coming out of the qualifying round, Newman said she felt she could be the surprise of the final. But that thought did not cross her mind after Wednesday's final — just her celebration that she said tricked her coach into thinking she was actually injured.

• Edmonton's Marco Arop says confidence 'really high' entering Olympic men's 800m semifinal
• Canadian Olympic Committee pulls accreditation from Andre De Grasse's coach

Newman had dealt with a number of injuries in the past but has learned a lot since the Tokyo Games in 2021. She told The Canadian Press in 2023 that she felt everybody had written her off after missing the final in those Olympics and at the 2022 world championships.

"Tokyo happened and it built so much character for me heading into this Games," she said. "I felt like I was stronger than ever, mentally tough — I never gave up on myself this year and when things went bad, I still smiled and that's huge.

"I'm happy, still, when I lose. I don't think a lot of athletes feel that way. And so I'm honoured that I could step off the track with a bad day and still go home and feel accomplished because I've done so much in this sport and this keeps adding to my resume."

WATCH | CBC Sports' Primetime panel breaks down Newman's bronze medal:

The Primetime panel looks back at Alysha Newman's bronze medal day at Paris 2024

Newman enjoyed a great level of consistency this season. She injured her ankle leading up to world indoor championships in March but bounced back, having jumped 4.75-plus metres in three of her last four meets before the Olympics.

Newman said she "blanked" after missing her first attempt at 4.60m, and that the nerves got to her, but she was reminded by her coach that it was OK to be nervous competing at the Games.

She then thought about what her dad told her at a young age when she was a gymnast, that having that feeling "means you're ready."

And ready she was as Newman didn't miss another attempt until her first at 4.85m and all three at 4.90m.

"Each jump had a theme, so at my 4.85m, it was a new pole, new tape, new everything," she said. "And I just kept writing courage, over and over and over, in my notebook right next to the height. And I just kept saying, 'Have courage, have courage, have courage.'

"And for some reason that word this year has been so powerful to my heart and to my veins. It worked, everything worked and I jumped well and I'm here."

Related Stories

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• American Cole Hocker rallies late, stuns favourites to win men's 1,500m gold medal
• Dominant Thomas lands women's 200m Olympic title, denying Alfred a sprint double
• ROUNDUP Brown, Rodney sprint to Olympic men's 200m semifinal, joining defending champ De Grasse

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11 Time-Saving PowerPoint Hacks For Creating Quick Presentations

If you’ve ever left a PowerPoint presentation for the last minute, you’ve probably ended up with the surprise that it takes up way more time than expected. We’ve all been there! Going from the default all-white canvas slides to a professional presentation that truly conveys your message and represents your brand takes time and effort. The easiest way to save time creating PowerPoint presentations is to outsource the process . It is, hands down, the most effective way to get the task of doing PowerPoint out of your hands forever. However, there are still a lot of time-saving PowerPoint hacks that do not need any money investment. Here you’ll find 11 easy tips to save time when creating PowerPoint presentations.

And even better, these PowerPoint hacks work even better in unison. At the end of the article, you’ll find a step-by-step guide on how to use these presentation tips in conjunction to save time and make a professional-looking slide pack in less than 3 hours.

The average time spent working on presentations is 4 hours

Working on presentation slides is a common task for pretty much everybody. Whether you’re a student, a manager, or a CEO, PowerPoint offers an incredible array of options for public speaking. Chances are, you’re already investing hours and hours of time and effort into PowerPoint presentations. For those who have to constantly work with it, learning how to save time creating PowerPoint presentations can become a key skill. According to our surveys, the average executive will spend around 4 hours a week working on presentations . This might not sound as much, but it sums up to 141 hours a year -probably at least $7,000 worth !

This means that learning how to save time creating PowerPoint presentations will not only free you time for more important tasks, but it can even save you precious money. Hopefully, these 11 time-saving PowerPoint hacks will help you become more efficient in your presentation creation process!

11 time-saving PowerPoint hacks to optimize your time better

The easiest way to make a PowerPoint presentation that looks both good and doesn’t take much time is to keep it clean and simple. A minimalistic style can be a great approach if you’re trying to save time when working on a PowerPoint presentation.

Luckily, there are a lot of options for improving your presentations’ design while still saving time! You don’t have to spend hours and hours working on PowerPoint presentations if you’re strategic in your approach. The PowerPoint hacks you’ll find in this list are easy to implement whether you’re a newbie or you’ve been working with PowerPoint all your life. And they will help you create a presentation that looks professional without taking hours of your time!

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #1: Plan ahead

One tip for saving time when creating a PowerPoint presentation that many people forget to take into consideration is working on the planning stage . Outlining might feel like a waste of time when you’re trying to get something done as fast as possible. However, it can be an invaluable step that can help you reduce time in the following tasks.

Planning can be something as easy as asking yourself some baseline questions for your presentation. For example, who is my audience, and what previous knowledge of this topic do they have? Or how do I want my brand to be perceived? Thinking about these things beforehand can help you define what you should include in your presentation and what it should look like. It can help you define what sort of data and information you need so you can make sure to collect it all beforehand. It can give you an idea of what sort of slides you should include, like a timeline, or a bar graph.

Even if it’s just a quick brainstorming session, having some previous idea of what you want your presentation to include will make the process of creating and designing your slides much more easier and efficient. Planning ahead will not only help you save time but also improve the quality of your presentation. By doing the extra work of outlining your presentation, you will be able to make sure that all the important points are being delivered and that your message is being conveyed exactly as you want it to be.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #2: Outsource your PowerPoint presentation design

The most effective way to save time when creating a PowerPoint presentation is, hands down, not to do it yourself! This might come as a surprise for you, but outsourcing presentation design has become a very common practice among professionals in all kinds of industries. And no wonder why! It allows you to completely get rid of the annoying task of fiddling around for hours in PowerPoint while still getting an amazing final product.

If you want a truly outstanding presentation that will impress your audience and make them remember you long after the presentation is over, then professional help is probably the best way to go. By outsourcing your PowerPoint design you’ll not only get the ‘wow-factor’ assured, but you’ll also have much more free time for working on your presentation’s content and rehearsing or even other business tasks.

The power of outsourcing presentation design

When talking about being strategic with your time management and your presentation-making process, outsourcing is definitely at the top of the list . Leaving it at the hands of professional PowerPoint designers has been proven to save around 37 minutes per slide . This means that in a small presentation of just 7 slides you would be saving more than 4 hours!

Many people quickly dismiss outsourcing because they think that the price is too restrictive, or simply not worth it. But you would be surprised by the number of offers and options when talking about outsourcing presentation design. You can hire freelance designers , but there are also design agencies that work with worldwide companies and are experts on professional PowerPoint design. 24Slides works with some of the biggest companies worldwide, and offers custom-designed slides starting at only $9 ! You can even adjust the price according to how much detail you want to be put in your slides and how soon you want them to be delivered.

For a little extra pay, outsourcing offers you the possibility to completely forget about working on presentations, freeing up time for more important tasks. Plus, you get a custom-made, professional design that will take your presentation from ‘okay’ to ‘unforgettable’.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #3: Use PowerPoint Templates

If you prefer non-paid options, however, there’s still a lot of PowerPoint tips and hacks you can use to save time when working on your presentations. And one of the most effective ones is definitely to work with templates . Templates are pre-made presentation designs you can fill and edit to fit your own needs. Microsoft Office itself offers a huge library of PowerPoint templates that you can go through to easily upgrade your presentations in pretty much no time.

There are also thousands and thousands of templates you can find online. There are probably PowerPoint template designs for every single topic you can think of. So if you’re looking for a specific business model or theme, it’s definitely worth looking up for some specialized templates that will help you get a great presentation with minimal effort.

On our Templates by 24Slides platform, you’ll find hundreds of professionally designed PowerPoint templates. And the best thing is, these are all completely free of charge ! You can download as many as you like, and even mix-and-match slides to create your perfect presentation.

The downside of using templates is that you’ll still have to invest some time in editing and formatting the slides to fit your presentation. Even if it’s only just adding the text to the template, you should still expect some effort to be needed. And as specialized as a template might be, you’ll never find a slide-pack that fits exactly your every need like a custom PowerPoint presentation would. But it is still a great option when looking for ways on how to save time creating presentations, as you’ll no longer be creating a presentation from scratch.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #4: Convert your documents into PowerPoint slides

Another PowerPoint hack that can save you time when creating a presentation is directly converting your document into a PowerPoint file. For example, you can automatically convert a Word document into PowerPoint slides . You can even use different title sizes to divide your document into slides automatically!

However, it’s important to remember that a PowerPoint slide should never have the same amount of text as a word document. This PowerPoint hack is great to save your time with some tedious copy-and-pasting. But you’re still going to have to edit and alter it to make the most of your PowerPoint presentation. Filling your slides with text blocks is one of the easiest ways to bore and lose engagement with your audience. So when using this tip, be sure to be strategic when working with text!

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #5: Use the Design Ideas Tool

If you don’t find a template to fit your needs, or you want to make your slides from scratch, there are still some quick hacks that can make your PowerPoint design tasks easier. A great option for this is to take advantage of the Design Ideas Tool . This is a new feature for the Microsoft 365 subscription that will truly change how you design PowerPoint slides.

The Design Ideas Tool offers automatically generated design suggestions for your slides. It has great-looking, professional layouts, and it allows you to convert text into images and even graphs. This smart feature is definitely a gold mine when talking about saving time when working on PowerPoint slides. Like many features, it has a learning curve, but it’s fairly easy to use. You can also easily customize the slides after you’re done with what the Design Ideas Tool has to offer. In short, it’s a great starting point for quick PowerPoint slide design!

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #6: Use a unifying customized background

A great hack to make your PowerPoint presentations look better and cleaner with minimum effort is to work in your slides’ background. An all-white default slide background is a telling sign of a last-minute presentation, and it can make you look lazy and not detail-oriented. A good background can completely change the look of your entire presentation. And the best thing is that it’s very easy to do !

A dark background , for example, can give your presentation a very clean and professional look. It can help make the other elements pop-up, and keep your audience engaged. A textured background can take a plain presentation into an interesting one. The most important thing to keep in mind when working with backgrounds in PowerPoint is that it should never get in the way of your slide’s content.

An extra tip for saving time with PowerPoint backgrounds: Use a neutral backdrop that can be used for several slides. Not every single slide needs to have a unique background. You can save a lot of time repeating the same background along with your presentation. Even better, it’ll become a unifying design element, and you can save a more eye-catching, unique background for a title slide, for example.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #7: Work with icons

Icons are great visual elements that can truly upgrade your presentation’s looks. This PowerPoint hack can quickly and easily turn a plain slide into a professional-looking one. Icons are an amazing tool for presentations because they can represent all kinds of concepts and categories in a very small space. Plus, the fact that they are images instead of text will help you declutter your presentation’s slides and make them look cleaner and sharper. Use icons to play with your slides’ layout. You’ll see how easy it is to make a presentation look much better with just a few of them!

The best thing about icons is that they’re easily accessible too. You can find hundreds of free icons online and import them into PowerPoint. You can even create your own icons! When talking about time-saving PowerPoint hacks, however, the best option out there is the Templates by 24Slides platform . You’ll find icon packs for all kinds of business topics that you can download for free and directly copy-and-paste into your own slides.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #8: Stick to a single color palette

One of the most tricky things to take into consideration when working on PowerPoint design is the color palette. It can easily become a very distracting and time-consuming detail. Picking a color scheme will help you easily edit any PowerPoint template you choose to use, or even the slides you create with the Design Ideas tool. It gives you quick access to a determined color palette so it’s easy for you to edit and unify your slides’ design.

