PowerPoint presentations don’t have to be boring. Regardless of who your audience is, you can create engaging, effective, and accurate slides. PowerPoint slideshows can include video, convert to DVD, PDF, etc.
Before creating your first slide, define the purpose of your presentation. What do you want your audience to know, understand, and do at the end?
Make a plan, do your research, and consider your audience. Identify the main points you want to convey, include supporting details and determine where the visual effects will have the greatest impact.
This article will lay out ten presentation tips for creating fun PowerPoint slideshows.
- Tell a story.
- Don’t use too much text.
- Present your content visually with images.
- Use bullets effectively.
- Font style and size.
- Add some humor.
- Include some metaphors.
- Don’t say them, show them.
- Represent a date using SmartArt.
- Transitions and animation.
Tell a story
When planning and preparing a plan, think of the content as a continuous story.
Structure your presentation in the same way as a speech or essay. Start with an introduction, add supporting points, and then complete your resume and call to action (CTA).
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Don’t Overuse Text
PowerPoint is a visual aid for your PowerPoint presentation. Your slides should complement your speech, not replace it. Too much text can be confusing and distracting to the audience.
In the example above, the audience will read the slide and will not hear what you are saying.
Break the text into multiple slides and refine them during your presentation. Try something simpler and more concise, like the slide below:
The slide above is your title slide. Colors and font sizes draw attention to short text. It’s easy to read and fast, so the audience can pay attention to what you are saying rather than reading the slide.
For the following slides, use the most important point you’ll be discussing and make it visually appealing, as in the example below.
You should use the text as a summary to highlight your topics of discussion.
The human brain processes images faster than text. Use images or other visuals in your presentation to get your point across, amplify what you are saying, and evoke emotion in your audience.
To illustrate this point, we can replace the first slide above with too much text while maintaining the same content about how businesses can target their B2B audience.
When you get to the slide below in your PowerPoint presentation, he tells the audience that the businessman is happy and has achieved his goal.
There is no need to use words on the screen to convey this message, as the image tells the story itself. The audience will see this, immediately understand what it means, and then focus their attention on what you are saying.
Use points effectively
Bullet points are useful in PowerPoint when trying to break up snippets of text that will make your audience read your presentation instead of listening to you speak.
Use bullet points to simplify content and list key information. Limit the number of markers to five per slide. You can also add some creativity using a different icon for the marker concept. See screenshot below.
Display one marker at a time during your PowerPoint presentation. Discuss the content of each item before moving on to the next.
Avoid using complete sentences, as this will defeat the purpose of conveying only the key point.
Font style and size
The font you choose should be legible and easy to read on the screen. If you plan on importing it into Visme for a business presentation or saving it for a Google slideshow, be sure to use a font size large enough for everyone in the room to see. You can use interesting, eccentric, or funny fonts, but do so in moderation.
Make headlines and words stand out using larger font and different colors to make them stand out from the rest of the text. Be consistent throughout your PowerPoint presentation to avoid distracting your audience.
Add some humor
Using humor during your presentation will help establish rapport with your audience, calm them down, and make them more receptive to your content.
Tell personal stories based on your real life experiences or use a funny analogy. Make sure your humor matches your audience and your overall goal.
Use humor wisely, in moderation, and discretion. Avoid anything offensive. If you doubt that your joke or story might offend someone, do not use it.
Here are a few ways to add humor to your PowerPoint presentation:
- If you can think of a movie that is relevant to the topic of your presentation, find an excerpt and paste it into your PowerPoint.
- Use a funny meme that reflects your point of view.
- Insert an animated GIF into your presentation.
Used in moderation and good taste, humor can add lightness to your presentation.
The image above is an animated GIF. When you play the slideshow, an animation will be displayed.
Include some metaphors
Metaphors bring conversation to life. They hold the audience when used in a presentation. A metaphor is a figure of speech that represents or symbolizes something else.
For example, if you want to talk about a business trip or a road map, use an image of a real road with street signs, as shown in the slide below.
Using metaphors adds creativity to your PowerPoint presentation.
Don’t tell them, show them
PowerPoint presentations are visual aids. Instead of talking about something and using text to describe something, include it in your slides. For example, if you’re promoting a new website design, add site visuals to your slides to show the new design to your audience.
Using the same sample new website, if the site is in beta or test mode, link to it from the presentation to show it in action.
Submit data using SmartArt
PowerPoint includes a tool for creating SmartArt diagrams. Use it to visually present information and data and creatively convey your ideas. Convert bullets to SmartArt for a more unique design when you want to turn them into informational and explanatory videos.
Transitions and Animations
Animation affects how elements on a slide move during the slide show. They can improve the look of your slides and help you control the tempo of your presentation.
Subtle and simple animations are most effective because they are not overwhelming. For example, for markers, use a left-to-right or top-down wipe instead of fading in and out.
Don’t tire your audience or make them wait for too many animations on a single slide. Transitions are a type of animation between slides. Don’t use a different transition for each slide. Stick to two or three different transition effects.
Using too much of one of these will make your PowerPoint presentation chaotic, confusing, and annoying.
Practice makes perfect
After you’ve created your PowerPoint presentation, review the slides and practice how you will present them to an audience. Also, hone your tone, presentation, and timing.
Follow the suggestions above to make your presentation more interesting. Go through it as many times as you need. You want to be confident and prepared when you deliver it to your audience.
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