Have you ever delivered a PowerPoint presentation after pulling an all-nighter, putting in your blood, sweat and tears and did not get enthusiastic applause? It's alright, champ; we're still proud of you. Presenting a PowerPoint presentation is as important as making it. Keep in mind that the PowerPoint presentation is an ally helping you get your aims and ideas across to the audience, so they must be presented well. So to help you in your journey for enthusiastic applause, we've put together 15 best PowerPoint presentation tips which also include some tips to help you make a PowerPoint presentation.
What makes a PowerPoint presentation effective?
As a student or a working professional, it is useful to be quick and skilled with PowerPoint. Making a strong presentation that achieves all of your objectives and aims is crucial. Some of the best traits of PowerPoint presentations are:
- Plan, research and prepare your presentation. It will help you communicate with your audience better
- Your graphics should not distract the audience from your message.
- Practice your timing and delivery with a live audience so that you land good points.
- Give off a calm, relaxed aura while projecting confidence and give your audience a sense of warmth and excitement.
- Avoid mistakes like reading straight out of your presentation.
The Golden Rules of PowerPoint Presentations
Whether you're a student, professional, or anyone seeking to master the art of visual communication, these essential rules will empower you to craft compelling and memorable slides that captivate your audience and leave a lasting impact.
1. The 10-20-30 rules of PowerPoint
The 10-20-30- rule, developed by former Apple brand ambassador Guy Kawasaki, states that a PowerPoint presentation should include no more than ten slides, should finish in 20 minutes and use a font size that is at least 30. Even if you have to complete an hour to present, the "20" in this rule says that you should keep your presentation to a maximum of 20 minutes. While this may look like it extremely at first, the idea is that you can use the remaining 40 minutes to create a relationship with your audience in a discussion or a Q and A session. This PowerPoint presentation tip will help you stand out from your rivals
2. Five by Five rule
You should keep the texts on each slide brief and to the point to save your viewers from feeling overwhelmed. Some experts advise following the 5/5/5 rule, which states there should be five words per line, five lines of text on each slide and five straight slides with a lot of content on them.
3. The rule of 2-4-8
The 2-4-8 rule is widely agreed upon and stressed by experts and practitioners as it is an effective rule that helps put a good impression on the audience. The 2-4-8 rule states a presentation must give 2 minutes per slide, and it should have four bullet points per slide and eight words for every bullet point.
15 Best PowerPoint Presentation Tips
From design principles to delivery techniques, these tips are your gateway to creating presentations that are not only informative but also unforgettable.
1. Keep your audience in mind.
Your first and main Powerpoint tip is to keep your audience in mind. You should greet a room full of young entrepreneurs differently than you should a room full of medical professionals. It varies from group to group. The style in which you present, the topic and the examples you provide help to convey your points, and your PowerPoint presentation will be judged by the audience. So your target audience should be front and centre when you craft the humourous witticisms.
2. Know your topic
Your PowerPoint presentation is more than just the slides you've created. The main purpose is to deliver your points in a way that creates an impact on the audience you're presenting. Consider how you'll present it, why it will be discussed and in what order you'll place your points, facts and figures. These PowerPoint presentation tips are important.
3. Make a script
It's always better to make a script beforehand and practice. It will contain the details of your presentation, your thesis, all the relevant points, how you want to deliver it, etc. In fact, making a script will help you understand your aims and views on the topic you're presenting and keep track of the points you want to convey to the audience. You should keep this PowerPoint tip in mind.
4. Use high-quality images
This PowerPoint presentation tip is gonna be a saver! It is time to add visuals to your presentation once you've cut down on the text to convey your point better. Make sure that the images and gifs you add to your PowerPoint presentation are of high quality, as your presentation will be displayed on a screen bigger than your laptop. At times the image can look clear on your laptop screen but look blurry on a bigger one. So it's safer to use HD-quality images. This is one of the tips for presentation slides which you should never forget.
5. Keep it simple
We understand the urge to fill the slides with a lot of information, trust us, most of us have been there and done that, but it did not bring us enthusiastic applause from the crowd. So keeping things simple is one of the most crucial PowerPoint tip to keep in mind while creating slides. In this situation, less is more effective. A cluttered presentation is difficult for viewers to understand and is distracting. They take more time debating which to prioritise: the slides or the presenter.
6. Choose the appropriate font, size and colour.
When people choose an aesthetically pleasing font, it may not always check the box for being entirely clear. This might cause issues with the font and its size. Choosing the appropriate fonts plays a major role in drawing the audience into the presentation and an important PowerPoint presentation tip. The typography, fonts, font size and font colour play a subconscious impact on the viewers. They either positively or negatively impact the credibility of your presentation. So keep in mind to always choose a font that is visible and understandable to your crowd.
7. Engage your audience
Presentations shouldn't be biased in any way. So why not switch things up and ask a question or two to your audience? You can also make a dedicated slide for just the Q and A section. But keep in mind that the Q and A fit in the time allotted to you, and it does not have a ripple effect on your presentation. Engaging with your audience will make your presentation more captivating, thus making it more interactive. So better keep this PowerPoint presentation tip up your sleeve.
8. Highlight important points
One of the most important Powerpoint presentation tip is to highlight important points. Only the most important details must be covered in the presentation. It is not necessary to share the entirety of whatever you were working on before this, like a paper, a work project, or a new project design, in order to get to your point through. Highlight only the points that will help you to deliver your presentation better.
