Slides are powerful tools to communicate your ideas, persuade your audience, and showcase your creativity. But how can you design slides that enhance your message, rather than distract or confuse it? Here are some tips to help you create effective and engaging slides for your next presentation.
Before you start designing your slides, you need to have a clear purpose for your presentation. What is the main message you want to convey? Who is your target audience? What do you want them to learn, feel, or do after your presentation? Having a clear purpose will help you focus your content, structure your narrative, and choose your visuals.
If you're creating slides, remember these key points: 1) Avoid overloading a slide with too much information. 2) Highlight important points to capture the audience's attention. 3) Use engaging visuals and animations to keep your audience involved. 4) Share your slides with someone knowledgeable for honest feedback. 5) Don't worry if you make mistakes; aim to improve your work next time.
Use contrast: Use different colors, fonts, sizes, and shapes to create visual interest and hierarchy. Use alignment: Arrange your elements in a way that creates order and balance. Use white space: Create a balanced design that will help your audience focus on the most important elements. Use good quality images: Use impactful images, not space-fillers. Empty space on the slide will actually enhance readability. Use visuals to highlight the key message on each slide: Use scaffolding slides to orient your audience and keep them engaged. Follow the rule of three: Have no more than three main points, three subpoints per point, and three words per bullet.
Slides depend on: - types of presentation - audience that will be listening to the talk - action you are expecting from the audience. In general from what I saw from my experience: - the more inspirational the presentation needs to be, the lower importance of those slides (stories work here much better) - the more specialist the presentation, the more detailed slides can be. - the more data you have in the presetation, the more time you need to spend to make it digestable for the audience. - the less experience you have as the speaker, the more "help" you can get from slides during the presentation (once you have really good content then the audience "forgives" worse form of that content).
Humans are visual creatures; our slides must look nice and neat. More recent versions of Microsoft PowerPoint offer a designer tool that analyzes the content of your slide and proposes some designs. I have found this to be very useful and time-saving. Additionally, there are a number of other platforms that offer very catchy templates for presentations, I have tried: Canva and Google Slides. Both great!
Before starting a custom design, use templates for inspiration. You can Google slide templates based on your theme, or look for existing templates in the software you’re using. Canva, PowerPoint, and Keynote all have templates that work as a great visual starting point.
A common mistake that many presenters make is to cram too much information into their slides. This can overwhelm your audience, reduce your impact, and make your presentation boring. A simple way to avoid this is to follow the rule of three: limit each slide to three main points, limit each point to three sub-points, and limit your presentation to three main sections. This will help you organize your information, simplify your message, and increase your retention.
If your slides have a wall of text, you can be 99% of your audience is reading and not listening to a word you say. Ensure that any text on your slides support what you are talking about. Consider making a presenter version with more graphics and less text. A more complete version can be shared after your presentation that includes the details you talk about.
The rule of three is a classic and effective technique for creating digestible content and keeping the audience engaged. By distilling your message down to its essence, you can make it more memorable. A flip chart can be a great addition to slides following the rule of three, allowing for interactivity and enhancing audience engagement.
The rule of three is pretty common, and eventually, while it's easier on the eyes your audience can still tune out. I'm all for reduction always. Create your slides, create a 1-page summary, then revise your slides to focus content on only what is relevant to the summary. Beyond this I LOVE metaphors. Using history, books, movies, or a personal story is how you hook your audience. For example, you have a team kick-off, one of my managers used to use an Avengers metaphor and it always clicked. It's simple, we all have different superpowers and we all try to solve problems in different ways, but at the end of the day we are all trying to solve a joint mission... and we do it!
Use more visuals because as they say a picture is worth 1000 words. Do not read from the text and make sure that the slides are not cluttered with so much information because it becomes difficult to read.
Contrast and alignment are two essential principles of design that can make your slides more attractive and readable. Contrast means using different colors, fonts, sizes, and shapes to create visual interest and hierarchy. Alignment means arranging your elements in a way that creates order and balance. You can use contrast and alignment to highlight your key points, create coherence, and guide your audience's attention.
