17 PowerPoint Presentation Tips to Make More Creative Slideshows [+ Templates]

Creating an awesome PowerPoint presentation is a ability that any skilled can profit from. The issue? It’s very easy to get it incorrect. From poor coloration decisions to complicated slides, a nasty PowerPoint slideshow can distract from the improbable content material you’re sharing with stakeholders in your group.

Obtain Now

That’s why it’s so necessary to learn to create a PowerPoint presentation from the bottom up, beginning together with your slides. Even should you’re accustomed to PowerPoint, a refresher will show you how to make a extra engaging, skilled slideshow. Let’s get began.

I like to consider Microsoft PowerPoint as a take a look at of primary skilled abilities. To create a passing presentation, I have to display design abilities, technical literacy, and a way of private model.

If the presentation has an issue (like an unintended font, a damaged hyperlink, or unreadable textual content), then I’ve in all probability failed the take a look at. Even when my spoken presentation is nicely rehearsed, a nasty visible expertise can break it for the viewers.

Experience means nothing and not using a good PowerPoint presentation to again it up. For starters, seize your assortment of free PowerPoint templates beneath.

Irrespective of your matter, profitable PowerPoints depend upon three primary components: your command of PowerPoint’s design instruments, your consideration to presentation processes, and your devotion to constant model. Listed here are some easy ideas that will help you begin mastering every of these components, and remember to take a look at the extra sources on the backside of this publish.

Learn how to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

A presentation is made up of a number of slides, and now that you understand how to make one, you may delve deeper into PowerPoint’s capabilities.

1. Open a clean presentation once more or begin from one you have already created.

When you’ve already created a presentation, double-click the icon to open the present file. In any other case, open Microsoft PowerPoint, click on File within the high left nook, and click on New Presentation. From there, you may observe the prompts to arrange a brand new presentation.

2. Select a theme or create your personal.

Microsoft provides built-in themes and coloration variations that will help you design your slides with a cohesive look. To select from these pre-built themes, select the File tab once more, choose New, select one of many choices, and click on Create.

In any other case, you should utilize PowerPoint components, your design sense, and your model’s coloration palette to make your personal “theme.”

3. Create a wide range of slides for various functions.

You do not wish to current the identical precise slide, solely with completely different content material on it. This could bore your viewers. Make sure that you create a number of variations, accommodating a number of the widespread makes use of for slides. At minimal, you will want:

• A title slide
• An agenda or desk of contents slide
• A slide that introduces the speaker
• Numerous content material slides (create completely different layouts contemplating what sort of multimedia you will use)

4. Use the Duplicate Slides function to avoid wasting you time.

There isn’t any purpose to create these designs time and again. Now that you’ve a number of to attract from, you may merely duplicate them earlier than inputting your content material. This is how to do this:

• On the left pane, right-click the thumbnail of the slide you wish to duplicate.
• Select Duplicate Slide from the pop-up menu.

This can robotically add a duplicate of this slide to the presentation. From there, you may customise it on your wants.

5. Add transitions to your slides (non-compulsory).

Accomplished nicely, transitions can add a little bit little bit of motion and showmanship to your presentation. PowerPoint has a number of transitions in-built so that you can select from.

To entry them, choose the Transitions tab from the highest ribbon. From there, you may choose a transition for it to preview in your display screen. To customise it additional, click on Impact Choices and play with the options to search out one thing that fits your liking. To take away a transition, choose Transitions and click on None.

6. Add animations to your slides (non-compulsory).

Like transitions, animations can add motion, reveal data, and show you how to underscore the factors you wish to hit throughout your speech. To animate a component, observe these steps:

• Choose the aspect you need animated by clicking on it.
• Select Animations from the highest ribbon.
• You may have the choice to select from a number of results displayed within the ribbon.
• Clicking on one will provide you with a preview.
• To customise the animation, choose Impact Choices.
• To take away an animation, click on None within the ribbon.

A number of the methods to customise animations embody:

• On Click on
• With Earlier
• After Earlier
• Period
• Delay

These describe the way you need the impact to behave, so mess around with them till you discover an impact that fits your liking.

You may even have the choice to maneuver animations round as you edit your slides by clicking on the Animation Pane button, then reordering the animations within the checklist that pops up.

7. Save your presentation.

Click on File and Save, ensuring to specify which folder or vacation spot you need your PowerPoint to be saved.

8. Run your presentation.

It is at all times good to do a trial run to make sure that your slides are arrange correctly and your animations hearth the way in which you anticipate them to.

To current your PowerPoint, go to the Slide Present tab and click on Play from Begin. The slide will cowl your complete display screen, blocking out your desktop and PowerPoint software program. That is so your viewers (on this case, you for the trial run) is solely targeted on the visible components of your presentation.

