PowerPoint Tricks to Current Like a Professional [Expert Advice & Free Templates]

When you’re right here since you’re questioning methods to make a very good PowerPoint, you’re in the precise place. Let’s simply hope it’s not the evening earlier than the massive day.

Nevertheless it’s okay… I’ve been there too. As a author with extraordinarily common design abilities, creating nice shows can typically really feel like an insurmountable process. The storytelling is a key part, which we’ll get into later, however your design strategy and supply ways are simply as vital, too.

On this article, we’ll go over all of those facets of an ideal PowerPoint — from the design and creation course of to methods to ship a presentation like a professional. I’ll additionally share some useful assets to get you began.

Desk of Contents

Microsoft PowerPoint is sort of a check of fundamental skilled abilities, and every PowerPoint is principally a presentation fabricated from a number of slides.

Profitable PowerPoints depend upon three important elements: your command of PowerPoint’s design instruments, your consideration to presentation processes, and being constant together with your fashion.

Hold these in thoughts as we bounce into PowerPoint’s capabilities.

Getting Began

1. Open PowerPoint and click on ‘New.’

A web page with templates will normally open mechanically, but when not, I am going to the highest left pane of my display screen and click on New. If I’ve already created a presentation, I choose Open after which double-click the icon to open the present file.

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2. Select a theme or create your personal.

Microsoft provides built-in themes and coloration variations that can assist you design your slides with a cohesive look. To select from these pre-built themes, I select the File tab once more, choose New, select one of many choices, and click on Create.

P.S. We’ve got some nice PowerPoint templates you could check out — you may browse them right here.

There may be additionally an possibility to pick a clean presentation in the event you choose to begin from scratch. I like this feature as a result of I can use PowerPoint components, my design sense, and my model’s coloration palette to make my very own theme.

Creating PowerPoint Slides

3. Insert a slide.

I insert a brand new slide by clicking on the Dwelling tab after which the New Slide button. When selecting the slide format, think about what content material you wish to placed on the slide, together with heading, textual content, and imagery.

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4. Create quite a lot of slides for various functions.

You don’t wish to current the identical actual slide every time, simply with completely different content material on it. This may bore your viewers, so just be sure you create a number of variations.

I counsel you think about what sort of multimedia you’ll be utilizing and select or create completely different layouts accordingly. At minimal, I normally use:

• A title slide
• An agenda or desk of contents slide
• A slide that introduces the speaker
• Numerous content material slides

5. Use the “Duplicate” function to avoid wasting you time.

There’s no must create these designs again and again. As soon as I’ve just a few to attract from, I merely duplicate them earlier than inputting my content material:

• On the left pane, I right-click the thumbnail of the slide I wish to duplicate.
• I select Duplicate Slide from the pop-up menu.

This can mechanically add a duplicate of this slide to the presentation. From there, I can customise it for my wants.

6. Add photographs to your slide.

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I add photos by clicking Insert and clicking the Photos icon. I can add different components by utilizing options within the Dwelling and Insert tabs on the highest ribbon. I like exploring my format by dragging components round.

Ending Up Your Presentation

7. Save your presentation.

I click on File and Save, ensuring to specify the place I would like my PowerPoint to be saved. When you’re utilizing your slides for training or educating, it might be useful to convert your presentation to a web-based course.

8. Run your presentation.

I at all times do a trial run to make sure that my slides are arrange correctly and my animations fireplace the best way I anticipate them to.

To current my PowerPoint, I am going to the Slide Present tab and click on Play from Begin. The slide covers my entire display screen in order that my viewers (or, on this case, me) is solely targeted on the visible components of my presentation.

9. Advance the slides.

Everytime you’re in presentation mode and able to transfer on, click on your mouse to advance to the subsequent slide.

I believe the best strategy to know you’re getting it proper is to obtain some templates. We provide 30 free templates that you simply’re welcome to check out. Even in the event you don’t find yourself utilizing them, you’ll get a way of greatest design practices.

