25 Attractive PowerPoint Presentation Ideas | Brian Tracy (2023)

Ninety percentThe fear people feel before presenting comes from not feeling prepared.

Adding a PowerPoint presentation to your talk and taking the time to create and practice it can boost your confidence and help get your message across to your audience.

Well-designed PowerPoint presentations bring your talk to life, adding a visual aspect that people can connect with. The printed word, photos, images, graphics, symbols and more reinforce what you say.

You and your audience want your PowerPoint presentation to be engaging, direct and effective. Here they are25 tips for PowerPoint presentationsto help you make your next presentation your best.

1. Plan ahead

Planning ahead gives you the time you need to research quality photos, create infographics that simplify all the data you're presenting, and decide on the best colors, fonts, and themes that will appeal to your audience.

Start planning your PowerPoint presentation ideas while planning your talk.

However, only create your slides after your presentation is tuned and ready.

Instead, jot down ideas for visuals, stories, videos, and demos you might want to include in your presentation.

The presentation slides will be assembled as you formulate your talk. Ideas will come as you keep your slideshow in mind.

Once your presentation is written and proofread and you are satisfied with it, create your slides to complement and support it.meet the goalyour lecture.

2. Choose a consistent theme

Using a consistent theme for each of your slides creates continuity throughout your presentation to your audience and makes your message more memorable.

This means using the same color scheme, fonts, formatting, icons, logos and types of images and backgrounds throughout your presentation.

While it's important to maintain consistency, you still want to change slide layouts to prevent your audience from accurately predicting what's coming next and potentially overpowering your presentation.

This gives your creative presentation a polished look and makes it easier for your audience to focus on the content rather than being distracted by slides that don't seem to be related to each other.

A quick and easy way to create a consistent theme for your presentation is to use PowerPoint templates.

PowerPoint has dozens of presentation templates to choose from within the app. You can also access many other templates online for a fee.

PowerPoint presentation templates include colors, fonts, layouts, background styles, effects, and sometimes content that you can use to start creating your slides right away. Or you can start with a blank slide and create your own design.

3. Use bookmarks

Using bullet points on your slides allows your audience to visualize the key points of your oral presentation. It also provides speech cues in case you lose your train of thought.

Bullets should be short and easy to scan. As a general rule, limit your bullets to four per slide and eight words per bullet.

This keeps your audience engaged with you and what you're saying, rather than reading your slides and voting for you.

Your keynote is the main event and your PowerPoint presentation complements what you say. Your slides shouldn't speak for you.

Use bullet points to list key points and highlight important information you want your audience to remember.

4. Choose Easy to Read Text

In your presentation, use text that is pleasing to the eye and easy for the audience to read. Font styles like Arial, Times New Roman or Helvetica are simple and easy to read.

If you want to use more sophisticated text, save it for larger headings in your presentation. And remember to be consistent with your slides.

Make your font big enough to be easy to read in a large room. A font size of 30 points or larger is ideal.

Avoid backgrounds and fonts with complementary colors. For example, red and green are complementary colors, so a red font on a green background would be very uncomfortable on the eyes.

Dark text on a light background or vice versa is more visible.

Play around with bolding, underlining, italics, and colors to make keywords or phrases stand out more. Use these features strategically - rather than overusing them - to help your audience focus on what you want them to get out of your presentation.

5. Keep it simple

Avoid "busy" slides. There is no need for fancy frames or lots of images, gifs or animations in your PowerPoint presentation. Seeing too much on one slide can be distracting.

Stick to the essentials so your audience understands your message.

As a general rule, try to only include one idea per slide. This probably means you have more slides, but it will help your audience to engage and improve their understanding.

One feature that PowerPoint presentations offer is transition, e.g. B. Fade from one slide to the next or move words on the slide. The general rule here is that simple transitions are best. This keeps the focus on your talk and not your PowerPoint presentation.

Consider making a few slides of just one photo with no text. A word or phrase on a slide can make it stand out so your audience knows it's important.

When using infographics, keep words to a minimum and verbally explain the graphic. Use numbers, percentages, symbols or short phrases to label each part of your infographic instead of phrases.

6. Add inspirational quotes

try to use someinspirational quotesor other anecdotes about itHelp get your message across if you want your audience to remember an important point.

