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10 easy ways to make any PowerPoint presentation awesome

46 Comments

Make your PowerPoint Presentation awesome
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The much-maligned PowerPoint is not dead.

Whether delivered in PowerPoint, on a PC, or Keynote, on a Mac, bad slides, delivered badly will make your audience regret their second serving at the buffet.

We’ve all suffered through horrible slide shows with long lists of unreadable bullets, pixelated clip art delivered by a speaker who constantly turns away from the audience so they can read from the screen.

Bad slides, delivered badly will make your audience regret their second serving at the buffet. Click To Tweet

Well, I have good news.

Well-designed slides, used sparingly and with good timing can be brilliant. Heck, they can even make an otherwise good presentation awesome.

If you know what to do…

If you’ve ever struggled to create interesting slides or worry your slides are too wordy or you have too many of them, this will help.

Here are my 10 easy ways to make any PowerPoint presentation awesome.

1. Build your slides last.

You could be tempted to start monkeying with slides early in your speech writing process – don’t. It’s like building a road – until you know where that road is heading there’s no point laying down sidewalks and planting trees. Your slides are there to ADD to a well-designed speech, not to replace it.

Your slides are there to ADD to a well-designed speech, not replace it. Click To Tweet

2. Don’t try to replace you.

People come to listen to you – your thoughts, interpretations and insights. Fancy transitions, YouTube clips, and tons of text steal from your content and delivery.

Remember: every time you hit that clicker the audience leaves you and goes to the screen.

3. Use a consistent theme.

A consistent theme pulls together the variety in your images and message, as you move from problem to solution. You could use the baked-in themes supplied in PowerPoint or Keynote – I don’t because I want a simpler, more unique look.

I create a custom theme simply with my titles, a consistent white background, and sometimes with my logo or my client’s logo.

4. More image, less text.

17-5
Instead of unreadable text, use an eye-catching image and less text

 

Want to quickly improve a tired slide deck? Make your images larger (in this post I share where to get free images) and reduce the text. Remember the theme in this post is your slides should add to your speech – not distract the audience away from you.

We know our brain can process images some 60,000 times faster than text – using a large image gets your point across quickly, without being a distraction. And a short list of brief bullets helps your audience follow your argument – nothing more.

Click here to download the Ultimate PowerPoint Checklist

5. One story per slide.

In my 60 minute speech, I might have 30-35 slides, depending on stories I’m telling or complexity of the message. Each slide represents a complete story. I might be presenting statistics (sparingly), recalling an experience that leads to a lesson, or teaching a lesson.

But, I always stick to one story per slide.

6. Reveal one bullet at a time.

17-6a
Animation in PowerPoint

 

Animation in Keynote
Animation in Keynote

 

The trick when presenting text, like a short list of bullets, is to make your point without losing the audience. One technique is to reveal one bullet at a time. In PowerPoint, right click on your text box, select Custom Animation > Add Entrance Effect and then choose the effect you want. In Keynote, click Animate > Build in and choose the effect you want.

Writing a blog? The BlogWorks Amazing Headline Analyzer will quickly give you a rating and feedback on your headline. Try it right now!

7. Leave the fireworks to Disney.

It’s great that you know how to turn text into flames and make images spin – but leave those fireworks to Disney. Your job is to make you the star. Simple transitions, clean fonts and large, attractive graphics trumps PowerPoint tricks, every time.

8. Use the 2/4/8 rule.

2/4/8 rule for powerpoint presentations

When I look back at my most successful slide decks there’s a pattern, I call it the 2/4/8 rule: about every 2 minutes I have a new slide (about 30 slides for a 60 minute speech), no more than 4 bullets per slide, and no more than 8 words per bullet.

Just like any recipe, use the 2/4/8 rule as a guide and then vary the ingredients as needed.

9. Fade to black when speaking.

Your slides are not the point—you are. When you fade to black you regain your audience’s attention. For example, after I present one solution (that’s also shown on the screen), I’ll fade to black while I expound on how to apply the solution in your work.

It’s no different than a close-up in a movie – the director wants you to focus only on the speaker. Note that some remotes don’t have the black screen feature – if you’re shopping for a remote be sure it does.

Your slides are not the point—you are. Click To Tweet

10. When in doubt, dump it.

If you’re Al Gore explaining trends in CO2 emissions, slides can be essential – they can also be a distraction. When I’m struggling, trying to decide if I need a slide, or not, I ask myself: “Will it make my speech better?” If not, I dump it.

Remember, nobody will miss what isn’t there.

