Category: PowerPoint Tips

Timed Presentations: Tips for When the Clock is Ticking

presentation tips

time limit

timed presentations

Sep 02, 2014

While an extra ten minutes might seem harmless, it could mean something else for the people in your audience. An extra ten minutes could mean that majority of your audience won’t be able to hear your conclusion. It can also make or break the outcome of your presentation, especially if you’re pitching to investors or trying to make a sale.

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So how can you be sure that your timed presentations end at the exact moment? Follow these three simple tips to help you finish presentations on time:

Plan accordingly

The secret to timed presentations is sufficient planning. The first thing you have to do is ask how long you have to speak. For business presentations, 30-45 minutes seem to be the standard. If you’re talking at a seminar, you might have an hour to present. Check with your contacts or the organizers to be sure.

Once you have the answer, you can begin planning how everything will play out. Aside from the main discussion, what else do you have in mind for your presentation? Do you want to involve your audience with some activities? Are you planning on giving a live demo?

Think about everything you want to do during your presentation and consider how much time each part could take up. Everything included in your presentation should contribute to your main takeaway. You should also allocate a few minutes for answering questions, and give yourself leeway in case your equipment malfunctions or you arrive late at the venue.

Rehearse and make necessary edits

After you’ve finished planning and preparing your presentation, take the extra step to rehearse everything you want to do on stage. With a timer going, practice your speech with the PowerPoint deck you’ve prepared. You should also rehearse your body language and how you plan to move on the stage. Make your rehearsals as close to your actual presentation as possible.

If you can, ask a friend or family member to help you out. Have them take note of how long you take during each part of your presentation. If it looks like you’re taking too long on the introduction, trim some of the parts out. Keep rehearsing and editing until you’re a little bit under your allotted time. If everything runs smoothly, you can use the extra time to address a few more questions.

Make adjustments on stage

Now that you know how long each part of your presentation will take, use these markers to facilitate your delivery. Take note of the time as you give your presentation. Enable PowerPoint’s Presenter View to access a timer. If you originally allotted 5 minutes for your introduction and you’re running over time, adjust accordingly. Skip the joke you were planning to tell and move on to the next part of the presentation.

Flexibility is important in timed presentations. But keep in mind that being flexible doesn’t mean rushing through your slides and talking fast. Instead, try to condense the less important parts of your presentation by offering a general overview. In cases of unforeseen events, don’t ask for extra time unless you’re offered an extension.

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Make sure your audience stays to hear the rest of your presentation by staying within your allotted schedule. Timed presentations might seem a bit restrictive, but they’re basically protocol in the business world.

Don’t miss out on great opportunities just because the clock is ticking behind you.

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Featured Image: MattysFlicks via Flickr

How to Use the PowerPoint Presenter View

Powerpoint

Presenter View

Sep 01, 2014

PowerPoint’s Presenter View is a valuable tool that allows you to see your speaker notes, upcoming slides, and a timer, all while your audience only sees the full-screen slideshow. This feature is especially useful for staying organized and keeping track of your presentation without disrupting the flow.

Here’s how to use PowerPoint’s Presenter View to enhance your presentation:

1. Enable Presenter View

Before you can use Presenter View, you need to enable it in PowerPoint.

Why It’s Important:

  • Gives You Control: Presenter View allows you to navigate through your presentation more effectively by showing you what’s coming next and keeping track of time.
  • Helps You Stay Organized: You can see your speaker notes, helping you stay on point without relying on printed cue cards.

How to Do It:

  • Open PowerPoint and go to the Slide Show tab.
  • Check the box next to Use Presenter View.
  • Make sure your computer is connected to a second screen or projector for Presenter View to work properly.

2. Familiarize Yourself with the Layout

The Presenter View screen is divided into several sections, each designed to give you key information during your presentation.

Why It’s Important:

  • Keeps You Informed: Knowing what each section does ensures you’re fully equipped to navigate your presentation smoothly.