Microsoft Office offers some pre-made color palettes you can pick from, but you can also create your own color scheme in PowerPoint! This will not only save you time when working with your slides, but it’ll make sure that all your presentations stay on-brand.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #9: Make the most of PowerPoint add-ins

Another PowerPoint hack that very few people take advantage of is using PowerPoint add-ins . PowerPoint add-ins are specialized tools that give you extra features beyond what Microsoft Office offers by default. If you’re someone who works with presentation design constantly, PowerPoint add-ins can help you make your work a little bit easier.

You can find amazing free PowerPoint add-ins for very specialized tasks. For example, THOR allows you to copy an image’s position into another slide -great for adding watermarks and logos. Word Cloud , just like its name suggests, helps you create and personalize word clouds for your presentations. Or my personal favorite, PowerPointLabs .This add-in has a lot of amazing PowerPoint hacks that will make your life easier. Its “Positions Labs” automatically organizes images and icons in your slides, making sure they’re the same size and arranged just like you want them to be, so you don’t have to do it manually. It might seem like a small thing, but if you have ever worked with icons and tried to get several of them in a straight line, you surely know how much time it can take!

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #10: Learn to use master slides

Master slides are perfect for “baking” repetitive elements. It can help you add watermarks, logos, and any kind of element that you want to keep throughout your presentation. You can even set information concerning the design, like themes, backgrounds, colors, animation effects, and much more. While it might be tricky to get the hang of this PowerPoint hack at first, it’s definitely worth the effort, as it can help you save tons of time.

Learn more about working with master slides with this Ultimate PowerPoint template guide .

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #11: Reuse your slides

Finally, a must-do for all those who have to constantly work with PowerPoint presentations: Reuse ! Why start a new presentation from scratch every time when you’ve already spent so much time and effort on the last one? This doesn’t mean that all your slides will look the same. You can still edit them and change elements. Reuse a set of slides for another presentation by changing the color themes and icons to fit the new topic. You can even reuse slides within the same presentation. For example, you can reuse a slide layout that can be used to convey different kinds of information.

How to save time when working with a constant presentation demand?

Working with PowerPoint presentations constantly can feel like a tiresome, tedious task. But practice makes perfect. The more you get to work with PowerPoint design, the more likely it is for you to become better and spend less and less time on it. The last two PowerPoint hacks are a must for those who have to constantly create new presentations. Learning how to use master slides will allow you to have a go-to design whenever you need to work on a new presentation. And reusing your slides for a new presentation is definitely a life-saving hack when working on PowerPoint!

If your work demands a high amount of PowerPoint presentations constantly, you might also want to consider getting a dedicated team of designers for it. If it’s a repetitive task that takes time away from you and your team recurrently, then it’s definitely worth it to get some professional backup.

24Slides offers subscription packages that will allow you to tackle anything from 50 to 10,000 slides per month . The best thing about it is you get a dedicated team that will learn everything about your brand and preferred design styles, so the outsourcing process will be more seamless each time. This assures you a constant flow of unique, outstanding slides without any worry . And, you can share your subscription with your colleagues, guaranteeing that everyone’s slides in the team will be sharp and perfectly aligned with your overall brand.

How to make a presentation in less than 3 hours

Working on a last-minute presentation? Don’t worry! As daunting as it might seem, it’s possible to make a clean-looking presentation with limited time. Of course, how much time you spend working on a presentation depends on the amount of information, the number of slides, and the design effort you want to invest in them. But it is possible to make a good, quick presentation . Especially when using the PowerPoint hacks detailed above! Here I’ll show you how to use these time-saving PowerPoint tips to create a quick minimalistic presentation that still looks good with minimal effort.

Step 1: Planning (25-30 min)

You might be surprised to spend so much time on this first step, but it will help you go through the next ones more easily. Think about what your audience should take away from your presentation. Organize your topic point by point to make sure you’re covering everything you want to convey.

Take time to also think about how you are going to present specific information. If you have chronological information, will you use a timeline? If you have number-based data, will you use a graph or chart? What kind of graph? This will help you define what kind of slides you need when looking for templates. Try to collect beforehand all your information so you’ll not have to go back and forward when you’re working on filling your template.

Step 2: Pick your main template (15-20 min)

There are so many great templates options out there that it’s easy to lose time just browsing through. That’s why it’s extra important to set yourself a limit if you’re short of time. Keep tabs on your options as you go through, and after your time is done, pick one template to use as a base.

This base template doesn’t need to fit your presentation outline perfectly. It’s more about design and style, as you can add things and edit them later. To truly make a presentation in less than 2 hours, preferably pick a neutral base template, as it will be easier to standardize later if you decide to add other slides.

Step 3: Search for complementary slides (20 min)

Now is when your outline and planning will come in handy. Look for specific slides according to your needs. For example, a timeline slide design, an organization chart, title slides, or anything your base template does not have. Again, the more neutral the slides you pick, the easier it’ll be to make them fit later!

Step 4: Fill your slides’ content (20-25 min)

Now that you have all the slides together, it’s time to fill them with your information. You can use the conversion Powerpoint hack if you have all your information in a Word document, for example. Just remember to limit the amount of text on your slides. Your PowerPoint slides are a complement to the speaker, not the other way around! They should have written every single word you’re planning to say.

Step 5: Add icons and visual aids (30 min)

PowerPoint is a visual medium, so take advantage of it! If anything can be replaced by an icon, graph, or image, is probably a good idea to do so. This will make your presentation more visually appealing and will make your information easier to read for the audience too. This step is all about adding icons, changing the template’s images to something that fits your topics, and so on.

Step 6: Standardize your slides’ design (25 min)

Finally, make sure your slides match each other, especially if you’ve added slides from different templates packs. Make sure you’re using the same color scheme throughout your presentation to make it look cleaner. You can also add design elements from your base templates (if it has any) to your added slides to create a feeling of unity. In short, make sure all your slides’ designs match!

Step 7: Rehearse (20 min)

Before a presentation, rehearsal is a must! Even if it’s just going through your slides to check everything is in order, double-checking can make or break your presentation. Some as easy as typing errors can make your presentation look sloppy and last-minute. Go through your outline and make sure that everything you need to add is converted and tweak the final details.

And that’s it! A clean-looking presentation in less than 3 hours. It’s not likely to be a work of art, but a minimalistic PowerPoint presentation can still look professional and sharp. It’s all about practice, and the more time you invest in working with PowerPoint, the easier and better it will become.

Save time by outsourcing: How to get a GREAT presentation in 1 hour!

However, if you do want a work of art that will leave an impression on your audience, and still get a presentation done at record time, then why not let professionals do what they do best? Creating outstanding PowerPoint slide designs takes not only time and effort but also experience. While anyone can make a PowerPoint presentation, there’s no easy and quick way to make a truly unique, eye-catching presentation.

If you’re looking for ways to save time creating presentations, outsourcing is the best possible solution for you. And, you’ll save tons of time! Even if it is a last-minute project, you can get amazing results you wouldn’t be able to get otherwise by entrusting your presentations to professionals. If you want a PowerPoint to wow your audience but you’re a little bit tight on your schedule, outsourcing your presentation design can become a true live-saving investment!

Outsourcing Step #1: Get your content ready (20-25 minutes)

Most PowerPoint outsourcing agencies work exclusively with the design part of the presentation. This means the presentation’s content is all on you. After all, you’ll be the one presenting! If you’re looking to outsource your PowerPoint presentation design, make sure you have your content ready to show how you want it divided into slides. A default all-white presentation is enough. If you have any design references, brand colors, or any other details that you want to be included in your presentation you should also think about them beforehand!

Outsourcing Step #2: Upload your presentation (10-15 minutes)

Now you just need to give your baseline presentation for the designers to work their magic! 24Slides offers an integrated platform where you can upload your presentation, select your design style, slide treatment, due date, complementary services, and any other detail you want to include for your presentation.

After it, you can just rest and relax, as the designers will do all the rest! You can even save time in your presentation by turning it in to be worked overnight. 24Slides’ designers will have ready your custom PowerPoint design by the morning.

Outsourcing Step #3: Give your feedback (15 – 20 minutes)

24Slides is committed to creating the perfect presentation design for you. That’s why you’ll always be able to give feedback and ask for changes if you think something is missing. Customer satisfaction is fundamental for our designers. You’ll always get a draft so you can approve or change anything you think necessary. You won’t be charged until you’re 100% happy with how your presentation looks!

Outsourcing Step #4: Wow your audience with an outstanding presentation!

Finally, you’ll receive the final presentation, perfect and ready for you to make an impression on your audience. And you have had the content ready from step #1, you can even start practicing and rehearsing while your presentation is getting done by our best designers. Outsourcing is an incredibly empowering tool for speakers in all sorts of business. It frees precious time and allows you to make the most of every tool PowerPoint has to offer.

Start saving time and effort in your PowerPoint presentations

Working on your PowerPoint presentations can be a tiresome, time-consuming process. Hopefully, these PowerPoint time-saving hacks will help you make your process a little bit more efficient. Remember that practice makes perfect! The more you try out and learn how to make the most out of these tips, the easier it’ll get. Try not to go for big, complicated designs and focus on getting clean and sharp slides that look professional before working on something more advanced.

Outsourcing presentation design is a great way to not only save time when creating presentations. It’ll also get you the best possible results to impress your audience. Professional PowerPoint designers will make sure that not only your message is perfectly conveyed, but also that your brand is represented and that your slides are as visually engaging as possible. And the best thing is, you can relax and completely forget about PowerPoint presentations forever! We’ve polled thousands of customers, and the overall consensus is that professional presentation design has helped them save an average of 37 minutes per slide . Just imagine how much time you would be able to save in a simple 20-slide presentation!

If saving time and effort when creating PowerPoint presentations sounds good, then you must try 24Slides design services . We work with some of the best companies all around the world by creating amazing PowerPoint slides that bring their message to life. Our designers will transform your presentation into a work of art that will make sure to stay in your audience’s mind long after the presentation is over.

Create professional presentations online

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6 Tips for Creating Great PowerPoint Presentations Fast

Plenty of folks aren't Microsoft PowerPoint wizards, especially small business operators or those suffering from unavoidable time-crunch situations. To help, we asked some pros for tips on how to quickly build great PowerPoint presentations.

1. Consider Free Stock Art and Template Options

The biggest problem with creating Microsoft PowerPoint slide decks is that it is common for people to use the same default themes and styles, which means a lot of presentations look nearly identical in a sort of bland and generic way. "Consider using free or affordable stock photography to freshen up your presentation, said Joanna Liu, Senior Presentation Consultant for Stinson Design , an agency that specializes in creating professional presentations. Liu said a brief web search on royalty-free photography websites can yield great images that can help you create more impactful presentations. "You don't have to pay a lot of money for a good stock photo, but it can make a great impact and is preferable over commonly-used images that have become cliché," said Liu.

2. Get Inspiration From Attractive Slideshows

3. play with different fonts, 4. keep things simple, 5. use slides as guides, 6. improve your skills with online courses, like what you're reading.

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Further reading, about gadjo sevilla.

