Preparing Effective Presentation

Preparing Effective Presentation plays an important role…

If the presentation has a problem like an unintended font, a broken link, or unreadable text then I’ve probably failed the test. Even if my spoken presentation is well rehearsed, a bad visual experience can ruin it for the audience. Expertise means nothing without a good presentation to back it up.

No matter your topic, successful PowerPoints depend on three main factors:

your command of PowerPoint’s design tools, your attention to presentation processes, and your devotion to consistent style. Here are some simple tips to help you start mastering each of those factors, and don’t forget to check out the additional resources at the bottom of this post.

Preparing Effective Presentation Step 1:

Don’t let PowerPoint decide how you use PowerPoint.

Microsoft wanted to provide PowerPoint users with a lot of tools. But this does not mean you should use them all. Here are some key things to look out for:

Make sure that preset PPT themes complement your needs before you adopt them.
Try to get away from using Microsoft Office’s default fonts, Calibri and Cambria. Using these two typefaces can make the presentation seem underwhelming.
Professionals should never use PPT’s action sounds. (Please consider your audience above personal preference).
PowerPoint makes bulleting automatic, but ask yourself: Are bullets actually appropriate for what you need to do? Sometimes they are, but not always.
Recent PPT defaults include a small shadow on all shapes. Remove this shadow if it’s not actually needed. Also, don’t leave shapes in their default blue.

Preparing Effective Presentation Step 2:

Create custom slide sizes.

While you usually can get away with the default slide size for most presentations, you may need to adjust it for larger presentations on weirdly sized displays. If you need to do that, here’s how.

In the top-left corner, choose “File.”
Select “Page Setup.”
Type the height and width of the background you’d like, and click “OK.”
A dialogue box will appear. Click “OK” again.
Your background is resized!

Preparing Effective Presentation Step 3:

Edit your slide template design.

Often, it’s much easier to edit your PowerPoint template before you start — this way, you don’t have design each slide by hand. Here’s how you do that.

Select “Themes” in the top navigation. In the far right, click “Edit Master,” then “Slide Master.” Make any changes you like, then click “Close Master.” All current and future slides in that presentation will use that template.

Preparing Effective Presentation Step 4:

Make sure all of your objects are properly aligned.

Having properly aligned objects on your slide is the key to making it look polished and professional.
You can manually try to line up your images … but we all know how that typically works out.
You’re trying to make sure all of your objects hang out in the middle of your slide, but when you drag them there, it still doesn’t look quite right.
Get rid of your guessing game and let PowerPoint work its magic with this trick
Many users don’t realize how flexible PowerPoint’s shape tools have become.
In combination with the expanded format options released by Microsoft in 2010, the potential for good design with shapes is readily available.
PowerPoint provides the user with a bunch of great shape options beyond the traditional rectangle, oval, and rounded rectangle patterns, unlike even professional design programs like Adobe Creative Suite or Quark.
Today’s shapes include a highly functional Smart Shapes function, which enables you to create diagrams and flow charts in no time.
These tools are especially valuable when you consider that PowerPoint is a visual medium.
Paragraphing and bullet lists are boring — you can use shapes to help express your message more clearly.