One last thing. If you’re flying solo, without an A/V crew, spend the $80 and pack a remote (with spare batteries.) Nothing’s worse than watching a speaker repeatedly lean over, hunt for the right key, and then peck away to advance the slides.

If you enjoyed this article, here are more about PowerPoint:

How the experts create world-class PowerPoint Slides (and you can too)
PowerPoint Primer – the only 3 slides you’ll ever need
How to add video to PowerPoint and Keynote like a pro

Never miss another update.

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  • PowerPoint Primer – the only 3 slides you’ll ever needPowerPoint Primer – the only 3 slides you’ll ever need

About Hugh Culver

Speaker, author, athlete and founder of BlogWorks. I speak and write about getting stuff done and the art of growing younger.

Categories: Blog, Expert/Speaker Tagged: keynote, PowerPoint, presentation, success, technology

Comments

  1. Janet says

    August 3, 2016 at 4:29 am

    These tips are really useful for us. I don’t get much traffic from slideshare but after reading your tips, I hope I’ll get success. Thanks for share, Hugh Culver.

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      April 18, 2018 at 2:56 pm

      Thanks Janet-great to hear!

      Reply
      • Mila says

        November 10, 2020 at 8:32 am

        Surprised you answered 2 years later. That’ll impact your customer champion side.

        Reply
        • Hugh Culver says

          November 10, 2020 at 1:10 pm

          Or it just shows that I was slow to reply 🙂

          Reply
  2. jessica says

    September 13, 2017 at 12:02 pm

    thanks for ur help i’ll use it

    Reply
  3. Craig Hadden says

    February 15, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    Well said, Hugh. You’re spot on with playing down the value of slides, like by building them last, and fading them to black.

    I’d add an 11th tip, too. That is, in your presentation’s title, use the “ABCD model”. In other words, include things like an Action (e.g. a verb like “make”) and a Benefit (e.g. an adjective like “easy”) – right in the title.

    While you prepare your talk, ABCD keeps you focused on your audience – what they’ll learn to do, how they’ll benefit, etc. So your talk’s easier to build. And the audience’ll be keen to hear what you say, because your value prop’s spelled out, even before you speak!

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      February 16, 2018 at 2:07 pm

      Thanks Craig – great addition to this post!

      Reply
  4. Cristopher Joseph Guerrero says

    February 18, 2018 at 6:26 pm

    Thank you for that very useful tips.

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      April 18, 2018 at 2:56 pm

      Thanks Christopher – glad this was helpful!

      Reply
  5. Egbenchung Kingsley says

    April 28, 2018 at 9:08 pm

    Thanks Hugh, concerning the 2/4/8 rule, what if i want to define a word its lengthy definition what will be the advice in this situation

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      April 30, 2018 at 5:19 am

      There are lots of exceptions to any rule – and I would use a longer bullet if necessary.

      Reply
      • rahul dhakkad says

        March 25, 2019 at 3:11 am

        great work guy…

        Reply
  6. ANURITA Singh says

    June 9, 2018 at 6:30 am

    Excellent tips, especially for a beginner ……. Clear cut logic! It takes the confusion out of you,!
    Thanks

    Reply
  7. Bryan says

    July 8, 2018 at 3:10 am

    amazing tips, it will be totally useful for my presentation to the whole school.

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      July 11, 2018 at 9:35 am

      Thanks Bryan – glad they helped.

      Reply
  8. Chaitanya Patil says

    September 1, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    Your tips were were useful while creating the presentation , they helped me a lot to understand the minute details of the presentation .Thank you Hugh

    Reply
  9. Udit Khanna says

    December 25, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    Thanks for sharing such an amazing tips like this.
    These tips will really help the beginners. With the help of these tips you can create an awesome presentation.

    Reply
  10. Chalamaneni Jeevan Prasad says

    January 5, 2019 at 6:08 am

    Nice points sir I prepared many presentations but I missed that2/4/8 point thanks a lot sir.

    Reply
  11. SeTC says

    January 22, 2019 at 10:20 am

    Thanks a lot! Very useful information.

    Reply
  12. Myles Cameron says

    January 26, 2019 at 11:58 am

    Well I was hoping this article would show me how to make my presentation “Disney” due to my social anxiety of presenting, but I will heed your advice and bring the attention back to the substance….and me. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      January 29, 2019 at 8:29 am

      Myles. The best presentations are when the slides (if any) support the speaker. The trick is to complete all your prep for your presentation and only then create the slides. In this way the slides are the supporting actor only. The temptation (been there) is blow your audience away with snazzy slides. It actually works the other way. Snazzy slides steal the show and unless they are even better than the speaker, they detract from the impact of the speech.