How to Do It:

  • Current Slide: The main portion of the screen shows the current slide that the audience is viewing.
  • Next Slide Preview: On the right, you’ll see a preview of the next slide so you can anticipate transitions.
  • Speaker Notes: Below the current slide, you’ll find your speaker notes, which you can refer to as you speak.
  • Timer and Clock: The timer at the top helps you keep track of how long you’ve been presenting.

3. Navigate Between Slides

Presenter View offers different ways to move between slides, allowing you to control the pace of your presentation.

Why It’s Important:

  • Allows Flexibility: You can move forward or backward through slides without disrupting the flow or confusing your audience.

How to Do It:

  • Use the forward and backward arrow buttons at the bottom of the screen to move between slides.
  • If you need to jump to a specific slide, use the Slide Navigator in the bottom-left corner to see a thumbnail preview of all slides and select the one you need.

4. Use Speaker Notes to Stay on Track

Presenter View displays your speaker notes below the current slide, allowing you to keep track of your key points without having to memorize everything.

Why It’s Important:

  • Helps You Stay Focused: Speaker notes allow you to glance at your talking points without breaking eye contact with the audience for long.

How to Do It:

  • Add your speaker notes by selecting the Notes section below each slide during the editing phase of your presentation.
  • During the presentation, refer to these notes in Presenter View to help guide your speech.

5. Monitor the Timer

The built-in timer helps you manage your time effectively, ensuring that you don’t run over or rush through your presentation.

Why It’s Important:

  • Ensures You Stay on Time: Knowing how long you’ve been speaking helps you pace your presentation and stick to your time limits.

How to Do It:

  • Check the timer in the top-left corner of Presenter View to see how much time has passed.
  • Adjust your pacing as needed based on how much time is left in your presentation.

6. Pause or Black Out the Screen

If you need to pause the presentation or take a break without showing the audience your desktop or notes, you can use the Black Screen feature.

Why It’s Important:

  • Avoids Distractions: Blanking the screen lets you take a break or pause the presentation without displaying irrelevant information.

How to Do It:

  • In Presenter View, click the Black Screen button at the bottom of the screen to hide the current slide from view.
  • Click the same button again to resume the presentation.

Final Thoughts

PowerPoint’s Presenter View is an invaluable tool for delivering polished, organized, and professional presentations. By utilizing speaker notes, monitoring the timer, and navigating seamlessly between slides, you can ensure a smooth and engaging presentation experience for both you and your audience.

3 Tips for a Concise Pharmaceutical PowerPoint Deck

drug development presentation

pharmaceutical powerpoint

Powerpoint tips

Aug 28, 2014

The drug development process is often long and tedious. Before new drugs and medical devices are introduced to the public, there needs to be careful planning, research, and several clinical trials. Throughout these steps researchers, pharmaceutical companies, contractors, and government agents work together to ensure public safety. This is why presentations in the pharmaceutical industry are extremely crucial.

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Pharmaceutical presentations play a significant role in relaying information during the drug development process. In this case, using PowerPoint isn’t just an aesthetic decision. The use of visual aids is an effective way to present consequential data in a clear and concise manner.

These are three tips to keep in mind when working on a pharmaceutical PowerPoint:

pharma powerpoint 02pharma powerpoint 03

1. Design should be simple but interesting

The main purpose of a pharmaceutical PowerPoint is to relay information and data. That means it shouldn’t get buried under complicated imagery and slide animations. Instead of going over-the-top with customization, use color schemes cohesively throughout your presentation.

Going with a simple, engaging design will pique your audience’s interests enough without distracting them from your key points.

2. Make use of images meaningful to your data

If you completely ignore presentation design, you might end up with a bland pharmaceutical PowerPoint. Even if the people you’ll be presenting to are likely professionals in the field themselves, you still want your slides to be visually engaging. What you can do is make use of stock or CC images that will help illustrate the key points you’re making.

