How to Improve your PowerPoint Presentations

Learning to create dynamic and attention-getting PowerPoint presentations is an invaluable skill for students and professionals. PowerPoint presentations are used to guide speeches, organize meetings, and communicate the results of research. Many group projects focus on the use of PowerPoint slides to pull together the group’s information and communicate it effectively. While PowerPoint is a relatively intuitive program to learn, students repeatedly make the same mistakes in the creation of the presentation. Here are four ways to improve your next PowerPoint assignment.

1) Never…ever….use a white background. While you shouldn’t select any excessively bright or busy background, a white background suggests that you put very little time into the creation of your presentation. Select a background theme that matches your presentation’s purpose and audience. Promoting a fun, new children’s event in the area? Feel free to use child-like graphics and primary colors for the backgrounds of your slides. Presenting your group research project to a psychology class? Choose something more subdued and basic.

2) Keep the text on your slides brief and to the point. PowerPoint’s should never include long paragraphs of text. Use the 40/60 rule to guide the organization of material. No more than 40% of your slide should be taken up with text. White space (i.e. the background) and graphics can take up the remaining space.

3) Harness the visual power of images. Remember to maximize the advantages of PowerPoint. It’s intended to present your information in a visually appealing way. Use Google and sites like SlideShare to find graphics, animations, and even customized backgrounds to make your slides more attractive.

4) Prevent media misfortune. Whenever possible (and appropriate), add media to your presentation. Prior to doing so though, consider the Internet connection where you will be presenting. There are few things more damaging to a presenter’s credibility than the inability to get a presentation flowing. If you choose to add a video, embed it in the slide itself. This will allow the show to go on despite connectivity problems.

The person presenting a PowerPoint is always its most powerful asset. Do your research and create a PowerPoint that grabs and keeps your audience’s attention.