What are the best practices for creating an easily updatable presentation?

The quickest way to make a presentation is to use a ready-made template and add your colors and logo to it. Keep each presentation, and modify it to your audience.

It's advisable to use a template which provides the audience a top down view. It should start broad and then drill down into specifics. Consistency in the way, the matter is presented is the key. The recipient needs to see information in a particular manner especially if it's a recurring presentation/update. Even for the author/maker a template prescribes a set of information that has to go into the presentation thereby eliminating dependency on one person.Placeholders, graphs linked to excel sheets makes it easier for the user to appreciate the message/data.

To create an easily updatable presentation, use modular sections, templates, consistent visuals, text styles, version control, digital tools, and regular reviews with a subset of your marketing, sales, corporate communications and your channel teams.

Having consistent color schemes is of utmost importance here. Not only do they allow you to build a brand presence, but they also make it easy for your team to collaborate and edit slides keeping the designs standardized.

Create an easily updatable presentation by using templates for consistency, centralizing data in linked documents, implementing version control, adopting a modular approach, leveraging cloud-based collaboration tools, converting static elements into smart objects, utilizing Slide Master for consistent formatting, maintaining clear naming conventions, including update notes for transparency, and regularly saving backup copies to revert to previous versions if needed. These practices ensure a presentation that is both easy to update and maintains consistency and collaboration.

Know your audience and your objectives for the presentation. Tailor your content and build the story according to what will interest your audience and be logical for them.

Make sure to build your document's storyline in advance to ensure the presentation flows in a logical and understandable order. Two main options in organizing the logical flow is Answer-first (give answer / recommendation then explain what's behind it) or Answer-last (bring facts and insights to reach the answer).

Knowing the purpose of different charts is extremely important. For example, a line chart should be used on time series data. It would make less sense to use it if you're trying to show the gender ratio of a team or an organization.

Charts should display data relevant to the analysis or the message that you want to illustrate with the chart. Often, less is more impactful and easier to understand.

A great designer is not the one who knows when to add more elements, a great designer is the one who knows when to stop adding elements. At the end of the day, you want to make it easier for the reader to understand your slides. Having unnecessary elements on your slide defeats the goal of effortless visual communication.

It's a great practice to take the opinion of your teammates before finalizing the document. There is a high possibility that others would notice errors that you might have missed.

Employing a consistent template, logical content organization, and judicious use of charts. Prioritize simplicity in design and formatting to enhance audience comprehension. Additionally, Leverage placeholders and variables for easy updates and conduct thorough testing and proofreading. Consider incorporating client-specific customization for a tailored and impactful consulting experience.

The critical thing to make the presentation easy to update is to include instructions/text boxes on the right/left outside the slide's borders. It serves two purposes: 1) In case somebody forgets to delete instructions, the client won't see them because PDFs don't capture out-of-border content; 2) you have more than enough space outside the slide to post instructions.

If you're working as a team to create a presentation, here are the things to keep in mind. 1. Use the live sharing option in PowerPoint or use Google Slides for easy collaboration. 2. Try to use a template so everything is consistent. 3. Try to add instructions on the design expectations (standard font, color, layout etc) so when other team members make new slides, they follow the guidelines. 4. Considering everyone's technical capabilities, try to keep the presentation simple with simple text boxes, easy to update live charts and tables, etc.

I can recommend ?ThinkCell“ as a great tool with PowerPoint integration. Its user-friendly interface and time-saving features make crafting presentations much easier and more visually appealing I find.

Creating easily updatable presentations involves structuring content modularly, using templates for consistency, maintaining version control, centralizing assets, labeling content for easy identification, employing placeholders, embedding external content, leveraging master slides, incorporating interactive elements, utilizing collaborative tools, tracking revision history, and offering training, establishing a systematic and organized approach that streamlines updates, maintains consistency, and facilitates swift content modifications across the presentation, ensuring relevance and accuracy while simplifying the management of information for efficient and dynamic presentations.