Gadjo C. Sevilla is Analyst, Business for PCMag. Gadjo has covered various aspects of technology including smartphones, laptops, business solutions, and app ecosystems. He began covering technology and innovation 20 years ago for national newspapers, magazines, and various websites including The Canadian Reviewer, which is a tech enthusiast blog he founded in 2008. Gadjo’s work has appeared globally in various print and online publications including MacWorld Canada, PCWorld Canada, ITBusiness.ca, WhatsYourTech.ca, The Calgary Herald, The Toronto Star, and Metro News. You can follow him on Twitter @gadjosevilla, connect with him on LinkedIn, or email him at [email protected] .

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How to create presentation slides up to 5 times faster

Ever struggled to create powerful slides for your presentations? Don’t worry, we've all been there! That’s why we've put together a few tips to help you worry less and deliver more.

PowerPoint is the most popular presentation software worldwide, used everywhere from corporate board rooms to university classrooms, so what better than to maximize its potential? After all, there are plenty of time-saving features that can help you make slides up to five times faster, helping you out with your tight schedule. 

1. Use PowerPoint Designer 

Not sure how to arrange your content? Create stunning slides in seconds with PowerPoint Designer. First, make sure you’ve got the right version of Office and that it’s turned on in Settings . Pickit works seamlessly with Designer and in just a couple of clicks you can create amazing layouts. Insert an image and choose from the selection of suggested design ideas. Simple as that.

2. Use large enough font sizes

Pay attention to your choice of font. When creating a presentation, have in mind both the font size and the font type. Try to use no more than two different fonts in your presentation, and make sure they flow well with each other and don't clash or distract.

• Font size Why is it so important when creating a presentation? The font needs to be large enough to read from across the room. The size most commonly used for text body is  28+, a font less than 24-point is used when adding explanatory text, where you could use a 20-point font size. Use at least 30+ size for headlines to be sure they're easy to read. 
• Font type  Choose a font that’s easy to read, ex:  Myriad Pro, Lucida Console, Tahoma, Helvetica, Calibri, Gil Sans, Futura, Century Gothic. For example, Gil Sans works well for headings and Tahoma for the text. 

3. Less is more, so keep it simple

Use an unexpected photo or clipart image that catches people off guard. Or why not try a few unpredictable ingredients that can help keep people’s attention and make your PowerPoint more dynamic and engaging?

• Include only one idea or message per slide
• Stick to three to five bullets at a time
• Use no more than five elements per slide

" 91% of people feel that a well-designed slide deck would make them feel more              confident when giving a presentation."

4. Use engaging images for impact

Want to quickly improve a tired slide deck? Make your images larger and reduce the quantity of text. Images should be chosen carefully to reinforce your message. We know our brain can process images up to 60,000 times faster than text, and using a large image gets your point across quickly, without being a distraction. And a shortlist of brief bullets will help your audience follow your argument. 

See more:   Why even "non-creative" people need to use quality presentation images

5. Try the  10/20/30 rule 

There's no universal laws when it comes to slide count and time, but many people agree that Guy Kawasaki's 10/20/30 rule is a good benchmark. The rule suggests that PowerPoint presentations should ideally have 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30-point. For an engaging and meaningful session try the following:

• 10 slides According to Guy, this the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation because a normal human being can't be expected to comprehend more than 10 concepts in a short meeting. Sometimes you might need a few extra slides, but don't go adding them unless you need to. There's no need to use filler slides if they don't add value to your presentation.
• 20 minutes On average, spend around 2 minutes per slide. Make sure you're aware of your time slot. Even if the setup goes perfectly, people will arrive late and have to leave early. In a perfect world, you should be able to give your pitch within 20 minutes, and have 10-20 minutes left for questions and discussion. This way you'll make sure that you're fully engaging with your audience.
• 30 font size  Surprises in headlines work because the human brain is stimulated by the unexpected. These prove to be far more stimulating and grab our attention much quicker than things we know well.

Go ahead! Check it out and let us know what works best for you. Is the 10/20/30 rule the magic ingredient that will save the day for you? Or is it the images found in our award-winning app for PowerPoint?

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Choose from one of our presentation themes with hundreds of available slide layouts for you to pick from and build a beautiful presentation. Find slide layouts to fit any type of information you need to communicate within your presentation and customize them to perfectly fit your brand or topic.

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With fully customizable slides, text blocks, data visualization tools, photos and icons to help tell your story, you can easily build creative and cool presentations as quickly as you need. Build the perfect slides with Visme’s easy-to-use presentation editor.

Customize every aspect of your presentation with your own images and text

Choose from over a million images, thousands of icons, dozens of charts and data widgets to visualize information in an engaging way. Apply a color scheme to all your slides with one click. Add animation effects, transitions, interactivity, pop-ups, rollovers and third-party content such as live websites and social media feeds.

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Once you’ve created your presentation, do more than only share or download it. With Visme’s Presenter Studio, you can record your presentation and share it with your audience.

• Record your screen, audio, and video, or switch off your camera for an audio-only presentation.
• Present asynchronously on your own time, at your own pace. Let your colleagues watch it at their convenience.

More Great Features of the Presentation Maker

• Stunning presentation themes and premade templates
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• Input your brand fonts and colors to create branded company content
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• Search for slide layouts that match your presentation content
• Easily present online or share with your peers

Share Your Presentation

Visme makes it easy to create and share presentations online. Our presentation software allows you to present online by generating a link to access your presentation, share privately by sending a password protected link to friends and colleagues, or even turn your presentation into a lead generation tool by requiring email sign-in before viewing.

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What is a Presentation ?

A presentation is a sequence of slides that tell a story or teach an audience about a topic. These are often used in business as ways of demonstrating something and in the classroom as teaching aids. While PowerPoint long dominated the presentation industry, Visme’s free online presentation maker allows you to create even more beautiful and engaging content.

With Visme's engaging presentation maker, you can start with a template, dive into one of our themes with various slide ideas, or mix and match slides from different templates to create your own masterpiece.

Use the presentation maker to take the trouble out of presentation design.

Creating a slide deck for an important presentation can take several hours, if not days. Our free presentation maker provides a searchable slide library with 900+ layouts that you can fully customize. With so many options, you can easily find the exact slides that you need instead of searching for the right template or building a slide design from scratch.

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BEAUTIFY YOUR CONTENT

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HOW IT WORKS

Make Presentations in 5 Steps

Whether you’re creating a presentation to pitch your business, to inform your industry or to update your team or supervisors, you want your slideshow to be equal parts beautiful and informative. Visme makes it easy with our powerful presentation maker.

Mix and match template styles and slide ideas, customize with your own ideas, insert design elements from our asset library, present online with presenter notes and more.

• Sign up for free or log into your Visme account and create a new project.
• Choose one of our beautiful themes under the Presentations content category or select a pre-designed presentation template.
• Add new slides from our theme library to help guide your presentation design.
• Customize text boxes, fonts, colors, photos, icons, charts, data visualization tools and so much more within your slides.
• Quickly and easily share or present your slideshow by clicking Share in the top navigation bar and viewing our share options.

How to Use the Presentation Maker

Before creating your slide deck, make sure to create an outline with all the major points that you need to include within your presentation.

Start creating your slides. You can easily use our free presentation slides and templates to help you create a well-designed and informative presentation.

Easily replace any image with millions of free images within our editor, as well as diagrams, charts, icons, illustrations and maps.

Insert your own text by clicking on any text box and typing in your own information (or you can simply copy and paste it from your outline).

Our free presentation maker online also comes with built-in animation effects. Add transitions, audio, pop-ups, rollovers and interactive buttons to wow your audience.

Use the Presenter View to rehearse your delivery. Use the timer to make sure you don’t go over the allotted time. You can easily add presenter notes that only you will see while you present.

Generate a public or private URL to share with anyone or embed your slide deck on your website or blog by clicking the Share button in the Visme editor.

Download as an editable PowerPoint or in HTML5 to keep all of your animations and interactivity intact for offline presenting.

Questions About the Presentation Maker

How can i create an account with visme, how much does it cost to create a presentation with the presentation maker app, can i create animated projects, is it possible to make interactive projects with the presentation maker, how do i present my slide deck, how can i create a slide deck in a few minutes, your presentations deserve to be beautiful and so does the rest of your content.

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Simple Steps to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

Last Updated: July 23, 2024 Fact Checked

Creating a New PowerPoint

Creating the title slide, adding a new slide, adding content to slides, adding transitions, testing and saving your presentation.

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA . Darlene Antonelli is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. Darlene has experience teaching college courses, writing technology-related articles, and working hands-on in the technology field. She earned an MA in Writing from Rowan University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on online communities and the personalities curated in such communities. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 4,337,978 times. Learn more...

Do you want to have your data in a slide show? If you have Microsoft 365, you can use PowerPoint! PowerPoint is a program that's part of the Microsoft Office suite (which you have to pay for) and is available for both Windows and Mac computers. This wikiHow teaches you how to create your own Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on a computer.

How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

• Open the PowerPoint app, select a template and theme, then like “Create.”
• Click the text box to add your title and subtitle to create your title slide.
• Click the “Insert” tab, then “New Slide” to add another slide.
• Choose the type of slide you want to add, then add text and pictures.
• Rearrange slides by dragging them up or down in the preview box.

Things You Should Know

• Templates make it easy to create vibrant presentations no matter your skill level.
• When adding photos, you can adjust their sizes by clicking and dragging in or out from their corners.
• You can add animated transitions between slides or to individual elements like bullet points and blocks of text.

• If you don't have a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, you can use the website instead of the desktop app. Go to https://powerpoint.office.com/ to use the website version.
• You can also use the mobile app to make presentations, though it's easier to do this on a computer, which has a larger screen, a mouse, and a keyboard.

• If you don't want to use a template, just click the Blank option in the upper-left side of the page and skip to the next part.

• Skip this step if your selected template has no themes available.

• If you're creating a PowerPoint presentation for which an elaborate title slide has been requested, ignore this step.

• You can change the font and size of text used from the Home tab that's in the orange ribbon at the top of the window.

• You can also just leave this box blank if you like.

• You can also click and drag in or out one of a text box's corners to shrink or enlarge the text box.

• On a Mac, you'll click the Home tab instead. [1] X Research source

• Clicking the white slide-shaped box above this option will result in a new text slide being inserted.

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Content with Caption
• Picture with Caption

• Naturally, the title slide should be the first slide in your presentation, meaning that it should be the top slide in the left-hand column.

• Skip this step and the next two steps if your selected slide uses a template that doesn't have text boxes in it.

• Text boxes in PowerPoint will automatically format the bulk of your text for you (e.g., adding bullet points) based on the context of the content itself.
• You can add notes that the Presentation will not include (but you'll still be able to see them on your screen) by clicking Notes at the bottom of the slide.

• You can change the font of the selected text by clicking the current font's name and then clicking your preferred font.
• If you want to change the size of the text, click the numbered drop-down box and then click a larger or smaller number based on whether you want to enlarge or shrink the text.
• You can also change the color, bolding, italicization, underlining, and so on from here.

• Photos in particular can be enlarged or shrunk by clicking and dragging out or in one of their corners.

• Remember to keep slides uncluttered and relatively free of distractions. It's best to keep the amount of text per slide to around 33 words or less. [2] X Research source

• Slide content will animate in the order in which you assign transitions. For example, if you animate a photo on the slide and then animate the title, the photo will appear before the title.
• Make your slideshow progress automatically by setting the speed of every transition to align with your speech as well as setting each slide to Advance . [3] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source

• If you need to exit the presentation, press Esc .