2. Create customized slide sizes.

Default slide sizes work for many shows, however you might want to regulate them for bigger shows and/or weirdly-sized shows. Right here’s how:

• Within the top-left nook, select File.
• Choose Web page Setup.
• Sort the peak and width of the background you’d like, and click on OK.
• A dialogue field will seem. Click on Scale if you wish to additionally resize your content material, or Don’t Scale if not. I like to recommend clicking Don’t Scale, then manually adjusting minor format points.

Professional tip: You’ll be able to keep away from a headache in the event you resize your slides earlier than you add any objects to them. In any other case, the scale of your objects will change into skewed.

3. Edit your slide template design.

I discover it’s a lot simpler to edit your underlying PowerPoint template earlier than you begin — this manner, you don’t must design every slide by hand. Right here’s how I do it:

• Choose View within the high navigation.
• Click on Grasp.
• Within the dropdown, click on Slide Grasp.
• Make any adjustments you want, then click on Shut Grasp within the high ribbon. All present and future slides in that presentation will use that template.

4. Write textual content together with your viewers in thoughts.

Do not forget that no matter else your PowerPoint presentation does, it must help the unbelievable content material you’re sharing with stakeholders.

A big a part of a PowerPoint’s content material is textual content, and nice copy could make or break your presentation.

I counsel you consider your written work from just a few completely different angles so your total viewers can see and perceive it.

Hold the quantity of textual content beneath 6-8 traces (or 30 phrases max). Use a minimal font dimension 24 pt. How your textual content is obtained differentiates good presenters from the perfect.

Typography

Selecting the best font is vital — the notion of your font sort may affect your viewers’s impression of you. I imagine the precise typeface is a chance to convey constant model character and professionalism.

Some fonts are seen as clear {and professional}, however this doesn’t imply they’re boring. A standard mistake is pondering your font isn’t thrilling sufficient, which may lead you to decide on a font that distracts out of your message.

I like to recommend sticking to easy serif and sans-serif fonts. Keep away from script fonts due to potential readability points.

That stated, you may nonetheless use enjoyable and eccentric fonts moderately. Offsetting a enjoyable font or massive letters with one thing extra skilled can create an interesting presentation.

Above all, make sure you’re constant so your presentation appears cohesive all through every slide. Try this instance from HubSpot’s firm profile templates:

on this presentation template? Obtain it free of charge right here.

5. Be sure all your objects are correctly aligned.

This can be a large pet peeve of mine. Having correctly aligned objects in your slide is the important thing to creating it look polished {and professional}. You’ll be able to manually attempt to line up your photos, however everyone knows how that usually works out.

Do away with the guessing sport and let PowerPoint work its magic to align a number of objects:

• Choose all objects by holding down Shift and clicking on all of them.
• Choose Prepare within the high choices bar, then select Align or Distribute.
• Select the kind of alignment you want.

Right here’s how I align objects to the slide:

• Choose all objects by holding down Shift and clicking on all of them.
• Choose Prepare within the high choices bar, then select Align or Distribute.
• Choose Align to Slide.
• Choose Prepare within the high choices bar once more, then select Align or Distribute.
• Select the kind of alignment you’d like.

PowerPoint Design Instruments

6. Use “Format Object” to raised management your objects’ designs.

I like format menus as a result of they permit me to make positive changes that in any other case appear inconceivable.

To do that, right-click on an object and choose the Format Object possibility. (The title of the thing within the drop-down menu will change relying on whether or not you’re formatting an image or form.) Right here, you may fine-tune shadows, regulate form measurements, create reflections, and far more. The menu appears like this:

Though the principle choices might be discovered on PowerPoint’s format toolbars, search for full management within the format window menu. Different choices embody:

• Adjusting textual content inside a form.
• Making a pure perspective shadow behind an object.
• Recoloring photographs manually and with computerized choices.

7. Make the most of PowerPoint’s shapes.

PowerPoint’s form instruments have come a great distance. In the present day’s shapes embody a extremely useful Good Shapes perform, which allows you to create diagrams and move charts very quickly.

