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Blog Beginner Guides How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

Written by: Krystle Wong Jul 20, 2023

A top-notch presentation possesses the power to drive action. From winning stakeholders over and conveying a powerful message to securing funding — your secret weapon lies within the realm of creating an effective presentation .

Being an excellent presenter isn’t confined to the boardroom. Whether you’re delivering a presentation at work, pursuing an academic career, involved in a non-profit organization or even a student, nailing the presentation game is a game-changer.

In this article, I’ll cover the top qualities of compelling presentations and walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to give a good presentation. Here’s a little tip to kick things off: for a headstart, check out Venngage’s collection of free presentation templates . They are fully customizable, and the best part is you don’t need professional design skills to make them shine!

These valuable presentation tips cater to individuals from diverse professional backgrounds, encompassing business professionals, sales and marketing teams, educators, trainers, students, researchers, non-profit organizations, public speakers and presenters.

No matter your field or role, these tips for presenting will equip you with the skills to deliver effective presentations that leave a lasting impression on any audience.

Click to jump ahead:

What are the 10 qualities of a good presentation?

Step-by-step guide on how to prepare an effective presentation, 9 effective techniques to deliver a memorable presentation, faqs on making a good presentation, how to create a presentation with venngage in 5 steps.

When it comes to giving an engaging presentation that leaves a lasting impression, it’s not just about the content — it’s also about how you deliver it. Wondering what makes a good presentation? Well, the best presentations I’ve seen consistently exhibit these 10 qualities:

1. Clear structure

No one likes to get lost in a maze of information. Organize your thoughts into a logical flow, complete with an introduction, main points and a solid conclusion. A structured presentation helps your audience follow along effortlessly, leaving them with a sense of satisfaction at the end.

Regardless of your presentation style , a quality presentation starts with a clear roadmap. Browse through Venngage’s template library and select a presentation template that aligns with your content and presentation goals. Here’s a good presentation example template with a logical layout that includes sections for the introduction, main points, supporting information and a conclusion:

2. Engaging opening

Hook your audience right from the start with an attention-grabbing statement, a fascinating question or maybe even a captivating anecdote. Set the stage for a killer presentation!

The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – check out these 15 ways to start a presentation to set the stage and captivate your audience.

3. Relevant content

Make sure your content aligns with their interests and needs. Your audience is there for a reason, and that’s to get valuable insights. Avoid fluff and get straight to the point, your audience will be genuinely excited.

4. Effective visual aids

Picture this: a slide with walls of text and tiny charts, yawn! Visual aids should be just that—aiding your presentation. Opt for clear and visually appealing slides, engaging images and informative charts that add value and help reinforce your message.

With Venngage, visualizing data takes no effort at all. You can import data from CSV or Google Sheets seamlessly and create stunning charts, graphs and icon stories effortlessly to showcase your data in a captivating and impactful way.

5. Clear and concise communication

Keep your language simple, and avoid jargon or complicated terms. Communicate your ideas clearly, so your audience can easily grasp and retain the information being conveyed. This can prevent confusion and enhance the overall effectiveness of the message.

6. Engaging delivery

Spice up your presentation with a sprinkle of enthusiasm! Maintain eye contact, use expressive gestures and vary your tone of voice to keep your audience glued to the edge of their seats. A touch of charisma goes a long way!

7. Interaction and audience engagement

Turn your presentation into an interactive experience — encourage questions, foster discussions and maybe even throw in a fun activity. Engaged audiences are more likely to remember and embrace your message.

Transform your slides into an interactive presentation with Venngage’s dynamic features like pop-ups, clickable icons and animated elements. Engage your audience with interactive content that lets them explore and interact with your presentation for a truly immersive experience.

8. Effective storytelling

Who doesn’t love a good story? Weaving relevant anecdotes, case studies or even a personal story into your presentation can captivate your audience and create a lasting impact. Stories build connections and make your message memorable.

A great presentation background is also essential as it sets the tone, creates visual interest and reinforces your message. Enhance the overall aesthetics of your presentation with these 15 presentation background examples and captivate your audience’s attention.

9. Well-timed pacing

Pace your presentation thoughtfully with well-designed presentation slides, neither rushing through nor dragging it out. Respect your audience’s time and ensure you cover all the essential points without losing their interest.

10. Strong conclusion

Last impressions linger! Summarize your main points and leave your audience with a clear takeaway. End your presentation with a bang , a call to action or an inspiring thought that resonates long after the conclusion.

In-person presentations aside, acing a virtual presentation is of paramount importance in today’s digital world. Check out this guide to learn how you can adapt your in-person presentations into virtual presentations .

Preparing an effective presentation starts with laying a strong foundation that goes beyond just creating slides and notes. One of the quickest and best ways to make a presentation would be with the help of a good presentation software .

Otherwise, let me walk you to how to prepare for a presentation step by step and unlock the secrets of crafting a professional presentation that sets you apart.

1. Understand the audience and their needs

Before you dive into preparing your masterpiece, take a moment to get to know your target audience. Tailor your presentation to meet their needs and expectations , and you’ll have them hooked from the start!

2. Conduct thorough research on the topic

Time to hit the books (or the internet)! Don’t skimp on the research with your presentation materials — dive deep into the subject matter and gather valuable insights . The more you know, the more confident you’ll feel in delivering your presentation.

3. Organize the content with a clear structure

No one wants to stumble through a chaotic mess of information. Outline your presentation with a clear and logical flow. Start with a captivating introduction, follow up with main points that build on each other and wrap it up with a powerful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.

Delivering an effective business presentation hinges on captivating your audience, and Venngage’s professionally designed business presentation templates are tailor-made for this purpose. With thoughtfully structured layouts, these templates enhance your message’s clarity and coherence, ensuring a memorable and engaging experience for your audience members.

Don’t want to build your presentation layout from scratch? pick from these 5 foolproof presentation layout ideas that won’t go wrong.

4. Develop visually appealing and supportive visual aids

Spice up your presentation with eye-catching visuals! Create slides that complement your message, not overshadow it. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean you need to overload your slides with text.

Well-chosen designs create a cohesive and professional look, capturing your audience’s attention and enhancing the overall effectiveness of your message. Here’s a list of carefully curated PowerPoint presentation templates and great background graphics that will significantly influence the visual appeal and engagement of your presentation.

5. Practice, practice and practice

Practice makes perfect — rehearse your presentation and arrive early to your presentation to help overcome stage fright. Familiarity with your material will boost your presentation skills and help you handle curveballs with ease.

6. Seek feedback and make necessary adjustments

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek feedback from friends and colleagues. Constructive criticism can help you identify blind spots and fine-tune your presentation to perfection.

With Venngage’s real-time collaboration feature , receiving feedback and editing your presentation is a seamless process. Group members can access and work on the presentation simultaneously and edit content side by side in real-time. Changes will be reflected immediately to the entire team, promoting seamless teamwork.

7. Prepare for potential technical or logistical issues

Prepare for the unexpected by checking your equipment, internet connection and any other potential hiccups. If you’re worried that you’ll miss out on any important points, you could always have note cards prepared. Remember to remain focused and rehearse potential answers to anticipated questions.

8. Fine-tune and polish your presentation

As the big day approaches, give your presentation one last shine. Review your talking points, practice how to present a presentation and make any final tweaks. Deep breaths — you’re on the brink of delivering a successful presentation!

In competitive environments, persuasive presentations set individuals and organizations apart. To brush up on your presentation skills, read these guides on how to make a persuasive presentation and tips to presenting effectively .

Whether you’re an experienced presenter or a novice, the right techniques will let your presentation skills soar to new heights!

From public speaking hacks to interactive elements and storytelling prowess, these 9 effective presentation techniques will empower you to leave a lasting impression on your audience and make your presentations unforgettable.

1. Confidence and positive body language

Positive body language instantly captivates your audience, making them believe in your message as much as you do. Strengthen your stage presence and own that stage like it’s your second home! Stand tall, shoulders back and exude confidence.

2. Eye contact with the audience

Break down that invisible barrier and connect with your audience through their eyes. Maintaining eye contact when giving a presentation builds trust and shows that you’re present and engaged with them.

3. Effective use of hand gestures and movement

A little movement goes a long way! Emphasize key points with purposeful gestures and don’t be afraid to walk around the stage. Your energy will be contagious!

4. Utilize storytelling techniques

Weave the magic of storytelling into your presentation. Share relatable anecdotes, inspiring success stories or even personal experiences that tug at the heartstrings of your audience. Adjust your pitch, pace and volume to match the emotions and intensity of the story. Varying your speaking voice adds depth and enhances your stage presence.

5. Incorporate multimedia elements

Spice up your presentation with a dash of visual pizzazz! Use slides, images and video clips to add depth and clarity to your message. Just remember, less is more—don’t overwhelm them with information overload.

Turn your presentations into an interactive party! Involve your audience with questions, polls or group activities. When they actively participate, they become invested in your presentation’s success. Bring your design to life with animated elements. Venngage allows you to apply animations to icons, images and text to create dynamic and engaging visual content.

6. Utilize humor strategically

Laughter is the best medicine—and a fantastic presentation enhancer! A well-placed joke or lighthearted moment can break the ice and create a warm atmosphere , making your audience more receptive to your message.

7. Practice active listening and respond to feedback

Be attentive to your audience’s reactions and feedback. If they have questions or concerns, address them with genuine interest and respect. Your responsiveness builds rapport and shows that you genuinely care about their experience.

8. Apply the 10-20-30 rule

Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it!

9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule

Simplicity is key. Limit each slide to five bullet points, with only five words per bullet point and allow each slide to remain visible for about five seconds. This rule keeps your presentation concise and prevents information overload.

Simple presentations are more engaging because they are easier to follow. Summarize your presentations and keep them simple with Venngage’s gallery of simple presentation templates and ensure that your message is delivered effectively across your audience.

1. How to start a presentation?

To kick off your presentation effectively, begin with an attention-grabbing statement or a powerful quote. Introduce yourself, establish credibility and clearly state the purpose and relevance of your presentation.

2. How to end a presentation?

For a strong conclusion, summarize your talking points and key takeaways. End with a compelling call to action or a thought-provoking question and remember to thank your audience and invite any final questions or interactions.

3. How to make a presentation interactive?

To make your presentation interactive, encourage questions and discussion throughout your talk. Utilize multimedia elements like videos or images and consider including polls, quizzes or group activities to actively involve your audience.

In need of inspiration for your next presentation? I’ve got your back! Pick from these 120+ presentation ideas, topics and examples to get started.

Creating a stunning presentation with Venngage is a breeze with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and professionally designed templates for all your communication needs.

Here’s how to make a presentation in just 5 simple steps with the help of Venngage:

Step 1: Sign up for Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account or simply log in to access your account.

Step 2: Pick a design from our selection of free presentation templates (they’re all created by our expert in-house designers).

Step 3: Make the template your own by customizing it to fit your content and branding. With Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can easily modify text, change colors and adjust the layout to create a unique and eye-catching design.

Step 4: Elevate your presentation by incorporating captivating visuals. You can upload your images or choose from Venngage’s vast library of high-quality photos, icons and illustrations.

