6 Tips For Making A Professional Powerpoint

Professional PowerPoint presentations are an integral part of business proposals, strategy meetings, data presentations, and much more. But an unprofessional or poorly put-together slide-show can hurt your own credibility. 

It’s important to make all your presentations as professional as possible so that you can put your best foot forward, no matter what you’re presenting. Read on for six tips you can use to step up your PowerPoints. 

1. Don’t Use Too Much Text

First things first, let’s talk about text. It’s the primary way to convey information in any presentation and the way that you use it can really make an impact on the overall effect of your PowerPoint. 

The biggest rule of thumb is to use text as sparingly as possible. A presentation where every slide has paragraphs of text is hard to read and unappealing. The slideshow should support what you say, not be a transcription of it. 

If you need visual aids to help you through your presentation, you can use physical notecards or presenter notes. It will help keep your presentation moving slowly, but won’t clutter up your important slides. 

When you use text in a presentation, use it to highlight specific points that you really want to drive home to your audience. Use keywords and key quotes to draw attention to the most important pieces of information you have to present. 

2. Font Choice

The font that you choose matters too! Using defaults texts like Arial or Calibri might fit with the aesthetic of your presentation, but it’s always a good idea to browse the premade templates or choose a font to polish the overall look of your PowerPoint. 

If you don’t know anything about typography, don’t worry. You can use a website like FontPair, which does the work of pairing complementary fonts together. You can browse all their popular font pairings and find one that fits your style. 

Keep the font choices to two maximum, one for titles and the other for the content. 

3. Color Choice

The colors you choose also have a huge impact on the way your audience responds to your presentation. You want to be sure that the color you choose for your slide backgrounds and the color you use for your text aren’t too similar in color or value. 

Black and white are the classic colors to choose for presentations since they contrast with each other and are easy to read. But don’t be afraid to branch out and try new colors. 

One thing to keep in mind is that some psychologists believe that colors can have an effect on our moods.

You might have heard that yellow and red are colors that stimulate appetite — have you noticed that most fast-food chains use those colors in their branding? You can use this same strategy in your own presentations. 

Warm-toned or bright colors convey energy, strength, and passion. Cool-toned or paler shades convey relaxation and trust. You can use the psychology behind the color choice to help achieve your desired effect. 

If you don’t really know how to pair colors together, you can use the website Coolors. The site has hundreds of color palettes already made for you, and you can view the ones that are trending so you know which color palettes are the most popular at the moment. 

4. Use Images to Present Data

Graphics and charts are much easier to read and understand than text, so use them whenever you can. Presenting your information visibly helps highlight the most important points of your presentation. 

If there’s any information that you can present visually, take the opportunity to do it. That being said, don’t have multiple images on one slide or use them simply for decoration. Too many images clutter your slides and distract your audience as much as large blocks of text would. 

Keep it simple but impactful. 

5. Keep Your Professional Powerpoint Engaging

You can also think outside the box to find new ways to present your information and keep it interesting. You can embed different media sources into your presentation, such as videos that illustrate your topic and enhance your information. 

You could even hire professional voice overs services to record or you can also try realistic text to speech software to create a narration that elevates your PowerPoint.

You shouldn’t overuse other media sources, just like how you shouldn’t overuse images. Just the right amount can add to your presentation, but overdoing it can overwhelm your message. 

6. Focus On Your Takeaway Message

Be sure to end your presentation with a focus on the message that you want your audience to take home with you. You should drive home the point that you’ve been making the entire presentation in a succinct, memorable message. 

To figure out what your takeaway message is, ask yourself what is the one thing you want your audience to remember? Summarize that into a catchy line and you’re good to go. 

Remember, the end of your presentation is like the grand finale of the show. It’s the last thing everyone will see and the last impression can be just as important as the first. 

Want More Business Advice?

Now you know the six key tips to make a showstopping professional PowerPoint presentation. 

Another great thing you can do is rehearse your presentation with a friend or coworker so that you are comfortable with the material and can put your best foot forward. 

Remember to focus on your takeaway, make clean and minimal aesthetic choices, and go easy on the text! And good luck with your presentation — you’ve got this in the bag. 

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to browse through our other Business articles to give you all the advice you need to succeed.