Tips to Make Engaging Presentations Using PowerPoint Templates
PowerPoint presentations can be boring and monotonous, even if you share great content with your audience. This is because of the way of treating your slides; sometimes, they are not showing your topic clearly, so they can’t empower your message. Hence, knowing slide management in presentations helps create an engaging and interactive presentation.
Are you bewildered by our new terminology, “slide management”? Don’t think much; it is only properly keeping your slides. It includes font style, color combinations, vector mixes, combining animations and effects, and adding background music in professional PowerPoint presentations. Slide management also involves “avoiding slides.”
Your presentation slides will help bring to life your message if they provide engaging visuals. So, how could you avoid boring elements in your presentation and give an interactive display? To do that, make sure your slides are for telling your story instead of using them simply as note cards. The crucial thing is that your presentation should complement your speech, not your slides.
Basic rules to create powerful & engaging presentations
Before we unleash tips for engaging presentations using PowerPoint templates, it is important to get the basics of your presentations.
A: Outline your speech
Before you put-together slides properly, plan your talking points and identify the goal of your speech and the important messages you want your audience to remember. Then, create your speech in a sequence of storytelling. Remember, you and your message are the focus of this presentation, so use well-designed PPT slides.
B: Remember the slogan, more images, and less text
Keep in mind that your slides are for supporting your speech, not distracting it. If you use more text in your slides, it can be confusing and distract your audience. So, avoid too much text in a row. If you want to add more text add it in bullet point layouts because people like to read point by point, not in a lengthy sentence.
C: Use high-quality images
When designing your presentation, give a place to your audience in your mind. The presentation background and aesthetics of your audience have a great influence on complimenting your speech. Avoid cheesy graphics and complex designs.
D: Keep the focus on the speech, not the PowerPoint
While you are on presentation, keep walking around, drawing attention to yourself and what you are saying, and control your presentation. For example, normally, you still stand when referencing a slide, so your back turns to your audience. As a result, it may feel awkward to the audience. Avoid this situation by telling jokes related to the topics. So, keep the focus on the speech, not the slides.
E: Text should be readable from anywhere in the room
The engaging presentation also depends on how large your font size is. It will be easier to read if it is at least a 28-point size. In addition, your text should be readable from anywhere in the hall. Sometimes, your font size fills over slides. At this juncture, it is better to use relevant images with bullets. Remember, ‘Bigger is the better”.
Special tips for practicing PowerPoint presentation
A: Consistency in designs
The presentation aims to get your topic across to the viewers. Keep the theme and design consistent to get across the message. If the picture and speech embrace each other, it will stand out. If you are switching from slide to slide, it will confuse and distract your viewers. So, be consistent in designs.
B: Single idea per slide
Each slide should consist of one topic. To keep the attention, try to give one talking point per slide. It helps the audience to follow your presentation throughout. If the upcoming slide has no talking points, you are forced to talk about the same thing that you have already discussed with them. This will feel boring for both you and the audience.
C: Use the “Rule of Three”
Don’t try to over-explain your topics. You can avoid overwhelming information by using the “rule of three.” “Rule of Three” is the idea coined by the legendary Greek philosopher Aristotle. The idea is to stick to only three prime points to help deliver your message. So, structure your message around the “Rule of three.”
D: Use one sentence at a time
Along with bullet points, use short sentences per slide. This is because simple sentences and quotes are easily retained in memory. Use bullet points only when you have more points to present with a single side. For instance, if you are presenting a theory, suppose it has sub-elements, then you can use bullet points.
What to avoid in a PowerPoint presentation
A: Too many animations will spoil your speech
In a real sense, PowerPoint presentation doesn’t need animated slides. Believe in your texts and know how they will work in viewers’ minds. Sometimes animations and transitions make sparkles, but it doesn’t mean it wins the mind over. So, it would help if you focused on your message, not the transition. If you want a presentation using animations, make sure you use modern and professional animations that are compatible with the subject and audience.
B: Add designs that support your points
You may have a great picture, chart, and vector-based design. But unless it supports your points, it will be futile. So, ask yourself, “does this slide help empower my main points.” If the answer is No, then remove it. Our slogan should be “less is more.”
C: Avoid using it as a teleprompter
Many presenters use their PowerPoint as a teleprompter. It will deny your spontaneous overflow. Don’t use that much text in your presentation. It should support only remembering a point. If you have read something, keep an index card that fits in your hand but does not turn your back on your viewers. Using a PowerPoint like a teleprompter will create artificiality in your presentation.
D: Give copies of the presentation only AFTER the presentation
You can provide copies of the presentation after you finish. If you give it before the presentation starts, the viewers go through the copy and ignore what you are saying.
Final word
You can make your presentation more interactive by asking questions, embedding videos, using live polling feedback, and changing your voice according to the topic and situation. Preparing some questions for your panel and field questions from the audience in the Q&A session is best.
