In today’s business world, presentations are a necessary tool for anyone who wants to expose an idea or information to people. The ways they are organized are different, but whatever you do, it’s a good chance that sometimes you will have to present something to someone.
PowerPoint presentations provide visual support for your story, idea or plan. Presentation quality is a significant factor that will help you go a step further in improving your own skills. Whether you are in college or work, you will often be faced with the obligation to present a seminar paper, idea, plan… Poor presentation can interfere with communication rather than facilitate it. With the help of google slides and powerpoint templates your audience needs to understand the message you are trying to convey, so your performance must be persuasive, argumentative and substantiated by a good presentation.
Below you can read the basic guidelines when creating PowerPoint presentations.
Beginning
-The first slide should contain the title of the topic to be discussed, the name of the author and the name of the institution of which he is a part. The contact information of the author is most often put on the last slide.
-On the second slide, it is common to display the content of a presentation. The following slides should accompany the content items.
-It is important that you establish the logical flow of the presentation. Don’t let your presentation turn into slides with lists, text, and tables. Turn it into a story. Establish flow and action. Make an introduction, elaboration and conclusion. You need to tell the audience what you are going to talk about, then tell them, and finally, tell them what you have been talking about.
Text
-Too much text means losing audience attention. Aside from making the slide to look messy, the audience will focus their attention on reading the text instead of listening.
-The text should not contain entire sentences, but just theses that will remind you what to talk about. Use keywords and phrases, not whole descriptions.
-It is recommended to place a maximum of 4-5 points on a single slide; no entire sentences and paragraphs should be written.
-If it is a word for definitions that are necessary to follow the topic, it is desirable, in the form of quotations, to single out the most important parts.
The Font
-If the font is small, the audience will not be able to read the text and will strain their eyes. The minimum font size that is recommended is 18 pt, and the optimum is 24 pt.
-Notice the size of the room in which you are presenting. Make sure that the text to the audience in the last line is also readable and clearly visible.
-A 40-44 pt font is usually used for the slide title.
-For text on a slide, it is most convenient to use a standard font such as Arial, Times New Roman… If you use non-standard fonts, be prepared that they may not be installed on the computer from which you will play the presentation.
-Use one type of font, writing with different fonts seems frivolous and unprofessional.
-Use Bold when you want to highlight important information.
Color
-The color of the text must be in contrast with the background.
-You can use a different text color when you emphasize something.
-Too many different colors in the text are interfering and tired the audience. Creativity is not expressed in font colors.
The graphs
-If possible, the data from the table should be displayed with the help of the graphs – easier to follow, more understandable and more transparent.
-The graphs must have a title and a legend.
-The graph must be large enough for all its contents to be read.
Pictures
Pictures are an effective way of visualizing information, and people remember them for a longer time because: “A picture speaks more than a thousand words.” The image must be consistent with the thematic and message of the presentation.
-Organizing a slide means effectively arranging the images and text on the slide.
-Part of the text that is placed over the image is usually vague and is difficult to read.
-A small picture placed in the corner of the slide loses meaning.
-It is not advisable to use low resolution images as they lose quality when enlarged.
-It is not advisable to use low resolution images as they lose in quality when enlarged.
Slide design
-Use simple, attractive wallpapers. You can download many free PPT templates from the internet
-Use the same background on all presentation slides.
-Don’t use too many colorful backgrounds.
-Do not use backgrounds where the text will be poorly visible.
You can check google slides themes by hislide for some really quality work.
Animations
–Use one type of slide transition. If multiple transitions are used and the slides “fly out” from different sides, the presentation may seem frivolous and tedious.
-Choose animations carefully because certain animations can be distracting and tedious.
-Keep an eye on the speed of the animation.
-Evaluate when the animation needs to go automatically and when at the click of a mouse.
-Avoid sound effects – they just annoy the audience and distract from the presentation.
-Don’t overdo it with animations.
The end
-At the end of the presentation, draw a conclusion – recapitulate what you have talked about, highlight the main ideas and the point.
-On the last slide, you can thanks for your attention and ask the audience if they have any questions.
-Remember to leave your contact information, usually email.
-Record a presentation in different versions of PowerPoint, and transfer it to multiple different memories.
-Come early on the day of presentation, install all the necessary technique and try out the presentation.
You must remember that you are the presenter and that your message should be the focus, not your slides or the effects on them. No amount of effects or objects on a slide will overcome a weak presentation. It only makes bad presentations worse.
Take enough time and keep in mind that the presentation does not exist on its own – it is part of you (more precisely, the impression you will leave), your company, your image and professionalism, your attitude towards the public.