Every working professional needs to make PowerPoint presentations for presenting plans and business activities. So it is necessary to know the basics of PowerPoint presentations. So here are some tips to make a good Powerpoint presentation to impress your colleagues and superiors.
1. Number of Slides
The first question is how many slides you should keep in the presentation. So for this, you need you have a relative idea of the points you wish to cover and you should spend a minimum of one minute per slide and based on that decide how many slides will be enough to get your message across to the audience.
2. 7-by-7 rule
For a good ppt, you should apply the 7-by-7 rule which means not having more than seven words in a line and not having more than seven lines in your presentation, To keep it simple and easy to understand for your
colleagues and superiors.
3. WIIFY
WIIFY refers to what’s in it for you. The presenter must include WIIFY in their presentation to make them seem interested in the presentation. Some WIIFY triggers are-
- This is important for you because?
- What does this mean to you?
- Why am I telling you this?
- Why should you care?
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4. Working with colors
Do not overuse colors to make the presentation creative. Do use a color combination of a maximum of 5 and keep it parallel with all the slides. For example- use the same color for all the headings and the same for the content. Use contrasting background and foreground color for easy reading.
5. Use Bullets
Long sentences in a slide make it difficult for the audience to read and keep up with the slide and listening to the presenter. So it is suggested to use bullet points instead of writing the whole text. For bullet points also do not overdo the bullets; use single words or short phrases for the points; remove non-impact words like but, while, however, and that; do not use superlative words like very, excellent, and most, and maintain parallelism with the bullet points.
6. Use Visuals
use visuals like images, graphics, and charts to represent your thoughts and points in a better way as it is easy to explain the charts and graphs and the logical structure makes the presentation more transparent. Also if you use video clippings make sure the internet connection is proper and keep the background silent.
7. Animations
Keep the animation minimum. You should not insert animations into all the elements of the presentation so the impact of the bullets and the charts and text does not get lost. This distracts the audience and they focus on the animations or the gifs and not on the presentation.
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8. Handling Slides
You should not run slides without giving the audience the time to read. It can be annoying for the audience because they wonder what was on the slide and whether it was important or not. And also you should not operate slides by just changing the slide and letting them read on their own without speaking at all; this makes the audience uninterested and bored. So you should speak about all the slides and give them time to read as well.
9) Declare House Open for Questions
Once you are done explaining all the points of your presentation, declare a house open for questions. Or else the audience may feel discouraged for not getting the opportunity to ask their questions.
10. Avoid “Yes, but” Answers
When someone questions you avoid answering them by beginning an answer with “Yes, But” as it shifts communication into a verbal contest or outright dismissal as the receiver may react defensively even before the speaker finishes his point. It triggers a fight-or-flight response.
11. Summarize Main Points
At the end of the presentation, you should summarise the main points of the presentation.
12. Express Appreciation
After the presentation always remembers to thank the audience or colleagues and superiors graciously not only for listening to you but also for raising questions.