Quoting a sentence spoken by a respected or influential person can add credibility and familiarity to your message.

Inspirational quotes also help set the mood and tone of your presentation. They can be encouraging, calm nerves, add humor, and give your audience ideas they can use to make improvements.

Since quotes are usually short, they are easy to remember. Use them to help your audience take action or convey the main message of your presentation.

7. Customize your presentation slides

One of the most important elements of writing a good talk is knowing your audience. The same principle applies when crying your PowerPoint presentation.

To help you create a creative presentation, choose images, colors, themes, etc. that appeal to your audience and avoid anything that has the opposite effect.

To do this, you need to research your audience. Find out what's important to them and what their background is. Knowing your age, gender, education level and career choice is helpful. What experiences did you have related to your presentation?

Customize your PowerPoint presentation according to your audience's expectations and preferences.

Complete the presentation according to your personality. Sharing personal experiences helps audiences connect with you and build trust - and therefore connect with your message.

8. Browse PowerPoint templates and themes

Some PowerPoint templates focus on a specific industry, topic or topic. Search the web for some examples of PowerPoint ideas in your field, and browse the available options and templates to see if any of them resonate best with your audience.

In the PowerPoint app, you can search for keywords like education, business, sports, travel, health, medicine, history and many other topics related to your presentation. Use these presentation templates to your advantage to create crisp, clean, and eye-catching slides.

In addition to PowerPoint ideas and templates, you can also access pre-made themes. These consist of a background and additional fonts and graphics.

When looking for a presentation template, browse the PowerPoint tables, charts, and infographics available in the app. They're included with certain presentation templates to provide customizable layouts for charts, tables, timelines, and more that you can use to bring your data to life.

9. Consider alternatives to PowerPoint

If you don't have PowerPoint, don't worry. Unless you already have Microsoft Office, you'll have to pay to get PowerPoint. but you have alternatives. They even have free options that you can use to create great presentations.

Canva is a photo editing tool that creates professional looking presentations. The free version includes tons of fonts and filters to easily create powerful, beautiful, and personalized presentations. With Canva, you have access to hundreds of design templates and can customize your presentations exactly to your specifications.

Google Slides is another free PowerPoint alternative. It offers many of the same features as PowerPoint, including templates, transitions, animations and the ability to insert images, videos and documents. It's also compatible with PowerPoint if you create in Google Slides but want to present or share with PowerPoint.

Prezi is another powerful presentation option that has a free version. Try the templates or start from scratch. One of its unique features is the ability to record videos, design and create infographics using the Prezi online editor.

10. Offer quality over quantity

Don't waste your audience's time on nonsense and nonsense. Use your slides for quality information and only use them to enhance your presentation.

Less is more. The more words and cuteness on a slide, the more likely your audience will turn off. You don't want that.

Limit your slides to the main points of your presentation and slides that help bring clarity to what you are saying.

11. Fade in and out of your slides

If your slide content isn't important to what you're saying, fade it to black. This helps your audience focus their attention on you and not get lost in your slides.

It helps to remember that your presentation is the point, not your slides.

One of the PowerPoint presentation ideas to consider is using a slide to introduce a topic and then hiding it while you elaborate on it.

It's best to choose a presentation remote that has a black screen button. Not all remotes do this. This feature allows you to switch to a black screen at the touch of a button, so the transition is smooth, clean and distraction-free.

12. Engage instead of reading

Stay connected with your audience by resisting the temptation to read your slide. Practicing your PowerPoint presentation beforehand makes this easy.

Your presentation should help complement what you have to say and highlight your main points.

Work with the information on your slides instead of reading them word for word. Keep your bullets short to ensure you're engaging instead of reading.

You can deepen each main point or idea by telling an interesting story, giving an example, telling a joke, or demonstrating.

Even if you have an inspirational quote, memorize the quote to maintain eye contact with your audience instead of looking at the slide. This will help the audience connect even more with you and your message.

13. Show one marker at a time

One of the most effective PowerPoint presentation ideas is to show your audience one bullet point at a time.

This helps your audience stay connected with your presentation and not read ahead if they get lost or miss a point.