Step 5: Upgrade to a premium or business account to export your presentation in PDF and print it for in-person presentations or share it digitally for free!

By following these five simple steps, you’ll have a professionally designed and visually engaging presentation ready in no time. With Venngage’s user-friendly platform, your presentation is sure to make a lasting impression. So, let your creativity flow and get ready to shine in your next presentation!

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How to Make Your Presentations More Concise

by Allison Shapira | Nov 18, 2021 | Speaking Tips , Writing Tips , International , Women , Leadership , Newsletter

In a recent LinkedIn poll we conducted, an overwhelming majority of respondents wanted to be able to be more concise.

Why is brevity important? The more concise you are, the more you can engage an audience’s attention to deliver a powerful message. The more senior the audience you are addressing, the less of their time you have.

The concept of brevity differs in many organizations and cultures, so for broad purposes, we’ll refer to brevity as the absence of unnecessary words (what qualifies as “necessary” will depend on your organization or culture).

Here are 3 ways to make your speech or presentation more concise:

1. limit your agenda to 3 main points.

A speech about everything is a speech about nothing, so organize your messages around 3 points instead of a “laundry list” of items. Even if you have 10 points to cover, make them fit into 3 general buckets so they are easier to remember, and remove the points that don’t fit.

2. Use shorter sentences

Long sentences work well in written format, but when we address an audience out loud, those elegant sentences lose their attention. Every place you are tempted to put an “and” put a “.” instead.

3. Ask each word if it’s necessary

Go line by line in your presentation and make each word fight to be kept in the presentation. For instance, my first sentence in this article can be more concise in a few ways:

Original : In a recent LinkedIn poll we conducted, an overwhelming majority of respondents wanted to be able to be more concise.
More Concise : In our recent LinkedIn poll, most respondents wanted to be more concise.

Brevity is a muscle; it’s something we build over time with practice and focus. Use the above tips to make your speech or presentation more concise, and you will more effectively keep your audience’s attention as you deliver an impactful message.

14 effective presentation tips to impress your audience

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera July 15, 2022

An effective presentation can communicate key ideas and opinions, save time, and contribute to your overall success as a business, but good presentation skills don’t come naturally to everyone. In this blog post, you’ll find 14 effective presentation tips you can implement in your next presentation to make it a success.

Whether you’re preparing for an important presentation at work or school, or you’re looking for ways to generally improve your presentation skills, you’ll find these presentation tips useful. We’ve gathered a list to help you impress your audience from the get-go. You’ll find tips for creating and presenting your slides, talking in front of an audience, and other effective presentation techniques to help you stand out.

Confident businessman talking into microphone during seminar. Happy male professional is giving presentation to colleagues. He is wearing smart casuals.

Most common presentation mistakes

Before we list our top effective presentation tips, let’s explore the most common presentation mistakes. If you’ve made one or more mistakes in this list, you’re not alone. Most people have made at least one mistake. However, what’s important is to be aware of these errors and try avoiding them next time.

#1 A poor start

One of the most common mistakes people make is undermining the importance of the first few minutes or seconds of their presentation.

Let’s say you’ve practiced your key talking points meticulously and gone over your slides a million times, but when you’re in the spotlight and need to say your first line, do you know exactly what to say to wow the audience?

The start of your presentation is crucial. Not only because how you start sets the tone for the rest of your presentation, but also because people generally require around 8 seconds to decide whether they find the subject interesting enough to keep listening. Starting your presentation with a captivating intro is even more important than you think. To ensure you start off right, read our guide on how to start your presentation .

#2 Lack of preparation

Yes, even though it’s clear that you should prepare before giving a presentation, it’s still a common mistake amongst presenters. Preparing content and talking points is an obvious start, but there are other steps that you might be overlooking.

Before you even join a meeting or walk into a room where you’re going to present, consider the technical requirements and get familiar with the equipment. If you’re presenting online, make sure to test-run your presentation and the visual aids you’re going to use. The last thing you want is a broken video link, poor audio, or a weak connection when you’re presenting.

Also, consider the questions your audience might want to ask you about the topic. Think about how you’d answer those questions, or do even further research to really impress the audience with your answers.

Explore other ways to prepare for a presentation to feel even more confident when presenting.

#3 Losing track of time

It’s great to feel passionate about your topic. However, you’ll have to consider your audience’s level of interest and knowledge. Some details might seem fascinating to you, and you’d like to talk about them for hours, but for your audience, too much information will drain their energy and lose their attention.

Therefore, make sure to keep track of time. Also, consider your audience’s interests. A concise presentation is always better than a long one with a ton of information. Plus, you’ll have a higher chance of keeping your audience’s attention throughout the presentation.

Effective presentation tips

Now that we’ve looked at some of the most common presentation mistakes – let’s dive into effective presentation tips that’ll help you excel in future presentations.

#1 Tell a story

Stories connect, inspire, and empower people. Telling a story can entice action, help understand an idea, and make people feel connected to the storyteller. It’s also one of the most effective presentation tips. A study by organizational psychologist Peg Neuhauser found that a well-told story is easier to remember than facts, which makes it a highly effective learning technique.

With that in mind, telling a story when you’re presenting can engage your audience and make it a more memorable experience. You can either share a personal story or a historical event, just make sure to have a clear connection between the story and the topic you’re presenting.

#2 Work on your body language

Body language can make a huge difference in how your presentation is perceived. It’s one of the presentation tips you definitely shouldn’t overlook.

Body language says a lot about a person’s confidence level, emotions, state of mind, and even credibility. For the audience, it’s a way to understand what the person is saying and how interested they are in the topic.

Therefore, work on your body language to better convey the message you’re trying to communicate. Practice in front of a mirror before your presentation and be conscious of your hand gestures and facial expressions.

#3 Understand your audience

Before crafting your presentation, you must know who you’re speaking to. Understanding the interests, demographics, professional background, and other valuable information of your audience is crucial in making your speech successful.

Back view of large group of business peoplein a board room. Someone is presenting in front.

If you’re speaking at an event, contact the organizers to get more information about other speakers and the audience. If you’re presenting at work, you may already know your audience fairly well. Use this information to your advantage and create content you know they’ll resonate with.

#4 Use high-quality visuals

What’s one of the most effective presentation techniques? Use of visuals. They play a crucial role in your presentation. However, only high-quality visuals will make a good impression and effectively communicate your message. Use high-quality visuals like images, videos, graphs, maps, and others to really land your point.

Using visuals is a great way to convey your ideas as they’re easier to process than text. If you’re not sure where to find great visuals, check out our blog post on presentation visuals for five free resources.

P.S. the Prezi library holds a variety of images, videos, GIFs, stickers, and other visuals, including different charts and maps to spice up your presentation. It’s all available in your dashboard .

#5 Use data visualizations

Do you want to showcase statistics or other datasets in your presentation? Use data visualizations to make your data stand out and impress your audience.

There’s nothing more boring than a bunch of data presented in a flat way. If you want to tell a story with your data, use interactive infographics or slides enriched with eye-catching visuals. Showcasing data will make your ideas appear more trustworthy and credible.

Prezi Design offers a range of templates to choose from. You can start creating data visualizations from scratch or choose a template and edit the data there.

#6 Make it engaging with interactive elements

It’s not easy to deliver an engaging presentation. People can easily get distracted or try to multitask, especially in the virtual environment. Sometimes, it’s difficult to focus on the speaker and the written text. Other times, the content just isn’t impressive enough to hold the audience’s attention. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

You can make your presentation more engaging for everyone by including interactive content like graphs and charts. With interactive data visualizations, you’ll make the data discovery process more engaging and exciting for your audience.

Your audience will be able to hover over data points and click on certain icons or datasets to discover information on their own. Interactive visualizations will make the presentation more memorable and impressive.

As you can see in the example below, you can discover different data by engaging with the infographic.

#7 Stay consistent with fonts and color styles

You want your presentation to look visually appealing and highlight essential information. To make that happen, stay consistent with font styles and color schemes throughout your presentation.

Use one or two fonts max to make the text easy to read and understand. Also, use a carefully selected color scheme that’s not too distracting. If you’re using Prezi Design, you can easily copy and paste styles by right-clicking on your data visualizations and selecting “copy styles.” This makes it easier to stay consistent and saves time when picking matching colors.

#8 Structure your presentation properly

Before creating your presentation, think about its structure. What’s the main idea you want to convey? Use that as your starting point, and only include information that adds value to the narrative.

Plan out the first topics carefully to properly introduce your argument. Add the essential information in the middle part of your presentation. Lastly, close your presentation with a summary of the main points and leave your audience with an afterthought. Also, plan when you’re taking questions and for how long.

For more insight, watch this tutorial on how to structure your presentation:

#9 Practice your public speaking skills

Public speaking may not be your forte, but you can get better with practice. Don’t decline a great opportunity to share your ideas with a larger audience just because you feel nervous speaking in front of a group of people.

One of the best ways to improve your public speaking skills is to practice in front of your family or friends – people you feel comfortable with. Also, focus on the topic you’re presenting and get excited about the idea you want to convey. This way you’ll appear more confident and feel less nervous about public speaking.

Explore other public speaking tips from Jessica Chen, the founder, and CEO of Soulcast Media:

#10 Show your slides next to you on-screen

If you’re presenting on Zoom or in a virtual meeting , think twice before you share your screen. The days of hiding behind slides are over. People want to see and connect with other people, not sit through another run-of-the-mill screen share. To do that, use Prezi Video to showcase all your content right next to you in your video feed.

As a result, your presentation will look more engaging than a traditional virtual presentation . Also, your audience will have the chance to read your body language and follow along with what you’re saying even better.

If you already have your slides prepared, don’t worry – you can easily integrate them into Prezi.

See Prezi Video in action and check out our video templates to get started.

#11 Calm down before presenting

Being in front of an audience can feel nerve-racking. However, there are ways to calm down before presenting that will make you feel more centered and confident. The last thing you want is all your hard work to go to waste just because of stress.

Try breathing exercises or a five-minute guided meditation before presenting. The trick is to remove all distractions and focus on the present moment so you’re not overthinking right before starting your presentation. Also, be fully prepared and know exactly what to say and when which will help you feel more collected. If you want to discover other ways to feel and look more confident, read how not to be nervous before a presentation .

#12 Use transitions and animations

Add movement to your slides with transitions and animations. You’ll make your presentation more visually appealing and engaging. However, be careful not to overwhelm your audience with your choice of transitions and animations.

Choose a transition that matches your presentation visually and use it throughout your presentation. Consider what animations will be relevant to your audience and select a few to add to your slides. Don’t overdo it. Keep the focus on the message you’re trying to convey, and use animations to only support that message.

#13 Be enthusiastic

When you’re in a room with a positive and enthusiastic person, you can’t help but feel uplifted as well. High-energy people have this effect on others. Most importantly, a lot of people tend to mimic people’s behavior and mirror their energy when they feel a connection or relate to them. That’s called the chameleon effect .

When you’re presenting, you want your audience to feel curious about what you’re presenting. You may also want to leave your audience feeling uplifted, interested to know more, or inspired. To have that effect on others, try to convey those emotions when presenting. Practice your speech, slow down your narration at times, or take a pause after you’ve delivered a statement, and use different presentation techniques to present your project and really drive your points home.