I discover these instruments are particularly helpful as a result of paragraphing and bullet lists are boring to take a look at — I like utilizing shapes to assist categorical my message extra clearly.

8. Create customized shapes.

If you create a form, right-click and press Edit Factors to create customized shapes that suit your particular wants. For example, you may reshape arrows to suit the scale you want:

An alternative choice is to mix two shapes collectively. Choose the 2 shapes you’d wish to work with, then click on Form Format within the high ribbon. Faucet Merge Shapes. There are a number of choices to create customized shapes:

• Mix creates a customized form that has overlapping parts of the 2 earlier shapes reduce out.
• Union makes one utterly merged form.
• Intersect builds a form of solely the overlapping sections of the 2 earlier shapes.
• Subtract cuts out the overlapping portion of 1 form from the opposite.
• Fragment will break up your form into completely different components relying on the place they overlap.

9. Crop photos into customized shapes.

You too can use PowerPoint to crop current photos into new shapes:

• Click on on the picture and choose Image Format within the choices bar.
• Select Crop, then Crop to Form, after which select your required form.

10. Current web sites inside PowerPoint.

Imagine it or not, presenting web sites inside PowerPoint is one thing we’re nonetheless having to search out workarounds for.

From my expertise, these are some ways which have labored previously that could be useful relying on which model of PowerPoint you have got:

• Historically, to indicate an internet site in a PowerPoint slide, you’ll simply create a hyperlink to the web page and immediate a separate browser to open.
• Strive including the third-party program LiveWeb that you simply set up in your PowerPoint program. Head to the LiveWeb web site and observe the directions. Sadly, Mac customers don’t have an analogous possibility.
• Take screenshots of an internet site, insert the picture in your slide, and hyperlink in by means of a browser. You’ll be able to embed media (resembling a YouTube video) by downloading it on to your pc.
• Some variations allowed a Net Viewer Add-on till Microsoft determined that was a safety threat. Insert > Get Add-ons, seek for Net Viewer, then click on on the Add button.

• Set up ClassPoint, which basically places an web window on high of your slide to be used till you’re finished with it. Then, you may simply transfer to the subsequent slide. You’ll be able to even bookmark the online web page you need forward of time to leap straight to it. Utilizing this does introduce a brand new navigation bar on the backside of your presentation. Right here’s a video, Introduction to ClassPoint:

• Lastly, PowerPoint Dwell is a brand new software that allows you to do extra seamless shows throughout video calls and possibly a greater total match for doing shows remotely. Try this video:

11. Strive Utilizing GIFs.

GIFs are looped animated photos used to speak a temper, thought, data, and far more.

I get pleasure from including GIFs to PowerPoints to be humorous or rapidly demo a course of. They’re highly regarded with and simply acknowledged by Millenials and Gen Z, and it’s straightforward so as to add GIFs to your slides:

• Obtain and save the GIF you need.
• Go to the slide you need the GIF on.
• Go to the Dwelling tab, and click on both Insert or Image.
• From the Image drop-down menu, select Image from File.
• Navigate to the place you saved your GIF and choose it. Then, select Insert.
• It would play mechanically the second you insert it.

PowerPoint Course of

12. Hold it easy.

PowerPoint is a superb software to help your presentation with visible data, graphics, and supplemental factors.

Your PowerPoint shouldn’t be your total presentation, and the weather you do introduce must perform correctly.

If the presentation merely repeats your phrases, has damaged hyperlinks, or reveals unreadable textual content, the hiccups can change into the takeaway of your speak, regardless of how well-spoken the presentation.

I discover slam-dunking the fundamentals by protecting it easy is the best way to go. In case your slides have dense and cluttered data, it’ll distract your viewers, and you can lose their consideration.

In brief? Hold your presentation persuasive by protecting it clear:

• Restrict bullet factors and textual content.
• Keep away from paragraphs and lengthy quotes.
• Preserve “white house” or “unfavourable house.”
• Hold percentages, graphs, and knowledge tremendous fundamental.

