No matter if you have been tasked with briefing investors about quarterly profits or giving the keynote address at a conference, your goals as a presenter will be the same. As the presenter, you need to deliver key points, persuade your audience, and drive home your message. To be effective, the design of your PowerPoint will be essential. Your PowerPoint is the vehicle that will help you deliver the message. Creating an effective and visually appealing presentation could be the critical factor that makes a difference with your audience.
Presenters only have a small window to capture the audience’s attention from the click of the first slide. Presentations with PowerPoint designs that fall flat have a much higher failure rate than those with well-planned and effective designs. There is much information out there about what goes into a good PowerPoint presentation. The best PowerPoint design ideas, however, are simple and compelling and tell a powerful story. Let’s take a look at some design ideas that will elevate any type of PowerPoint presentation.
1. Your design should present a visual story.
Visuals are a key element of any successful PowerPoint presentation. Graphs, charts, illustrations, and other visual elements improve learning and understanding. It is why publishers put interesting photos in all kinds of books, from encyclopedias to math textbooks. You can reap the same benefits by including well-planned visuals in your PowerPoint design. An effective PowerPoint should tell a compelling story and help your audience understand facts, figures, or other key data pertinent to your message.
You can also include images, embedded videos, and even GIFs to help highlight key points or back up what you are saying. When planning your PowerPoint designs, you need to find the right balance between text, white space, and graphics, however. Just as a graphic can be very powerful, overused infographics and illustrations can negate their effectiveness. To tell a visual story that speaks to your audience, use appropriate visuals to help make your points.
2. Your slide designs should be simple.
While your presentation design is a very critical aspect, it shouldn’t be the star of the show. The most important element of your presentation is the information that you want to present. A good presentation highlights the main information and key points and leans on the design to move it along. One of the basic principles for creating powerful slides is to keep your presentation simple.
A slide deck that contains a large amount of text, varying fonts, and distracting backgrounds will take the focus away from the information. There are many options available for transitions, animations, and other elements in PowerPoint software. Using a menagerie of elements can make your presentation seem juvenile. A simple slide design focuses on the typography on each slide and balances infographics, illustrations, and key messages. Keeping your designs simple will be the best way to craft an effective presentation.
3. Create a slide design with consistency and uniformity.
When making a presentation design, it is important to think of each slide as part of a larger puzzle. Each slide is important, but one isn’t more important than another. Uniformity is the key to a good design. An effective presentation design weaves the same color scheme, font family, backgrounds, and visuals together across the slide deck. Your entire presentation should work together to create a cohesive presentation that maintains consistency throughout.
No matter what type of PowerPoint presentation you are creating, your design will be critical for your success. Professional designers craft effective presentations because they understand graphic design principles that dictate simple designs that incorporate strong visuals and uniformity. To create a professional presentation that is both effective and powerful, you need to focus on your information and how the design will highlight that.