• Windows - Click File , click Save , double-click This PC , select a save location, enter a name for your presentation, and click Save .
• Mac - Click File , click Save As... , enter the presentation's name in the "Save As" field, select a save location by clicking the "Where" box and clicking a folder, and click Save .

Community Q&A

• If you save your PowerPoint presentation in .pps format instead of the default .ppt format, double-clicking your PowerPoint presentation file will prompt the presentation to open directly into the slideshow view. Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 0
• If you don't have Microsoft Office, you can still use Apple's Keynote program or Google Slides to create a PowerPoint presentation. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Your PowerPoint presentation (or some features in it) may not open in significantly older versions of PowerPoint. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 2
• Great PowerPoint presentations avoid placing too much text on one slide. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=DBDCE00C929AA5D8!252&ithint=file%2cpptx&app=PowerPoint&authkey=!AH4O9NxcbehqzIg
• ↑ https://www.virtualsalt.com/powerpoint.htm
• ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/set-the-timing-and-speed-of-a-transition-c3c3c66f-4cca-4821-b8b9-7de0f3f6ead1#:~:text=To%20make%20the%20slide%20advance,effect%20on%20the%20slide%20finishes .

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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How to Throw Together a Presentation in 30 Minutes That Still Sounds Impressive

How can you take the America’s number one fear— public speaking —and make it even scarier? Oh I know! By adding in almost no time to prepare.

And who would do such a thing? Oh, just bosses, clients, the real speaker whose flight was delayed. So, in other words, it happens all the time, when you least expect it.

Let’s assume it’s not a scene in a movie, where the keynote speaker has a last-minute crisis of conscience about the topic, and you have to go on stage right this minute . What’s more likely is someone asks if you can give a presentation later that day—and you agree even though you’ll only have 30 minutes to work on it.

Well, I’m here to tell that that’s all the time you need to prepare a five-minute speech that’s simple, streamlined, and solid. I say five minutes because if it’s any longer than that, you’re realistically going to need more time.

Minutes 1 Through 5: Figure Out Your “Who”

You’re making a speech to a particular audience , and you’ll want to put five minutes of thought into who they are to make sure it’s relevant, related, and relatable. So, start with these questions:

• How big is the group? You want to know if you’re presenting to five, 50, or 500 people.
• What are the basic demographics of this audience? Age, gender, region, and any other details along those lines will impact the kinds of examples you might use in your speech.
• What do they already know or assume about this topic? Are you speaking to experts, or will you want to set aside time to touch on basic terms and ideas?
• What keeps them up at night (related to the topic)? You want to make sure your content addresses what they’re worried about—and how you can help.
• What gets them up in the morning, (also related to the topic)? You want to make sure that you also give them some hope!
• What is this audience empowered to do with the information? You always want your takeaways to be practical.

If you’re at minute four and still stumped, email the person who assigned this to you and ask.

Minutes 5 Through 7: Figure Out the Medium

We’re going to keep building on those points, but you’re going to want to hit the pause button on content and think about medium. If you just kept taking notes in your phone or on a piece of paper, you’d have all of your ideas down, but you wouldn’t have time to then transfer them to notecards or a bare bones PowerPoint.

So, take these two minutes to decide if you’ll be using slides, notecards, or a teleprompter—and make sure you’re writing out your notes in the right place.

Minutes 7 Through 12: Figure Out Your “What”

The next step is to work through what you want your audience to feel, do, and know once they’ve heard your speech. Do you want them to feel inspired? Confident? Ready to take action? Whatever words you choose here will help your tone. Now, do you want them to buy products, invest, make strategic introductions? You should be able to narrow your goal down to a short phrase or sentence.

Next, work on what you want your audience to know. (This is where those questions you answered in minutes one through five come into play.) Think about what your audience assumes and use that to come up with no more than three topics that they would need to understand in order to do the thing you want them to do. You could break the overall message into past, present, and future; your team, the business unit, and the whole company; short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans.

For example, if what you want the audience to increase your department’s headcount, they’ll need to know: what you’ve accomplished with your current team, what you could accomplish if you had more people, and how increasing your headcount would be good for the business overall.

So, you’ve coupled what you want them to do, with the three things you want them to know, and when you add in the overall feeling—let’s say, motivated—you’ll know what kind of tone you want to use as well. Congrats, you now have the overall image of your speech.

Minutes 12 Through 24: Write it Out

Flesh out the three key points (which you’ve already settled on) by giving them a point of view. Using the example above, the first point “Our headcount” becomes “Our current headcount works, but is not great.” Main point two is not “More headcount” but “An increased headcount is critical to strategically manage our department’s increased scope of responsibilities.” And for point three, “The business impact” becomes “Our increased headcount would make our company more competitive in the industry.”

Now that you have your key sentence for each topic, build on it using the PREP formula (Point, Reason, Example/Evidence/Experience, Point):

• Point: Our current headcount works because it has to, but it’s not great.
• Reason: The reason I say that is because we have a smart, strategic, and committed—but very lean—team.
• Example/Evidence/Experience: One example of this is when we had a rush order for Widget Y over the holiday season, and our team was able to increase production without sacrificing quality or cost. It took a toll on our team, of course, because we were operating with a bare minimum of staff.
• Point (recap): And that’s why I say our current headcount works, but could be be improved.

Expert tip: Switch between example, evidence, and a personal experience for your different points.

The nice thing about building out your points one layer at a time is that you’re making the most of your time. First you made sure you had the overall audience and idea. Then you broke your topic into three pieces. Last, you drew out those three parts and added examples. This approach ensures that you don’t run out of time and only have the first third of your speech done: You have a complete speech and then time to make it better.

Minutes 24 Through 29: Practice

If possible, memorize your opening two to three lines so you know that those will come out crisply and confidently, giving you a successful start. Don’t try to memorize anything else, but do practice saying a few of your key lines.

Rehearse slowly and clearly, and if you’re using notes, underline any words worth emphasizing. If you’ve said it once before, you’ll feel better saying it in front of an audience.

Minutes 29 Through 30: Breathe

Seriously. You just sprinted through your prep and you’re going to want to calm down before you address the audience—that way you can give off a composed impression.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s advice about public speaking was “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” You now have a plan for how to do exactly that in 30 minutes. And keep in mind that if you leave anything out, present a half-designed slide, or forget to ask for questions—no one will know the difference. The people in charge know you had limited time to do this, and the people in the audience came in with very few actual expectations of what the actual presentation would look like. So take a deep breath. You’ve got this!

Photo of man taking notes courtesy of Death to the Stock Photo .

The Fastest Way to Create an Ignite Presentation

by Olivia Mitchell | 31 comments

I set myself the challenge of preparing my first Ignite presentation as fast as possible.

The Ignite presentation format is a 5 minutes long presentation with 20 slides and with the slides advancing automatically every 15 seconds. It’s the presentation equivalent of a haiku or sonnet . It’s a very challenging format which can take forever to prepare.

Here’s the way that I did it:

1. Sketched the outline using my Presentation Planner

I used my normal presentation planner which I teach to all my clients. Here’s a picture of my planner – as you can see neatness was not important. I just wanted to get my key message and sequence of ideas down on paper.

Click on the image to see a larger view.

Time: 10 minutes

2. Converted planner to 20 slides

I typed what I wanted to say into the format of 20 slides:

Time: 1 hour

3. Packaged into 15 second blocks

I then used the “rehearse timings” button and delivered the presentation:

The Slide Sorter view (above) showed me how long I spent talking on each slide.

My aim was for each slide to take 13 to 15 seconds. The reason for this is that I think it’s better to have to wait a beat for a slide, than to be running out of time and constantly playing catch up.

When I first tried this out I was all over the place, some slides taking 7 seconds and some 34 seconds. I spent time rearranging, deleting and massaging. In the screen shot above you can see that I had got most of the slides close to 15 seconds, but I still had some work to do to shorten some.

Time: 2 hours

4. Created visual slides

I only started creating visual slides once I had my storyline packaged into 20 neat slices of 15 seconds each. Here’s what my visual slides looked like:

5. Printed out my notes

Ignite is one type of presentation format when preparing a script is virtually essential during the preparation phase. Working from a script allows you to massage your sentences to  fit the 15 second time blocks. A slight change in sentence structure can make a significant change in the time it takes to say something. So this is one occasion where you should plan to say it the same way every time (not normally something I recommend).

I printed out my verbal slides (shown in point 2. above) as handouts – 2 to a page:

Time: 5 minutes

5. Rehearsed

This step took the longest as I fine-tuned my pace to get my timing just right. For example, I wanted my dead parrot slide to appear just as I said “dead parrot”!

Time: 3 hours

6. Delivered

I used notes for the actual presentation as well. I could have spent extra time memorizing it, but I didn’t see a sufficient pay-off for that extra time. I had rehearsed enough that I did spend most of the time connecting with the audience.

Time: 5 minutes!

My presentation was videoed but unfortunately the audio didn’t work, so instead I’ve produced a Slidecast using Slideshare:

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31 Comments

Fantastic post. This is useful not only for creating an Ignite presentation, but any presentation. Few people dissect the process of creation, especially the work BEFORE you even open your computer and AFTER you’ve finished designing. Bravo.

Great thoughts. This is helpful for anyone creating a presentation (which is the most common thing that everyone has to do nowadays). Thank you for sharing your thoughts and methods.

Brilliant – I can’t believe that I haven’t read something like this before. Thanks, Olivia!

Really great stuff, Olivia! Congratulations. I tell the people in my courses that an excellent presentation is like an iceberg: What we see (the presentation) is very small compared to what lies beneath the surface (the preparation). Your post demonstrates, succinctly and eloquently, that what comes out is in direct proportion to what goes in.

Jon, Craig and John, Thank you for the lovely comments.

A tweeter pointed out that I still spent 8 hours preparing for a 5 minute presentation. It’s a long time. But from other people I know who’ve done Ignite presentations and from blog posts I’ve read it can take a heck of a lot longer.

8 hours is a breeze – i can’t wait to try it your way! I usually log about 30 for a high-stakes preso. Granted, I’m a bit slow…

If it’s not an Ignite presentation, then:

1. You’ll need to put more work (read: time) into developing the overall structure of the presentation and crafting engaging content. 2. You won’t need to spend anytime on dividing your presentation into discrete 15 second blocks!

For a step by step guide to using my planner, download the Guide “How to make an effective PowerPoint Presentation.”

All the best with your next presentation Olivia

Olivia, this is brilliant – thanks for sharing.

It’s good to let Ignite presenters know up-front they need to spend some serious time preparing, and your method is very sensible.

The 5 minute presentation which took 8 hours of preparation could easily be re-used as a longer presentation, now that all the hard work has been done.

Thanks Stephen. That’s very true that having prepared a 5 minute presentation you can easily scale it to a longer timeframe. The discipline of creating the 5 minute presentation first is likely to lead to a better 50 minute presentation too! Olivia

Love the post, esp the audio Slidecast. It’s mind opening to hear alternative perspective about the learning style theory.

I have a question though about the concept behind Ignite Presentation: why on earth do we need to spend so much time to rehearse so that the slides will correlate with what we say? Why not just use a clicker and click when it’s time to show the next slide?

