What Does It Take to Make an Impressive Corporate PowerPoint Presentation

It's go time. You're trying to convince your boss, CEO, or even an investor to believe in your ideas and show them how serious you are. What you need is an impressive corporate PowerPoint presentation that demonstrates your expertise and lays out all of the reasons they should say "yes."

Here are a few ways to build a presentation that will excite decision-makers and make it easier for you to create a deck that keeps their attention.

Use Visuals to Break Up Your Text

One mistake our team often sees in new business or corporate presentations is too much information dropped onto a slide without any hierarchy or visual breaks.

Don't do this to your audience. Make it easy for them to digest the information you're providing.

People don't want to read a chunk of text on a slide. Give them some eye candy.

Use imagery that relates to the information you're trying to relay. Visuals aid in creating an immersive experience and holding people's attention.

Use Animation Sparingly

Some of the features of PowerPoint allow you to animate text and images. While it might be tempting to go nuts with flying text and swooping photos, don't act on this impulse. Too much animation draws attention away from the deck's content.

Even worse, if you aren't there to give the presentation in person, chances are high that it won't appear correctly. I suggest not using animation in your decks at all. If you feel that it really needs it, try limiting the animation to only text and use one effect.

Create a Cohesive, Branded Look

Inconsistent branding confuses people as they try to make sense of your presentation. It sounds nitpicky, but keeping the logo in the same place and using the same color scheme on each slide prevents people from becoming distracted.

Avoid Walls of Text

We live in a time where our eyes skim over content. Each slide needs to have the amount of text necessary to convey a concept quickly. You don't want to overwhelm anyone reading your slides. So make it bite-sized and skimmable.

Call Attention to Specific Ideas

This tip is for those who want to call out certain words or ideas. Large, bolded, or colored text treatments give emphasis to meaningful words and phrases.

When paired with a powerful image, they create an impression with the person viewing it. They understand that 'this information is important, and I need to pay attention to it.' Make sure it catches their eye.

Tell a Story With Pictures

So you've decided you want to bring in a ton of pictures into your presentation. Great! Now comes the part that requires a little more nuance. 

If you think you don't have a creative eye, don't worry. I recommend giving yourself a specific theme and sticking with it throughout the presentation's design.

For instance, if your deck talks about family vacations and app usage, you might want to choose bright, vibrant photos. They could also include active, happy families at a theme park or taking a road trip.

Using this example, if you suddenly throw in images that have nothing to do with the topic, you risk throwing people off because the visual story you're telling no is no longer linear and consistent. So pick one theme and stick with it. 

Present Your Statistics Creatively

When it comes to the main slides of the deck, set up the stats to be easily read and understood. While this is essential information, you don't want to distract people who need to squint to see the numbers. Another suggestion is to include an appendix at the end. This addendum elaborates on specific information that people can refer to later—like those vital stats.

Keep It Short

People are busy, and they don't have time for long, drawn-out meetings. If you're doing an in-person presentation, know how much time you'll have to speak.

Is it an hour? 30 mins?

This information gives you a chance to break up the timing. Give yourself a buffer for a brief introduction at the beginning and questions at the end. Depending on the topic, try to keep your presentation deck between 20-30 slides.

Use Icons To Create Visual Associations

Icons add emphasis to a specific idea or theme in presentations. They also guide the viewer through the deck and help create a visual association with your content.

But they need to be used wisely.

The slide needs balance, so both the text and icons are readable. If the icons are too small, people won't be able to make out what they are. Too large and they'll overshadow the text. I recommend using no more than 3 to 5 icons on a slide if used as bullet points or callouts.

Where to Find Icons

Free and paid sites like iStock, The Noun Project, and Graphic River are great resources to find icon bundles and illustrations to insert into your deck. You don't even need to be a professional graphic designer to use them either. Most packages come in a variety of formats to easily drop into PowerPoint.

As a note: If you usually don't work with different image formats and file types, remember that the most common ones you'll use are .png or .jpg. But if you feel comfortable using Adobe Illustrator or Vectr, you can use .eps or .svg files to edit your graphics.

Stick with Standard Fonts

Okay, so you've built a beautiful, impressive corporate PowerPoint presentation. It's perfectly formatted on your computer, but it looks awful when opening it on another person's screen.

This happens for a few reasons, but the main one is that you used fonts in the deck the other person's computer doesn't have. To be safe, use standard system fonts in your presentation and appear on both PC and Mac platforms. 

The most common fonts include: 

Arial, Comic Sans, Courier New, Georgia, Impact, Palatino, Symbol, Times New Roman, Trebuchet, and Verdana

Add Video to Create Visual Interest 

Here's a little secret to making better PowerPoint presentations. Bring in dynamic elements. I don't mean cheesy text and image effects. I'm talking about video.

Video is a powerful tool to use in presentations. They can show off product features or serve as a supplement to explain complicated concepts.

As a rule, though, the shorter the video size, the better. The exception to this is when you want to show more extensive, in-depth footage people can refer to. In this case, YouTube and Vimeo are options to host these videos.

Bring Colors into Charts and Graphs

Another secret to creating a beautiful PowerPoint presentation is to weave color into charts and graphs. Color creates visual interest while guiding the eye through complex stats and figures.

Instead of using random colors in the graphics, bring in elements of the company's brand. If you don't have a set of established brand colors, you'll choose a single color palette to use.

Coolors and Canva have color palette generators to help you find the perfect combinations to incorporate into the deck.

Thank Them in Style

The final page in the presentation needs to thank the viewer for their time and provide your contact information (if presented externally). This slide needs just as much attention as the rest of the deck.

Luckily, PowerPoint allows you to link to outside content. It's a prime opportunity to direct prospects to learn even more about your company or take them to a landing page with even more information. Adding a clickable button makes this even more accessible.

Test, Test, Test!

Any good business presentation design should be tested. So put it through its paces. Test the presentation out in different ways — email it to yourself and others.

The important thing is to see how it appears on other screens. If you have the opportunity to experiment with it on other equipment, take it. Catch any issues with how the deck looks before it's shown to an audience. The last thing you want is an embarrassing mishap to happen during the presentation.

Stay True to Your Brand

When presenting to prospective investors, directors, or executives, you're trying to sell your ideas. Your presentation needs to reflect the uniqueness of them. Bring in your brand's personality, colors, and fonts. It's what will put you front and center as a business or employee whose ideas are worthy of consideration.

Pay Attention to Font Sizes

Don't go too big or small. Sometimes, you think you're speaking to a certain number of people, but a few more stroll in unexpectedly. Always prepare the presentation, so it's easily read by everyone, no matter where they are in the room.

A good rule of thumb is to make the text around 28-32pt for body copy and 36-44pt for titles. When projected, those font sizes are easily read. Any smaller, and there's the risk of impacting readability.

Get a Second Set of Eyes

When you've spent the past few hours staring at the screen, it's hard to look at your deck objectively. Ask a coworker or someone you trust to give you their 2 cents. They can point out readability issues, help better organize content, or offer suggestions that might further enhance the presentation. Doing this exercise also lets you see how another person responds to the design and content.

Start Creating

Now it's time to shine. Remember to think of your presentation as one continuous document. Each element builds on itself to tell a compelling story. Every slide should lead the eye, hold people's attention, and convince them of your ideas' value.

Use the creative tips above and apply them to your next corporate PowerPoint presentation. They'll help you'll avoid creating an underwhelming deck and impress those making the big decisions. 

Kyle Strahl is the owner and Creative Director of KEYLAY Design. He and his team help companies create, revamp, and elevate their brands. You can reach the team at [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn.