Tips for Creating a Great Presentation

When it comes to delivering an excellent presentation, we all need some help; it is a skill that can be acquired, and thankfully we have the means to do so. The essential component of making an excellent presentation is crafting out of the element; if we have no idea what we want to deliver, then we will not be able to provide it. But that is not all that an excellent presentation requires; it is just the first idea; let us call it a pre-requisite. An effective way of making an excellent presentation is divided into different components, so here are five generic tips for creating a great presentation.

1. The Oldest Trick in the Book – Start with Introducing Yourself and the Topic

For making an effective presentation, you must capture your audience from the start. That is why you must know how to start a presentation. The generic “Hi, I am John Doe, and I am going to talk about this” does not cut it. If you are not able to grasp the attention of your audience in the opening statement, there is a higher chance that they will not even listen to the rest of it. Try to connect with the audience; a concise and straightforward story of your origins and how it led to you here keep the audience interested—the reason for the presentation and how it connects to their needs. A small joke at the start also goes a long way; it lightens the mood and grasps your audience’s attention.

2. Create a Structure that is Easy to Follo

Keep the momentum of your presentation simple; too many complexities make for a cluttered slide, and the audience loses their interest. Create a compelling body of the presentation, providing the facts and figures, quotes, and data to back up your topic. Then move onto the conclusion of your topic, the conclusion is the place where you hover back to the opening statement of your topic and then provide the audience with some key takeaways from it all. An excellent presentation is determined by the density of slides it has, even if the presentation is an hour-long, try to limit the slides to 10. A lower number of slides keep the audience following every word you say to understand the topic.

3. Refrain from Repetition

Try to limit the words on each slide to a minimum. Choose the words you want in your slide carefully, try to keep the information bite-sized so that you easily retain it. Please do not copy-paste complete statements and sentences onto the slide; it is not a reading competition. Try to keep it simple and do not stray away from the core message of your topic. Once you start to stray off, the audience loses interest.

4. Design Details

A good design is also a core part of a great presentation, and it has the capability of making or breaking a presentation. You can do each and everything yet and adequately, if the design is not done correctly, you fail. Limit your color palette to a few colors, it is not an art class, and you are not painting a rainbow. Limit your palette to a few colors depending on the topic, providing your presentation a consistent look and a fresh feel. Be consistent with the font type and size that you use, different fonts in different slides are the sign of unprofessionalism and laziness. Stick to a single font type and size throughout the presentation.

5. Polish Your Work

Consistency is the key to victory; make a presentation at first, and it is not a big deal if it is messy at first. Keep honing it, polishing it to turn it into a masterpiece. Start messy and then align it like the stars. The next part of polishing comes the editing part; when we first start with a presentation, there is a lot of information. Do not be hesitant in removing out info that you feel is not necessary. Edit like a ruthless editor of a research journal. And finally, get a fresh outlook on your presentation. Show it to someone to gain a new perspective, so that they can point out any mistakes you might have missed.