9. Advance the slides.

Once you’re finished with one slide and wish to present the subsequent in your sequence, click on your mouse in presentation mode. This can advance the slide.

PowerPoint Type

1. Don’t let PowerPoint resolve how you employ PowerPoint.

Microsoft needed to offer PowerPoint customers with a whole lot of instruments. However this doesn’t imply it is best to use all of them. Listed here are some key issues to look out for:

• Be sure that the preset PPT themes complement your wants earlier than you undertake them.
• Attempt to get away from utilizing Microsoft Workplace’s default fonts, Calibri and Cambria. Utilizing these two typefaces could make the presentation appear underwhelming.
• Professionals ought to by no means use PPT’s motion sounds. (Please contemplate your viewers above private desire).
• PowerPoint makes bulleting automated, however ask your self: Are bullets really applicable for what it is advisable to do? Typically they’re, however not at all times.
• Current PPT defaults embody a small shadow on all shapes. Take away this shadow if it isn’t really wanted. Additionally, don’t go away shapes of their default blue.

2. Create customized slide sizes.

Whilst you often can get away with the default slide dimension for many displays, you might want to regulate it for bigger displays on weirdly sized shows. If it is advisable to try this, here is how.

• Within the top-left nook, select File.
• Choose Web page Setup.
• Kind the peak and width of the background you need, and click on OK.
• A dialogue field will seem. Click on Scale if you wish to additionally resize your content material, or Don’t Scale should you don’t. We advocate clicking Don’t Scale, then manually adjusting minor structure points.

Tip: You possibly can keep away from a headache with the final step should you resize your slides earlier than you add any objects to them. In any other case, the size of your objects will grow to be skewed.

3. Edit your slide template design.

Usually, it is a lot simpler to edit your PowerPoint template earlier than you begin — this fashion, you do not have to design every slide by hand. This is the way you try this.

• Choose View within the high navigation.
• Click on Grasp.
• Within the drop-down, click on Slide Grasp.
• Make any modifications you want, then click on Shut Grasp within the high ribbon. All present and future slides in that presentation will use that template.

4. Write textual content together with your viewers in thoughts.

A major a part of a PowerPoint’s content material is textual content. Nice copy could make or break your presentation, so evaluating your written work from a number of completely different angles may make you appear extra persuasive. Eager about how your textual content is acquired differentiates good presenters from the perfect.

Typography:

Many individuals underestimate the affect of typeface, however choosing the proper font is necessary — the notion of your font sort may affect your viewers’s impression of you. The precise font is a chance to convey constant model persona and professionalism.

Some fonts are seen as clear {and professional}, however this does not imply they’re boring. A typical mistake is considering your font is not “thrilling” sufficient, which may lead you to decide on a font that distracts out of your total message. We advocate sticking to easy serif and sans-serif fonts. Keep away from script fonts due to potential readability points.

That mentioned, you may nonetheless use enjoyable and eccentric fonts — moderately. Offsetting a enjoyable font or massive letters with one thing extra skilled can create an enticing presentation.

Above all, make certain you are constant so your presentation seems to be the identical all through every slide. That means, your viewers would not grow to be distracted by too many disparate fonts. Take a look at this instance from HubSpot’s firm profile templates:

on this presentation template? Obtain it without cost right here.

5. Ensure your entire objects are correctly aligned.

Having correctly aligned objects in your slide is the important thing to creating it look polished {and professional}. You possibly can manually attempt to line up your photos … however everyone knows how that usually works out. You are attempting to ensure your entire objects hang around in the course of your slide, however if you drag them there, it nonetheless would not look fairly proper. Do away with your guessing recreation and let PowerPoint work its magic with this trick.

Right here’s how one can align a number of objects:

• Choose all objects by holding down Shift and clicking on all of them.
• Choose Prepare within the high choices bar, then select Align or Distribute.
• Select the kind of alignment you need.

Right here’s how one can align objects to the slide:

• Choose all objects by holding down Shift and clicking on all of them.
• Choose Prepare within the high choices bar, then select Align or Distribute.
• Choose Align to Slide.
• Choose Prepare within the high choices bar once more, then select Align or Distribute.
• Select the kind of alignment you need.

PowerPoint Design

6. Use “Format Object” to higher management your objects’ designs.

Format menus can help you do effective changes that in any other case appear inconceivable. To do that, right-click on an object and choose the Format Object choice. Right here, you may fine-tune shadows, regulate form measurements, create reflections, and far more. The menu that can pop up seems to be like this:

Though the principle choices could be discovered on PowerPoint’s format toolbars, search for full management within the format window menu. Different examples of choices accessible embody:

• Adjusting textual content inside a form.
• Making a pure perspective shadow behind an object.
• Recoloring images manually and with automated choices.