#14 End your presentation in a memorable way

The first few minutes of your presentation are crucial for captivating your audience’s attention. However, don’t underestimate the importance of ending your presentation as powerfully as you started it.

The way you end your presentation will play a crucial part in how your audience will remember it. You want to make a memorable impression by closing your presentation with a summarizing statement, a rhetorical question, a call to action, or another impactful way. Discover 10 ways you can end your presentation in our guide.

Young woman sharing her views with team in office meeting.

There are a lot of factors to consider when creating and delivering a presentation. You want your slides to look professional and visually appealing while conveying your main points. You also want to look and sound confident even if you’re nervous about public speaking. Whatever your concerns may be, remember that preparation is essential. Practice and dedication are the keys to giving a successful presentation . Make sure to follow these effective presentation tips to excel in your future presentations. If you’re interested in creating a captivating presentation with Prezi, contact us to learn more or try it for free .

Elevating presentations with Prezi AI

Embrace the innovation of Prezi to bring your presentations to life. With its unique platform, Prezi AI offers more than just visually appealing templates; it provides an immersive narrative experience, engaging your audience with a story-driven approach. By integrating Prezi AI , our platform’s capabilities are further enhanced, offering intelligent design suggestions and optimizing content layouts to ensure your presentations are not only beautiful but impactful. This integration is a perfect example of effective presentation techniques in action, using technology to create a more engaging presentation.

Interactive elements: transforming passive listening into active engagement

Prezi revolutionizes the way information is presented by incorporating interactive elements that invite audience participation. With Prezi AI, these features become even more accessible, suggesting ways to make your presentation more engaging through clickable areas, zoomable images, and dynamic visualizations. This level of interaction encourages exploration, making your message more memorable and transforming a standard presentation into an effective presentation.

Adding a personal touch in digital presentation with video

Prezi Video stands out by seamlessly integrating your content alongside your video feed, bridging the gap between traditional presentations and personal engagement. This feature is crucial for those looking to follow presentation tips that emphasize the importance of connecting with your audience on a more personal level. Prezi AI enhances this experience, ensuring your content is displayed in the most effective way possible, making your virtual presentations feel as though you’re directly conversing with your audience.

Mastering presentation artistry with Prezi

The journey to becoming a skilled presenter involves continuously refining your approach and embracing tools that elevate your ability to communicate effectively. Prezi, enriched with Prezi AI, is one such tool that transforms ordinary presentations into captivating experiences. By leveraging these advanced features, you can deliver presentations that are successful, memorable, and truly unforgettable, embodying the essence of tips for presentation mastery.

Whether you’re an experienced speaker or preparing for your first presentation, Prezi equips you with the tools to succeed. Engage your audience, tell compelling stories, and deliver your message with confidence and creativity. Following effective presentation tips and exploring how Prezi AI can transform your next presentation is a step towards mastering the art of impactful communication. Delve into the features and begin your journey to presentation mastery today.

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PowerPoint Presentations: 6 Tips for Clarity, Effectiveness, and Productivity

December 27, 2022
100 Comments

While staying relevant to your audience is important, it’s not the only thing you should focus on when preparing for a presentation. While there are plenty of tips out there, these six are some that I’ve found to be helpful in making my presentations as clear as possible.

These six tips are a helpful starting point for making your presentations clear , effective, and productive. They may be basic, but they’re also important to keep in mind when preparing for a presentation.

1. Use transitions between slides.

2. Keep your slides brief and use bullet points over full sentences.

3. Include an introduction slide that helps contextualize the information you’ll be presenting with the most important points showcased first.

4. Provide a summary slide at the start of your presentation to set the stage and point out what the speaker will cover in their talk.

5. Use web animations like transitions or hotspots to engage your audience throughout your talk

6. Be prepared for any question or comment from your listeners and have a back-up plan for how to handle it

Transitions Between Slides

Transitions between slides can help keep your audience engaged and help them understand what you’re going to be talking about in the next slide. In addition, slides that have a transition to the next slide often have a greater chance of being seen and remembered by your audience than one without.

The most important part of every presentation is its content, but it can be easy to forget about the slides themselves. Transitions are a great way to keep your audience engaged and focused on what you’re saying. You can make them visually interesting with custom animations or simple jingles that match your brand’s voice and tone.

If your presentation has a lot of information, consider adding some transition slides to help break up the monotony and keep your audience engaged. Transition slides are a great way to make your talk seem more exciting and interactive.

Bullet points over sentences

Bullet points are a great way to quickly let your audience know what’s important in your talk. They’re easy to read, and they’re usually much shorter than sentences. Bullet points also give your audience a quick overview of the talk you’ll be giving.

One of the easiest ways to keep things clear and concise is to limit yourself to one or two lines per slide in general, unless they’re needed for additional context or explanation. Bullet points allow your audience to quickly scan through each slide while at the same time retaining a deeper understanding of what you’ll be presenting on that specific topic.

Introductions and Summaries

Every presentation should have an introduction and summary to help the audience understand what the speaker will be talking about. This is not only helpful for your audience, but it can also help you organize your thoughts in preparation.

This tip may seem like common sense, but it’s often overlooked for more exciting slides or colorful elements that don’t really communicate anything important about what you’re going to talk about (see example below). When you think about it, introductions are actually where a lot of people lose their attention before they’ve even started listening to you; so

Web Animations

Enjoying presentations is one of the best ways to stay engaged during a lecture. Web animations are an excellent way to ensure that your audience will be entertained as you speak.

When you’re presenting with your slides, you can make your presentation more engaging by using web animations like transitions or hotspots. Web animations help keep your audience engaged and interested in the information on each slide. This tip is a great way to engage your audience and keep them from getting bored.

Use animated transitions to engage your audience

Electronic slides are often a good way to engage your audience. This includes transitions between slides and hotspots that coincide with text or graphics on the slide. These slides can be used to highlight important points or show how your presentation ties in with the rest of the talk. Animated transitions like hotspots or data connectors allow you to move through information quickly while maintaining engagement with your audience

Use hotspots in your presentations to engage your audience

Hotspots are animated or interactive elements in PowerPoint presentations with a click, which will allow your audience to experience the presentation differently.

Use hotspots to bring your audience into the story you’re telling instead of passively watching it unfold. For example, one way to use hotspots is have an immersive slideshow that includes interactive data tables. As your audience clicks through the slides they will be able to scroll through and explore the data in the table and find new information as they go.

Another example is using hotspots that change throughout your talk. A good place for this would be after you’ve talked about a particular point during your presentation. You could also include hotspots for questions or comments from your listeners and make it easy for them to submit their questions or comment online with a simple click of their mouse.

Be prepared for any question or comment from your listeners and have a back-up plan for how to handle it

It’s important to be prepared for any question that may come up during your presentation! This makes it easier for you to stay on track, as well as save time by not having to address the same question multiple times during the talk.

Let’s say you’re presenting and a member of the audience asks a question about how your company is going to deal with competition. If you have a specific plan in mind then you’ll be able to answer their question succinctly and move on without getting off-track. If your back-up plan doesn’t work or isn’t relevant, then you know that’s why and can quickly transition into talking about what they asked instead.

Sometimes our presentations can be hard to follow, but these tips will help you make your presentations clear, effective, and productive.

Presentations are all about showing your audience what you have to say , but with a PowerPoint it can be hard to show all the information that you have in one simple slide. With these tips, you can make your presentation clear and engaging for your audience.

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The CS Internship Guide
Early Career

How to Structure Your Presentation to be Clear and Convincing

Have you ever sat in a meeting where you felt bored?

You had to endure a presentation where the speaker read several paragraphs per slide, all in monotone.

Some rando in the room kept asking useless questions, prolonging the presentation.

You felt like you didn’t need to be there after the first 5 minutes.

This article is about how you can give awesome presentations, not awful ones. When you implement the tactics in this article, your will not feel like they want to leave. You’re going to learn how to craft an exceptional presentation that makes people remember you in a good way.

You’re going to learn how to engage the audience. You’ll learn how to make your message stick. And you’ll learn how to make your presentation clear and convincing.

Begin with the End in Mind

Ok, so you’re going to give a presentation. First, think about the why you’re giving this presentation.

Are you trying to get approval for an engineering design?
Are you gathering support from non-technical people for a new project?
Are you looking to get promoted or get a raise ?
Are you speaking publicly , perhaps at a conference, and want to inform other engineers and increase your notoriety ?
Are you pitching to investors for your startup?

Of course, you should also consider who your audience is. You’ll have different material for engineers at your company versus a general audience at a TED talk.

When you begin with the end in mind [1], you realize the stuff you can cut out. You see the people you need to invite (and the ones you don’t).

Sometimes, you might realize you don’t need a presentation or meeting at all . And that’s OK! Congratulations, you just saved your company $500.

No matter what your goal is, your job will be easier if you create a friendly environment. Give the audience a reason to listen to you, present your information clearly, and highlight how your ideas benefit them. Then they will be happy to make a decision that benefits everyone.

Your Main Message

Now that you have a goal, decide 1-3 main messages you want the audience to remember . The fewer, the better.

For example, imagine Steve is a software engineer responsible for his company’s iPhone app. He wants other engineers and UX designers to remember his app when creating new designs.

He decides on two main messages of his presentation:

“Design with iOS users in mind”
“Test end to end on an iOS device before launching”

As Steve crafts his presentation, the content will be focused around these two messages. He won’t spend time going off onto tangents, and he can remind others if their questions are sufficiently off-topic. As he repeats his messages, he also reminds the audience how these ideas will benefit everyone. Better designs, fewer problems, happier users–everyone wins.

By the way, if you’re doing a design review, it’s best to provide the design as a separate document and circulate it beforehand. If your slides are more like an essay, and all you do is read from them, skip the presentation and write a document instead.

Structure for Clarity

Now that you have your main messages, it’s time to design your presentation.

Most engineers use Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, or another piece of software for creating slides.

Slides should be a complement to your presentation, not the focus.

You want the attention to be on you, not the screen. As soon as people concentrate on the screen, you lose their attention.

Less attention -> more dumb questions

Now that that’s out of the way, there’s no single right way to structure a presentation. One possibility is:

Sounds pretty simple, right? “Chunking” your information into sections helps people remember it. Better than slapping some random info on your slides and meandering through your topic in no apparent order.

Another powerful structure follows a story. You can talk about a problem, and how your design solves it at each step, resulting in happy users. Just like the Hero’s Journey.

Background and problem begins (Act 1)
Problem gets more challenging (Act 2)
Solution (your awesome proposal, Act 2-3)

People love stories. Stories are memorable and give meaning to otherwise meaningless events.

If you structure your presentation like a story, make sure it has:

Characters (Engineers, customers, components of a system)
A challenge (a customer problem, a technical challenge)
A climax (how you solved or will solve the problem, often dramatic)
A resolution (how the characters improved after solving the problem)

The intro section should be short. Maybe 1-3 slides.

The first slide has the presentation’s title and your name. Super simple. You can create a crazy, memorable design, but that’s not necessary for more informal talks.