There’s no good reason for doing it in a “normal” presentation, but it’s a major part of the fun of Ignite.

The idea is to make presentations enjoyable again, as an antidote to all the boring, death-by-powerpoint sessions we’re used to. Making the slides auto-advance adds an extra challenge and an element of danger to the presentations – once they start, there’s no going back.

Check out an Ignite in your local town, and you’ll see what all the fuss is about. Or check out the best videos at http://igniteshow.com

I agree with what Stephen has said. I don’t regard an Ignite presentation as a regular presentation, but rather as an art form. The constraints of the form lead to more creativity. In particular, the constraints of the form make it almost impossible to produce a series of boring bullet-points slides.

And it’s really fun for the audience!

However, I’m in two minds about lecturers at tertiary institutions asking students to deliver Ignite presentations (I’ve heard of this a number of times). I think for students who are novices at public speaking, the constraints of Ignite lead to another level of difficulty – kind of asking people to run before they can walk. If the aim is to avoid boring bullet-point presentations it would be better to simply say “Your presentation should be between 4 minutes 45 seconds and 5 minutes, 15 seconds. You can have as many slides or as few slides as you like, but no bullet-points!”

I’m asking my students to try Ignite! talks this semester. It’s the first time I’ve done them, as a bit of an experiment, so we’ll see how it goes. It’s not the only talk they’re giving, though, so the Ignite! talks are “low stakes,” as it were.

And for what it’s worth, I gave my students this link, and have already heard that they found it very helpful! So well done, you!

i am the tom!

That is great, Olivia!

I’ve learned quite a bit and admire the effort you put into this production and appreciate you sharing it.

Wonderful!!!! Many thanks!!!

great tipz, Olivia. thankz a lot. Keep the mood, ok? Z.

While I wholeheartedly disagree with your Ignite speech thesis about learning styles, I appreciate this post on how to prepare an Ignite speech. I have assigned my students the task of creating their own Ignite speech (it requires demonstration of all of the things we’ve been practicing since the start of the semester) and referred them to this post. Great job!

Love this blog post!

Here’s an infographic that I put together for the folks I coach on the Ignite style. Maybe helpful to your readers as well? http://wp.me/p1Hrlz-3Q

This is awesome!

the ignite presentation on learning styles is superb

Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve been to your blog before but after looking at many of the posts I realized it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely happy I discovered it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back frequently!

Thank you so much for this manual! I have to give an Ignite presentation on a research project I’ve done and I had no idea how to start this. It helped me out a lot!

These are really great ideas in about blogging. You have touched some fastidious factors here. Any way keep up wrinting.

Helpful info. Fortunate me I discovered your site accidentally, and I’m surprised why this coincidence didn’t came about earlier! I bookmarked it.

Pretty cool idea, it’s always better to do it in a team of people of course whenever you got the chance to work with others. Brainstorming ideas and then making the presentation itself is way faster that way.

Thanks for posting your process (and also how long each step took, which is extremely helpful).

If you’re interested, I just posted a self-critique of my own Ignite talk. (It includes tips on things like having an effective opening line, using humour, and holding a microphone…)

Great work on the ways to prepare presentations. It is an essential part of any business activity.

Wow! Your article on the fastest way to craft an Ignite presentation is a treasure trove of practical advice. I appreciate the focus on brevity and impactful content. Your tips are sure to save a lot of time while ensuring a powerful presentation.

Thanks for sharing your expertise!

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17 PowerPoint Presentation Tips From Pro Presenters [+ Templates]

Published: April 26, 2024

PowerPoint presentations can be professional, attractive, and really help your audience remember your message.

If you don’t have much experience, that’s okay — I’m going to arm you with PowerPoint design tips from pro presenters, the steps you need to build an engaging deck, and templates to help you nail great slide design.

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Buckle up for a variety of step-by-step explanations as well as tips and tricks to help you start mastering this program. There are additional resources woven in, and you’ll find expert perspectives from other HubSpotters along the way.

Table of Contents

How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

Powerpoint presentation tips.

Microsoft PowerPoint is like a test of basic professional skills, and each PowerPoint is basically a presentation made of multiple slides.

Successful PowerPoints depend on three main factors: your command of PowerPoint's design tools, your attention to presentation processes, and being consistent with your style.

Keep those in mind as we jump into PowerPoint's capabilities.

Getting Started

1. open powerpoint and click ‘new.’.

A page with templates will usually open automatically, but if not, go to the top left pane of your screen and click New . If you’ve already created a presentation, select Open and then double-click the icon to open the existing file.

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Creating PowerPoint Slides

3. insert a slide..

Insert a new slide by clicking on the Home tab and then the New Slide button. Consider what content you want to put on the slide, including heading, text, and imagery.

• Finally, PowerPoint Live is a new tool that enables you to do more seamless presentations during video calls and may be a better overall match for doing presentations remotely. Check out this video:

11. Try Using GIFs.

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Fill out this form to access your free professionally-designed templates, available on:

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15. Embed multimedia.

PowerPoint allows you to either link to video/audio files externally or to embed the media directly in your presentation. For PCs, two great reasons for embedding are:

• Embedding allows you to play media directly in your presentation. It will look much more professional than switching between windows.
• Embedding also means that the file stays within the PowerPoint presentation, so it should play normally without extra work (except on a Mac).

If you use PowerPoint for Mac it gets a bit complicated, but it can be done:

• Always bring the video and/or audio file with you in the same folder as the PowerPoint presentation.
• Only insert video or audio files once the presentation and the containing folder have been saved on a portable drive in their permanent folder.
• If the presentation will be played on a Windows computer, then Mac users need to make sure their multimedia files are in WMV format.
• Consider using the same operating system for designing and presenting, no matter what.

16. Bring your own hardware.

Between operating systems, PowerPoint is still a bit jumpy. Even between differing PPT versions, things can change. The easiest fix? Just bring along your own laptop when you're presenting.

The next easiest fix is to upload your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides as a backup option — just make sure there is a good internet connection and a browser available where you plan to present.

Google Slides is a cloud-based presentation software that will show up the same way on all operating systems.

To import your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides:

• Navigate to slides.google.com . Make sure you’re signed in to a Google account (preferably your own).
• Under Start a new presentation , click the empty box with a plus sign. This will open up a blank presentation.
• Go to File , then Import slides .
• A dialog box will come up. Tap Upload.
• Click Select a file from your device .
• Select your presentation and click Open .
• Select the slides you’d like to import. If you want to import all of them, click All in the upper right-hand corner of the dialog box.
• Click Import slides.

When I tested this out, Google Slides imported everything perfectly, including a shape whose points I had manipulated. This is a good backup option to have if you’ll be presenting across different operating systems.

17. Use Presenter View.

In most presentation situations, there will be both a presenter’s screen and the main projected display for your presentation.

PowerPoint has a great tool called Presenter View, which can be found in the Slide Show tab of PowerPoint. Included in the Presenter View is an area for notes, a timer/clock, and a presentation display.

For many presenters, this tool can help unify their spoken presentation and their visual aid. You never want to make the PowerPoint seem like a stack of notes that you’re reading off of.

Use the Presenter View option to help create a more natural presentation.

Pro Tip: At the start of the presentation, you should also hit CTRL + H to make the cursor disappear. Hitting the “A” key will bring it back if you need it.

Your Next Great PowerPoint Presentation Starts Here

Now that you have these style, design, and presentation tips under your belt, you should feel confident to create your PowerPoint presentation.

But if you can explore other resources to make sure your content hits the mark. After all, you need a strong presentation to land your point and make an impression.

With several templates to choose from — both in PowerPoint and available for free download — you can swiftly be on your way to creating presentations that wow your audiences.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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HUGH CULVER

Author, speaker, coach, 10 easy ways to make any powerpoint presentation awesome.

Updated to Speaking on May 3, 2023.

This post was updated in 2023.

It was 20 minutes before lunch, my client was frantically looking at the clock, and the audience was squirming. We had suffered through endless forgettable PowerPoint slides and were all hoping for a merciful end. That’s when the presenter announced, “I see I’m running out of time, so I’ll just hurry through my last 30 slides.”

We’ve all suffered through slide shows with long lists of unreadable bullets, unnecessary YouTube clips, and overuse of graphics. Instead of holding our attention and making their point even stronger, each slide distracts the audience with more content they don’t need. Bad slides are agnostic. You can use PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, Google Slides, or hold up a piece of paper – it’s all a distraction if you don’t do it well.

Done well, a thoughtfully prepared slide deck can be the perfect slide dish for your full meal presentation. Done poorly and your audience will feel like they made one too many trips to the buffet table. This post will help you do it well.

For the first years of my speaking career, I presented with 35mm slides. You know, the photographs framed by cardboard that got jammed in the projector? That was me – hauling out the projector, clicking in the carousel, and praying that tonight it would all work. I soon learned that the more slides I showed the less the audience listened to me. So I cut back on the slides. I also noticed that when I switched to a black screen (see #9) the audience turned all their attention to me. So I practiced fading to black whenever I told a story or had an important point to make.

How I started

When I switched to PowerPoint I suddenly had a candy shop full of treats to sweeten my presentations with. And I started making all the same mistakes again: too many slides, too much content on each slide, and too distracting. After every presentation I always do a quick debrief – what worked, what needs to change? And slowly I developed a checklist for slide presentations.

I have shared with checklist with hundreds of speakers to help put the spotlight on them. Some were designing a new speech, some were preparing for a webinar and others needed slides to back up a video presentation. In every case, this checklist made their presentation better. They sold more products, got more referrals, and, in most cases, spent a lot less time working on their slide deck.

If you’ve ever struggled to create interesting slides or worry your slides are too wordy or you have too many of them, this will help.

Here are my 10 easy ways to make any PowerPoint presentation awesome.

1. Build your slides last

This might be the most important rule on the list. Don’t build your slide deck until you build your presentation.

You could be tempted to start monkeying with slides early in your speech writing process – after all, it’s a fun way to procrastinate from all that hard thinking – don’t. Building your slide deck before you build your presentation is like building a road before you know where it’s going.

Your slides are there to ADD to a well-designed speech, not to replace it.

2. Don’t try to replace you

People come to hear you. If you are launching your service on a webinar, they want to know how this solution has helped you and whether is it right for them. If you are delivering a keynote speech or workshop, they want a glimpse into your solutions that can help move them forward in their work or in life.

Fancy transitions, superfluous video clips, and endless bullet points will get your audience’s attention, but take their attention off of you. Every time you hit the clicker the audience leaves you and goes to the screen.

Your goal for every presentation is to deliver the goods, not the slides.

3. Use a consistent theme

We are easily distracted and confused. That’s why brands always anchor advertising on their unique colors, fonts, slogan, or a jingle. They know that consistency in their brand theme builds recognition and puts more attention on the message. You should do that with your slides.

Start with a simple, white background and san serif fonts.

A consistent, simple theme helps your audience focus on the content of each slide. Watch TED talks that have gone viral to see how simple a slide theme can be, like the ones by Dan Pink The puzzle of motivation (30M views), and Shawn Achor The happy secret to better work (25M views).

4. More images, less text

Want to quickly reenergize a tired slide deck? Make your images larger ( in this post I share where to get free images ) and reduce the text size. Remember, the theme in this post is that you are the presentation, not your slides.

