Presentations - whether they are made with Powerpoint or other applications, are a great way to support a speech, visualize complicated concepts or focus attention on a subject.
However, a bad presentation can achieve the opposite. Badly designed slides with too much text or bad graphics can distract or worse, irritate the audience.
Here's is a short guide that will help you create presentations with a professional look and concise content, avoiding the most common mistakes.
The first thing that gives a professional touch to any presentation is the design.
Choose a large selection of free Powerpoint templates for a variety of topics. However, whether you download a free template or create your own, keep the following in mind:
You may use your company logo, highlight headers, create a special frame for figures/images or the whole slide but don't overload your slides with these elements.
Colors
A poor choice of colors can shatter a presentation.
Text
Remember that your slides are only there to support, not to replace your talk! You'll want to tell a story, describe your data or explain circumstances, and only provide keywords through your slides. If you read your slides and if you do it slow and badly, the audience will get bored and stop listening.
Images
Images are key elements of every presentation. Your audience has ears and eyes - they'll want to see what you're talking about, and a good visual cue will help them to understand your message much better.
Animations & Media
In animations, there is a fine line between a comic or professional impression. However, animations can be rather powerful tools to visualize and explain complicated matters. A good animation can not only improve understanding, but can also make the message stick with your audience.
Target & Content
Your target i.e. your audience, defines the content of your presentation. For example, you won't be able to teach school kids about the complicated matters of economy. However, you may be able to explain what economy is in the first place and why it is important.
If you lose the attention of your audience, everything will be lost - it won't matter how ingenious your design шас or how brilliantly you picked colors and keywords.
A well-prepared and enthusiastic talk will help you convince your audience and maintain their attention. There are some key points that define a good talk.