7. Reap the benefits of PowerPoint’s shapes.

Many customers don’t notice how versatile PowerPoint’s form instruments have grow to be. Together with the expanded format choices launched by Microsoft, the potential for good design with shapes is available. PowerPoint gives the person with a bunch of nice form choices past the standard rectangle, oval, and rounded rectangle patterns.

Immediately’s shapes embody a extremely useful Good Shapes perform, which allows you to create diagrams and circulation charts very quickly. These instruments are particularly beneficial when you think about that PowerPoint is a visible medium. Paragraphing and bullet lists are boring — you should utilize shapes to assist specific your message extra clearly.

8. Create customized shapes.

Once you create a form, proper click on and press Edit Factors. By enhancing factors, you may create customized shapes that suit your particular want. As an example, you may reshape arrows to suit the size you want.

Another choice is to mix two shapes collectively. To take action, choose the 2 shapes you’d prefer to work with, then click on Form Format within the high ribbon. Faucet Merge Shapes.

You’ll see a wide range of choices.

• Mix creates a customized form that has overlapping parts of the 2 earlier shapes minimize out.
• Union makes one fully merged form.
• Intersect builds a form of solely the overlapping sections of the 2 earlier shapes.
• Subtract cuts out the overlapping portion of 1 form from the opposite.
• Fragment will cut up your form into completely different elements relying on the place they overlap.

Through the use of these instruments relatively than attempting to edit factors exactly, you may create precisely measured customized shapes.

9. Crop photos into customized shapes.

Moreover creating customized shapes in your presentation, you can even use PowerPoint to crop present photos into new shapes. This is the way you try this:

• Click on on the picture and choose Image Format within the choices bar.
• Select Crop, then Crop to Form, after which select your required form. Ta-da! Customized-shaped images.

10. Current web sites inside PowerPoint.

Custom says that if you wish to present an internet site in a PowerPoint, it is best to simply create a hyperlink to the web page and immediate a browser to open. For PC customers, there’s a greater choice.

Third occasion software program that integrates totally into PowerPoint’s developer tab can be utilized to embed an internet site straight into your PowerPoint utilizing a traditional HTML iframe. Probably the greatest instruments is LiveWeb, a third-party software program which you could set up in your PowerPoint program.

Through the use of LiveWeb, you don’t should interrupt your PowerPoint, and your presentation will stay fluid and pure. Whether or not you embed a complete webpage or only a YouTube video, this could be a high-quality third occasion enchancment. To put in the add-on, easy head to the LiveWeb web site and observe the directions.

Sadly, Mac customers don’t have an analogous choice. A very good second alternative is to take screenshots of the web site, hyperlink in via a browser, or embed media (akin to a YouTube video) by downloading it on to your pc.

11. Strive Utilizing GIFs.

GIFs are looped animated photos used to speak a temper, thought, data, and far more. Customers add GIFs to PowerPoints to be humorous or shortly demo a course of. It is easy so as to add GIFs to your slides. To take action, merely observe these steps:

• Obtain and save the GIF you need.
• Go to the slide you need the GIF on.
• Go to the Dwelling tab, and click on both Insert or Image.
• From the Image drop-down menu, select Image from File.
• Navigate to the place you saved your GIF and choose it. Then, select Insert.
• It’s going to play robotically the second you insert it.

PowerPoint Course of

12. Hold it easy.

PowerPoint is a wonderful software to assist your presentation with visible data, graphics, and supplemental factors. Which means your PowerPoint shouldn’t be your whole presentation. Your slides — irrespective of how artistic and exquisite — should not be the star of the present. Hold your textual content and pictures clear and concise, utilizing them solely to complement your message and authority.

In case your slides have dense and cluttered data, it is going to each distract your viewers and make it more likely that you’ll lose their consideration. Nothing in your slides needs to be superfluous! Hold your presentation persuasive by holding it clear. There are a number of methods to do that:

• Restrict bullet factors and textual content.
• Keep away from paragraphs and lengthy quotes.
• Keep “white area” or “unfavourable area”.
• Hold percentages, graphs, and information tremendous primary.

13. Embed your font information.

One fixed downside presenters have with PowerPoint is that fonts appear to alter when presenters transfer from one pc to a different. In actuality, the fonts are usually not altering — the presentation pc simply doesn’t have the identical font information put in. When you’re utilizing a PC and presenting on a PC, then there’s a easy workaround for this concern.

