Of all of the tools we use in the workplace, there’s an argument to be made that PowerPoint is the most powerful. Spreadsheets are indispensable for recording and manipulating data, and bookkeeping programs allow us to keep track of transactions and ensure that our bottom line remains positive However, so often it’s PowerPoint that provides the essential tool that drives the ideas that underpin our business.
PowerPoint is, at its heart, a storytelling tool. Whether you’re delivering a pitch to land a brand-new client or you’re presenting insights to your executive board to advocate for a change in business strategy, PowerPoint is the tool that you will likely employ to help you persuade your audience; without the facility to first sell your ideas, there is no data analysis to follow and no bottom line.
In their 2018 study on the Power of PowerPoint, Knight et al. concluded that “strategy conversations are influenced by the techniques strategists use to create slides, which in turn shape the kinds of follow-up actions taken” and that “those who craft and edit PowerPoint slides strongly influence the direction of the strategy”.
The way we present our ideas has an enormous impact on their persuasive power but, before we get into some PowerPoint presentation tips, it’s important to remember that a presentation is nothing without a story. Few know this better than Chris Anderson, curator of the conferencing organisation TED. Anderson claims that the success of a presentation lies in the quality of the idea or the narrative, and if you’re not confident in your idea, you need to keep refining it before you’re ready to present.
If you are ready to present, then read on for some creative presentation ideas.
How to Make Your PowerPoint Look Better
Once you’ve identified the narrative bones of your presentation, it’s time to start designing PowerPoint slides that will deliver your point with impact and leave a lasting impression. The good news is that designing effective presentations is a rare skill, and it’s therefore not too difficult to stand out from the crowd. Below are a few PowerPoint hacks that will help you on your way.
Consider Your Identity
If you’re lucky enough to work for a company with brand guidelines, then make sure you follow them. They’ve been created to convey a certain impression and the hard work has already been done for you. If you’re not so lucky as to have guidelines, pick one primary colour and one or two secondary colours to use throughout your presentation, and make sure you’re using no more than two fonts maximum. Begin each slide with a headline, and keep the style consistent across your slides, considering how you might use shape and style to tell your story. For example, you might use hard, rigid shapes across your slides such as squares and triangles to convey structure and order. Or you might use softer shapes such as circles and waves to give the impression of fluidity and malleability. Whatever you choose, keep it consistent.
Lose the Bullet Points
We’ve all sat through presenters reading verbatim from a series of bullet points on a slide, and we’ve all seen just how ineffective these can be. One of our favourite PowerPoint design tips is chunking. Chunking is a far more effective alternative to bullet points and involves reducing each point to a few words and visually presenting them. This might be a horizontal sequence, a grid, or even a literal roadmap. The visual cue is often easier for our audiences to process, and the limited word count forces us to expand on each point rather than read directly from the slide. Making use of an interactive display for your PowerPoint presentation can enhance this dynamic, helping to keep your audience actively engaged from start to finish.
Transitions, Effects and Animations
While it can be tempting to play with all of the animation features within PowerPoint and litter your slides with GIFs and dazzling transitions, one of the most prolific PowerPoint tips is to refrain from doing so as it can be distracting for your audience and look unprofessional.
At Promethean, we suggest that transitions and animations can be effective but only when they serve your presentation. For example, if you’re presenting on SEO (search engine optimisation) and have a slide about search engine results pages, you can use staggered animations to pose your headline as a search query typed in real-time with each of your talking points appearing in a dropdown bar as search results.
If you’re presenting on the mathematics of rocket trajectory, you can bring the trajectory to life in your slides by using advanced PowerPoint techniques to animate movement paths into your shapes. There are lots of great tutorials online and, used sparingly, these can be incredibly effective.
PowerPoint Presentation Tips
Once you’re confident in your narrative and you’ve mastered the art of how to make your PowerPoint look better, the final pillar of delivering persuasive presentations is your delivery.
Accessibility and Inclusivity
To bring entire audiences along with your narrative one of the most fundamental PowerPoint tips is to make sure your presentation does not exclude or alienate anyone. There are several things to consider here, from making sure the colour contrasts used throughout your presentation are compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure the font is large enough to be read at the back of the room. When delivering your presentation, use clear language that can be understood by non-native speakers, and ensure that any anecdotes are culturally relevant to your audience and don’t convey biases or rely on a narrow set of lived experiences for comprehension. Consider the needs of both visual and aural learners and make sure all key points are delivered through both media.
So What?
As an expert in your field, it can be all too easy to lose your point getting too deep into the technicalities of your subject, but it’s important that you keep your audience in mind throughout your presentation. They may have limited knowledge of your subject area or a dozen strategic decisions they need to make on any given day, of which your presentation is just one.
To drive your point home, remember to ask yourself at the end of each slide, ‘So what?’. What does this mean for your argument? How does the data you’ve presented link back to the strategic point you’re making? How do your customer insights support your proposal? Asking yourself this will not only keep you from wandering off-topic, but it’ll make sure your audience leaves with a clear message.
Know Your Space
It’s useful to know what environment you’re going to be presenting in, as this will impact how you deliver your presentation, down to the equipment you choose. Are you presenting to a small boardroom or a larger audience in the round? Will everyone have an unobstructed view of your presentation?
Due to their lack of backlight, OLED screens are ideal for presentations where there’s a wide field of vision for the audience, while LED screens are not, but do offer a clear picture in brightly lit spaces. Make sure you know what equipment you’re presenting with, as it will make a significant difference to your delivery, and ensure that all that effort put into designing your slides doesn’t go to waste.
Interactive Presentations
Using an interactive display to present your slides gives you access to the advanced PowerPoint technique of collaboration, making your presentation instantly more engaging. With the ActivPanel LX, tapping on the screen while in presentation mode will launch the PowerPoint inking tool, which means you can use your finger or the ActivPen to annotate the slides.
If you’re presenting data, you can ask a member of your audience to plot on a graph what they think that data might look like before revealing the answer. Or you could ask them to circle potential hazards in an image of a work site. Presentations that have an interactive element not only leave an impression but invite your audience to become active participants in the story you’re telling, offering a seamless way to create more dynamic and engaging experiences.
PowerPoint Presentation Tips in Summary
Delivering persuasive presentations is a skill that requires practice and rehearsal, but the PowerPoint tips discussed will give you a strong foundation on which to leave a lasting impression. Remember that there are three pillars to delivering an impactful presentation, and they are (in order of importance):
- Narrative
- Design
- Delivery
Don’t forget to consider how your slides serve your argument and complement rather than repeat what you’re saying. Keep your data digestible and use punchy chunking techniques rather than verbose bullet points, always thinking about your audience, their background, and any inclusivity requirements.
For more PowerPoint tips and to find out how the Promethean ActivPanel can help you deliver persuasive presentations, book a free demo today.
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