While they don’t have to be directly related to your presentation, make sure you can explain your visual metaphors when giving your pitch. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with a superfluous slide that will make you look unprofessional.

3. Don’t put everything on the slides

Your pharmaceutical PowerPoint shouldn’t include every data you have available. Keep the hard-hitting numbers and information in your documents.

Your presentation should only serve to supplement your papers by giving a meaningful overview.

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You can pick up more pharmaceutical PowerPoint ideas by viewing our vertical portfolio. Don’t hesitate to contact us for a free consultation.

With us, we can help you create slides that will perfectly communicate the hard work you’ve invested throughout the long drug development process.

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Featured Image: reynermedia via Flickr

Simple Methods for a Smaller PowerPoint File Size

compressing powerpoint file size

Powerpoint tips

Aug 27, 2014

A person is presenting a quality earnings report displayed on a large screen to four seated colleagues in a dimly lit room. The screen shows bar charts labeled "Relative Performance Comparison" and mentions "Neural Networks." The presenter points at the chart with a smile.

PowerPoint presentations can quickly become large and unwieldy, especially when they include high-resolution images, videos, and other multimedia elements. Large file sizes can cause slow performance, make it difficult to share via email, and complicate uploading or downloading. Fortunately, there are several simple methods to reduce the file size of your PowerPoint presentations without sacrificing quality.

Here are some effective ways to shrink your PowerPoint file size:

1. Compress Images

Images are often the biggest contributors to large PowerPoint file sizes. Compressing them can significantly reduce the file size without a noticeable loss in quality.

How to Do It:

  • Select an image in your presentation, then go to the Picture Format tab.
  • Click Compress Pictures and choose a lower resolution (such as “Email” or “Web”).
  • Ensure that Apply to All Pictures in This File is selected if you want to compress all images in the presentation.

Example: Compressing all the images in a 100-slide presentation can reduce the file size by 50% or more, depending on the original image resolution.

2. Remove Unused Slide Masters and Layouts

When you apply different themes or layouts to your slides, PowerPoint stores those slide masters and layouts in the file, even if they’re not used. Removing unused slide masters can help reduce file size.

How to Do It:

  • Go to the View tab and select Slide Master.
  • Scroll through the slide masters and delete any that are not being used in your presentation.

Example: Deleting extra slide masters from a complex presentation can reduce file size by removing unnecessary formatting data.

3. Compress Embedded Videos

If your presentation includes videos, compressing them can significantly reduce the file size. PowerPoint allows you to compress embedded videos without needing to convert them outside of the application.

How to Do It:

  • Go to the File tab, then select Info.
  • Click Compress Media and choose the compression level (e.g., “Internet Quality” or “Low Quality”).
  • PowerPoint will compress the videos and show you how much space was saved.

Example: A presentation with multiple high-resolution videos can be reduced in size by several hundred megabytes through video compression.

4. Save the File in PPTX Format

The older PPT format is less efficient in terms of file size than the newer PPTX format. The PPTX format compresses images and other content more effectively, reducing overall file size.

How to Do It:

  • Open the presentation, then go to the File tab and click Save As.
  • In the Save as type dropdown, select PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx).
  • Save the file in this format to take advantage of the compression benefits.

Example: A presentation saved in PPTX format can be up to 75% smaller than the same presentation saved in PPT format.

5. Remove Embedded Fonts

Embedding fonts in a PowerPoint presentation ensures that the fonts display correctly on any device, but it also increases the file size. If you’re presenting from your own computer or sharing the file with others who have the same fonts installed, you can safely remove embedded fonts to reduce file size.

How to Do It:

  • Go to the File tab and select Options.
  • In the Save section, uncheck Embed fonts in the file.
  • Save the presentation to remove embedded fonts and reduce file size.

Example: Removing embedded fonts can reduce file size by several megabytes, especially in text-heavy presentations.