Your brain can process images 60,000 times faster than text. When you use images (and less text) you allow your audience to process the image without distracting them away from your powerful story, or making a critical point. Like subtle mood music in the background of a dramatic movie scene, images can augment and enhance what you are saying without stealing the show.

5. One story per slide

When I started using PowerPoint I would have 60 to 80 slides for a 60-minute speech. It was a lot of work to prepare each deck and when I was deep into the speech I would sometimes forget where I was and have to jump forward a couple of slides.

Then it became 30-35 slides and I could breathe easier, knowing that fewer clicks meant less to worry about. As my confidence grew it became 10-12 slides and each slide became a key part of storytelling or point-making—they had to earn their place.

I might use a slide as a backdrop to a story or for a short list that supports a lesson I’m delivering. Either way, it’s always on ‘story’ per slide. If I don’t need a slide, I fade to black (#9).

But, I always stick to one story per slide.

6. Reveal one bullet at a time

This is an easy one – reveal one bullet at a time. The function of bullets is to reinforce (not replace) what you are delivering. That’s why they need to be short (see the 2/4/8 rule, below). A good bullet point is complete on it’s own, but much better when combined with a live presentation of it. Here’s an example from a list of (very wordy) time management strategies:

• Infrequent visits to your Inbox give you more time for deep work
• time blocking allows you to protect time for important work
• the Pomodoro technique can help you focus with fewer distractions

A better list – like one you might use on a PowerPoint slide – would be:

• visit your Inbox less often
• block time for important work
• the Pomodoro technique helps you focus

To reveal one bullet at a time in PowerPoint, right-click on your text box, select Custom Animation > Add Entrance Effect and then choose the effect you want. In Keynote, click Animate > Build in and choose the effect you want.

7. Leave the fireworks to Disney

It’s great that you know how to turn text into flames and make images spin with the click of your mouse – but leave those fireworks to Disney. Your job is to make your content the star of the show. Every time you haul the audience’s attention away to some animation you lose a truckload of opportunity to help them.

Your slides can still be amazing and helpful, but that should always be secondary to your primary purpose of helping people. Simple transitions, clean, san serif fonts, and large, attractive graphics trump PowerPoint tricks, every time.

8. The 2/4/8 rule

When I am advising other speakers I often don’t know their topic—certainly not as well as they do. So I rely on certain rules I have developed over many years. For slide decks, I use my 2/4/8 rule. Here’s how it goes…

• about every 2 minutes I have a new slide (that’s 30 slides for a 60-minute speech),
• no more than 4 bullets per slide, and
• no more than 8 words per bullet.

Just like any recipe, you can mess with the ingredient a bit. If your content is more technical, you might need more slides. Sometimes I need 5 or 6 bullets. I use the 2/4/8 rule to remind me that slides are there to support what I have to say, not replace me.

9. Fade to black

The last time I was shopping for a car, I noticed the salesperson had a clever technique. While he asked how I liked the car and if I had any questions, he kept his sales offer face-down on the table. Because there were no other distractions, he had my full attention. And when it was time to reveal his offer, it was much more dramatic (so was the price!) Use the same technique with your slides.

When you fade to black you regain your audience’s attention. For example, after I present a solution, I’ll fade to black while I expound on how to apply that solution in my audience’s work/life. When I’m finished, I turn black off and go to the next point. Or if I’m halfway through a story I’ll fade to back before the punchline so I know I have everyone’s attention.

It’s no different than a close-up scene in a movie—the director wants you to focus only on the speaker. Note that if you are shopping for a slide remote, be sure that yours has the black screen feature.

10. When in doubt, delete

This might be the most advice I can leave you with. When in doubt, delete it.

There is a weird attraction to more. Authors add more pages thinking it makes the book more valuable. Sales people who talk too much miss the opportunity to ask for the sale. And presenters add more slides thinking it will make them look better. Wrong.

When you are doing the final edits on your slide deck, the ultimate question you should be asking about each slide is, “Will it make my speech better?” If not, dump it.

Remember, nobody will miss what isn’t there. Also fewer slides allows you more time for side stories, spontaneous thoughts or even time for Q&A.

Remember this…

I’ve said it numerous times in this post, but it’s worth repeating. You are the show, not your slides. More slides means more time your audience is not paying attention to you. Fewer (and better) slides means you have more time to build rapport, share memorable stories, explain your solutions and motivate your audience to action. You are there for a reason. Now go and deliver.

One last thing. Spend the $80 and pack a remote (with spare batteries.) Nothing’s worse than watching a speaker repeatedly lean over, hunt for the right key, and then peck away to advance the slides.

If you enjoyed this article, here is more about presentation skills:

How the experts create world-class PowerPoint Slides (and you can too) PowerPoint Primer – the only 3 slides you’ll ever need How to add video to PowerPoint and Keynote like a pro

Slide by  Nathan Anderson  on  Unsplash

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8 tips to make the best powerpoint presentations.

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Gemini isn't replacing google assistant after all, ai is here to stay, so update yourself with these 7 ai terms, quick links, 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.

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.

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.

Related: How to Burn Your PowerPoint to DVD

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.

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How to Quickly Make Simple PowerPoint Presentations

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Learn how to make a simple and easy PowerPoint presentation quickly. Skip all the hard work by using time-saving professional themes, layouts, and styles. 

Microsoft PowerPoint  is the most popular presentation software used from university classrooms to the corporate board room. Apple's Keynote and Google Slides are worthy competitors, but few apps are as universal as PowerPoint.

While PowerPoint is easy to use and widely adopted, it can be overwhelming to get started with building a presentation from scratch. Each new, blank slide requires many content and design choices.

Fortunately, PowerPoint has plenty of time-saving features that help you make presentations quickly. 

This tutorial teaches you how to make an easy PowerPoint presentation using templates that come with pre-built slide designs. You'll also learn how to use PowerPoint's powerful tools to skip the manual work involved with creating most presentations. 

How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation - Quickly

When you think of how to make presentation designs, there are several steps to follow. Remember, your slide deck itself is just one part of the process. You also have to make time to generate ideas and refine your message.

Plus, it’s always key to rehearse. This helps you make a great impression when it’s time to present your slides to an audience.

But your slide deck forms the backbone of any successful presentation. Always follow a structured approach to ensure an easy presentation creation process. Let’s learn how to do a PowerPoint presentation quickly. 

Throughout these tips, I’ll be using the versatile Sirius Presentation Template from Envato Elements. Sirius includes over 100 easy presentation slides that you can customize quickly. By following these eight easy presentation tips, you’ll set yourself up for success.

1. Always Use a Premium Template Design

Want to know the secret of how to make presentation design fast and easy? Two words: premium templates.

Premium template designs from Envato Elements are the key to success. Each one is designed by creative experts. This means you don’t have to spend valuable time building slide layouts from scratch. Plus, you’ll enjoy styling that’s far superior to free templates, or designs you make on your own.

Premium templates are a powerful combination of style and time savings. There’s no reason not to use them! You save time, and you wow audiences with stunning, studio-quality slide designs. All you've got to do is fill in the blanks.

Don’t think for a moment that choosing a premium template means giving up creative control. In fact, the opposite is true. By outsourcing design work, you've got more time to spend refining your message and slides. You can focus on what matters most, with the arduous layout work already complete. 

Think of every slide as a starting point. Rather than working with a blank canvas, you've got a helpful start to bring your content to life. 

Sirius is a great stylish and flexible choice, but it’s far from your only option. Elements offers thousands of other options . For example, you can explore these modern, simple layouts:

2. Open With a Strong Intro

Another easy presentation tip:

Let’s customize slide #2 in the Sirius template here. I like this slide because it makes perfect use of space.

Over on the left, you can place a headline title. To do that, click into the text box that reads Welcome Message . Select the contents, then type over them with your own words. 

On the right, you can swap out the placeholder paragraph with more details. Remember, an intro should be short and to the point. A few sentences will suffice.

It’s best here to quickly outline your objectives. Tell your audience what your presentation is about. Think of this as a brief roadmap for the rest of your slide deck.

3. Introduce Your Team

When you think of how to do a PowerPoint presentation, keep in mind that audiences want to know who you are. Your ideas aren’t complete without the human element. That’s why it’s key early to introduce your team.

Slides like #23 in the deck here are perfect for this. Click on its thumbnail in the left sidebar and drag it to a spot near the beginning of your presentation.

This shows the flexibility of premium templates. You can move slides anywhere you want. This way, your slide deck flows perfectly.

Swap out the text on the slides with names and job titles of your core team members. Then, notice the photo placeholders.

To add team photos, browse to stored images on your computer. Then, drag them (one by one) over each placeholder. PowerPoint imports the photos, fitting them perfectly into place.

4. Focus on Key Ideas

To succeed, remember this easy PowerPoint tip:

For instance, slide #30 in the deck is a perfect way to bring a key idea to life. Swap out the bold text at the bottom to describe a key part of your message. Fill in the shaded box at the top with more supporting details. The image placeholder helps you add all-important visual interest.

Customize the slide with the techniques we learned above. In moments, you can quickly build an idea slide that audiences connects with. You may want to replicate this slide if you've got more than one key idea.

But remember, keep the number of those low. If you've got too many competing ideas, audiences might get lost and lose sight of your core message. 

5. Illustrate, Illustrate, Illustrate

Words matter. But alone, they aren’t enough to build a compelling slide deck. When you think of how to make presentation designs more engaging, you've got to use plenty of images. These bring ideas to life in visual ways. They also break up the monotony of wordy slides.

Slide #19 is a perfect candidate to use for images. It holds four image placeholders where you can add your own images. By dragging and dropping, you can add them fast.

Sometimes, images speak for themselves. Other times, you might want to plan some supporting narration to add context. Either way, remember that images are essential parts of a successful PowerPoint presentation. 

Need to source images for your slides? As an Envato Elements member, you’re in luck. Elements includes a library of millions of stock photos . These are the perfect additions to your slides! Explore the library and join today. 

6. Bring Data to Life with Infographics

Photos aren’t the only way to illustrate ideas in PowerPoint. Infographics are another great option. These really help your slides stand out from the crowd. And once again, infographic layouts are hallmarks of premium templates. You won’t find them in free designs.

Sirius slide #82 is a powerful example of a clean, elegant infographic. Click and drag to customize the filled data bars in the circles. Then, drop in some supporting text. For example, this one can show off your global market share. 

Notice how intuitive the layout is. Talking through facts and figures is a good way to lose an audience’s focus. By showing instead of telling, you avoid this. That ensures your key points are always remembered and understood.

It’s also easy to change up the color palette. With a shape selected, find the Shape Fill dropdown on the ribbon’s Shape Format tab. Explore your options, and click on a new color to apply it. This is useful especially when you want to match your charts to your brand’s own colors. 

7. Build High-Tech Mockups

Let’s face it: the world is going mobile. Your presentations should keep up.

If you’re showing off your website or app, it pays to illustrate it with device mockups. Mockups are 3D representations of devices, on which you can share content. A good example is the computer mockup on slide #74.

Device mockups in premium templates are actually quite simple. They’re how to do a PowerPoint presentation that shows off your digital presence in style. To edit one, all you’ll need is a screenshot of your homepage or app.

With an image file in hand, drop it onto the mockup. Mockups work like any image placeholder, so your screenshot drops into place. Now, audiences can see exactly how your content looks on a real device. 

