{"id":1983,"date":"2021-12-24T11:14:41","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T11:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/?p=1983"},"modified":"2024-08-07T12:39:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T12:39:17","slug":"5-tips-on-upgrading-your-powerpoint-presentations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/5-tips-on-upgrading-your-powerpoint-presentations\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips On Upgrading Your PowerPoint Presentations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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If you\u2019ve been acing sales pitches<\/a> and marketing presentations<\/a> for years, do you really need PowerPoint presentation tips? Yes! Simply because creating presentations is an evolving skill. As your competitors and other organizations in your industry regularly improve their presentations, your clients\u2019 expectations grow. So, what wowed your audience a year or so ago may not get you that same positive response today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every day, millions of people use PowerPoint. This includes our clients, who use presentations to shoot for sales, train their teams, and establish their expertise within their industry. This points to two things: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. PowerPoint presentations are a great way to communicate important information and ideas, and can be extremely effective. <\/li>
  2. Decision-makers in your industry\u2014your senior management, clients, and industry partners\u2014probably see multiple presentations every week, if not every day. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What this means is you are not only expected to deliver a strong presentation, but you\u2019re also under pressure to match the caliber and quality of the other presentations these decision-makers are seeing. And, to really get results, you need to stand out and create an impactful experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But, in our years of experience as a creative design agency, we know that impressing your audience requires high-quality design, carefully-crafted content, and well-planned effects such as animations. That\u2019s why, while our clients are experts in the subject matter covered, they rely on us to write and design high-priority presentations<\/a> that help them succeed. In this blog, we\u2019ll share some PowerPoint presentation tips that our creative team keeps in mind while developing memorable slides that align with our clients\u2019 goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Know what you want from your audience, and what your audience wants from you
    Goal:<\/em><\/strong> To minimize cognitive load, so the information presented is easy to absorb and respond to<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Before you start designing or writing, figure out exactly what it is that you want your audience to do with the information they receive through your presentation. Why is this our first PowerPoint presentation tip? Because if you aren’t clear on this point, then your presentation will be filled with irrelevant information and will lack a clear call-to-action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When you\u2019re passionate about something\u2014a new solution, a potential partnership, or your business as a whole\u2014you may feel inclined to include a lot of information on what you do, your top achievements, company history, recent awards, impressive partnerships, and more. While each one of those points may be impressive, sharing all of them together can create cognitive overload, which prevents your viewers from absorbing the relevant information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    About cognitive overload<\/em><\/strong>: It happens when the amount of information a person is trying to process at any given time exceeds their working memory capacity, so they are unable to absorb all the information presented. When we design presentations, minimizing cognitive load is one of our goals.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Keeping that in mind, only use the information that is completely in line with your goal for the presentation. For example, if it\u2019s a sales presentation, does your audience need to know a lot about your company\u2019s history? You can touch on it, to boost trust and credibility, but it\u2019s more important to highlight the key features and benefits of the product, service, or solution you\u2019re selling. Conversely, if you\u2019re creating a corporate presentation, it\u2019s better to give an overview of your offerings, but focus more on your company history, team, core values, accomplishments, vision, and mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A suggestion to help you implement this PowerPoint presentation tip: Take out off-topic but interesting details that you can share later, verbally or on a follow-up call, as you build a relationship with the potential client or partner; they don\u2019t all need to be included in your presentation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Amp up the visual appeal with photos, graphs, diagrams, animations, and more<\/strong>
    <\/strong>Goal: <\/em><\/strong>To keep viewers interested and engaged from start to finish<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    There is no hard rule for how much or what kind of visuals your presentation should include, but try not to rely on text alone. This PowerPoint presentation tip comes from thinking about how the audience processes information. Research shows that humans process images 60,000 times faster than they do text. And, once you\u2019ve followed our first tip and pared your presentation content down to the most essential and impactful details, creating good visuals will become a lot easier! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We\u2019ve seen many presentations that use visuals as fillers\u2014slide separators, an attractive image alongside the text, etc. But that\u2019s not what we mean. The most effective way to sell your idea is to use visuals that your audience can immediately understand, so instead of adding a bunch of visuals without much planning, try being a little more strategic: turn your presentation content into visuals or stick to clean layouts that are visually appealing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To create graphs, diagrams, and more, you can either use the templates that PowerPoint offers, or engage a professional design team<\/a> to create sleek, branded visuals that boost your credibility. Either way, the main takeaway from this PowerPoint presentation tip is to prioritize the visuals, and think of how you can use them as visual cues for the points you plan to make verbally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. But don\u2019t overuse visuals either\u2014keep that cognitive load in check<\/strong>
    <\/strong>Goal: <\/em><\/strong>To make the key message, takeaways, and call-to-action clear<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    As powerful as visuals are, overloading your presentation with them can be too much of a good thing. When considering our previous PowerPoint presentation tip, remember that the key is balance. Having too many visual elements on a single slide can distract or confuse the audience. You need your audience to hear and remember your message, so avoid filling your presentation with irrelevant graphics and animations. PowerPoint\u2019s huge array of features and templates is certainly attractive, but trying to use too many of them at once is not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Scrutinize your visuals carefully and get rid of anything that makes your slides cluttered and confusing. Even if you really want to convey a lot of information to your audience, remember there\u2019s only so much they can absorb in one sitting. So, focus on your key message and takeaways, and remember to end with a clear, strong call-to-action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. Tell a story that resonates with your audience<\/strong>
    <\/strong>Goal: <\/em><\/strong>To make your presentation easy to connect with and memorable, helping you earn the audience\u2019s trust<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    This PowerPoint presentation tip is especially relevant when you\u2019re presenting a product. When talking about product features and business benefits, it\u2019s important to frame them as a story that your audience will connect with. Stories help us communicate ideas and share knowledge. They\u2019re easier to remember than a set of data points or observations. A story explains how distinct pieces of information relate to each other and, most importantly, to the audience. It\u2019s a powerful way to capture and convey your message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Telling a story in a short presentation may feel challenging, but it gets easier when you do these 3 things: <\/p>\n\n\n\n