The next 1-2 slides are optional. They might have the objectives and key messages. But maybe not. Why?

If you’re goal is to persuade people, don’t explicitly state that. Your job is to create a friendly atmosphere where they can willingly understand your information. By showing them how they’ll benefit from your proposal, they will happily make the decision on their own. Your objective in this case is to provide information, and you can have a single-slide intro.

You can also do a longer intro where you provide background information about your topic. For Steve the software engineer, he might start with a few slides explaining how the company’s iOS app is used. Of course, that might be enough content for a longer section.

Main Sections

This is the meat of your presentation (sorry, vegans).

At the start of every section, you can optionally put a slide that has nothing except a title for the section. Sections don’t need to be formal, but you as the presenter know the key points you want to make in each part.

As you create your slides, keep hinting or explicitly stating your main messages . Use images to highlight key points. It’s OK to have slides that have 1 sentence on them. In fact, this is an excellent way to emphasize your main messages.

Make things easy to understand. I like to keep slides simple, almost minimalist. The clearer and concise you can be, the easier your info is to understand.

If you’re telling a story (or multiple stories), let your voice take the lead. Tie the story back to your main messages. Use your body to emphasize the story, and point to the slides as a supplement. The audience should not be reading the story. They should be listening to it, and watching it.

In the main sections, you can add things like AutoCAD drawings and flowcharts. Depending on your purpose and audience, you might go deeper into the technical details. Keep relating why your info matters to the audience.

When there are non-technical people in the room, try to take as little time as possible on the highly technical details. People in sales and marketing don’t care how you solved a problem. They care about the results. They care about why your solution will help get more customers. Talk about that and they will gladly listen.

For example, Steve the software engineer is talking to a group of UX designers. The UX designers don’t write code, but they do want to help create a great product. Steve takes screenshots of the app and puts them in the slides. Some slides have nothing but a screenshot. He talks about design problems that the team had, and briefly how he helped solved them. Steve uses the pictures and diagrams to answer questions. He avoids posting code snippets, since they wouldn’t help get his message across.

Also, make sure your graphs are easy to interpret. Good graphs make objectively show how fantastic you are. Bad ones confuse the audience.

Should I add jokes?

Humor is great! Get your audience in a good mood and they’ll like you more for it. They’ll pay more attention. They’ll remember your message.

People make decisions with their heart, then justify it with their brain. If you can get someone to like you, you can get them to agree with you. No matter how logical someone acts, they’re still human.

If you can add a joke into your presentation and it sounds natural, do it! Most (but not all) environments would welcome a little humor. Don’t worry about seeming immature.

And finally, don’t overdo your humor, and don’t force it. This is a presentation, not a standup routine.

Making Slides Not Suck

Creating slides is a topic worthy of a whole other article. The main idea is don’t distract the audience .

Remember what I said about slides earlier? Slides are a compliment to your presentation . Your physical body and voice should drive the meeting, not your slides.

First, put as few words as possible on each slide . One sentence per slide is enough. Have a bulleted list, and make it quick to scan. Eyes are drawn to text, and you don’t want the audience reading more than listening.

Second, use images . Images can be used to highlight key points. don’t use animated gifs, or anything that would be too distracting. Having 0 or 1 image per slide is usually enough.

Your slides don’t need to look perfect, but they should be easy to understand. Don’t clutter your slides with tons of information. Break your information into multiple slides. And like I said, try to get down to one sentence per slide.

In your conclusion, remind your audience about your main messages. This is a very short section–3 slides is usually enough.

Recap your main messages. Remind the audience how they can benefit by remembering your info or following your recommendation.

If you have a call to action, put it here. Include your contact information if necessary. Finally, open the meeting up for questions.

Additionally, you can add an appendix to your slides after the conclusion. This is where you would put material that would answer common questions following your main presentation. For example, Steve the software engineer might add a graph about customer behaviors.

You can also add material that doesn’t fit elsewhere the presentation.

As you create your slides, practice speaking your presentation and time yourself. Make sure you don’t go over your allotted time. Give your voice energy–don’t speak in monotone–and use hand gestures. I’ll say it one more time: slides are a compliment to your presentation, not the focus.

Putting effort into your presentation will make the audience much more engaged. Soon, you’ll be having people come up to you afterwards complimenting you on what a great presentation you gave.

To learn more secrets of giving awesome presentations, subscribe to the blog. Stay tuned for more articles about:

How to speak to keep their attention
How to make slides not suck
How to stay on track (and within your time limit)

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Emily Williams helped inspire some of the material.

[1] For more on this idea, see Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

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4 Presentation Tips to Captivate Your Audience

Written by Jordan Metheney @JMetheney_wbd

Let’s be honest. You’ve probably never said that before in your entire life, and that’s because most presentations aren’t very exciting. In fact, most of them are downright boring. Truth be told, you might never get to a place where you give a presentation that leads to a standing ovation, but here are a few things you can do to make your presentations concise, interesting and compelling.

1) Avoid Lost Time

I’ve sat through presentations that seemed to drag on and on (and on) forever and ever (and ever). I sat through a presentation once that was two and a half hours long, and the material wasn’t even fun. It goes without saying that the longer the presentation, the more difficult it will be for you to keep your audience captivated and engaged.

Time is important because there are very few people in this world who feel they have time to spare. Practice your presentation with your spouse or your closest friend and accept constructive criticism. Scour your notes and figure out which areas, if any, could be cut down and expressed in fewer words. Then scour them again, because less is more.

Jokes are okay if they are 1) funny and 2) relevant. Jokes are definitely not funny when your audience’s stomachs are growling, they’re hungry, distracted and just want you to hurry this thing up and let them eat. Know your audience.

Sometimes, you will have no choice but to give a lengthy presentation. That’s okay; it happens to the best of us. However, one word of advice: do not begin your presentation by saying something like, “This is going to be a long presentation, so bear with me.” Don’t be a defeatist, and definitely don’t give your audience a reason to tune you out before you’ve even begun. In other words, don’t start your presentation with a warning and an apology. Showing a little confidence is a much better bet.

2) Be Visual

Microsoft PowerPoint is probably the most abused piece of software in existence. I’ve seen LinkedIn profiles that list “MS PowerPoint expertise” as a skill. Uh…Congratulations?

Look, I get it. It’s simple to use. It works on most computers, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility if you’re traveling somewhere new with your presentation deck. But way too many people use PowerPoint incorrectly.

When it comes to your visual helpers, use the handy dos and don’ts below.

Copy and paste all of your notes onto PowerPoint slides, and read them aloud to an audience. Most adults know how to read. Don’t waste their time.
Use sound effects and cheesy transitions. You are a professional businessperson. There is no need for this. Your audience just wants the information you’re trying to convey, and I promise you they’ve seen PowerPoint’s racecar slide transition effect before. It won’t impress them.
Use pictures. Use charts, graphs and infographics. Use relevant, visually stimulating imagery. Do not display anything offensive, even if you find it absolutely hilarious.
Give your audience members a tangible, physical item to browse through as you are presenting. You can print out the deck itself, if you want, or give them an even more concise overview of the information. Either way, this will help them take a little bit of ownership over the presentation, follow along, and give them something to take with them to review later.

3) Avoid the "Um, Uh, Like, You Know"

I don’t want to scare you from ever giving another presentation, but the way you speak will have a huge impact on how your presentation is received. The most common mistakes speakers and presenters make, and all of us have surely encountered this, are the “I’m giving time for my brain to catch up to my mouth” noises.

For example: “The most common, uh, mistakes that, like, speakers and, uh, presenters make are, um, like, you know, like those little, er...”

You get the idea. It’s tough. Many of us have grown so accustomed to using “ums,” “uhs” and “likes” in between thoughts and ideas while speaking that it’s hard to quit the habit.

But you have to stop doing that.

Again, practice this with a trusted friend until you figure it out. Try not saying anything at all in those little spaces. Literally pause. Take a breath, collect your thoughts, and then continue speaking. This is far, far less frustrating as a listener than the “ums” and “uhs” and likes and “y’knows.”

4) Speak Loud, Speak Proud

There is absolutely nothing worse (nothing!) than sitting through a presentation during which the presenter is not speaking loudly enough. Think of your audience’s poor little ears, straining hard to catch your words.

Don’t they deserve a break?

Yes. Yes, they do. It’s much better to speak too loudly than it is too softly. Use a microphone, if necessary. Practice your booming voice, again, with a trusted friend, in the mirror, or heck, with your labrador retriever. Above all, if your audience cannot hear what you’re saying, you better believe they are not receiving your message. Literally.

Do you have any presentation tips and tricks I’ve missed? We’d love to hear some of your favorites. But if you’re one of those weirdos who insists on picturing your audience members in their underwear, keep it to yourself. For everybody’s sake.

Jordan Metheney is an accounts representative at Wild Boy, an integrated interactive marketing agency in Massillon, Ohio . He is passionate and driven, with incredibly high expectations of himself. His quick wit leaves everyone in stitches, so we wouldn't be surprised if he moonlights as a stand up comic.

Originally published Dec 9, 2013 10:00:00 AM, updated January 18 2023

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15 Tips for Effective Presentations

Boost your presentations with these 15 tips. These guidelines will help you structure your speech while offering practical techniques to ease nerves during your next presentation.

2. Memorize Your First and Last Sentence

Introduction, 4. practice a lot, 5. use pauses, 6. arrive early and know your surrounding, 7. use positive visualization to get over the nerves, 8. breathe deeply, 9. don’t be hard on yourself, 10. keep it as simple as possible, 11. try to entertain but use humor wisely, 12. try to engage with the audience, 13. positive body language, 14. most audiences want you to succeed, 15. get feedback afterwards (or record your presentation), 1. follow the “10-20-30” rule when using slides.

After writing your speech, putting together some slides can structure and add visuals to your presentation. Use the 10-20-30 rule for effective slides. This rule isn’t set in stone, but it’s a good guide to make a presentation engaging.

Limit your presentation to ten slides when using PowerPoint.

An effective presentation should be concise. Using too many slides will cause your audience to lose focus and feel bored. Fit all important points within 10 slides, but don’t omit any crucial information.

Your entire presentation should be done in 20 minutes. Long talks bore people. Limiting your time to 20 minutes helps keep your audience engaged and attentive.

You can lose attention if the presentation is very long. Even with an hour, it’s a good idea to add engaging elements like audience interaction and Q&A sessions.

A good presentation should be clear to your audience. Don’t make your audience squint at the screen.

Use a 30-point font for your presentation. It ensures everyone can read your slides easily and follow along with what you present on the screen.

Avoid constantly looking at your slides during a presentation. Memorize the first and last lines to show that you’re prepared. This also gives you the chance to engage with your audience, rather than just reading to them.

If you memorize everything word for word, it won’t sound natural. The first and last sentences should flow naturally to avoid always reading straight to your audience.

3. Structure Your Speech Effectively

When writing a speech, structure it clearly to ensure effective delivery. A well-organized speech simplifies presentation.

Speeches have three main parts—the introduction, the body, and the conclusion.