8. Recap and Close Strong

The best slides on Earth aren’t worth a lot without a strong close. A strong closing should do three things:

• Recap the key points from your presentation.
• Leave a lasting impression.
• Allow time for questions.

Once again, simplicity is the name of the game. Let’s use slide #61 to demonstrate. As usual, an image kicks off the slide to ramp up the visual interest. And the text placeholders are refined to capture the key ideas we’ve talked about in earlier slides. 

Notice that the slide isn’t detail-heavy. This is by design. The best messages can be easily explained. An easy presentation technique is to keep your closing slide short and to the point. Remember, it’s your last chance to ensure your audience takes away your core message. It’s never the time to distract with new ideas and a flood of content. 

This is how to do a PowerPoint presentation that succeeds in 2022. As you can see, it’s all thanks to premium templates. You benefit from style and design ideation, with the hard work done for you.

5 Quick PowerPoint Presentation Tips

Here are five of my favorite tips to develop presentations quickly without sacrificing quality:

• Start Off With a Custom Theme . Unique PowerPoint themes are full of ideas for your slides. You can drop your own content in and save hours versus drawing them from scratch.
• Use Ready-Made Slide Layouts . These are the blueprints for slide designs. Most themes have many distinctive layouts to choose from and they include placeholders for text, images, video, and more.
• Reuse Key Presentation Elements . If you build a great chart, you can always paste it a second time and change the original data to build presentations quickly—without repeating yourself.
• Plan Content First and Design Later . Before you open PowerPoint, decide what you'll say in your presentation first . The design options and themes are a distraction if you don't have your content ideas in place already. Your presentation will come together quickly if you think content first .
• Remember, Less Is More . You shouldn't include everything you'll say on your PowerPoint. Slides are visual aids that  support  your presentation, not speak for you. With fewer slides to develop, you'll save time.

These are the quickest wins I know to create solid presentations without expending many hours. 

Discover More Great PowerPoint Templates

If you're interested in other PowerPoint themes, we've got you covered. We sample the best templates from our marketplaces to that teach you how to do a PowerPoint presentation, with designs already built for you.

Remember, templates are your best friend. They already have all of the placeholders you need. You just need to fill them in. We've got a number of the best featured here in our template-focused articles:

Best Premium PowerPoint Templates (With Simple to Use Designs)

You've already seen that templates are what the pros turn to as the answer to how to do a PowerPoint presentation. And the best source for those easy presentation templates is Envato Elements.

Discover  simple PowerPoint template designs with powerful features on Envato Elements. With a single subscription, you'll unlock an unlimited number of PowerPoint presentations. That all comes at one flat-rate cost.

Not only does Elements give you access to presentation templates, but you'll also get presentation extras. That includes custom fonts, stock photos, illustrations, and so much more.

Combine these templates with our tips for easy presentation design. It takes less time than you ever thought possible to learn how to do a PowerPoint presentation, thanks to these designs.

Download Our eBook on Making Great Presentations (Free PDF)

We've the perfect complement to this tutorial, which walks you through the complete presentation process. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully. 

Download our eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It's available for FREE with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter. 

Keep Learning More About Making PowerPoint Presentations 

The tips shared in this tutorial are the secret shortcuts for building great PowerPoint presentations. Using custom themes and the built-in layouts and tools is the best way to make a professional presentation quickly.

Here are several other time-saving Envato Tuts+ tutorials for building PowerPoint presentations fast:

You Learned How to Do a PowerPoint Presentation, Start Today

The tips in this tutorial have taken you from beginner to expert in less time than you thought possible. Learning how to do a PowerPoint presentation is so much easier when you rely on templates and tips like the ones we shared.

Remember: simplicity is key.

Simplicity isn't the default - it takes work to distill your ideas. Lean on our tips, combined with premium PowerPoint templates, and you're on your way. Download an easy presentation template today and get started.

Editorial Note: This post has been updated with contributions Andrew Childress . Andrew is a freelance instructor for Envato Tuts+.

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How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation (Step-by-Step)

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Presentation Design
• January 22, 2024

In this beginner’s guide, you will learn step-by-step how to make a PowerPoint presentation from scratch.

While PowerPoint is designed to be intuitive and accessible, it can be overwhelming if you’ve never gotten any training on it before. As you progress through this guide, you’ll will learn how to move from blank slides to PowerPoint slides that look like these.

Table of Contents

Additionally, as you create your presentation, you’ll also learn tricks for working more efficiently in PowerPoint, including how to:

• Change the slide order
• Reset your layout
• Change the slide dimensions
• Use PowerPoint Designer
• Format text
• Format objects
• Play a presentation (slide show)

With this knowledge under your belt, you’ll be ready to start creating PowerPoint presentations. Moreover, you’ll have taken your skills from beginner to proficient in no time at all. I will also include links to more advanced PowerPoint topics.

Ready to start learning how to make a PowerPoint presentation?

Take your PPT skills to the next level

Start with a blank presentation.

Note: Before you open PowerPoint and start creating your presentation, make sure you’ve collected your thoughts. If you’re going to make your slides compelling, you need to spend some time brainstorming.

For help with this, see our article with tips for nailing your business presentation  here .

The first thing you’ll need to do is to open PowerPoint. When you do, you are shown the Start Menu , with the Home tab open.

This is where you can choose either a blank theme (1) or a pre-built theme (2). You can also choose to open an existing presentation (3).

For now, go ahead and click on the  Blank Presentation (1)  thumbnail.

Doing so launches a brand new and blank presentation for you to work with. Before you start adding content to your presentation, let’s first familiarize ourselves with the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint interface

Here is how the program is laid out:

• The Application Header
• The Ribbon (including the Ribbon tabs)
• The Quick Access Toolbar (either above or below the Ribbon)
• The Slides Pane (slide thumbnails)

The Slide Area

The notes pane.

• The Status Bar (including the View Buttons)

Each one of these areas has options for viewing certain parts of the PowerPoint environment and formatting your presentation.

Below are the important things to know about certain elements of the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint Ribbon

The Ribbon is contextual. That means that it will adapt to what you’re doing in the program.

For example, the Font, Paragraph and Drawing options are greyed out until you select something that has text in it, as in the example below (A).

Furthermore, if you start manipulating certain objects, the Ribbon will display additional tabs, as seen above (B), with more commands and features to help you work with those objects. The following objects have their own additional tabs in the Ribbon which are hidden until you select them:

• Online Pictures
• Screenshots
• Screen Recording

The Slides Pane

This is where you can preview and rearrange all the slides in your presentation.

Right-clicking on a slide  in the pane gives you additional options on the slide level that you won’t find on the Ribbon, such as  Duplicate Slide ,  Delete Slide , and  Hide Slide .

In addition, you can add sections to your presentation by  right-clicking anywhere in this Pane  and selecting  Add Section . Sections are extremely helpful in large presentations, as they allow you to organize your slides into chunks that you can then rearrange, print or display differently from other slides.

The Slide Area (A) is where you will build out your slides. Anything within the bounds of this area will be visible when you present or print your presentation.

Anything outside of this area (B) will be hidden from view. This means that you can place things here, such as instructions for each slide, without worrying about them being shown to your audience.

The  Notes Pane  is the space beneath the Slide Area where you can type in the speaker notes for each slide. It’s designed as a fast way to add and edit your slides’ talking points.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about adding, printing, and exporting your PowerPoint speaker notes, read our guide here .

Your speaker notes are visible when you print your slides using the Notes Pages option and when you use the Presenter View . To expand your knowledge and learn the ins and outs of using the Presenter View , read our guide here .

You can resize the  Notes Pane  by clicking on its edge and dragging it up or down (A). You can also minimize or reopen it by clicking on the Notes button in the Status Bar (B).

Note:  Not all text formatting displays in the Notes Pane, even though it will show up when printing your speaker notes. To learn more about printing PowerPoint with notes, read our guide here .

Now that you have a basic grasp of the PowerPoint interface at your disposal, it’s time to make your presentation.

Adding Content to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Notice that in the Slide Area , there are two rectangles with dotted outlines. These are called  Placeholders  and they’re set on the template in the Slide Master View .

To expand your knowledge and learn how to create a PowerPoint template of your own (which is no small task), read our guide here .

As the prompt text suggests, you can click into each placeholder and start typing text. These types of placeholder prompts are customizable too. That means that if you are using a company template, it might say something different, but the functionality is the same.

Note:  For the purposes of this example, I will create a presentation based on the content in the Starbucks 2018 Global Social Impact Report, which is available to the public on their website.

If you type in more text than there is room for, PowerPoint will automatically reduce its font size. You can stop this behavior by clicking on the  Autofit Options  icon to the left of the placeholder and selecting  Stop Fitting Text to this Placeholder .

Next, you can make formatting adjustments to your text by selecting the commands in the Font area and the  Paragraph area  of the  Home  tab of the Ribbon.

The Reset Command:  If you make any changes to your title and decide you want to go back to how it was originally, you can use the Reset button up in the Home tab .

Insert More Slides into Your Presentation

Now that you have your title slide filled in, it’s time to add more slides. To do that, simply go up to the  Home tab  and click on  New Slide . This inserts a new slide in your presentation right after the one you were on.

You can alternatively hit Ctrl+M on your keyboard to insert a new blank slide in PowerPoint. To learn more about this shortcut, see my guide on using Ctrl+M in PowerPoint .

Instead of clicking the New Slide command, you can also open the New Slide dropdown to see all the slide layouts in your PowerPoint template. Depending on who created your template, your layouts in this dropdown can be radically different.

If you insert a layout and later want to change it to a different layout, you can use the Layout dropdown instead of the New Slide dropdown.

After inserting a few different slide layouts, your presentation might look like the following picture. Don’t worry that it looks blank, next we will start adding content to your presentation.

If you want to follow along exactly with me, your five slides should be as follows:

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Picture with Caption

Adding Content to Your Slides

Now let’s go into each slide and start adding our content. You’ll notice some new types of placeholders.

On slide 2 we have a  Content Placeholder , which allows you to add any kind of content. That includes:

• A SmartArt graphic,
• A 3D object,
• A picture from the web,
• Or an icon.

To insert text, simply type it in or hit  Ctrl+C to Copy  and Ctrl+V to Paste  from elsewhere. To insert any of the other objects, click on the appropriate icon and follow the steps to insert it.

For my example, I’ll simply type in some text as you can see in the picture below.

Slides 3 and 4 only have text placeholders, so I’ll go ahead and add in my text into each one.

On slide 5 we have a Picture Placeholder . That means that the only elements that can go into it are:

• A picture from the web

To insert a picture into the picture placeholder, simply:

• Click on the  Picture  icon
• Find  a picture on your computer and select it
• Click on  Insert

Alternatively, if you already have a picture open somewhere else, you can select the placeholder and paste in (shortcut: Ctrl+V ) the picture. You can also drag the picture in from a file explorer window.

If you do not like the background of the picture you inserted onto your slide, you can remove the background here in PowerPoint. To see how to do this, read my guide here .

Placeholders aren’t the only way to add content to your slides. At any point, you can use the Insert tab to add elements to your slides.

You can use either the Title Only  or the  Blank  slide layout to create slides for content that’s different. For example, a three-layout content slide, or a single picture divider slide, as shown below.

In the first example above, I’ve inserted 6 text boxes, 3 icons, and 3 circles to create this layout. In the second example, I’ve inserted a full-sized picture and then 2 shapes and 2 text boxes.

