PowerPoint has been around for decades! At some point in our lives, we all have used PowerPoint presentations to educate, influence, or motivate the audience. Nowadays, PowerPoint has become much more than a mere collection of slides. Brands today are utilizing presentations as ice breakers, to foster interaction with the audience and engage with them across multiple mediums and touchpoints.
In this post, we will talk about how you can build rapport with the audience, establish trust and foster a memorable experience right through your presentation slides.
1. Use PowerPoint Templates:
One of the most proven ways to create captivating and outstanding presentations is using ready-to-use PowerPoint templates. The readymade templates are designed by experts and can cater to your custom presentation needs. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve to present to a group of investors, stakeholders, or corporate executives. Presenters can leverage the best PowerPoint templates such as SWOT Analysis, Data Dashboards, Timeline Charts & equip your slides with professional design and layouts.
Readymade PowerPoint templates provide state-of-the-art features such as ease-of-use, 100% customization, design flexibility & business-grade design. Companies can boost their branding through the presentations by customizing and aligning the slides closer to the branding guidelines. Not just that, the templates allow presenters to focus more on creating quality content rather than worrying about the design. Hence, presenters can craft quality content and populate the same into placeholders.
2. Data Visualization- Connect the Dots:
Often presentation creators include a ton of numbers and data in the presentation slides and end up overwhelming their audience. There is no denying that data is the most significant part of your entire presentation. However, if presented wrong, it can deteriorate the presentation experience & may cause the presentation phenomenon ‘Death by PowerPoint’ amongst the audience.
The 21st century is the age of data! Presenters can allow their audience to identify patterns, understand the story, comprehend business insights and perform better analysis, only if they present the data vividly. You can use Data Dashboards in your slides to visualize the data, plot key metrics, perform trend analysis & speed up the decision-making of the audience. This practice not only makes your slides data-driven but also enriches the overall presentation experience.
3. Include Graphs & Charts:
Presenters can tell their stories with graphs and charts. Often comes a time when a simple table is unable to explain or demonstrate complex relationships between data. When it comes to helping the audience understand the gist of the data, presenters can leverage graphs and charts such as Scatter Plot, Histograms, Bar Chart/Graph, Bubble Chart, Heatmap, Dot Graph, etc.
The graphs, charts, and other visual imagery can help you express complex data into digestible pieces to your audience. Further, you can also compare multiple datasets in the slides, generate trends, clarify doubts and estimate key values. Plus, presenters can also improve the clarity of the presentation’s message while increasing integrity & value exponentially. Therefore, include graphs and charts in your presentations and handle large data sets like a pro!
4. Pay Attention To Typography:
Typography is the art of arranging and legibly positioning text. Slide elements such as font, text size, color aesthetics all fall under the umbrella of typography. Typography has emerged as a medium of communication as it allows presenters to grab the attention, convey a certain mood, establish information hierarchy & maintain slide harmony. With the right set of typography elements, presenters can evoke emotions in the viewers and enrich the visual aspect of the slideshow.
Presenters can play around with different font sizes and styles and build an interactive text hierarchy. Apart from enriching the design and overall presentation experience, typography reflects professionalism. With an appropriate mix of engaging fonts and content, presenters can gain the audience’s trust, present slides with a design rhythm, and add significant value to their company brand.
5. Follow the 10 20 30 Rule:
The 10 20 30 is one of the most critical rules related to presentation creation. The rule lays down a comprehensive framework that helps presenters create ideal slides and avoid overwhelming the audience. Firstly, the rule states that a presentation deck should not have more than 10 slides in total! Often presenters create a never-ending presentation that throws the audience off the track in no time! The rule caps the slides to a maximum of 10.
Further, it encourages a presenter not to extend a presentation beyond 20 minutes. Several studies have highlighted that the average adult attention span is about 20 minutes. Hence, the rule allows the presenters to create a deck that finishes up well in time. Lastly, the rule mentions that the slide font should be at least 30px in size. This allows everybody present in the conference room/auditorium to have a suitable view of your presentation.
Wrapping It Up:
One should note that an ideal presentation draws a line between a missed deal and a grabbed opportunity. With the right blend of style & content, presenters can accomplish a lot more with their PowerPoint presentations and foster a lasting presentation experience for their audience. The tips provided in this article can help you build magical slides that can wow your audience like never before!