6. Link to Large Files Instead of Embedding Them

Embedding videos, audio files, or large images directly in your presentation can increase the file size significantly. Instead, consider linking to external files rather than embedding them.

How to Do It:

  • When inserting a video or audio file, choose Link to File instead of embedding the media directly.
  • Ensure that the linked files are stored in the same location as the PowerPoint file to avoid broken links during the presentation.

Example: Linking to a 100 MB video file instead of embedding it can reduce your PowerPoint file size by the full 100 MB.

7. Use the “Save As” Feature to Reduce File Bloat

Sometimes PowerPoint files accumulate extra data, such as metadata or hidden elements, that contribute to file size. Saving the file under a new name using the “Save As” function can help remove unnecessary bloat.

How to Do It:

  • Go to the File tab and click Save As.
  • Save the presentation under a new name. This process often reduces the file size by removing temporary data stored in the file.

Example: This simple method can reduce the file size of a presentation by a few megabytes, especially if the file has been edited multiple times.

Final Thoughts

Reducing the size of your PowerPoint presentation is essential for smooth performance and easy sharing. By compressing images and videos, removing unused elements, and linking external files, you can significantly reduce file size without sacrificing the quality of your presentation. These simple methods ensure your presentation remains efficient and accessible, no matter where or how it’s shared.

Data Storytelling: Mastering the Art with 4 Simple Rules

Powerpoint tips

presenting data

Aug 26, 2014

When presenting data, it’s crucial that your audience can fully understand what they mean and represent. You might think the highly complex graph on your slide is doing the trick. But it could actually make things more confusing for your audience. Make sure everyone is on the same page with these four simple rules for presenting data:

Include only the most important part 

Be mindful to include the information that’s most important to your core message. If you’re dealing with plenty of spreadsheets, review the data you have and figure out what they mean in relation to your presentation. This will help you pick out which data are the most significant to your key points.

Know when and which graphs or charts to use 

Figure out the correct way to present your data. Review the different types of charts and graphs to know what you should use for your presentation. You can also summarize your data in a few simple sentences if you don’t really need to go into detail.

Add some interest with related images and icon

Bar graphs and pie charts are great methods for presenting data. But if your presentation deck has one chart after another, your visuals can easily look dull and monotonous. You definitely want to have a bit more variety. As an alternative, you can try presenting data with images and icons that help drive home your point.

Lead by telling everyone what the numbers are about 

Before you go into a detailed discussion, begin by talking about what the numbers means. Provide the audience an overall look before zooming in to the finer points. Keep your audience engaged by helping them see the bigger picture. This is especially important if your presentation is crucial to sales or investment efforts.

Read More: 5 Commandments for Presenting Data in PowerPoint

Featured Image: justgrimes via Flickr

PowerPoint Animation Trick: Photos from Colored to Black & White

PowerPoint animation

powerpoint tutorial

Aug 20, 2014

Animating a transition from colored to black-and-white photos in PowerPoint is a simple yet effective way to add a professional and visually engaging touch to your presentation. This technique can be used to emphasize changes, transitions, or to add dramatic effects to your images. While PowerPoint doesn’t have a built-in feature to directly animate this transition, you can create the effect using a combination of image formatting and animation tools.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a colored-to-black-and-white photo transition in PowerPoint.

Step 1: Insert the Colored Photo

  1. Open PowerPoint and navigate to the slide where you want to insert the image.
  2. Go to the “Insert” Tab: Click on “Pictures” and choose either “This Device” or “Online Pictures” depending on where your image is stored.
  3. Select Your Image: Choose the colored photo you want to use and click “Insert” to add it to the slide.

Step 2: Duplicate the Image

To create the transition effect, you need two versions of the same image—one in color and one in black and white.

  1. Select the Image: Click on the inserted photo to select it.
  2. Duplicate the Image: Right-click the image and select “Copy” or press Ctrl + C. Then, right-click again and select “Paste” or press Ctrl + V to duplicate the image. You now have two identical colored photos on your slide.