To do this, learn to use the software and your remote so you can smoothly move from one marker to the next.

When setting up your PowerPoint slides, you access the custom animation feature and choose a doorway effect. Then, when presenting, you can show one bullet at a time to match what you're talking about.

14. Bring your own hardware

It is recommended to bring your own laptop or device to use for your presentation. That way you're familiar with it and don't run the risk of having compatible hardware in your location.

Just make sure you're prepared to connect your device to the AV equipment at the venue where you'll be presenting. For example, do you need a USB or RBG cable, iPhone dongle or other hardware to present your slides? If so, bring it with you.

Also, make a backup copy of your presentation in case something goes wrong with your hardware at the last minute. Save your backup to a USB stick, email it to yourself, use Dropbox or Google Drive, or add it as a file on your phone.

Find out in advance what equipment is available at the event location. That way, you know what to expect, while at the same time bringing your device and a backup copy of your presentation in case they are needed. Preparation helps calm your nerves and ensure your presentation goes off without a hitch.

15. Invest in a remote control

Chances are you don't have a technical team, so you'll have to push your slides yourself.

Invest in a remote to get away from your device to control your PowerPoint presentation. This helps the audience to focus and interact with you instead of watching you from behind the device.

It is important to learn to use the remote control by practicing frequently beforehand. Memorize where the keys are playing so you're not constantly looking at what's distracting the audience.

Instead of an alternative, choose a remote control compatible with Windows PCs when using PowerPoint. Consider using a remote PowerPoint app that you can download to your iPhone or Android phone if that's more convenient for you.

Wireless remotes are the best as they give you the freedom to move around the stage and engage with the audience.

If you use a remote control with a laser, you can point it at specific parts of your slides. Red is a common laser color, while blue and purple are also options. Green is the strongest color and is best suited for large presentation spaces. Be careful not to accidentally point the laser at a person, as this could cause eye damage.

16. Ask a question

Asking a question during your presentation engages your audience to think about and actively participate in what you are presenting.

Use questions at key points in your presentation to grab attention and engage them in your presentation.

Dedicate a slide to writing a question and pause to give your audience time to think. You may want them to keep the answer to themselves, or ask for volunteers to say their answer out loud to encourage discussion.

A successspeak publiclyThe strategy is to make a bold statement and then ask a question. For example, you might say, "Most people don't know the five causes of climate change," and then ask, "Are you one of those people?"

Rather than starting with a list of causes, asking this question first gives your audience a chance to think about it. They will likely be more interested in what you have to say next and will be able to personalize your message for themselves.

17. Choose the best photos

The human brain can Process images 60,000 times fasterwhile processing the written text. Adding images to your slides is one of the most effective wayspowerpoint presentation ideas.

But make sure your photos are of high quality. They should be crisp, high-definition, and nice to look at.

You can access many high quality images online that are free. Many PowerPoint templates also include photos related to the topic of the presentation.

Choose photos, illustrations or graphics that are visually appealing and themed. A random photo of a cute kitten has shock value, but if it goes off topic it will distract your audience from your message. You want your audience to remember your message, not an unrelated slide.

One PowerPoint presentation idea you can try is to fill the slide with an image and then add short bullet points over it. If you do this, make sure the text font is clearly visible over the image.

18. Interact with video

Most people retain information better by watching a video than by reading text.

In fact, 94% of marketers say that videos help people better understand their product or service. And 87% say it increases their return on investment.

PowerPoint and other presentation alternatives let you add videos to create a more creative presentation.

Keep your video short to make it more engaging. The best way to communicate your idea is in a video that lasts less than a minute to a maximum of three minutes.

Add a YouTube video to your PowerPoint presentation by pasting an embed code from another website or uploading a video from your computer.

You can also add a screenshot if you have something to show your audience. Add an animated GIF as an alternative to a stationary photo.

For optimal accessibility, an important PowerPoint presentation idea is to add subtitles to your video. You can do this directly in PowerPoint using the video tools playback feature.

19. Challenge your leadership skills

The purpose of your presentation is to improve your audience's lives in some way. You want to motivate them, inspire them, inform them, persuade them or entertain them.

The same qualities that make you a good leader make you a dynamic speaker.