The introduction starts the speech. To give a good presentation, you need a well-written opening.

An introduction sets the tone for your speech and can either grab or lose your audience’s attention. A concise opening keeps them engaged and interested. This initial part is crucial.

The introduction sets the stage for your presentation. Clearly state the purpose of your speech to keep your audience informed. A poorly crafted introduction can make your audience lose interest quickly.

A good introduction should be brief, well-crafted, and convince your audience why they should listen to you.

After drafting a strong introduction, move on to the body. This section holds the main ideas of the speech.

Proper preparation and research are essential for writing your speech’s body. To deliver an effective presentation, the body should be well-organized and clearly presented.

After you determine the main purpose of your speech, the body lets you expand on it. This part offers evidence that supports your main message and ideas.

Lead with your strong points . Stick to relevant topics to keep your audience’s interest. Avoid digressing from your main point.

Make your points evidence-based to be taken seriously. Refer to facts, data, and personal stories. Ensure your audience trusts what you say.

Think about your audience as you write your speech. Consider their age, status, and interests to make your speech relevant. Your speech might aim to inform, educate, entertain, or debate, each requiring a different approach.

For example, if your speech aims to argue a point, you should include many facts and figures to support it. If it’s for entertainment, you don’t need hard research; instead, you can use anecdotes.

This is the final part of your speech and presentation. Make it memorable. A good conclusion should captivate and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

You shouldn’t bring up new ideas in your conclusion. Think of your conclusion as the finishing touch that makes your presentation shine.

Don’t repeat your main points exactly in your conclusion. Summarize them in new words instead.

Practice makes perfect . Constant rehearsal before a presentation is crucial. Keep practicing until you’re very familiar with your material.

Pauses can be powerful in public speaking, emphasizing important points effectively.

It’s bad to rush while presenting. Your audience might miss what you’re saying.

Arrive early before your presentation to get a feel for the venue. It’s a great chance to check the staging and ensure everything is set up. Also, test the projector, set up your slides, and check the microphone. Be ready to handle any technical difficulties.

“Imagine the audience in their underwear!”

Positive visualization helps control nerves by using mental imagery to relax. Shift your mind from the pressure of presenting to visualizing success. Do this before and during your presentation to stay calm.

Taking deep breaths before stepping on stage calms you and boosts your vocal projection. Stress often disrupts clear speech and thought.

Before the presentation, don’t be too hard on yourself. Just prepare well and relax your nerves before taking the stage.

Don’t be hard on yourself! Learn from mistakes and prepare for the future. Public speaking skills aren’t mastered overnight. If you fail, pick yourself up, prepare, and try again.

Good presentations are concise, simple, and direct. It’s easy to overload with boring details, but harder to focus on essential points. Do this as much as possible; it’s crucial for effective presentations.

Humor can be a great tool in presentations but use it wisely. Keep your jokes clean unless you know the audience well and are sure of your delivery!

Audience engagement keeps people interested in your presentation. It’s especially true for vocal or extroverted groups. Let them ask questions, share stories, or discuss personal experiences to keep things lively and interesting.

Use confident, open, and positive body language while speaking to your audience. This makes a huge difference since most communication during presentations is through body language.

Negative body language like folded arms, shifting, and looking down can distract the audience and make it hard for them to focus on the presentation content.

Audiences typically support you during a presentation, especially when you’re speaking to co-workers, friends, or classmates. Use this knowledge to boost your confidence.

Even if there’s some negativity in the room while presenting, don’t exaggerate it too much in your mind beforehand.

To improve your presenting skills, get feedback from the audience about what you did well and what needs improvement.

You can also use video and audio recordings to review and improve your presentation for future events.

Additionally, practice your presentations beforehand with family and friends. They can give you valuable feedback in advance.

Steps To Creating An Effective Business Plan

10 Expert Tips to Make Your PowerPoint Presentations More Engaging and Effective!

Sathish Shanmugam
January 8, 2023
No Comments

PowerPoint presentations are an essential part of many business meetings, conferences, and even online classes. However, while PowerPoint can be a great tool to get your message across, it can also easily become boring and unengaging if not done right. Luckily, you can use plenty of tips and tricks to make your presentations more effective and engaging.

Here are ten expert tips to help you create powerful and engaging PowerPoint presentations.

Table of Contents

1. Organize your content for maximum impact

Use 10-20-30 rule, use colors, shapes, and images effectively to draw attention, ensure design consistency, use visuals to support the narrative, benefits of using animation, things to consider when using animation, incorporate audio, video, and interactive elements, balance multimedia content with other elements, use charts and graphs to illustrate data points, understand the audience, utilize a logical structure, incorporate design templates and slideshows, prepare a script to help you stay on track, 8. consider using presentation platforms, 9. encourage audience participation, ask for feedback, review the notes, check the presentation, follow up with the audience.

Organizing content for PowerPoint presentations is important as it helps to keep the presentation focused and engaging. When organizing content, it is important to create an introduction, body, and conclusion that flow logically. Additionally, it is important to use visual cues such as headings and images to help the audience follow the presentation. Finally, it is important to use a consistent color palette, font, and style to help create a cohesive presentation that is visually appealing and easy to understand.

2. Choose an engaging visual design

When it comes to making a PowerPoint presentation engaging, visuals are key. Visual designs can help set the tone of your presentation and get your message across. Here are some tips on choosing an engaging visual design for your PowerPoint presentations .

The 10-20-30 rule for slideshows suggests that you should have no more than ten slides, 20 minutes of content, and 30-point font size. This is important because too many words or slides can be overwhelming and distracting. Instead, focus on the most important points and let visual elements do the work.

Consider using abstract shapes, large-high-quality photos, and vibrant colors to ensure that the visuals you choose are appealing and draw attention. Additionally, make sure that the visuals you choose are relevant to your message. For example, use visuals to show off its features if you’re discussing a product. You can also embed attractive QR codes with logos to provide more information on that product by linking to external resources.

To ensure that you keep your design consistent throughout the presentation, you must use similar colors and font sizes throughout. To make this easier, you can use dynamic presentation software or a template with hundreds of example slides that all follow the same design theme.

Visual design is an incredibly powerful tool for enhancing the narrative of a PowerPoint presentation. With the right elements, visuals can help to make a presentation more interesting and memorable for the audience. Visuals should be used strategically to support the narrative. Using visuals that reflect the presentation’s theme will help create a cohesive story that resonates with the audience.

Check out the video to learn about the core prinicple of visual design:

3. Enhance the presentation with animation

Animation can enhance a PowerPoint presentation by making it more visually engaging and helping control information flow.

Animation can add energy to static images and text and can also be used to add surprise elements that help make the content more memorable.
Animations can help to draw your audience’s attention, making it easier for them to stay focused and remember the key points of your presentation.
It is important to use animations sparingly, as too many animations can detract from the main message of your presentation. So, make sure to use animation to control the presentation’s pace and keep the audience engaged.
When adding animations, wait until you have added all the information and objects to the slides.
Ensure that animations are visible and clear in a PowerPoint presentation to help the audience follow the content.
Animations should also be used to keep the audience on track and help them to jump back into the topic at any time.

How to make animated powerpoint slide?

4. Include multimedia components

Including multimedia components in PowerPoint presentations is an effective way to make them more engaging. Multimedia combines different types of media, such as audio, video, animation, and images, which can help capture and maintain your audience’s attention.

Including multimedia components in Powerpoint presentations is quite easy. For example, you can crop images to fit shapes, play music in the background, embed YouTube videos , insert screenshots or screen clippings, remove background from pictures, combine shapes to create a custom shape, add sound effects to animations, etc.

Multimedia content can be a great way to bring your presentation to life, but it should not be the only element you use. While multimedia content can be eye-catching, too much of it can distract from the message you are trying to convey.

Instead, try to use a mix of multimedia content, text, images, and diagrams that will help ensure that your presentation is visually appealing and informative. For example, if you have a video clip, don’t just rely on it to convey the message, but rather provide some additional information in the form of a text block or image that summarises the key points of the clip. This will provide context and help support the message you are trying to get across.

Additionally, consider using multimedia content and other elements such as text, images, and diagrams to create a more interactive presentation. This will help keep the audience engaged and allow them to better understand the message you are trying to communicate.

5. Utilize data visualization and infographics

Utilizing data visualization and infographics in PowerPoint presentations can be beneficial for a few reasons. First, data visualization and infographics can help to illustrate complex concepts in an easy-to-understand way. Additionally, data visualization and infographics can help to make the content more engaging and visually appealing. Furthermore, data visualization and infographics can help ensure the audience can retain the information presented. Finally, data visualization and infographics can help to add a professional look to the presentation.

Charts and graphs are powerful tools to make your PowerPoint presentations more engaging and effective. Not only do they help to break up the presentation to make it easier for the viewers to digest, but they also allow you to provide a visual representation of complex data that is easy to understand.

Here are some tips on how to use charts and graphs effectively in your PowerPoint presentations:

Choose the right type of chart or graph: You have to choose the right charts or graphs depending on your data. For example, bar graphs are better suited for categorical data, while pie charts are better for numerical data.
Keep it simple: Avoid overloading your charts and graphs with too much information, as this can make them difficult to read. Stick to just one or two key points you want to illustrate, and choose colors and fonts that are easy to read.
Label your axes: Make sure your x and y axes are clearly labeled so audiences can easily follow the data points.
Make sure your data is accurate: Before you present it, double-check to ensure it is accurate and up-to-date. This will ensure that your conclusions are reliable.
Use the right scale: When creating your chart or graph, make sure that the scale is appropriate. If the scale is too large or small, it can be difficult to interpret the data.

How to make good infographic?

6. Create an effective structure and flow

Creating an effective structure and flow to make your PowerPoint presentation more engaging is key to captivating your audience. Here are a few ways to create a flow and structure for your PowerPoint presentation .

The first step is understanding your audience and what their needs are. Knowing your audience’s interests can help you tailor your presentation to be more engaging and interactive. Once you have a good idea of who you’re speaking to, create an outline that will focus on the important points of your presentation. You can use the best AI presentation maker to help you with this.

A logical structure helps to organize the information clearly and logically, making it easier for the audience to follow and understand. It also helps to keep the presentation focused and on track, preventing it from becoming disorganized or tangential. A logical structure can be achieved through the use of clear headings and subheadings and visual aids such as charts and diagrams to illustrate key points.

Use design templates and slideshows to keep the look of your presentation consistent and visually appealing. Ensure to align all objects with the grid to ensure your visuals are perfectly in line.

7. Rehearse and practice

Preparing and rehearsing your presentation allows you to get comfortable with the material and will help you convey your message in a more confident and engaging way.

Having a script for your PowerPoint presentation can be an invaluable tool to ensure that you stay on track and keep to the main points you want to make. In addition, by preparing a script, you can ensure that your presentation runs smoothly and is more engaging and effective.