If your content is worth presenting and gives real value to the audience then using fancy templates is a switch-off. Be as simple and minimalistic in your slides as possible. Netflix's famous 125-slide Culture Slidedeck is a great example of a simplistic yet one of the most powerful slide decks I have come across.
Contrast and alignment are foundational design principles that enhance slide readability and impact. By guiding the audience's focus and emphasizing key points, contrast creates a memorable presentation. Alignment, on the other hand, conveys professionalism and attention to detail. A flip chart can complement well-designed slides by adding spontaneity and engagement. It reinforces the message and caters to different learning styles, making it a useful tool when used thoughtfully.
Use A.I. tools such for example Gamma or Tome (there are many more) to get the job done in minutes instead of hours. They create stunning slides that are effective (and of course you can subsequently still edit them manually for the final polish).
Images can be a powerful way to illustrate your message, evoke emotions, and stimulate imagination. But they can also be a source of distraction, confusion, or misunderstanding if they are not relevant, clear, or appropriate. When choosing images for your slides, make sure they match your content, support your message, and respect your audience. Avoid using clichéd, low-quality, or irrelevant images that can undermine your credibility or offend your audience.
Check if your organization has a style guide with best practices when choosing images. In addition to copyright, be sure you consider: - Company brand image - Image quality - Context These elements will make sure your presentations images are in line with your organizations brand and reputation.
Selecting relevant images is crucial as they are powerful communication tools, reinforcing and conveying your message. It's essential to avoid clichéd or low-quality images as they can diminish your presentation's impact and credibility. Incorporating a flip chart can provide a dynamic contrast to slides, enabling better audience understanding and real-time interaction. It complements carefully selected images and offers a more interactive and adaptable approach to delivering your message.
Animations and transitions are effects that you can apply to your slides or elements to create movement and dynamism. They can be useful to emphasize a point, show a process, or create a surprise. But they can also be annoying, distracting, or confusing if they are overused, inconsistent, or irrelevant. When using animations and transitions, make sure they are simple, smooth, and meaningful. Avoid using flashy, random, or unnecessary effects that can irritate your audience or obscure your message.
Once you have added animations/transition, play your presentation through from start to finish in presenter mode. If the movement is overwhelming, consider reducing or removing some transitions or animations.
Animations and transitions in presentations can be a double-edged sword. While they can enhance sophistication and focus, misuse or overuse can detract from the impact. Keeping them simple, smooth, and meaningful is crucial. In addition, flip charts can create a sense of 'unveiling' in a tactile and analog way, serving as a controlled alternative to digital animations.
The final tip to design slides that enhance your message is to practice and get feedback. No matter how good your slides are, they are only a tool to support your presentation. You still need to deliver your message with confidence, clarity, and enthusiasm. Practice your presentation with your slides, rehearse your timing, and adjust your tone and pace. Get feedback from someone you trust, ask for their honest opinion, and make improvements based on their suggestions.
Explain me like I am 5 The best way to be sure is your message clear and strong enough in order to be sure that you have addressed purpose of your presentation is to make a "dry run" with 5 year old as your audience. If the child can understand and repeat general idea, you are more then prepared, but if it stay fuzzy, practice more. Things should be simple as possible (but not simpler then that) - Einstein :)
Here's something to think about... do you really need a presentation? Lately, I've found that using a document instead can be your silver bullet versus wasting time on a presentation that will be seen once and saved in a folder. It condenses all the crucial information into just a page or two, making it a breeze to read. Trust me, flipping through a 10+ slide presentation feels like a marathon! Not only that, but going with a document opens up a world of collaboration and intricate details. And let's be honest, getting the attention of the C-suite is easier when you send them a document they can peruse when they have the time.
It has been super useful for me in the past to create a roadmap at the bottom of the presentation. Therefore you will know roughly where are you in the overall presentation, creating cohesion and an easy way for people to follow you in your journey