– Laura Tabbut
You need a PowerPoint presentation as soon as possible, and there is no designer available. What do you do? Here are a few tips to keep in mind when creating a professional and sleek presentation that you can proudly present instantly.
Size. The widescreen ratios (16:9, 16:10) for a slide show will be beneficial, adding a lot of space for your presentation to breathe and offering a more appealing and dramatic effect than the standard size. Most screens today will easily fit this size and it won’t have those ugly black bars on the sides of your presentation.
Less is more. This is common knowledge when creating a presentation, but I’d like to reiterate it. Even if you have a lot to cover, find ways to break up the information into smaller pieces. It will look better and also allow the audience to stop reading the slides and actually listen to what you have to say.
Pacing. Just like in a book or a magazine, pace is important. If you can’t get away from filling a slide with information, make sure the next slide gives the viewer a break, either with a large image or white space. This keeps the presentation moving and fresh, because if every slide is full of text, the audience will become overwhelmed and bored.
Typographic hierarchy. This refers to the organization of the information using typography, which includes things like differentiating types of information and highlighting the most important details. Microsoft does a pretty good job of this with their built-in settings, but if you’re venturing out on your own, remember:
- Keep it consistent. Whatever you come up with, you must carry that throughout the entire presentation.
- Keep it simple. Try to only use two fonts maximum, one for the header and one for the body copy.
Imagery. There are so many presentations with blown-up and grainy images. Avoid this at all costs; it just looks bad. Google has Search Tools in images that allow you to filter images by size, which comes in handy so you’re not rooting through hundreds of images looking for one large enough. Imagery is so important to a presentation; try to spend a little time to curate what you want to use.
Color contrast. Make sure that the colors you select are easy on the eyes and easy to read. Try looking at your presentation on different screens, and if you can, on the projector on which it will be displayed. Many times, color looks okay on your screen, but then is washed out on a projector. If you can’t test, the best way to know if your colors are working is to imagine your slides in black and white. The values of the colors must differ enough for the text to stand out. For example, if you have bright orange and bright blue, these colors will not read well together.
Animations/Transitions. Try to avoid animations at all cost. Your audience will know when you’ve switched slides (especially if you have good pacing). If you want a nice slide transition, I recommend the fade transition. Slide animation comes across as cheesy and elementary. If you’re going to use it, keep it minimal and use it sparingly.
Happy presenting!
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