What are the best tools and techniques for creating engaging slides and visuals?

What matters the most at the end of the day, is picking a program, and learning it very well. Many people jump around from program to program, trying many types, when it's more important to create depth in a program vs little depth in many programs. Mastery is important for doing something well. Little knowledge is important for doing something fast.

As far as I can see it, choosing the right tool comes down to a few factors: - ABILITY - If your design skills are good, you'll probably want to use professional software. If they aren't, you'll want templates that are quick and easy. - CONTROL - If you have a strong vision, you're going to want to use professional software to get everything just right. Templates can be liberating at first but they're also restrictive. - MOTIVATION - If you want to learn how to do it like a professional, you need to learn the professional tools. - TIME - If you're in a rush, templates are likely to be the quickest way. Many good designers will have their own templated approaches they can rely on - but for everyone else, there's Canva and Adobe Spark.

Tools before content? No. For whom is the presentation? How do the people consume content: talking, visual, logic etc. Define based on this one the content you want to deliver: questions, storytelling, visuals, experimentation. Depending on this select the right tool; that is most likely already predefined by your organization.

Create a design language for your document or slideshow. For my presentations, I've created my own templates that include: - Title slide - Section header - Big statement - Short paragraph - Image - Quote - End slide (that usually echoes the opening slide) I'll add other elements as I need them but these allow me to create a consistent visual language that helps the audience understand where they are in the presentation and what I want them to take away from it.

In terms of engaging presentations, less is more. You can have the most beautifully designed slides and lack audience engagement because they’re exploring all of the visuals on the design. It’s important that you hit a highlight in a bold font and then let the audience rely on you to explain it. There are incredible slide deck designers out there. When it doubt, hire it out.

Make sure that your images help you communicate your point. If they don't, leave them out. It's easy for images to distract people. Gifs and movie loops are even worse at that. Remember that the audience's eyes should be on you. The slides are only there to support what you're saying. Don't be afraid of using a blank screen where there's nothing else to look at but you.

Starting with an image to ponder that relates to what you’re saying can help grab attention right away. As participants are getting ready to begin, a thought-provoking image can spark great conversation. Research has shown that images promote retention. Pair a story + image and your audience is more likely to remember what you said.

Charts and graphs can be great. But they can also be presentation poison. If they're confusing and busy, you'll lose your audience. They'll be too busy trying to decipher what's on the screen to listen to what you're saying. If you HAVE to show a busy chart, highlight what it is you want people to look at. Or build it up from basics so that people can see what you add as you talk about it.

Always keep your animations simple. Most presentation animations are eye-rollingly bad. The simple ones are: - Fade through black - This is great if you've reached the end of a section before going into a new section - Push slide in - Perfect if your narrative is continuing from slide to slide - Wipe - This can be good if you're going from a slide showing one situation to another showing a better situation - Magic move - You can use this in lots of powerful ways - but use it carefully. As you can see, transitions can actually help you communicate. They should have a purpose. If in doubt, don't use any animations at all.

Always remember that your slides are there to support you, not steal the show. Don't allow them to distract the audience. The most distracting elements are: - bad design - more than a tweet's-worth of text - busy visuals - grammar and, spelling msitakes - obvious lies and bulls**t Don't allow your slides to pull your audience's attention away from your message.

Based on my experience, each slide should function as its own 'ad,' serving the overall message and presentation storyline. It should be clear, concise, and brief, avoiding distractions from your narrative and, most importantly, the presenter. While opinions may vary, I believe that exceeding five written points (or visual aids) on a single slide can be distracting and diminish impact.

Find your own presentation flow. Your slide deck is there to be a guide, not for rigidity. An example of flow would be: Hook—>Story—>Intro—>Outline —>Main Info —> Close —> Interact. Sprinkling relevant stories along with humor can go a long, long way. Once you’ve found your flow, it’s easier to create presentations that are consistently delivering and adding value to your audience.