10 Rules I Follow To Make Captivating Presentations

I have always been fascinated with presentations that are clean and to the point, and that is what I think of, when I am making decks of my own.

My coworkers often tell me how I should have been in sales, rather than being a technical leader, and I always remind them that the primary job of an engineer is not just to come up with solutions, but to convince the decision makers and influencers how their solutions will actually work.

And this does not apply just to engineers. It applies to anyone who is presenting to share their ideas, to provide a sales update, to get funding from investors for their startup, to share company financials, or to teach Biology for that matter. In order to convince the stakeholders, to gain trust from the audience, to keep them interested so they do not start yawning, the content you have up on the screen needs to be clear, precise and needs to keep the audience occupied.

So without further ado, let me jump straight into the rules that I have learnt over the 20+ years of my career that has helped me immensely improve the outcome of my pitches.

#1 Use large fonts

I cannot stress this enough! I will be the first to admit - I have been guilty of just trying to cram it in there in the past. But I soon realized I was actually reading my slides during the presentation, rather than speaking my mind. Then I came across Guy Kawasaki's 10/20/30 Rule of Power Point. What Guy suggests (among other things) is always try and go no smaller than font size 30. This not only makes your slides easily readable by the audience, but also forces you to be succinct in getting your point across.

Try it next time you are making your slides - you will be amazed at how much more thought needs to go on which words earn their place on that slide.

Bonus Tip: According to Guy,

#2 Use minimum number of font colors

I do not mean to be demeaning, but too many colors makes your slides look tacky. I believe the image below (courtesy: Slideplayer) does a much better job getting my point across than what I could have ever done with words! Remember - being minimal is the key.

#3 Limit the number of fonts throughout the deck

As the image above shows, keep the font types and sizes throughout the deck to a minimum - not more than 2 or 3. Not only do the different font types make your slides look all over the place, it also gives an insight into your mind. The crazier the use of font types, the more disorganized you appear to the audience. So please, strictly follow this rule, and you can thank me later.

#4 Easy on the eyes background colors

Going along with the theme of #2 and #3, try and keep the background color of your slides easy on the eyes, and something that goes well with your choice of font colors.

#5 Use images without background

Slides looks much cleaner when unnecessary background from images are removed. This is because with the background removed, you do not see the image border, and it looks more seamless integrated on to the page. This way, the focus of the audience will be more on the actual image you want to show, rather than their minds wandering on other stuff (in this case, the store behind the green car).

My go-to website for removing image backgrounds is REMOVE.BG. Best of all - it's FREE!

See below for the difference it makes with and without the image background. If the background is necessary to add context - feel free to keep it.

#6 Use toned down elements

By elements, I mean features like lines, arrows, or pointers that are commonly used on presentations. Try to use softer elements and element properties than bolder ones. And by properties, I mean thickness, overall color selection, and how it originates from the main image.

See below. Do you see the difference? Which one looks more classy and Apple-esque?

#7 Be Prepared. Tell a story

Place your slides in an order that tells a story from start to finish, rather than putting content in random order, just to put everything in there. Take your time to think through how you would want to introduce the subject you are presenting, to your audience. How do you want to reveal details one after the other? What is the best way to ease your audience into understanding the content.

This will not only help you in presenting, but also immensely help your target audience in grasping the content, and is more likely to keep them engaged.

#8 Don't be bound by one software tool

Yes, I agree. Microsoft Powerpoint and Excel have come a long way. But they are still not my best choice. I use other tools like Keynote (for Mac users) or Canva to create my content, including graphs, plots, and other data. At the end, I might transfer it over to Power Point, but I find the outcome to be much more beautiful.

#9 Feel free to use stock images and vectors

There are dozens of (if not more) websites, where you can get free stock photos and vector graphics. I encourage to use them in your slides to perk them up. Please do remember to give credit or thank the owner of the image, as required by the website's use policy.

#10 Spare me the flying arrows. PLEASE.

Animations and slide transitions are cool, but don't overdo them. Please don't make every arrow and lines of text come flying from every corner of the slide. Trust me - it gets annoying. Hopefully most of us don't do that anymore, but I still see them - and I cringe!!