Step 3: Convert One Image to Black and White

  1. Select the Second Image (the duplicate copy).
  2. Go to the “Format” Tab: Once the image is selected, navigate to the “Picture Format” tab on the ribbon.
  3. Apply a Black-and-White Filter:
    • Click on “Color” in the “Adjust” group.
    • Under the Recolor section, select “Grayscale” or “Black and White 50%” depending on the look you want. This will turn the second image into a black-and-white version.

Step 4: Align the Two Images

  1. Select Both Images: Hold down Shift and click on both the colored and black-and-white images.
  2. Align the Images: Go to the “Format” tab, click on “Align” and choose “Align Center” and “Align Middle” to make sure both images are perfectly aligned on top of each other.

Now that the images are aligned, you’re ready to create the transition.

Step 5: Add Animation for the Transition Effect

  1. Select the Black-and-White Image: Click on the black-and-white version of the image (the top layer).
  2. Go to the “Animations” Tab: In the ribbon, click on “Animations” to open the animation options.
  3. Choose a Disappear Animation:
    • Select the “Disappear” animation from the animation gallery. This will make the black-and-white image disappear during the slideshow, revealing the colored image underneath.
    • If you don’t see the “Disappear” animation, click on “Add Animation” to find it.

Step 6: Adjust Animation Timing

  1. Open the Animation Pane: Go to the “Animations” tab and click on “Animation Pane” to see and control the timing of the animation.
  2. Set the Trigger for the Animation: If you want the transition to happen automatically, set the animation to start “With Previous” or “After Previous” under the “Start” dropdown in the Animation Pane.
    • If you prefer to trigger the transition with a click, select “On Click”.
  3. Set Duration: Adjust the Duration (usually between 0.5 to 1 second) to control the speed of the transition from black-and-white to colored.

Step 7: Preview the Animation

  1. Click “Slide Show” or press F5 to preview the transition.
  2. The black-and-white image will now disappear, revealing the colored version underneath, creating the effect of the image transitioning from grayscale to full color.

Optional: Add Fade or Dissolve Effect

For a smoother and more dramatic transition, you can add a Fade or Dissolve animation instead of just making the black-and-white image disappear abruptly.

  1. Select the Black-and-White Image again.
  2. Apply the “Fade” Animation: Instead of choosing “Disappear,” apply the “Fade” animation for a gradual transition from black-and-white to color.
  3. Set the Duration: Adjust the duration of the fade to 1–2 seconds for a smoother, more elegant transition.

Final Thoughts

Using PowerPoint’s animation tools to transition a photo from colored to black-and-white (or vice versa) adds visual interest to your presentation and can be a great way to emphasize changes or key points. By carefully aligning your images and adjusting animation timing, you can create a seamless and professional effect that enhances the overall impact of your presentation.

Persuasive Presentations: 3 Tips for Success

presentation tips

Aug 07, 2014

A successful presentation is measured through its impact on the audience. If you can persuade others to consider new ideas, you’re doing your job right.

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Whether you’re selling a product or pitching to investors, the main goal is always to convince others that your viewpoint is valid. As the presenter, you need to move your audience into action. Positive outcomes are a result of ideas that sparked the interest of audience members. To get the best results, practice the art of persuasive presentations.

These are the three essential things you need to remember when delivering persuasive presentations:

1. Create an immediate impression

To deliver persuasive presentations, you need to capture the attention of your audience immediately. It’s often said that you have 60 seconds to make a good first impression. Whether or not you have longer than that, the only way to ensure your audience listens is to catch their interest as soon as you start presenting.

Let the audience see how they place in the overall picture you’re painting for them. In other words, show them why your presentation is relevant to them. A story is a great way to appeal to their emotions. Show that your presentation is more than just faceless numbers and research. If you’re trying to make a sale, you can vividly describe a story that highlights the problems your product can solve.