Here are some tips to help you write an effective script:

Start with an outline of your presentation. This will help you organize your thoughts and ensure you don’t forget any important points.
Write down the main points you want to make. Think about what information you want to convey in each section and decide how to present it.
Include visuals. Think about how visuals or diagrams can help illustrate your points.
Make sure your language is clear and concise. Avoid jargon and long sentences.
Keep it conversational. Speak to your audience as if you are having a conversation with them.
Become familiar with it and make sure you don’t forget any important points
Timing yourself is an important factor in creating a good PowerPoint presentation. It is important to allocate enough time to cover all the necessary information but not so much time that the presentation becomes tedious for the audience. When practicing, note how long it takes to go through each slide. This will allow you to adjust the length of the presentation as needed and ensure that it flows smoothly.

Presentation platforms offer a wide range of features to help you create an interactive, visually appealing experience for your viewers. Many of these platforms have built-in templates and tools that make it easy to customize the look and feel of your slides. They also provide interactive elements such as quizzes, videos, audio clips, and animations that can add life to your presentation and keep your viewers engaged.

Encouraging audience participation is key to making a PowerPoint presentation more engaging. There are several techniques that can be used to foster engagement with the audience during a PowerPoint presentation.

Firstly, maintaining eye contact, smiling, and using dynamic gestures and facial expressions will help make your message more memorable and engaging.
Secondly, hosting an expert discussion panel or inviting guest appearances on stage can add an extra layer of engagement for the audience.
Thirdly, you can use props or tangible objects to demonstrate ideas and allow the audience to engage with them.
You can ask questions to keep your audience engaged with your PowerPoint presentations. Questions help to build suspense for the next slide, engage the audience in real time, and make people pay closer attention. It also causes people to reflect rather than merely take in the information one way.
You can use live polling tools to get real-time feedback.

Effective methods to engage an audience in a presentation

10. Follow-up and review

Following up and reviewing a PowerPoint presentation is important in ensuring that the presentation is effective and that the audience understands the main points. There are several ways to follow up and review a presentation:

Ask the audience for feedback on the presentation, including what they found most useful or interesting and what they would like to see more of in the future.

Go over the notes you made during the presentation to see if there are any areas you may have missed or could have explained more clearly.

Review the presentation and make any necessary edits or updates based on the feedback you received.

Follow up with the audience after the presentation to see if they have any additional questions or concerns and to address any issues that may have come up during the presentation.

Creating engaging and powerful presentations with PowerPoint doesn’t have to be daunting. With the right tips and tricks, you can create presentations that will grab and hold your audience’s attention. Try out some expert tips to take your PowerPoint presentations from boring to brilliant! You can also take the help of professional designers to help you out with the visual aspect of your presentation.

At Graphically.io , we are your go-to for all your creative needs! Our global network of customers can enjoy unlimited, custom-designed graphics and illustrations for one flat rate. We are committed to delivering exceptional and affordable designs, always ready for when you need them, no matter how soon. We also offer video creation in our standard package at no extra cost that can capture and captivate the attention of your clients and potential customers.

Home Blog Presentation Ideas Understanding the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations

Understanding the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations

Imagine sitting through a seemingly never-ending presentation. The speaker rambled on, reading from text-heavy slides, using a tiny font that strained your eyes, and failing to connect with the audience. As the minutes ticked by, you found yourself daydreaming and eagerly awaiting the end of the ordeal.

If you have been in this situation, then you know what to do if you were in the presenter’s shoes – make your presentations concise. But how do you even start?

You can follow several techniques when preparing your deck and your presentation as a whole. One of them is the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint , a presentation rule championed by Guy Kawasaki – a former Apple employee and a marketing specialist.

Table of Contents

What Is the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations?

Applying guy kawasaki’s 10 slide template in any presentation, the 20 minutes rule, the 30-point font rule, the benefits of using the 10/20/30 rule, tips for applying the 10/20/30 rule to your presentation.

The idea of the 10/20/30 rule is easy to understand, which is summed up in three points.

Your presentation should consist of no more than 10 slides .
Your presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes .
The text on each slide should be no lower than 30 points in size .

Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 rule for slideshows emphasizes brevity, focus, and visual appeal to keep your audience engaged and deliver your message effectively.

Let’s examine each rule and explore how to apply it to your presentations.

The 10 Slides Rule

Kawasaki argues that a typical person can only take 10 concepts in one sitting. Therefore, according to him, a presentation should only consist of 10 slides, each serving a specific purpose and conveying a distinct concept.

This insight underscores the importance of concise, focused presentations that prioritize key messages and avoid overwhelming the audience with too much information.

If you are a business presenter struggling to develop a pitch deck , Kawasaki suggests a 10-slide PowerPoint template that includes what venture capitalists like him care about.

Title – Includes the business name, the presenter’s name, contacts, etc.
Problem/Opportunity – Highlights pain points or unmet needs of customers you aim to solve.
Value Proposition – Articulates the value or benefits of your product or service.
Underlying Magic – Explains the key technology that goes into your product or service offers.
Business Model – Describes how you plan to generate revenue.
Go-to-Market Plan – Outlines your strategy for bringing your product or service to market, e.g., marketing and sales plan .
Competitive Analysis – Explains how your business is positioned to compete and capture market share.
Management Team – Highlights your management team’s skills, experience, and expertise that will drive the success of your business.
Financial Projections and Key Metrics – Highlights your business’s financial viability and potential profitability.
Current Status, Accomplishments to Date, Timeline, and Use of Funds – Provides an overview of your current business status, any accomplishments or milestones achieved to date, the timeline for future milestones, and how you plan to use the funds you seek.

Infographic showcasing the 10 slides needed for any PowerPoint presentation

The 10 rule slide was specifically designed for startup and business presentations , focusing on pitching a business idea or concept to potential investors . However, it can also be a useful framework for other types of presentations that don’t deal with selling a service or product.

For example, if you are a lecturer, you can emulate Kawasaki’s PowerPoint template layout and reduce your presentation to 10 slides. Some slides might not be relevant to the nature of your topic, so replace them with one that works for your presentation. Using PPT templates helps you focus on the graphical aspect so you can articulate the content to fit into exactly 10 slides (while preserving the same aesthetic).

Let’s say you are a mindfulness expert talking about the benefits of meditation. The first three slides of Kawazaki’s workflow may be applied as you’ll need to establish your audience’s pain points and your solution.

However, you may need to modify the remaining slides as you’re not seeking to make a sale or raise funding. You may use them instead to discuss the main content of your presentation – in this case, the benefits of meditation. The last two slides may contain your conclusions and call to action, respectively.

Time constraints in presentations - Example of an illustration with a woman presenting a presentation and depicting time constraints.

Now, off to the second part of the 10/20/30 presentation rule.

According to Kawasaki, you only have 20 minutes to present your 10 slides – the time needed before your audience’s attention starts declining. He believes it is long enough to convey a meaningful message but short enough to maintain the audience’s attention span.

This is exactly why most TED Talks or The Big Bang Theory episodes would only last for approximately 18 minutes.

While giving longer presentations is possible, longer presentations may be more difficult to maintain audience engagement and attention.

Kawasaki’s final rule pertains to the font size that presenters can use. This rule suggests that presenters should use a font size of at least 30 points for all text in their slides , including titles, headings, and body text.

When creating presentations, it is common to jam each slide with text and information. This poses two possible problems:

First, it may take your audience’s attention from you as they may end up reading your whole presentation and stop listening to you.
Second, including too much information can make your presentation overwhelming and difficult to follow.

Using a larger font size, you must include only the key points of your presentation slides. This prevents your audience from getting ahead of you and keeps them listening to you speak. By applying this rule, you are also ensuring your content is understandable for people with visual impairments. We highly recommend you check concepts from W3C.org on how to make events accessible, as some of these rules can benefit your audience.

Presenters often ask themselves whether is worth applying a new framework for their presentation design and delivery. The reality is that the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations is one of the most effective methods to build your presentation skills . In the list below, we expose the main benefits of this framework for presenters.

Concise and Focused Presentation

With a limited number of slides and a strict time limit, the 10/20/30 encourages you to choose the most relevant content and eliminate unnecessary information carefully. This avoids overwhelming your audience with too much information and ensures your key message is clear and memorable.

Improved Audience Engagement

This rule encourages presenters to focus on delivering a clear message rather than overwhelming the audience with flashy visuals. With fewer slides and a shorter duration, you are likelier to hold your audience’s attention throughout the presentation. This also allows you to address questions from the audience, leading to better interaction and a productive meeting.

Increased Chance of Success

Whether pitching to investors or selling a product, a concise and focused presentation can significantly increase your chances of success. The 10/20/30 rule helps you effectively communicate your value proposition and address potential concerns. This makes your presentation more persuasive and memorable, increasing the likelihood of securing funding or closing a sale.

Time Management

The more senior the person you present to, the lesser time you got to make your case and convey your message. Following the 10/20/30 encourages you to be mindful of the time and deliver your presentation within the allocated timeframe. It also allows you to show respect for your audience’s time.

1. Present One Idea Per Slide

Following Kawasaki’s rule on creating your PowerPoint presentation, identify the key points you want to convey to your audience and allocate one slide for each.

Presenting one idea per slide can help your audience stay focused on the topic at hand. It makes it easier for them to understand and remember your message, as it reduces the amount of information they have to process at once. When there’s too much information on a slide, it can be overwhelming and distracting, making it difficult for your audience to stay engaged and attentive.

Presenting one idea per slide can also help you control the flow of information and ensure that you cover all of your main points.

2. Keep Your Slides Simple

As mentioned earlier, the 10/20/30 rule emphasizes simplicity. Keep your slides simple and avoid flashy design elements that may distract your audience.

Use a consistent color scheme , font style, and layout throughout your presentation. This will help your audience follow along and focus on your message.

3. Balance Text and Visuals

Visuals like images, charts, graphs, videos, and diagrams can help break up text-heavy slides and make your presentation more interesting and memorable. However, relying solely on images can also be ineffective and lead to confusion or disengagement.

When using visuals in your slides, it’s important to balance text and images. Text can provide important context and details, while images can help illustrate key points and make your presentation visually appealing.

Let’s say you want to inform your audience of your company’s marketing plan . Using a rising spiral template is an excellent choice since it can represent multiple plan stages with increasing intensity.

Balance between text and graphics in slides - Example showing a funnel slide design with four levels.

4. Break Down Your Presentation into Smaller Units and Make it Interactive

Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule only gives you 20 minutes to wrap up the whole presentation, but what if you need more than that?

It’s not uncommon to give presentations that last 45 minutes to an hour – for instance, if you are giving a lecture or facilitating a training workshop for employees. The longer your presentation, however, the harder it will be to hold your audience’s attention.

One great way to keep them engaged is to divide your presentation into smaller units and pause in between.

So, before the guy from the third row starts yawning, plan in-between activities to reenergize your audience and reacquire their attention. It can be a simple Q&A session, interactive exercises, or team-building activities.

Don’t forget to time your activities so they won’t disrupt the flow of your presentation.

5. Start Strong

The opening of your presentation is critical in capturing your audience’s attention and setting the tone for the rest of the presentation. Start with a compelling hook, such as a thought-provoking question, a powerful quote, or an engaging story, to grab your audience’s attention. Clearly state the purpose and objectives of your presentation to establish the context and provide a roadmap for what’s to come.