9. Keep a colour scheme.
The Presentation colour scheme, just like the choice of font and its size, should influence the viewer's subconscious perceptions in a certain way. Using an outdated colour scheme will prove ineffective, so try to choose colours that go with the type of topic. For, e.g. use high contrast colours or consider colour associations like blue, which for some people represents trust, reliability, and calmness, making it a safe colour for business presentations. This Powerpoint tip will help you please your aesthetic side as well.
10. Use transitions that work with your presentation
This is one of the tips for presentation slides which will help you a ton. Don't get influenced by the viral reel memes that go around the internet, and your topic won't be Drake or a capybara all the time. So using flashy transitions won't work with your school or business presentations. Even though these features sometimes seem impressive, using them constantly in your presentation will cause annoyance and become tiresome to watch. This PowerPoint tip is a must.
11. Make the charts and graphs understandable
Charts and graphs are a good way to show the number, growth and development of things as it allows the audience to see the meaning behind them and make it easier to compare. But if used more than required, charts and graphs can be distracting as your viewers will spend more time understanding what the Y axis means than paying attention to what you're speaking. So, always remember one of the PowerPoint design tips: use them only if necessary in a straightforward and clear design.
12. Use infographics
The use of infographics is one of the most effective PowerPoint presentation tips. The correct kind of infographics can make a slide come to life by replacing words with graphics. Infographics assist in using images and information. So, it's easier to express complicated ideas when you use appealing graphics formats.
13. Use fresh templates
Have you used the Powerpoint template with splattered ink and worn-out paper template before? Feels old, right? Of course, it does; that was back when windows 7 was trendy. It's the age of a widow's 11 now, so surely there are new templates in the store. Outdated templates can be a distraction and your viewer's new gossip topic, so make sure you use fresh templates to make your PowerPoint presentation look professional. So dodge these by following this PowerPoint presentation tip.
14. Make sure all your objectives are aligned.
Making sure all items on all slides are carefully aligned is a simple technique to create a well-designed presentation is one of the important PowerPoint presentation design tips. Hold down Shift while selecting all the things you want to align. Then finally, select Alignment Type and Arrange from the option box. This PowerPoint tech tip will help you loads.
15. Make a strong ending
Your conclusion will look very much like your starting point in both appearance and tone. The main difference is that while your introduction serves to arouse interest, your conclusion serves to urge your audience to take action. While ending your PowerPoint presentation, don't water down sentences and give suggestions and tips as part of the suggestion; you're presenting the PowerPoint to the audience and letting them form a personal opinion. Instead, make an impactful summary with direct language. While ending your presentation, focus on what you want your audience to remember and act upon after your PowerPoint presentation. Make sure to use this PowerPoint presentation tip to make an impact on your audience.
What not to do while giving a PowerPoint presentation?
While we know what we should do to give good PowerPoint presentations, here are some things that you should avoid doing during a PowerPoint presentation:
- Don’t read from your slides
- Don’t overload your slides with text.
- Don’t use too many animations or special effects.
- Don’t speak too quickly.
- Don’t stand in one place.
- Don’t ignore your audience, and ensure yu make eye contact with them.
- Don’t go over your time limit.
By carefully considering your audience, creating a compelling story, and using visuals strategically, you can captivate and engage your viewers from start to finish. Build a good PowerPoint presentation with less work than ever before. We hope your PowerPoint Presentation tips help you get that enthusiastic applause. Along with learning the PowerPoint tips and tricks, make sure you learn how to give a presentation in class. It won't take you much time to learn these PowerPoint presentation tips so that now you’re a pro, check out these tips and tricks to network like a professional so you can flex your presentation on a new level. For more information you can check out our webstory on the top 8 presentation tools for students.
From planning to delivery, creating an impactful PowerPoint presentation demands a blend of technique, visual design, and audience engagement. Understanding this artistry requires a depth of experience and familiarity with various principles, tools, and strategies. As an expert in presentations and visual communication, I've not only extensively used PowerPoint but have also delved into the underlying concepts and theories that make presentations effective.
Let's break down the key concepts mentioned in the article:
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Content Preparation: Planning, researching, and scripting your presentation are foundational steps. Understanding your audience and tailoring content accordingly is crucial. This aligns with the fundamental principle of audience analysis and adapting content for maximum impact.
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Visual Elements: High-quality images, simple designs, appropriate font selection, and color schemes contribute to visual appeal without distracting from the core message. It's aligned with the concept of visual hierarchy and cognitive load management to enhance audience comprehension.
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Slide Design Principles: The 10-20-30 rule (10 slides, 20 minutes, 30-point font), the Five by Five rule (conciseness in text), and the 2-4-8 rule (slide timing, bullet points, and word count) emphasize brevity, clarity, and engagement, adhering to principles of effective slide design and audience attention span.
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Engagement and Interaction: Engaging the audience through questions, interactive sections, and highlighting crucial points fosters active participation, resonating with the concept of audience engagement and communication dynamics.
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Use of Visual Aids: Charts, graphs, infographics, and transitions should complement the narrative without overwhelming or distracting the audience. This aligns with principles of data visualization and communication efficacy through visuals.
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Delivery and Closure: A well-prepared script, clear delivery, and a strong ending resonate with the concepts of narrative structure, persuasive communication, and the art of storytelling.
Moreover, the article touches on what not to do during presentations, such as avoiding text-heavy slides, excessive animations, and reading directly from slides. These aspects resonate with the principles of cognitive load management, visual distraction avoidance, and speaker-audience engagement.
By aligning with these principles, anyone can significantly enhance their PowerPoint presentation skills, making them more impactful, engaging, and memorable.
