A slide deck is a powerful tool for delivering your message, whether you are a motivational speaker, a trainer, or a leader. But how can you make sure that your slides are engaging, clear, and relevant for a diverse audience? Here are some tips to help you create an effective slide deck that will capture attention and inspire action.
Before you design your slides, you need to know who you are speaking to. What are their backgrounds, interests, goals, and challenges? How familiar are they with your topic? How do they prefer to learn and communicate? By understanding your audience, you can tailor your slides to their needs and expectations. You can also avoid jargon, assumptions, and stereotypes that might confuse or offend them.
A good slide deck has a clear and logical structure that guides your audience through your main points. A simple structure consists of three parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. In the introduction, you should hook your audience with a catchy title, a compelling story, or a surprising fact. You should also state your purpose, your main idea, and your agenda. In the body, you should present your supporting arguments, evidence, and examples. You should also use transitions, headings, and summaries to help your audience follow your logic. In the conclusion, you should restate your main idea, summarize your key takeaways, and call your audience to action.
Una de las estructuras que más suelo implementar en mis conferencias es: 1. Usar en mis primeras diapositivas una frase retadora o una historia inspiradora que cautive el interés de mi público y cree expectativa en estos. 2. Luego de la expectativa, en la tercera o cuarta diapositiva pongo el título de la conferencia. Algo similar a lo que ocurre en las películas donde el nombre de ésta aparece luego de una escena inicial. 3. Las siguientes diapositivas son el desarrollo pleno de mi conferencia. 4. La penúltima diapositiva es la recapitulación de las ideas ideas centrales que se desarrollaron. 5. Mi última diapositiva es un mensaje de agradecimiento y mi información de contacto.
Visuals can enhance your slide deck by adding interest, clarity, and emotion. However, you should choose your visuals carefully and use them sparingly. You should avoid cluttering your slides with too many images, charts, graphs, or animations. You should also make sure that your visuals are relevant, accurate, and easy to read. You should use colors, fonts, and layouts that are consistent, professional, and accessible. You should also add captions, labels, and sources to your visuals when necessary.
In my belief the best slide deck are high quality images, with 3-5 words. If you are there as a motivational speaker they are the audience is there to hear you, they really don’t want to be reading or listening to you read your slides. Find really good images that relay to your points. Then have your logo on a blank screen to be the transition between sections of your presentation
I often find the slide that has a visual that reinforces the point you are making in the moment is most effective. I use very few words which prevents the audience from ignoring what I am saying while reading the slide. I also am intentional not to simply read the slides. The audience will get more out of you as a speaker when you speak, not read to them what they could read on their own.
Personalmente soy amigo de utilizar más imágenes que texto. Elijo imágenes de muy buena calidad y en caso de no tener buena resolución, utilizo programas de IA para mejorar la calidad de éstas. Las imágenes me permiten narrar historias que capturan la atención de mi público de modo que estos siempre estén conectados con mi discurso.
A slide deck is not a substitute for your speech. It is a complement that supports your verbal delivery. Therefore, you should not read from your slides or rely on them too much. You should use your slides as cues to remind you of your main points and to illustrate your message. You should also engage your audience by asking questions, soliciting feedback, sharing stories, or using humor. You should also vary your tone, pace, and volume to keep your audience interested and attentive.
I used to use too much text and low level images. I’ve learned to use quality images - Canva or other sources - to get the audience thinking about their relevance and to help focus on my message, my words. This enables a more interactive discussion which, to me, is the essential element of a presentation. Using as few words as possible on a slide is the key learning.
En mis conferencias siempre llevo conmigo una caja con dulces que brindo a las personas del público que responden preguntas que hago a lo largo de ésta, hacen un aporte valioso o realizan una actividad de gamificación. También involucro al público para que cuente cortos testimonios y lea algunos de los textos que hay en mis diapositivas.
The final step to creating an engaging slide deck is to practice and revise it. You should practice your slide deck several times before you present it to your audience. You should check your timing, your pronunciation, and your body language. You should also seek feedback from others and make adjustments based on their suggestions. You should also test your slide deck on different devices and platforms to ensure that it works properly and looks good.
I find it helpful to plan the story or message first, select the essential element and then start a PPT. Any other way often wastes time. Then reduce works and slides as much as you can.