6. End Strong

Your outro is as important as your introduction. So, instead of ending your presentation with a flat Thank you slide , use the opportunity to nudge your audience to action.

Using a summary slide is one of the ways you can end your presentation if your goal is to reinforce your key points. It can be a useful reference for the audience, helping them remember the most important information.

You can also encourage your audience to take action based on what they’ve learned in your presentation. This can be a great way to motivate them to apply the concepts you’ve covered.

The 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint is a useful framework to emulate in creating your presentation.

There are questions about the practicality of its application outside the business context. However, we can agree that it teaches us valuable insight – keeping presentations concise as possible. Limiting the number of slides, adhering to a strict time limit, and using a larger font size can create a concise presentation that effectively communicates your message.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to presenting; you don’t have to strictly follow Kawasaki’s rule. Depending on the audience and the topic, modify the template and adapt your presentation to suit the situation.

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4 Tips to Make Your Presentation Clear and Concise

May 22, 2015 / Blog clear and concise, presentation, public speaking, Rick Enrico, SlideGenius, speakers

If you’re confident by how your slides turned out and your audience still tunes it out, take a step back and analyze how you speak .

It’s your job as the speaker to stimulate engagement and effectively get your message across.

Get hundreds of PowerPoint slides for free.

Here are four simple ways to help you deliver a clear and concise presentation.

Use Precise Words

There are many ways to express one idea, but clarity shouldn’t be sacrificed for novelty.

Cut down your speech while giving life to your words by using precise language. Choose words that most accurately depict what you want to convey.

Note the difference in the following paired sentences:

Good: “Some audiences prefer eye contact to establish strong emotional connections.” Better: “70% of audiences use eye contact to form emotional connections.”

The second example gave an actual statistic to help the audience visualize what it truly meant. In the same way, let your audience know what exactly you’re talking about by giving more precise examples.

Use Familiar and Easy-to-Understand Words

Public speaking demands that the speaker is understood easily and instantly. It’s not the best time to show off your extensive vocabulary.

Your audience won’t have time to check their dictionaries, so keep your word choices simple and straight to the point. For example:

For example: “A ubiquitous technique among presenters is the projection of a precarious method in order to indemnify their audience’s attention.”

The previous sentence is not only difficult to understand, it also makes the speaker seem highfalutin. This may cost you your credibility, so instead of difficult jargon, say “common” instead of “ubiquitous,” “risky” instead of “precarious,” and “ensure” instead of “indemnify.”

Use Short and Simply Constructed Sentences

Even the most intent listeners can lose track of long and complicated sentences.

Express complex ideas by using easily understood sentences . Refer to the following statements:

Good: “We are at the threshold of a crisis situation which threatens to destabilize the status quo and usher in the dawn of a new era of change.” Better: “We have a crisis at hand. This threatens to destabilize the status quo and usher in a new era.”

The first example is too long-winded and confusing. The second one, on the other hand, punctuates two independent clauses and lets your listeners pause and think about each statement.

Provide Verbal Guideposts

Use verbal guideposts to signal the importance of ideas or a shift to another idea. These can come in the form of repetitions or transition signals.

Repetition allows you to emphasize an important thought.

Example: “Presentations conducted in person are still effective. Yes, they are still effective in terms of establishing personal connections with your clients.”

This example uses repetition to emphasize the problem and add more information to the primary idea.

On the other hand, transitions are words, phrases, or sentences that show relationships and suggest movement between ideas.

Examples: “I have discussed the nature of the problem. Let me now discuss the solutions.” “I have come to the most important part of my presentation. Please listen well.”

In both cases, the second sentences of each statement signal the start of the speaker’s discussion. Similarly, use transitions to let the audience know you’re about to discuss something important.

People’s attention spans are short. The bad news is that they’re getting even shorter . Best engage your listeners through clear and concise language.

Keep these four tips in mind next time you take the stage. Good luck and happy presenting!

Download free PowerPoint templates now.

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“ 3 Ways to Cut Back Your Text-Heavy PowerPoint Slides .” SlideGenius Inc . February 24, 2015. Accessed May 22, 2015. “ Cues .” Bethel.edu . Accessed May 22, 2015. “ Self-Evaluation Guide after a PowerPoint Presentation .” SlideGenius Inc . Accessed May 22, 2015. Watson, Leon. “ Humans Have Shorter Attention Span than Goldfish, Thanks to Smartphones .” The Telegraph . Accessed May 22, 2015.

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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The 5/5/5 Rule for Presentations: How to Use it and Examples

Last updated on June 21st, 2024

In today’s fast-paced world, delivering effective presentations is more important than ever. Whether you are presenting to colleagues, clients, or conference attendees, the ability to communicate your message clearly and concisely is essential.

One proven method for creating visually appealing presentation slides is the 5/5/5 Rule. This rule is designed to streamline the presentation design process and keep your audience engaged. By following the 5/5/5 Rule, you’ll be able to create presentation slides that are both visually appealing and informative, leading to more successful presentations.

What is the 5/5/5 Rule?

The 5/5/5 Rule is a simple yet powerful guideline for creating presentation slides that are easy to understand and visually engaging. The rule breaks down into three components:

5 words: Limiting 5 words per line

When creating slide templates, it’s essential to prioritize readability. By limiting the number of words on a single line to five, you ensure that your text is easy to read and comprehend, even from a distance. This constraint forces you to be concise and choose your words carefully, ultimately leading to clearer and more effective communication.

The first “5” in the 5/5/5 Rule also encourages presenters to use succinct, powerful language. By condensing your message into a few essential words, you increase the likelihood that your audience will remember and understand the key points of your presentation.

5 lines: Limiting lines of text per slide

Too much text on a single slide can overwhelm your audience, making it difficult for them to process and retain the information being presented. By limiting the number of text lines to five, you reduce the cognitive load on your audience, allowing them to focus on the most important aspects of your message.

Visually appealing slides are crucial for keeping your audience engaged. When you limit the number of text lines on a slide, you create more white space, which can make your presentation slides look cleaner and more professional. This increased visual appeal can help maintain your audience’s attention and contribute to the overall success of your presentation. You can combine this idea with the rule of threes for presentations .

5 slides: Limiting consecutive slides with text

To keep your audience engaged, it’s important to break up long stretches of text-heavy slides. By limiting the number of consecutive slides with text to five, you encourage the use of visuals, multimedia, and other forms of content that can help maintain interest and enhance understanding.

Incorporating visuals such as images, infographics, charts, and videos into your presentation can help illustrate complex concepts and reinforce key points. You can separate essential parts of your presentations into different topics, then keep up to 5 slides in each section. Following the third “5” of the 5/5/5 Rule ensures that your presentation is balanced, engaging, and informative.

Benefits of the 5/5/5 Rule for Presenters

Implementing the 5/5/5 Rule in your presentation design process can lead to several benefits, including:

The rule 5x5x5 for presentations, before and after example.

1. Enhanced audience focus

By reducing the amount of text on your slides and incorporating more visuals, you can help your audience focus on the essential aspects of your message. This focused attention can lead to increased understanding and retention of your presentation’s key points.

2. Improved information retention

When you simplify your slides and present information in a clear, concise manner, your audience is more likely to remember what you’ve shared. The 5/5/5 Rule helps you distill complex ideas into easily digestible slides, increasing the likelihood that your audience will retain the information long after your presentation has ended.

3. More effective communication

The 5/5/5 Rule encourages presenters to be mindful of their audience’s needs and attention spans. By following this guideline, you can communicate your message more effectively, making it easier for your audience to understand and engage with your content.

4. Reduced cognitive load

Limiting the amount of text on your slides and interspersing visuals helps reduce the cognitive load on your audience. When they are not overwhelmed by information, they can better process and remember the key points of your presentation.

How to Implement the 5/5/5 Rule in your own Presentations?

To incorporate the 5/5/5 Rule into your presentation design process, consider the following steps:

1. Analyzing your content

1.1 Identifying key points. Before you start designing your slides, take the time to identify the most important points of your presentation. This process will help you determine what information to include on your slides and how to structure your content effectively.

1.2 Simplifying complex ideas. Once you have identified your key points, consider ways to simplify and distill complex ideas into easy-to-understand concepts. This will make it easier for your audience to grasp your message and increase the likelihood that they will retain the information.

2. Designing your slides

2.1. Emphasizing brevity and clarity. As you design your presentation slides, focus on keeping your text concise and clear. Use the 5x5x5 Rule to guide you in limiting the amount of text on each slide, prioritizing readability and visual appeal.

2.2. Using visuals and multimedia effectively. Incorporate visuals, such as images, graphs, and videos, to support your message and engage your audience. Be mindful of the third “5” in the 5/5/5 Rule, and ensure that you break up long stretches of text-heavy slides with visually appealing and informative multimedia content.

3. Balancing text and visuals

3.1. Knowing when to break the rules. While the 5/5/5 Rule is a helpful guideline, it’s essential to recognize that there may be instances when it’s appropriate to deviate from it. Depending on the complexity of your topic or the needs of your audience, you may need to adjust the rule to suit your specific situation.

3.2. Tailoring your approach to your audience. Consider the preferences and expectations of your audience when designing your slides. Some audiences may appreciate a more text-heavy approach, while others may respond better to visuals and multimedia. Be flexible and adapt your presentation design to meet the needs of your audience.

Relevant Facts Related to 5/5/5 Rule for Presentations

Attention spans: According to a study conducted by Microsoft, the average human attention span has decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013, which is shorter than a goldfish’s attention span (Microsoft, 2015). The 5/5/5 Rule for presentation helps presenters deliver information concisely, catering to these shorter attention spans and improving audience engagement.
Information overload: A study by the University of California, San Diego, estimated that the average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of data daily (Bohn & Short, 2009). The 5/5/5 Rule for presentation design helps presenters avoid overwhelming their audience with excessive information, allowing them to focus on key points and better retain the presented content.
Visual learning: According to research, 65% of the population are visual learners (Bradford, 2016). By implementing the 5/5/5 Rule, presenters can create a balanced mix of text and visuals, enhancing understanding and information retention for a majority of the audience.
Presentation effectiveness: A study from the University of Tennessee found that presentations using visual aids were 43% more persuasive than those without (Vogel et al., 1986). By limiting consecutive text-heavy slides, the 5/5/5 Rule for presentations encourages the use of visual aids, which can improve the overall effectiveness of a presentation.
Cognitive load: Reducing cognitive load by simplifying information is an essential aspect of effective instructional design (Sweller, 1994), also relevant with the ADDIE model . The 5/5/5 Rule addresses this by limiting words per line and lines per slide, making it easier for the audience to process and retain the presented information.

The 5/5/5 Rule is a powerful presentation design tool for creating visually appealing and effective presentation slides. By limiting the amount of text on your slides, incorporating visuals and multimedia, and tailoring your approach to your audience, you can improve the overall success of your presentations. As you embark on your next presentation design process, consider implementing the 5/5/5 Rule to enhance your PowerPoint slides or Google Slides, and make your message more engaging and memorable for your audience.

How and Why to Become More Concise When Speaking

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Concise Speaking in Professional Communication

Concise communication is a frequent challenge we see with clients and students.