      Reply
  13. alex says

    February 5, 2019 at 9:52 am

    Nice guidance

    Reply
  14. Moses Roroipe says

    March 26, 2019 at 2:36 am

    Very helpful indeed. Thanks so much

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      June 20, 2019 at 3:24 pm

      Thanks Moses!

      Reply
  15. sarang jaiswal says

    April 14, 2019 at 11:13 pm

    thanks for sharing this articles

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      June 20, 2019 at 3:23 pm

      My pleasure!

      Reply
  16. Vance says

    May 22, 2019 at 11:08 pm

    Practical tips on the presentation! Any recommendations for a remote?

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      June 20, 2019 at 3:23 pm

      Hi Vance. I’m a big fan of my remote. It’s a Keyspan PR-03 remote mouse and after hundreds of keynotes it’s still going strong!

      Reply
  17. Steave John says

    June 19, 2019 at 5:38 am

    Hey Hugh Culver,
    I was searching for the make presentation good and came to your blog. I got to know nice information about it very first time from your blog. But I had one question. Use Bright Visuals and Go For Vibrant Colors is okay for the presentation?

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      June 20, 2019 at 3:25 pm

      You can use anything that holds the audience attention without taking attention off you. Lots of moving objects and snazzy techniques might look great when you are building you deck, but they don’t help your audience to learn from you. Less is usually best.

      Reply
  18. MW says

    July 10, 2019 at 5:54 am

    I’ll start by saying this makes a lot of sense and thank you!

    I’ll continue with a thought that I think it depends on the context, depending on the type of presentation.

    I’ve dealt with (and just plain been privy to) many a sales presentation where the PowerPoint is also a takeaway sales deck. The clients liked it and all were happy.

    The presentation was at once a “presentation” but also a vehicle to walk the clients through the information complied concisely in a PowerPoint deck. But it was much denser than anything talked about here.

    I think it’s important to keep the context in mind, and not put every “PowerPoint” in the same basket. Perhaps that goes without saying, but sometimes we can’t be too sure.

    Reply
  19. Selvin Furtado says

    July 29, 2019 at 7:07 am

    Loved your article. Will be trying your tips it in an upcoming presentation. Thanks.

    Reply
  20. QualityDesignPro says

    October 16, 2019 at 1:09 am

    Hi) These are really useful tips) Thanks a lot for sharing)

    Reply
  21. Calator prin Romania says

    October 22, 2019 at 2:13 pm

    First off I want to say fantastic blog! I had
    a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
    I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear your head
    before writing. I’ve had a hard time clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts
    out. I truly do take pleasure in writing however it
    just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are usually lost
    just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or tips?
    Thanks! – Calator prin Romania

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      October 24, 2019 at 6:34 am

      Great question. I typically prepare by thinking where I want to be in 30 or 6o minutes, when I have finished the exercise. I find that just a few seconds of imagining the end point centres me for the writing time.

      Reply
  22. Devin says

    January 5, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    I am just a high schooler tying to out shine the other more basic presentations in the class and want you to know that your tips are very help full and I am thankful

    Reply
  23. Farnam Sadeghian says

    March 25, 2020 at 1:43 am

    Thanks a lot! Very useful information.

    Reply
  24. john says

    March 25, 2020 at 1:44 am

    amazing tips, it will be totally useful for my presentation to the whole school.

    Reply
  25. Rena Cheong says

    April 27, 2020 at 6:02 pm

    Thank you so much! This was helpful. However, I was wondering whether you could add one more point. In my opinion, graphs and videos actually help a lot with visual learners.

    Reply
  26. Margaret Casey-LeBlanc says

    June 8, 2020 at 4:08 pm

    Great tips…. I will definitely be using them

    Reply
  27. Nikita says

    June 25, 2020 at 9:26 am

    Thank u …Very useful

    Reply
  28. Digital marketing says

    September 1, 2020 at 8:07 am

    Thanks Janet-great to hear!

    Reply
  29. Ranzo Teo says

    September 17, 2020 at 1:41 am

    These tips were actually helpful. I believe that good PowerPoint slides can be really helpful in creating a great presentation.

    Reply
  30. Nora says

    November 4, 2020 at 2:34 am

    These tips are really useful, thanks so much. Please is graphic designs good for power point presentation???

    Reply
    • Hugh Culver says

      November 5, 2020 at 5:55 am

      Yes, you should include graphic whenever possible to animate your presentations and get away from all text and bullets.

      Reply
  31. asanseminar says

    December 8, 2020 at 12:33 am

    Perfect Article
    asanseminar

    Reply

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