2. Offer a promise you can keep

Persuasive presentations are all about selling ideas to an audience. Think about your own experience as a consumer. Why do you choose to buy a certain product or service? Probably because it promises to offer something you need, want, or are interested in.

Apply the same thought in your presentations. In order to persuade your audience to action, you have to make a promise that will catch their attention. As an example, think back to when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone in 2007. He said it was going to be a revolutionary product that’s unlike any other smartphone in the market. About 1.4 million units were sold within the first 3 months of its release.

However, learn to practice caution. Make promises that you know you can keep. Offer your audience evidence that you can keep your word. Provide them with data from research. You can also share some testimonials, or offer a quick demonstration. Let them see that your claims are truthful and reliable.

3. Encourage concrete action

When you reach the end of your presentation, leave your audience with a specific Call-to-Action. After having shared your ideas, it’s time to give the audience an objective they can act on.

Be brief and straight to the point. Don’t beat around the bush with phrases like “maybe you can consider” or “if it interests you”. Show confidence in your presentation and it’s likely that your audience will feel confident in your ideas as well.

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Persuading your audience shouldn’t be hard. Learning the right offers to make will draw them closer to you and your brand. Create a good first impression on your listeners by telling an engaging story everyone can relate to, but which is also relevant to your brand.

Be grand with your gestures, but make sure to promise only what you can deliver. Don’t give people false hope that will fall short of their expectation.

End with a solid CTA that will move people to action. Need a deck to go with your pitch? Contact our SlideGenius experts today for a free quote!

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Featured Image: Emilio Küffer via Flickr

PowerPoint Tutorial: Adding Music to Your Slides

powerpoint tools

powerpoint tutorial

Aug 06, 2014

Music can set the tone for your presentation, evoke emotions, or simply fill gaps in audio during transitions. PowerPoint makes it easy to embed music files into your slides, allowing you to play music automatically, on a loop, or in response to specific actions.

Here’s how to add music to your PowerPoint slides:

Step 1: Choose Your Music File

First, choose the music file you want to use. PowerPoint supports common audio formats like MP3, WAV, and WMA.

How to Do It:

  • Ensure that your music file is saved on your computer and is ready for use.

Step 2: Insert the Music File into Your Slide

To add music, use PowerPoint’s audio insert feature.

How to Do It:

  • Go to the slide where you want the music to start playing.
  • Click on the Insert tab in the ribbon.
  • Select Audio, then click on Audio on My PC.
  • Find the music file you want to use and click Insert.

Step 3: Adjust the Music Playback Options

You can customize how the music plays during your presentation by adjusting the playback settings.

How to Do It:

  • Click on the audio icon that appears on your slide.
  • Go to the Playback tab in the Audio Tools section.
  • Choose from the following playback options:
    • Automatically: The music will start playing as soon as you reach the slide.
    • On Click: The music will play when you click on the audio icon.
    • Play Across Slides: The music will continue playing even as you move to the next slide.
    • Loop Until Stopped: The music will loop continuously until you stop it.

Step 4: Hide the Music Icon

If you don’t want the music icon to be visible during your presentation, you can hide it.

How to Do It:

  • Select the audio icon.
  • In the Playback tab, check the box next to Hide During Show.

Step 5: Preview Your Slide

Once your music is embedded and customized, test it to make sure it works properly.

How to Do It:

  • Click on the Play button in the Playback tab to preview how the music will sound during your presentation.

Final Thoughts

Adding music to your PowerPoint slides can make your presentation more engaging and help set the desired tone. Be sure to choose music that complements your message and test the playback before presenting to avoid any technical issues.

Powerful PowerPoint Hacks: Turbocharge Your Efficiency with Time-Saving Shortcuts

powerpoint shortcuts

Powerpoint tips

Jul 31, 2014

We all try to avoid it. No one likes to feel rushed when they’re working on something, especially if it’s a PowerPoint presentation. But sometimes, schedules are tight and presentation decks need to be rushed.