Concision is hard because professionals have lots of information to convey in a very limited time.

Important decision-makers are usually very short on time, and have a limited attention span. You have to get your point across quickly and efficiently .

Another reason it’s tough to be concise is more psychological: nervousness.

You might be nervous in front of an important client, a huge audience , or your Vice President. When you’re nervous, you speak faster and your ideas are more disorganized.

A nervous, disorganized speaker might take 100 words to express what a calm and focused speaker can say in 20.

The good news is that concise speaking is a skill that can be learned and improved.

If you have a hard time with concision, there are some simple strategies you can use to improve.

Why Should You Be More Concise When Speaking?

Concise speaking makes a huge difference in the quality of your presentations. The benefits include: 1. Focusing the audience . When you give your audience too much information, you make it harder for them to know what is most important. But when you speak concisely, with fewer words, the audience has an easier time separating the wheat from the chaff. You can manage their attention and focus better. 2. Memorability . It is fundamentally easier to remember a simple message than a complicated one. 3. Persuasiveness . Concise speaking increases process fluency , or how easy it is for the brain to process a message. Studies have found that when messages are easier to process, they are more likely to be seen as true. 4. Efficiency . A small number of words can be delivered in a shorter amount of time than a large number of words. Efficient communication is prized and appreciated by all audiences. It shows the speaker respects their time. And it allows everyone to be more productive. 5. Speaking slower . If your message can be expressed in fewer words, you have the freedom to speak slower in the same amount of time. Speaking slowly has numerous benefits, including the ability to put more emphasis and emotional expression on your words. 6. Professionalism and competence . A presenter who needs to take 500 words to express what another can say in 120 words demonstrates a lack of expertise, and a lack of familiarity with their subject-matter. Concision in communication indicates that the speaker has so much familiarity with the topic that they have developed mental shortcuts and patterns to fully understand it. “The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple.” -Albert Einstein

How Can You Speak More Concisely?

Here are two simple ways to get more concise in your speaking. Both are for building spontaneous concision : the kind you use in free-flowing meetings, Q&As after presentations, and on-the-fly interactions with decision makers. 1. The Read and Speak Exercise Read a news article or report related to your industry. Then give a short summary on what you just read. Either time yourself or have a friend time you. Depending on how concise you are trying to be, you can shoot for 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds, or another length of time. You do well if you can speak coherently while including all important information from the article, within the time limit. It’s important that you use a new article each time you repeat this exercise–something you have never seen before. You want to train your ability to quickly process and speak about new information. If you use an article you have already read multiple times, or are very familiar with, then you are not forcing your brain to process information and form words quickly. 2. The Listen and Speak Exercise Have a friend or colleague ( or a coach ) pepper you with a series of questions or statements. Your job is to answer or respond to each, in turn, within 10 seconds, 30 seconds, or 60 seconds. Your partner’s questions or statements should be novel and unexpected, preventing you from planning ahead of time. Again, you must form complete sentences and cover all of the important points about each topic. Remember, for both exercises, your sentences don’t have to be grammatically perfect. Sometimes using bullet points or fragments is the best way to quickly convey information. The first exercise is for training recall and quickly processing reading material. And the second exercise is more focused on conversational/ social reaction time. The more you repeat these exercises, the better you will get.

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Unlock the Power of Your Presentations: How Less Really is More

Mike macasero.

July 20, 2023

You’ve spent hours crafting the perfect presentation, but did you know that less is often more when it comes to slide design? In this article, we’ll explore why simplicity is key to engaging your audience and delivering a memorable message. So grab your favorite beverage, and let’s dive into the world of minimalist presentations.

The Perils of Text-Heavy Slides

A side-by-side comparison of a cluttered slide with excessive text and a sleek, minimalist slide with a focused message, demonstrating the power of simplicity in presentations.

One common mistake my clients often make is cramming too much text onto a single slide. This can be a major distraction, as audience members end up reading the text instead of listening to the presenter. Remember, slides are meant to be visual aids, not pages from a book or an article. By including less text on your slides, you’re actually showing that you know your stuff!

Take a cue from Steve Jobs and embrace simplicity. If you want to provide more detailed information, put it in the notes section of your slides so that your audience can refer to it later.

Hook Your Audience: Less Text, More Engagement

Your goal as a presenter is to hook your audience and make them pay attention to you. Don’t give them a paragraph to read on a slide – that’s what you’re there for! By including just enough text to pique their interest, you’re encouraging your audience to focus on your words and ideas, rather than the slides themselves.

Effective Communication: The Power of Brevity

A compilation of examples highlighting the difference between lengthy, verbose messages and their concise, impactful counterparts, demonstrating the benefits of brevity in presentations.

When it comes to communication, less is often more. A concise, well-crafted message can be more impactful than a lengthy, rambling explanation. The best communicators are those who can express complex ideas in just a few words, demonstrating a deep understanding of their subject matter.

The Designer’s Dilemma: Striving for Symmetry

An illustration of a visually unbalanced slide with unevenly distributed text across three columns, emphasizing the need for concise and balanced text in presentation design.

As a designer, I often notice that clients struggle with achieving symmetry in their copy. For instance, if you have three columns with text, you might see one sentence in the first column, one sentence in the second column, and five sentences in the third column. This lack of balance can make it difficult to create an impactful layout. By keeping your text concise and evenly distributed, you’ll make your designer’s life easier and your presentation more visually appealing.

Less Words, More Knowledge

A contrasting view of a text-heavy slide next to a minimalistic, refined slide with visuals that represent key points, showcasing the impact of clear visuals and reduced text on audience engagement and understanding.

Don’t assume that using fewer words means you know less about your subject. In fact, the opposite is true. By refining your text and distilling your key messages, you’re demonstrating a deeper understanding of your topic. This exercise will not only improve the visual appeal of your slides but also help you become a more effective communicator.

The power of simplicity in presentations cannot be overstated. By embracing a “less is more” mentality, you’ll create engaging, visually appealing slides that resonate with your audience. So the next time you’re crafting a pitch deck, sales deck, training deck, or keynote speech, remember that brevity is your friend – and the key to unlocking the full potential of your presentation.

The Wisdom of the Greats: 5 Quotes on Simplicity

To further drive home the importance of simplicity, here are five quotes from some of history’s most influential individuals, emphasizing the value of keeping things simple, especially in presentations and communication:

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Albert Einstein

“Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.” Mark Twain

“Short words are best, and the old words, when short, are best of all.” Winston Churchill

“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” Steve Jobs

Let these words of wisdom from these great minds inspire you to embrace simplicity in your presentations and communication, allowing you to create a lasting impact on your audience.

He is the Founder and Head of Design at Slideckly, which offers PowerPoint presentation design services. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business with a concentration in Management Information Systems. In his free time, he enjoys playing guitar, singing karaoke, reading non-fiction, and learning new skills.

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7 Ways to Make Presentations More Convincing

Presentations are more persuasive when they touch both mind and heart at multiple levels..

The point of a presentation is to convince decision-makers to make a public commitment to whatever you're selling, according to G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa , co-authors of the excellent book The Art of Woo . Here's how:

1. Make it vivid.

Rather than abstract concepts ("reduces costs," "increases productivity") use concrete, real-life examples that carry emotional heft with the audience ("saved ABC $1 million," "prevented XYZ from going bankrupt.")

2. Put your heart into it.

If you don't really believe in yourself, your firm, and its offerings, you'll persuade nobody. And it's not enough to simply believe... it must be obvious to the audience that you're a true believer.

3. Tell a story.

Humans use stories to order events so that they make sense to their daily lives. Your presentation should have a hero who overcomes obstacles to achieve a goal. BTW, the hero must be the customer, not you.

4. Personalize your examples.

A presentation should cause an emotional shift from being "undecided" to being "certain." This is only possible if your presentation is relevant to your audience's work and life experiences.

5. Make it a puzzle.

If there's some mystery to your presentation, your audience will get involved solving it. So don't reveal everything up front, especially when you're telling a story. Let the story evolve into a meaningful ending.

6. Use telling metaphors.

Drawing parallels with the familiar helps the audience grasp complex ideas. Example: "Photolithography becomes problematic at 180nm." Or, in other words, "It's like trying to draw a blueprint with a hunk of chalk."

7. Force them to think.

True decision-makers are quickly bored by ideas and information that they already understand. Instead, they crave opportunities to exercise their brainpower to learn something new and insightful.

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A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta

More From Forbes

The vital importance of the correct point of view in communication.

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Illustration of contrasting head silhouettes exchanging ideas with open minds

When I was a freshman at New York University, the manual for the requisite speech course was titled, “Handbook of Objective Speaking.” At the beginning of the course, I assumed that “objective” was a noun, which meant the focus of a speech should be on its endgame or goal. It was not until the professor enlightened me that “objective” was an adjective to differentiate it from “subjective,” that the focus of a speech must be meaningful to the audience and not simply a soliloquy about the presenter’s point of view.

After college, I moved into journalism and had that concept reinforced by both The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook and The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage . Each of those guides recommends that journalists should avoid using the first person—the “I”—in news writing so as to provide an objective point of view that reports facts rather than opinion.

The difference between objective and subjective communication can be measured as the difference between the frequency of the word “you” and “I” in an exchange. A simple example of how that applies is in common social situations such as a dinner party. Think of the times you have been trapped sitting next to a bore who goes on and on about themselves and never asks you a question. The likelihood is that the ratio of that person’s pronouns was heavily skewed to “I.”

The solution, of course, is for communication to be effective, it must factor in the intended recipient, the audience, the reader, and the listener. It must be about the “you”—about “them.” After all, the “co-“ in “communication” dictates that it must be about “you” as well as “I.”

John McWhorter, an associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University and a regular contributor to the New York Times , wrote in his column last week that “psychologists even encourage us to try thinking of ourselves as ‘you’ or ‘he/she/they’ in order to imagine how others see us. It’s another way of reminding yourself, ‘It’s not all about me.’” McWhorter references a workaround linguistic practice called “illeism” or referring to oneself in the third person. As examples, he cites basketball superstar LeBron James and former President Trump. But McWhorter goes on to call the practice “a Tarzanian linguistic tendency,” (as in, “Me Tarzan, you Jane”) and is still self-referential.

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In support of the importance of the correct point of view, McWhorter also references James Pennebaker, the author of The Secret Life of Pronouns , who “demonstrated that Anglophones say (and write) ‘I’ or ‘me’ with starkly different frequencies depending on the speakers’ intentions and mental states, so much so that one can use the pronouns’ frequency to deduce a person’s truthfulness, contentment and certainty. Specifically, using ‘I’ and ‘me.’” In this previous Forbes blog , you can see how Pennebaker applies his observations about pronouns to the most common form of communication: conversations.

And yet in the world of business communications, it is standard operating procedure to be subjective, e.g. , to present the speaker’s point of view with a laundry list recitation of the bells and whistles of a product and/or service. It’s fine to do that, but to be persuasive, the speaker must tell the audience what those bells and whistles mean to them. The benefits that the features provide. The “you” versus the “I.”

To be persuasive, be direct. Say “you” more than you say “I.”

It’s all about them .

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