When it comes to giving presentations, slideshows play a very vital role. Contrary to what many people may think, presentation slides are actually meant to edify and not entertain. This common misconception has made many speakers misuse this vital tool, leading to disastrous presentations regardless of their eloquence. A general rule of thumb that everyone ought to remember is that slides are meant to be visual aids. Still, for many novice presenters, creating exceptional slides can be quite a daunting task. The multitude of options and tweaks make it quite difficult to select a single consistent theme.
Even so, there are lots of resources on the internet that can be utilized by beginner and expert presenters alike, in order to create amazing slideshows for their presentations. For instance, you can get sleek and unique powerpoint templates that match the style and general theme of your talk from a number of sources. This could undoubtedly lift a considerable amount of weight off your shoulders, enabling you to focus on other elements of your presentation. Moreover, such templates can easily be manipulated to suit a certain theme without necessarily having to build the slideshow from scratch.
Tips On How to Use Presentation Slides
Having stated that, it’s also vital to remember that the mere presence of slideshows in your presentation doesn’t guarantee its success. Knowing how to properly incorporate these visual aids is what can make your presentation stand out from the rest. Here are a few tips on how you can appropriately employ presentation slides for your talk.
Simplicity Is Key
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication; this statement couldn’t be any less true when referring to presentation slides. Slideshows are created to serve the purpose of supplementation; they’re meant to support a speaker’s argument by providing a platform for him or her to display key points. Thus, you need to be careful about what you display on your presentation slides. There’s no need to have pages upon pages of content to display for a short presentation. Ideally, your slideshows should have lots of free spaces with a few images and writing; this will ensure that you arouse the interest of your listeners without losing their attention to the screen. Don’t allow your talk to be superseded by unnecessarily complicated slideshows which may even wreck your storytelling abilities and render your whole presentation uninteresting.
Too Much Dependency
Another important tip to remember when giving presentations is that you, as the speaker, are the center of the show. Many people make the mistake of allowing presentation slides to take the wheel and drive the show; this overdependence on slides is quite detrimental to your talk. Although slideshows are meant to provide visual aid (emphasis on “aid”), the main visual aid in a presentation is always the speaker. If your slides are the center of the show, your presentation is likely to be a lot less impactful.
Avoid Flashy Animation and Transitions
Even though animations and transitions are great for adding a touch of flair to your presentation slides, they should be used sparingly if there’s a need for them. Not all points you air out need to be animated; this only leads to monotony besides causing your audience to lose interest in your presentation. Limit your selection of transitions to just two or three different types.
Limit The Amount of Text
You should always keep in mind that presentation slides shouldn’t make the narrator obsolete. Thus, your slides shouldn’t be too wordy or display extensive information about the subject matter; as a matter of fact, some of the best slides have little to no text on them. Ideally, presentation slideshows should be meaningless without the speaker’s explanation. If you wish to provide more detailed information about the topic, consider offering pamphlets instead. In addition, if your slides are too wordy, your audience is likely to end up trying to read all the points, hence missing the valuable information you’re telling them.
Conclusion
Preparing the appropriate slideshow for your presentation isn’t as easy as it seems. There are lots of misguided assumptions about this process which can end up ruining your whole presentation. Still, with the help of the tips provided above, you can easily create the most appropriate slideshow.