Presentations Your Audience Will Love

April 30, 2014

Creating professional presentations can sometimes be challenging. Design Shack's Joshua Johnson put together a list of tips how to design a presentation “that doesn’t suck.”  His list is great, and CxC coordinator, Melissa Thompson, added in a few tips that address problems she commonly sees in student work.  Here are our favorite tips to help you design presentations your audience will love.

Tip No. 1: DO NOT use a built-in theme.

You are better than a template and your work deserves more effort.  Even having a plain black or white slide is cleaner than a commonly used (and sometimes busy or unprofessional) template.

Tip No. 2: Just say no to clip art

Professional presentations should contain quality, high-resolution graphics that are appropriate.  You can find free stock photos from a number of websites including Stock.Xchng, morgueFile, Creativity 103 and Flickr’s Creative Commons search.

Tip No. 3: Typography speaks volumes

The right font can make or break your presentation.  

 

Tip No. 4: Keep it simple and the same

In a presentation you convey your messages two ways: what you say to your audience and what you show them.  Keep both simple.  Don’t overload a slide with information.  Instead, give them short bits of information they can process.  Also, audience members will either read your slides or listen to you.  To avoid confusion, make sure you saying and showing the same thing.

Tip No. 5: Avoid the Bullet Point Plague

Speaking of keeping it simple, too many bullets can distract your audience from the main message.  When making a bulleted list, you have to use at least two and it is best to have no more than four.

By using these tips, your presentations will surely be one your audience will love.  If you would like additional help designing your visuals or working through your delivery, make an appointment with a CxC presentation coach today!