Taking courses to understand how to use PowerPoint is one thing, but how do you use PowerPoint effectively? What options do you choose from among the hundreds available? All of them are necessary, but only a few are commonly used. Here, we will tell you how you can make an effective presentation using PowerPoint.

Effective - Business Presentations - Featured - FreePowerPointTemplates

Plan Your Presentation’s Structure First

This applies to the content of the presentation and the way it looks as well. However, since the presentation is conveying a message, therefore the content’s structure is way more important than how the presentation looks. Structure your presentation to take your client from where they are now to where they need to be.

Use a Font Color That is Easy To Read on a Large Screen

You obviously want the audience to be able to read the words that you’re trying to communicate to them. There’s nothing more annoying than not being able to read easily. A dark background (e.g. dark purple) with a light color for text (e.g. white or bright yellow) is an effective choice.

Use a Font Size That is Easy To Read on a Large Screen

Try not to use any font smaller than 24. Ideally, you should choose font sizes between 28 and 32 for normal text, and sizes 36 to 44 for titles and headings.

Make The Mouse Pointer Disappear

Make the mouse pointer disappear from your slide show by using the keyboard key combination Ctrl+H. If you want to see the mouse pointer’s arrow again, then simply press the A key on the keyboard.

Don’t Use Animations Unless They Help Explain The Topic

Animations, especially text animations don’t really help the presenter, and instead make the text harder to read. Simpler text effects like Fade and Appear are better suited for most presentations.

Use Graphs instead of Tables and Pictures instead of Descriptions

When people come to a presentation, they’re expecting to see more visuals than text. In fact, according to a survey, they’re actually annoyed of seeing too much text in presentations. So, try to use more images instead of descriptions and more charts and graphs instead of tables and numbers.

Give The Presentation a Polished Last Slide

What happens when people usually reach the last slide on their presentation? They suddenly drop into PowerPoint, and it looks a bit awkward. You can avoid this situation by making a few duplicates of the final slide. This will prevent you from dropping into PowerPoint when you reach the final slide. You can also choose to have a few blank slides in the end.

[CC BY 2.0] via Flickr