Right here’s the trick: Once you save your PowerPoint file (solely on a PC), it is best to click on File, then Choices, then open up the Save tab. Then, choose the Embed fonts within the file verify field below Protect constancy when sharing this presentation. Now, your presentation will preserve the font file and your fonts is not going to change if you transfer computer systems.

The macOS PowerPoint model has an analogous perform. To embed your fonts on a Mac, do the next:

• Open up your presentation.
• On the highest bar, click on PowerPoint, then click on Preferences.
• Below Output and Sharing, click on Save.
• Below Font Embedding, click on Embed fonts within the file.

14. Save your slides as a PDF file for backup functions.

When you’re nonetheless terrified of your presentation exhibiting up in a different way when it’s time to current, it is best to create a PDF model simply in case. This can be a good choice should you’ll be presenting on a unique pc. When you additionally run into a problem the place the presenting pc doesn’t have PowerPoint put in, you can even use the system viewer to open up the PDF. No laptop computer will ever offer you bother with this file sort.

The one caveat is that your GIFs, animations, and transitions gained’t switch over. However because the PDF will solely work as a backup, not as your major copy, this needs to be okay.

To save lots of your presentation as a PDF file, take the next steps:

• Go to File, then click on Save as …
• Within the pop-up window, click on File Format.
• A drop-down menu will seem. Choose PDF.
• Click on Export.

You can too go to File, then Export, then choose PDF from the file format menu.

15. Embed multimedia.

PowerPoint means that you can both hyperlink to video/audio information externally or to embed the media straight in your presentation. You need to embed these information should you can, however should you use a Mac, you can’t really embed the video (see be aware beneath). For PCs, two nice causes for embedding are:

• Embedding means that you can play media straight in your presentation. It’s going to look far more skilled than switching between home windows.
• Embedding additionally signifies that the file stays throughout the PowerPoint presentation, so it ought to play usually with out further work (besides on a Mac).

Notice: macOS customers of PowerPoint needs to be further cautious about utilizing multimedia information.

When you use PowerPoint for Mac, then you’ll at all times have to carry the video and/or audio file with you in the identical folder because the PowerPoint presentation. It’s greatest to solely insert video or audio information as soon as the presentation and the containing folder have been saved on a transportable drive of their everlasting folder. Additionally, if the presentation shall be performed on a Home windows pc, then Mac customers want to ensure their multimedia information are in WMV format. This tip will get a bit difficult, so if you wish to use PowerPoint successfully, think about using the identical working system for designing and presenting, it doesn’t matter what.

16. Convey your personal {hardware}.

Between working techniques, PowerPoint remains to be a bit jumpy. Even between differing PPT variations, issues can change. One approach to repair these issues is to just be sure you have the fitting {hardware} — so simply carry alongside your personal laptop computer if you’re presenting.

When you’re tremendous involved concerning the completely different techniques you might need to make use of, then add your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides as a backup choice. Google Slides is a cloud-based presentation software program that can present up the identical means on all working techniques. The one factor you want is an web connection and a browser.

To import your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides, take the next steps:

• Navigate to slides.google.com. Ensure you’re signed in to a Google account, ideally your personal.
• Below Begin a brand new presentation, click on the empty field with a plus signal. This can open up a clean presentation.
• Go to File, then Import slides.
• A dialog field will come up. Faucet Add, then click on Choose a file out of your machine.
• Choose your presentation and click on Open.
• Choose the slides you’d prefer to import. If you wish to import all of them, click on All within the higher right-hand nook of the dialog field.
• Click on Import slides.

After I examined this out, Google Slides imported the whole lot completely, together with a form whose factors I had manipulated. This can be a good backup choice to have should you’ll be presenting throughout completely different working techniques.

17. Use Presenter View.

In most presentation conditions, there shall be each a presenter’s display screen and the principle projected show on your presentation. PowerPoint has an awesome software referred to as Presenter View, which could be discovered within the Slide Present tab of PowerPoint. Included within the Presenter View is an space for notes, a timer/clock, and a presentation show.

For a lot of presenters, this software may also help unify their spoken presentation and their visible support. You by no means wish to make the PowerPoint appear to be a stack of notes that you just’re studying off of. Use the Presenter View choice to assist create a extra pure presentation.

Professional Tip: Firstly of the presentation, you must also hit CTRL + H to make the cursor disappear. Hitting the “A” key will carry it again should you want it!

Your Subsequent Nice PowerPoint Presentation Begins Right here

With model, design, and presentation processes below your belt, you are able to do much more with PowerPoint than simply displays on your shoppers. PowerPoint and related slide functions are versatile instruments that shouldn’t be forgotten. With an awesome template, you could be in your approach to creating displays that wow your viewers.

Editor’s be aware: This publish was initially printed in September 2013 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.