PowerPoint has always been great at allowing you to customize your presentations, but most of these tasks can be quite time-consuming. To solve that problem, we’ve compiled a few PowerPoint shortcuts to help you beat the clock.

PowerPoint Shortcut 1: Quick access toolbar

You’ll find the Quick Access Toolbar at the upper left side of your screen, right above the ribbon. Right now, you probably only have the icons for Save, Undo, and Redo there so add a few other commands.

Just click on the small drop-down arrow and choose More Commands. A dialogue box will appear where you can choose the commands you use the most.

powerpoint shortcuts - quick access toolbar customize

PowerPoint Shortcut 2: Mini toolbar

Thankfully, PowerPoint has already figured out which commands you’re most likely to use the most. If you want to be able to format text without dragging your mouse to the ribbon, you can simply use the mini toolbar. Select what you want to edit, right-click, and then the mini toolbar will appear nearby.

powerpoint shortcuts - mini toolbar

From the mini toolbar you can change fonts, including font color, increase or decrease indentation, send the text backward or forward, change alignment, paste text, and even add an outline and fill in shapes.

PowerPoint Shortcut 3: Right click

Similarly, right-clicking on objects can also give you quick access to certain commands. Right clicking directly on your slide also gives you the option to do several things like publish slides, adjust the ruler, add grids and guides, as well as change slide layout.

powerpoint shortcuts - right click

PowerPoint Shortcut 4: Keyboard shortcuts

I think the best way to save time when you’re working on the computer is to avoid the mouse altogether. Microsoft has a lot of keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint that will become second nature once you’ve learned them. The most useful are the commands for cut, copy, and paste, considering you’re probably lifting a lot of stuff from other documents you have.

  • Cut: CTRL + X
  • Copy: CTRL + C
  • Paste: CTRL + V

You can also quickly save your work by hitting CTRL + S and launch your presentation with the F5 key. You can also hold down SHIFT while pressing enter to start typing on a blank line without a bullet point.

The Final Word

There are still a lot of PowerPoint shortcuts to learn, but these are the most basic way you can skip a bunch of repetitive clicking.

Keep working your way around PowerPoint to get yourself familiar with the program. The next time you’re pressed for time, you’ll be navigating through commands like a pro.

 

Featured Image: Alan Cleaver via Flickr

The Agenda Slide: A Short PowerPoint Design Lesson

agenda slide

PowerPoint Design

Powerpoint tips

Jul 30, 2014

Most business presentations start with an agenda slide, and it’s usually a bullet point list devoid of any design. If you want to capture and retain your audience’s attention, the agenda slide needs to be more than just a flimsy outline.

Discussing the agenda is an effective way to start presentations in a more corporate and formal setting. It’s your opportunity to frame your presentation in the right direction and show your audience that the information you’re sharing is crucial. But a bullet point list doesn’t stand out. You need an agenda slide that has visual impact.

As you can see, nothing about this slide stands out. While the text is certainly minimal, there’s nothing else in the slide that we can consider eye-catching. It’s too bland, and it will definitely set the tone that your presentation is going to be a pretty dull affair.

The key to great PowerPoint design, whether it’s for the agenda or any other slide, is the use of interesting images. Visual has enormous effect on our ability to learn and retain information.

Now, you can tell that even simple illustrations make a difference. Each point has more impact because they’re illustrated by symbols that your audience is familiar with. I even added a bit more flair by adding animations. I chose to have each point of the agenda revealed bit by bit, so the audience won’t be tempted to read ahead from where I’m talking.

Try out these ideas for yourself, or check out our other PowerPoint design tips. However you choose to enhance your agenda slide, make sure that your key points won’t be clouded by too many or too few design elements.

Featured Image: Death to the Stock Photo
All icons from The Noun Project
Note by Marek Polakovic
Rating by Icons8
Target by Juan Garces
15 minutes by Alexander Wiefel