Presentations are no longer as simple as they used to be. Audiences are inundated with so many interesting things that can often distract their attention. Social media, addictive games, movies, music videos and several other distractions are making it difficult for people to make time for ‘boring’, statistic-filled presentations.
People now have shorter attention spans and if you are unable to grab and maintain your audience’s attention in your presentations, they will soon go back to their phones before you get to the middle of your presentation.
Successful presentations have the power of selling ideas to people. There are no clear cut guidelines for delivering award-winning PowerPoint presentations, however, paying close attention to little details can make a whole lot of difference.
A good presentation depends on a good topic
Before you even consider good presentation ideas to use, you must be critical about your presentation topics. Do you know that you can employ your creative instincts to turn a boring topic into one that will draw attention?
Your topic must have a twist that your potential audience is not familiar with. Of course, your topic may not be completely unique but you need to think of an angle that has not been exhausted. You can also try reverse psychology. Instead of bringing up a direct topic, why not discuss the opposite of it?
For instance, if you want to talk about the best business PowerPoint presentation examples, you can rather talk about business PowerPoint examples you should totally ignore or the worse ppt examples. You should, however, not forget about your objective. Your objective is to get people to know about the best business PowerPoint examples hence, you should make that seen in your presentation.
Use the Minimalist Presentation Theme
Using a simple approach is another presentation example that gets the message across to your audience. Using a minimalist presentation theme allows you to focus on the content of the presentation. Since you are keeping it simple, there will be no distracting images, designs, or images.
Your audience will get exactly what they came for without having to skim through a lot of ‘unnecessary’ stuff. Remember to keep your slides short. If you have too much content on one slide, it will definitely bore the reader. Limit one point to one slide. You can have points that further explain that point on the same slide.
Your presentation should also be easy to read
The best PowerPoint presentation examples are usually presented in legible fonts such as Arial and Helvetica. With these font types, your audience can read from afar. You will not want to do a presentation where your readers lost interest along the line simply because they were struggling to read what you have on your slides.
It is true that fancy fonts will make your slides look attractive but your presentation will not have the required impact if it is unreadable. If you must use a fancy font, it should be for the heading. Headings are larger and short and the reader will easily figure it out.
Tell a compelling story
Think about what your audience will relate to. Is it football, movies, or music? If your audience is predominantly male, then football will be a better option. If there is an ongoing debate, you can spark your audience’s interest with a picture and mention that debate.
Another thing you can use is memes. People spend a lot of time on the internet these days because of memes. Wouldn’t it be great if they see some memes in your presentation? It makes them wonder about the relation between the photo or meme and the presentation. It is important that you creatively link the photo to your presentation topic. Once you manage to get their attention, you can engage them with the debate.
You can also decide to use a random story that will lighten the atmosphere and make your audience more comfortable. It will be great if you can end your story on a note that links to the presentation topic. You should, however, make sure that the story does not take a lot of time away from the presentation.
Statistics say it better
In stating a problem or discussing an ongoing situation, it is best to add statistics to emphasize your point. Most marketing presentation examples have statistics to show trends in sales. For instance, a presentation to show the impacts of social media marketing on sales should have statistics that show the trend of sales before and after social media marketing.
When sharing statistics, make them easy to read and understand. Tables are great if you are comparing a few statistics but if you are comparing complex statistics, a chart will make things look simpler.
It is also easier to make comparisons when you use charts and graphs. Remember to label your charts or graphs if that’s what you are using.
Ask questions
Your PPT should not be filled with questions but you can pop a question at the end of some slides to engage your audience. Your questions should be carefully selected; it should link to your topic. Sometimes, you do not even need to add the question at the end of a slide. The question can take one slide. It should standout to make your audience interested in how it will be answered.
Don’t be afraid to use colors
Do not shy away from colors if you want your presentation to stand out. If you are thinking about how to make your PowerPoint presentation attractive, you should definitely consider using colors. You can use colors to highlight an idea in a textbox against a dull background.
Although colors work at making your slides attractive, they also have the tendency of putting people off if the colors are not well blended or if they are too bright.
Make sure the colors are comfortable for the eye; they should not be too bright or too dull.
The text should also be easy to read despite the colorful screen. For instance, it is a bad idea to use a bright red background and a lemon green font. The two colors are bright are will be uncomfortable to stare at for a long time. Check out great color combinations here.
Include videos that relate to the presentation
Some portion of your audience if not all of them will love to see some videos instead of the regular stills. Videos bring your discussion to life and they can get really engaging if they totally relate to the topic. Sometimes, animations work just fine. If you are not sure, you can check out some sample PowerPoint presentation with animation.
Provide a printed material
People will love to jot down a thing or two while you are presenting your slides. That can take their attention away sometimes. You can make a simple hardcopy that will include all the essential points of your presentation. You can then tell them that there is no need to jot down points.
Your audience will have something to refer to when they go back home. Make sure that the ‘take home’ material has the same colors and design when compared to your presentation. This will help your audience to refer easily.
Use colors to compare things or make arguments
If you are comparing two subjects, you can use two contrasting colors to make a clear distinction. You can also use colors to represent certain ideas throughout your presentation.
Keep your presentation under 20 minutes
As I mentioned earlier, there are so many distractions these days. People have a lot to do and unless you are offering something fun and exciting, they will not want to spend a lot of time on it. Make sure that you discuss the relevant points and leave out anything that does not emphasize your point.
Even if your presentation is fun, your audience will start getting bored after 25 minutes. Do an informative, short, and fun presentation in less than 20 minutes. Your presentation will be considered successful if your audience is left wanting more.
Be consistent with your design
When you are putting your slides together, choose a design and stick to it. When you use several designs, it can be distracting. Since you are using different designs on each slide, your audience will be preoccupied with each design that they may forget to pay attention to the content on the slide.
People who have designs that are extremely eye-catching should consider black and white designs.
Hence, you should maintain one design throughout your presentation. If you must use different designs, do not use more than three of them.
Summarize your points at the end
At the end of your presentation, use the opportunity to mention the main points that you mentioned in your presentation. Your summary should remind your audience about what you have been discussing the whole time.
When you preparing for a presentation, a lot of things should be considered. You should look at the target audience. Consider their age, level of education, and expertise if applicable. There is no clear cut definition to an award-winning presentation.
There are also no presentation ideas that are known to perform magic. The best presentation will be the one that will engage the audience, one that will effectively communicate the main content to the audience, and one that achieves the overall objective.
You can only boast of delivering a successful presentation if you are able to create an environment that allows the audience to easily relate to the discussion.
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