13. Embed your font recordsdata.

One fixed downside presenters have with PowerPoint is that fonts appear to vary when presenters transfer from one pc to a different.

The fonts usually are not really altering — the presentation pc simply doesn’t have the identical font recordsdata put in.

To embed your fonts on a PC:

• Click on File, then Choices.
• Open up the Save tab.
• Choose the Embed fonts within the file examine field beneath Protect constancy when sharing this presentation.

Now, your presentation will maintain the font file, and your fonts is not going to change while you transfer computer systems.

To embed your fonts on a Mac:

• On the highest bar, click on PowerPoint, then click on Preferences.
• Underneath Output and Sharing, click on Save.
• Underneath Font Embedding, click on Embed fonts within the file.

14. Save your slides as a PDF file for backup functions.

When you’re nonetheless afraid of your presentation displaying up in another way when it’s time to current, you may create a PDF model simply in case.

I believe this can be a good possibility in the event you’ll be presenting on a distinct pc as a result of if it doesn’t have PowerPoint put in, you may nonetheless use the system viewer to open a PDF.

The one caveat is that your GIFs, animations, and transitions gained’t switch over.

To avoid wasting your presentation as a PDF file:

• Go to File, then click on Save as…
• Within the pop-up window, click on File Format.
• A drop-down menu will seem. Choose PDF.
• Click on Export.

You too can go to File, then Export, then choose PDF from the file format menu.

15. Embed multimedia.

PowerPoint permits you to both hyperlink to video/audio recordsdata externally or to embed the media straight in your presentation. For PCs, I believe two nice causes for embedding are:

• Embedding permits you to play media straight in your presentation. It would look far more skilled than switching between home windows.
• Embedding additionally implies that the file stays throughout the PowerPoint presentation, so it ought to play usually with out further work (besides on a Mac).

When you use PowerPoint for Mac, it will get a bit sophisticated, however it may be finished:

• At all times carry the video and/or audio file with you in the identical folder because the PowerPoint presentation.
• Solely insert video or audio recordsdata as soon as the presentation and the containing folder have been saved on a transportable drive of their everlasting folder.
• If the presentation will probably be performed on a Home windows pc, then Mac customers want to verify their multimedia recordsdata are in WMV format.
• Think about using the identical working system for designing and presenting, it doesn’t matter what.

16. Carry your personal {hardware}.

Between working methods, PowerPoint remains to be a bit jumpy. Even between differing PPT variations, issues can change. The best repair? Simply carry alongside your personal laptop computer while you’re presenting.

The following best repair is to add your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides as a backup possibility — simply ensure there’s a good web connection and a browser accessible the place you propose to current.

Google Slides is a cloud-based presentation software program that can present up the identical approach on all working methods.

To import your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides:

• Navigate to slides.google.com. Be sure to’re signed in to a Google account (ideally your personal).
• Underneath Begin a brand new presentation, click on the empty field with a plus signal. This can open up a clean presentation.
• Go to File, then Import slides.
• A dialog field will come up. Faucet Add.
• Click on Choose a file out of your gadget.
• Choose your presentation and click on Open.
• Choose the slides you’d wish to import. If you wish to import all of them, click on All within the higher right-hand nook of the dialog field.
• Click on Import slides.

After I examined this out, Google Slides imported all the pieces completely, together with a form whose factors I had manipulated. This can be a good backup choice to have in the event you’ll be presenting throughout completely different working methods.

17. Use “Presenter View.”

In most presentation conditions, there will probably be each a presenter’s display screen and the principle projected show in your presentation.

PowerPoint has an ideal software referred to as Presenter View, which might be discovered within the Slide Present tab of PowerPoint. Included within the Presenter View is an space for notes, a timer/clock, and a presentation show.

For a lot of presenters, I’ve seen this software assist unify their spoken presentation and their visible aids. You by no means wish to make the PowerPoint seem to be a stack of notes that you simply’re studying off of.

Use the Presenter View possibility to assist create a extra pure presentation.