Familiarize yourself with these skills and continue to develop them. some of the bestqualities of good leadersin my experience vision, courage, integrity, humility, focus and clear communication.

As you create, practice, and deliver your talk and PowerPoint presentation, use these leadership skills to make a positive impact on your audience and achieve your presentation objective.

20. Make your PowerPoint presentation actionable

At the end of your presentation, provide something your audience can do right away to take action.

That's the exclamation point at the end of your presentation. This is where you pack everything and put it all together.

If you end your presentation with a thank you slide, some audience members may wonder what to do next.

Instead, tell them directly.

What can your audience do when they leave the room to put what they've learned into action? In other words, what was the purpose of your presentation?

Put yourself in your audience's shoes and ask, "What's in it for me?"

Make your call to action clear, specific and easy to follow. Write on a slide for the audience to see and hear.

21. Develop excellent virtual presentation skills

Virtual calls are becoming more and more popular and are now required in many situations.

The benefits ofmake a virtual presentationincluded, you can reach a wider audience, it's often less expensive than face-to-face presentations, and audiences easily have handouts, links, and resources to take action.

You will most likely do a virtual PowerPoint presentation. Prepare for an effective presentation by preparing and practicing in advance.

Get used to talking to the camera instead of looking at the screen. That way, viewers will feel like you're making eye contact with them, which is important.

Ask someone to help you with the technical aspects of the presentation if they can. They can alert you to concerns and resolve issues as they arise, allowing you to focus on audience engagement.

22. Harness the power of infographics

Infographics simplify complex topics. A list of statistics may seem dry, but putting it in an infographic makes it easier for the audience to visualize the concept.

Infographics also provide a visual representation of what you are explaining. They help you create a creative presentation that will benefit your audience.

Create infographics using those included in PowerPoint or Canva templates, Google Slides, Piktochart, easel.ly and/or other infographic tools.

23. Look at your audience

As I mentioned before, look at your slide when you need to, but never read your slide.

Communicate with your audience and build a rapport with them by maintaining eye contact.

Focus on your message, not your slides.

This takes practice, but it's essential to engaging and building a relationship with your audience.

Before you start speaking, face your audience and make eye contact with several listeners. When speaking, maintain eye contact with the person for three to five seconds, rather than letting your eyes wander around the room.

Check out all viewers as well. Focus your eyes on the left, right, middle, front, and back of the room. This lets everyone in the audience know they are important and included in your presentation.

24. Pause

Avoid rushing your lecture or PowerPoint presentation. Nobody wants to be scolded or talked about. They want to feel like they're having a conversation as much as possible.

Using an intentional pause between slides, bullet points on a slide, or your presentation in general will help capture your audience's attention.

It also allows your message to sink in and gives them more time to think about what you said. A pause gives the audience time to read and process your slide.

Taking the time to pause calms your nerves and helps your audience relate to you.

Use a pause to emphasize a specific point, such as punctuation at the end of a sentence.

It is especially important to pause when transitioning from one topic or slide to another. It also helps the audience change their mind.

25. Practice, Practice, Practice

Preparation is the key to an effective presentation. About 35% of people who give a presentation practice it for at least an hour. Another 44% spend between three and eight hours practicing their presentation to ensure they are well crafted and prepared..

To practice your PowerPoint presentation effectively, write a complete outline of your presentation in bullet points. Do not write word for word, but in bullets.

Then dictate your presentation into a voice recorder or cell phone, and then listen. It's amazing how different it sounds when you hear your own voice.

You will see how you could have presented it differently. Sometimes just changing the order of the points increases their impact.

Practicing your presentation will help you gain confidence and reduce anxiety, minimize nervousness orOvercome your fear of public speaking.

Impress your audience with these PowerPoint presentation ideas

With these 25 PowerPoint presentation ideas, you can create engaging creative presentations, help you achieve your presentation objective, and improve the lives of your audience.

For moreTips for Speaking Virtually in Front of an Audience, download my free guide to help you build a strong online presence and motivate and inspire others.

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About Brian Tracy— Brian is now recognized as the world's leading authority on sales training and personal success. He is the author of more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video tutorials on sales, management, business success, and personal development, including the worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. you can follow itTwitter,Facebook,pinterest,LinkedineYouTube.