The Reset Command:  Because these slides are built with shapes and text boxes (and not placeholders), hitting the  Reset button up in the  Home tab  won’t do anything.

That is a good thing if you don’t want your layouts to adjust. However, it does mean that it falls on you to make sure everything is aligned and positioned correctly.

For more on how to add and manipulate the different objects in PowerPoint, check out our step-by-step articles here:

• Using graphics in PowerPoint
• Inserting icons onto slides
• Adding pictures to your PowerPoint
• How to embed a video in PowerPoint
• How to add music to your presentation

Using Designer to generate more layouts ideas

If you have Office 365, your version of PowerPoint comes with a new feature called Designer (or Design Ideas). This is a feature that generates slide layout ideas for you. The coolest thing about this feature is that it uses the content you already have.

To use Designer , simply navigate to the  Design tab  in your Ribbon, and click on  Design Ideas .

NOTE: If the PowerPoint Designer is not working for you (it is grey out), see my troubleshooting guide for Designer .

Change the Overall Design (optional)

When you make a PowerPoint presentation, you’ll want to think about the overall design. Now that you have some content in your presentation, you can use the Design tab to change the look and feel of your slides.

For additional help thinking through the design of your presentation,  read my guide here .

A. Picking your PowerPoint slide size

If you have PowerPoint 2013 or later, when you create a blank document in PowerPoint, you automatically start with a widescreen layout with a 16:9 ratio. These dimensions are suitable for most presentations as they match the screens of most computers and projectors.

However, you do have the option to change the dimensions.

For example, your presentation might not be presented, but instead converted into a PDF or printed and distributed. In that case, you can easily switch to the standard dimensions with a 4:3 ratio by selecting from the dropdown (A).

You can also choose a custom slide size or change the slide orientation from landscape to portrait in the Custom Slide Size dialog box (B).

To learn all about the different PowerPoint slide sizes, and some of the issues you will face when changing the slide size of a non-blank presentation,  read my guide here .

 B. Selecting a PowerPoint theme

The next thing you can do is change the theme of your presentation to a pre-built one. For a detailed explanation of what a PowerPoint theme is, and how to best use it,  read my article here .

In the beginning of this tutorial, we started with a blank presentation, which uses the default Office theme as you can see in the picture below.

That gives you the most flexibility because it has a blank background and quite simple layouts that work for most presentations. However, it also means that it’s your responsibility to enhance the design.

If you’re comfortable with this, you can stay with the default theme or create your own custom theme ( read my guide here ). But if you would rather not have to think about design, then you can choose a pre-designed theme.

Microsoft provides 46 other pre-built themes, which include slide layouts, color variants and palettes, and fonts. Each one varies quite significantly, so make sure you look through them carefully.

To select a different theme, go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon, and click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Themes section .

For this tutorial, let’s select the  Frame  theme and then choose the third Variant in the theme. Doing so changes the layout, colors, and fonts of your presentation.

Note: The theme dropdown area is also where you can import or save custom themes. To see my favorite places to find professional PowerPoint templates and themes (and recommendations for why I like them), read my guide here .

C. How to change a slide background in PowerPoint

The next thing to decide is how you want your background to look for the entire presentation. In the  Variants area, you can see four background options.

For this example, we want our presentation to have a dark background, so let’s select Style 3. When you do so, you’ll notice that:

• The background color automatically changes across all slides
• The color of the text on most of the slides automatically changes to white so that it’s visible on the dark background
• The colors of the objects on slides #6 and #7 also adjust, in a way we may not want (we’ll likely have to make some manual adjustments to these slides)

Note: If you want to change the slide background for just that one slide, don’t left-click the style. Instead, right-click it and select Apply to Selected Slides .

After you change the background for your entire presentation, you can easily adjust the background for an individual slide.

Inside the Format Background pane, you can see you have the following options:

• Gradient fill
• Picture or texture fill
• Pattern fill
• Hide background

You can explore these options to find the PowerPoint background that best fits your presentation.

D. How to change your color palette in PowerPoint

Another thing you may want to adjust in your presentation, is the color scheme. In the picture below you can see the Theme Colors we are currently using for this presentation.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own color palette. By default, the Office theme includes the Office color palette. This affects the colors you are presented with when you format any element within your presentation (text, shapes, SmartArt, etc.).

The good news is that the colors here are easy to change. To switch color palettes, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab in the Ribbon
• In the Variants area, click on the  dropdown arrow  and select  Colors
• Select  the color palette (or theme colors) you want

You can choose among the pre-built color palettes from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

As you build your presentation, make sure you use the colors from your theme to format objects. That way, changing the color palette adjusts all the colors in your presentation automatically.

E. How to change your fonts in PowerPoint

Just as we changed the color palette, you can do the same for the fonts.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own font combination. By default, the Office theme includes the Office font pairing. This affects the fonts that are automatically assigned to all text in your presentation.

The good news is that the font pairings are easy to change. To switch your Theme Fonts, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Variants  area
• Select  Fonts
• Select  the font pairing you want

You can choose among the pre-built fonts from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

If you are working with PowerPoint presentations on both Mac and PC computers, make sure you choose a safe PowerPoint font. To see a list of the safest PowerPoint fonts, read our guide here .

If you receive a PowerPoint presentation and the wrong fonts were used, you can use the Replace Fonts dialog box to change the fonts across your entire presentation. For details, read our guide here .

Adding Animations & Transitions (optional)

The final step to make a PowerPoint presentation compelling, is to consider using animations and transitions. These are by no means necessary to a good presentation, but they may be helpful in your situation.

A. Adding PowerPoint animations

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust animations engine designed to power your creativity. That being said, it’s also easy to get started with basic animations.

Animations are movements that you can apply to individual objects on your slide.

To add a PowerPoint animation to an element of your slide, simply:

• Select the  element
• Go to the  Animations tab in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  animation  you want

You can add animations to multiple objects at one time by selecting them all first and then applying the animation.

B. How to preview a PowerPoint animation

There are three ways to preview a PowerPoint animation:

• Click on the Preview button in the Animations tab
• Click on the little star  next to the slide
• Play the slide in Slide Show Mode

To learn other ways to run your slide show, see our guide on presenting a PowerPoint slide show with shortcuts .

To adjust the settings of your animations, explore the options in the  Effect Options ,  Advanced Animation  and the  Timing  areas of the  Animation tab .

Note:  To see how to make objects appear and disappear in your slides by clicking a button,  read our guide here .

C. How to manage your animations in PowerPoint

The best way to manage lots of animations on your slide is with the Animation Pane . To open it, simply:

• Navigate to the  Animations tab
• Select the  Animation Pane

Inside the Animation Pane, you’ll see all of the different animations that have been applied to objects on your slide, with their numbers marked as pictured above.

Note: To see examples of PowerPoint animations that can use in PowerPoint, see our list of PowerPoint animation tutorials here .

D. How to add transitions to your PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust transition engine so that you can dictate how your slides change from one to the other. It is also extremely easy to add transitions to your slides.

In PowerPoint, transitions are the movements (or effects) you see as you move between two slides.

To add a transition to a PowerPoint slide, simply:

• Select the  slide
• Go to the  Transitions tab in the Ribbon
• In the Transitions to This Slide area, click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  transition  you want

To adjust the settings of the transition, explore the options in the  Timing  area of the Transitions tab.

You can also add the same transition to multiple slides. To do that, select them in the  Slides Pane  and apply the transition.

E. How to preview a transition in PowerPoint

There are three ways to preview your PowerPoint transitions (just like your animations):

• Click on the Preview  button in the Transitions tab
• Click on the little star  beneath the slide number in the thumbnail view

Note:  In 2016, PowerPoint added a cool new transition, called Morph. It operates a bit differently from other transitions. For a detailed tutorial on how to use the cool Morph transition,  see our step-by-step article here .

Save Your PowerPoint Presentation

After you’ve built your presentation and made all the adjustments to your slides, you’ll want to save your presentation. YOu can do this several different ways.

To save a PowerPoint presentation using your Ribbon, simply:

• Navigate to the  File tab
•  Select  Save As  on the left
• Choose  where you want to save your presentation
• Name  your presentation and/or adjust your file type settings
• Click  Save

You can alternatively use the  Ctrl+S keyboard shortcut to save your presentation. I recommend using this shortcut frequently as you build your presentation to make sure you don’t lose any of your work.

This is the standard way to save a presentation. However, there may be a situation where you want to save your presentation as a different file type.

To learn how to save your presentation as a PDF, see our guide on converting PowerPoint to a PDF .

How to save your PowerPoint presentation as a template

Once you’ve created a presentation that you like, you may want to turn it into a template. The easiest – but not technically correct – way, is to simply create a copy of your current presentation and then change the content.

But be careful! A PowerPoint template is a special type of document and it has its own parameters and behaviors.

If you’re interested in learning about how to create your own PowerPoint template from scratch, see our guide on how to create a PowerPoint template .

Printing Your PowerPoint Presentation

After finishing your PowerPoint presentation, you may want to print it out on paper. Printing your slides is relatively easy.

To open the Print dialog box, you can either:

• Hit Ctrl+P on your keyboard
• Or go to the Ribbon and click on File and then Print

Inside the Print dialog box, you can choose from the various printing settings:

• Printer: Select a printer to use (or print to PDF or OneNote)
• Slides: Choose which slides you want to print
• Layout: Determine how many slides you want per page (this is where you can print the notes, outline, and handouts)
• Collated or uncollated (learn what collated printing means here )
• Color: Choose to print in color, grayscale or black & white

There are many more options for printing your PowerPoint presentations. Here are links to more in-depth articles:

• How to print multiple slides per page
• How to print your speaker notes in PowerPoint
• How to save PowerPoint as a picture presentation

So that’s how to create a PowerPoint presentation if you are brand new to it. We’ve also included a ton of links to helpful resources to boost your PowerPoint skills further.

When you are creating your presentation, it is critical to first focus on the content (what you are trying to say) before getting lost inserting and playing with elements. The clearer you are on what you want to present, the easier it will be to build it out in PowerPoint.

If you enjoyed this article, you can learn more about our PowerPoint training courses and other presentation resources by  visiting us here .

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas 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 review several presentation tips and tricks on how to 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”.

• Display one bullet at a time

Avoid unnecessary animations

• Only add content that supports your main points
• Do not use PowerPoint as a teleprompter
• Never Give Out Copies of the Presentation

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 kept his slides uncluttered and always strived for simplicity
• He was known to use large font size, the bigger, the better.
• He found made the complex sound simple.

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

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

Before we go into tips and tricks on how to add flair to your presentations and create effective 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 complement 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.”

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 below.

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.

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 distraction from the focus, which is you and the information to be conveyed on the slide.

Technology can also help us in creating a consistent presentation design just by picking a topic and selecting a sample template style. This is possible thanks to the SlideModel’s AI slideshow maker .

Each slide should try to 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.”

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 to 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.

Do not use PowerPoint as a Teleprompter

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 Giving 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.

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 to 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, and 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 take in the information one way. So ask many of them.

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

(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 allow them to participate in part of your presentation.

Google Slides has a built-in Q&A feature that allows presenters to make the slide deck more interactive by providing answers to the 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.

Source: Macworld 2008

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

He was known to use large font sizes, 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.

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 practice of your next presentation, we can help you by making sure you look good, and that you have a great design and cohesiveness.

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!

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

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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 ?

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