If you work in a professional setting for so long, you must have either sat through or done a PowerPoint presentation. It is a common feature of the professional workforce setting – bar COVID-19 and its effects.
When you create these decks well enough, they are essential for visualizing data points and explaining company goals. However, when you are bad at creating PowerPoint presentations, you will most likely waste your time and that of everyone present at your presentation. This is because little to no information is passed across.
There are many reasons why you can create poor presentations. It might be because you don’t know the right font to use, and you spend time focusing on getting the right fonts than concentrating on the words you are writing. When you have to create a PowerPoint deck – which is something that you almost definitely will – then you must ensure that you use the correct program to reinforce the core of your message and create a connection with your audience.
The fact is that you require so much hard work to create an excellent presentation if you’re looking to impress and convince your audience. PowerPoint remains a vital tool that you can use.
However, no matter how much you’re investing in the design or content of your presentation, there are numerous tips and hacks that you need to learn. These hacks will always come in handy for you when you have to do a PowerPoint presentation anywhere in the world, and it will ensure that you can connect to your audience. Some of these hacks are discussed in this article.
Create your script first before you start designing
When you do your presentation well, PowerPoint will help you pass your message accurately to your audience. However, the first thing that you must determine is your message.
You must make sure that you define your message very clearly and be clear on your presentation goals. At this stage, you shouldn’t be with your computer or at least not on the PowerPoint tool at all. PowerPoint is an essential tool used to deliver presentations; however, it isn’t ideal for writing the scripts for your presentation. You should instead look to create your slide headlines on a sketchpad, or a sheet of paper, or on Post-It notes.
You could write one headline for each Post-It/page. Then you can lay it out in a way that allows you to see the story come to life. With this, you’ll be able to adjust the headlines and move the pages around. Be sure that your story is clear from the beginning to the middle and the end of the presentation. Once you’ve created the bones and basic structure of your PowerPoint assignment, the next thing is to create the script to flesh it out.
Use interesting title slides with a very simple design
One of the first things that the audience notes about your presentation is the title slide. It has to increase their interest in the subject of discussion so that they become more attentive and receptive to you. Add statements to them that highlight the questions and issues that will be discussed in the presentation.
Also, your design is essential to win over the interest of your audience. The time you are building your PowerPoint deck isn’t the right time to show your artistic prowess. In this case, less is more. Using a complex or over-artistic design may distract your audience. If there isn’t a specified template you should use or lack the required template, settle for one with a simple background.
Play your video over different slides
Your audiences don’t have all the time and attention in the world to give to you. They have a very limited attention span, so you have very little time to pass across a large amount of information to them. You can grab and hold on to their attention for a little longer with the use of a well-placed video. The problem you might have in doing this is that the video content is split into multiple slides. This makes it challenging to create synergy between the video and the presentation. If you find your way around this problem and can overcome it, then you will most likely be having an excellent presentation.
Discuss a point per slide
While you have to create multiple slides for your presentation, it is essential to make your slides to pass the information well. It is important that your audience can absorb your information correctly. Otherwise, you will be wasting your time and effort in the presentation. To be effective at this, you must not pile up multiple points in one slide. Be sure to discuss a new point with a new slide. If you muddle it all together, you will overwhelm your audience with information, and they won’t be able to understand it or make sense of it. Use one slide for one point.
If you have to use more slides for a point or for the time allocated for your presentation, then there’s a problem. It means that you are trying to pass across too much information at the same time. Be sure to use the best points only and make sure that your content is well edited.
Don’t use too much text-
To have the maximum effect for your presentation, then you must be sparing in your use of texts. Your audience is going to be reading your slides as they listen to you. Putting too much information on it makes it difficult for them to read. So, the text volume on the slide has to be minimal to have maximum effect. Be concise with your point. You can explain them in your words, but the texts on your slide should only highlight the facts.
Also, you must use a font size that is big enough so that everyone can read the slides easily. Make sure that each slide has a headline. You might need to use bullet points too. If this is the case, you should use 3 to 4 bullets, not having more than five words each. This will make it easier to read.
Conclusion
There are more than enough hacks for you to help you scale through PowerPoint presentation and do it successfully. Some of these hacks are discussed in this article, and you are surely going to find them handy.
It is, however, vital that you understand the use of PowerPoint software first before you try to create your presentations and use the hacks. Then you can master the additions of complex graphics and videos too. Having PowerPoint skills is crucial for you as an employee, but delivering extraordinary presentations with these hacks will make you more relevant.
Abstract
PowerPoint presentations are a common feature of the professional setting. So it is essential to have a basic understanding of these skills to succeed. It’s even more critical that you can save yourself the time and effort battling with PowerPoint with different hacks discussed in this article.