Tips to Have a Better Presentation
If you’re a teacher or trainer, you may use PowerPoint slides a lot. PowerPoint is a great application to showcase all your information to your learners, and it also has the addition to add interactive elements. If you use it a lot and your students don’t seem to be engaging with your content. Then maybe your PowerPoint slides need a facelift! We’ve got a few tips here in which you can make your presentation more engaging.
Add interactive elements
A common complaint about presentations is that the viewer is watching someone talk and present, while the PowerPoint is behind them. They don’t feel like they’re engaging with the speaker and thus just feel bored and uninterested in the content. Interacting with people in the room is the best way to break down barriers, open up communication, and bring new ideas and opinions to the discussion. Becoming interactive is a great way to start. There are different plug-ins you can use, so you can add more interactivity to your slides.
Tailor it
Think about who you’re presenting to when you design your slides. Think about the demographic of the group. What are their knowledge levels and their tech-savviness? Are big chunks of information the right thing? Would fewer written words and more multimedia elements be better? You need to bear in mind your audience’s needs and expectations.
Clean design
Another important consideration is the way you present the actual content on the slides. Sometimes the sight of white slides with big chunks of text can make anyone cry! We start to zone out and become bored at the sight. On the other hand, the sight of too much clipart or big neon words would make anyone want to turn away. There needs to be a balance between not being too dull and not too over the top. Try and match the tone of the presentation. How would you want the audience to view your presentation? Whatever it may be, try and keep it professional.
Keep it concise
The slides don’t need to be full of text. You’re able to save time, by using the most vital parts, so you don’t have to type it all up. You can use the notes function at the bottom of each slide to aid you in discussing your topic. There are also two rules when it comes to content. There is the 5/5/5 rule and the 10/20/30 rule. Each with its own benefits!
What is the 5/5/5 rule?
When designing your presentation slides, you should have at most, 5 words per line. 5 lines per slide and 5 text-heavy slides in a row. The aim of this rule is to keep the wording on each slide concise. To only have the essential information on each slide. Don’t overwhelm people with too much content. This rule is helpful if you find it hard to cut down on unnecessary information.
What is the 10/20/30 rule?
So we now know about the 5/5/5 rule but what is the 10/20/30 rule? A presentation should have no more than 10 slides. Take no more than 20 minutes and do not have text bigger than 30 throughout. The goal of this is to keep your presentation short and to the point. Not only that but the average attention span is at about 15 minutes, so it’s handy to start doing 20-minute sessions. Additionally, you should limit the amount of written or visual content and keep a clear and legible design. This rule is great for people who overload individuals with information.
Interact while you’re presenting
We discussed using plug-ins to help you interact and get your audience to interact with the content, but you need to interact while you’re presenting. Consider adding a type of prompt to your slides to bring your audience into the discussion.
Diversify the content
There are countless ways to include content on your slides, this could be in the form of text, graphs, images, videos etc. Mixing up the content on the screen will help keep attention and engagement high, while also using other forms of media. Maybe there’s a video that explains your point in an easier way or something to back up your argument. Mix it up and add to it!
We hope these tips have helped you think about the design of your presentations! If you have any more tips let us know what we’ve missed!