Professional tip: At the beginning of the presentation, you also needs to hit CTRL + H to make the cursor disappear. Hitting the “A” key will carry it again in the event you want it.

Now that we’ve coated the fundamentals on methods to create a PowerPoint presentation, let’s go over the fundamentals of what makes a presentation memorable — beginning with what not to do.

1. Studying straight from the slides.

As somebody who has sat by means of a whole bunch of shows and webinars, few issues frustrate me greater than watching somebody learn their slides word-for-word. It makes the presenter appear unprepared and disengaged, and it rapidly loses the viewers’s consideration.

Additionally, it makes the viewers really feel dumb — they’re simply as able to studying the slide as you’re, so in the event you don’t carry extra worth, why trouble with the presentation?

Do that as an alternative: Attempt to have 2-3 details per slide that you simply wish to get throughout. Don’t really feel the necessity to write all of it on the slides. As an alternative, write out what’s most vital to know and use bullet factors, visuals, or key phrases to information your dialogue.

2. Making a presentation and not using a function.

Each presentation ought to have a function — a transparent level that each viewers member will stroll away with. When you can’t state the aim of your presentation in a single sentence, your viewers will really feel misplaced and confused about what your message is.

Do that as an alternative: Earlier than you craft your presentation, ask your self, “Why am I making this presentation?” and “What do I would like my viewers to remove from it?” After you reply these two questions, examine your slides and speaking factors towards your solutions to verify every one aligns together with your final targets.

3. Utilizing too many “buzzy options” that distract from the message.

PowerPoint provides a ton of cool options — animations, transitions, sound results — however simply since you can use them doesn’t imply it is best to.

Too many results could make your presentation really feel cluttered and amateurish, and as an alternative of focusing in your message, your viewers is left questioning, Why did that textual content simply spin onto the display screen?

Do that as an alternative: Let your message be what stands out essentially the most. Attempt to simplify every slide as a lot as doable and eradicate till you have got simply what’s completely mandatory to inform your story.

4. Not training timing beforehand.

When you’re new to delivering shows, you could be shocked at how for much longer it takes you to offer your presentation IRL than while you go over your slides in your head.

Do that as an alternative: Do just a few rounds of training out loud at dwelling (or, higher but, to a pal or companion) to see how lengthy it takes you to get by means of your slides and the place you would possibly want to hurry issues up or elaborate extra.

5. Talking too quick or slowly.

After I was in journalism college, pacing was one of many hardest issues to grasp. It’s straightforward to talk too quick while you’re nervous or excited. On the flip aspect, talking too slowly could make you appear uncertain or disengaged.

Do that as an alternative: If you’re training, goal for a clean, measured tempo. Typically, it may be useful to report your self whereas chatting with see how your presentation would possibly come throughout to your viewers.

6. Utilizing too many filler phrases like “like” or “um.”

All of us use filler phrases when talking, however too many could make you sound unprepared or uncertain of your materials.

Do that as an alternative:

• Observe pausing as an alternative of filling house. A brief silence feels far more pure than a string of “um’s.”
• Concentrate on your habits. When you regularly use filler phrases, consciously practice your self to interchange them with pauses.
• Strive talking extra slowly. Filler phrases usually come from speeding by means of a presentation with out sufficient time to suppose.

7. Ending and not using a robust conclusion.

A weak ending — like “Nicely, that’s it” or “Any questions?” — could make your presentation really feel unfinished.

You wish to use your remaining moments to go away a message together with your viewers, whether or not it’s potential enterprise buyers or a job alternative.

Do that as an alternative: Earlier than presenting, ask your self what’s one factor you need everybody to stroll away realizing after your presentation. Use your conclusion to recap your details and get this message throughout.

However in the event you can, I like to recommend exploring our different assets to verify your content material hits the mark. In spite of everything, you want a robust presentation to land your level and make an impression. And it’ll take each follow and time; don’t stress!

With a number of templates to select from — each in PowerPoint and accessible for free obtain — you may swiftly be in your strategy to creating shows that wow your audiences.

Editor’s be aware: This submit was initially printed in September 2013 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.