4 Tips to Create Better Presentations

PowerPoint is a great tool for getting your message across in a presentation, but it is often used incorrectly, and in turn does not help the viewers understand the message any better.  Here are a few tips we put together to help you next time you need to present:

1. Make the page layout and background consistent
2. Always include a title, an agenda, a questions slide, and an end or thank you slide
3. Use bullets rather than sentences
4. Vary the way you present that data by using charts and graphs

Make the page layout and background consistent.  This will give a more professional feel to the slides while also allowing the viewers to follow the presentation closely and take quick notes so they are still able to listen.

Always include a title slide, an agenda slide, a questions slide, and an end or thank you slide.  The title slide should have the same general feel as the rest of the slides but be slightly different.  This is used as an introduction.  While the slide is up, the presenter can address important personnel present, who they are, and what they will be presenting.  This slide should include the title of the presentation, the name of the presenter, and if possible the audience you are presenting to.  The agenda slide should be a bulleted list of the titles of the following slides, excluding the end or thank you slide.  This allows the presenter to give the audience a brief overview and an idea of what they are going to hear about.  The next mandatory slide is the questions slide.  This should come at the end of the presentation.  Here, the presenter should field questions from the audience.  After the Q&A session is over, there should be a closing slide.  This is where the presenter can thank the audience for their attendance, attentiveness, and questions.  It is also a good thought to put contact information on this slide in case anyone in the audience is interested in further information.

Use bullets rather than sentences.  By using bullets, a presenter can prepare their presentation around these talking points which will keep them on track.  This also ensures that the slides will not be over crowded and hard for the audience to read.  If there are sentences on the slide, the audience will be focused on reading the slides while the presenter is speaking instead of listening.  However, if there is a sentence or paragraph that is crucial to the presentation, the presenter should either read it aloud, or put it on its own slide and have a moment where the audience can focus on reading the information.

Vary the way you present that data by using charts and graphs.  This helps to keep the viewer's attention.  Here is where a presenter can put in some "flavor," or a touch of their personality.  By finding ways to make the data easier to understand or more interactive, the audience will be likely to enjoy the presentation much more.

Click here to view our example presentation.

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