How to make awesome powerpoint presentation slides?

Whether you're in industry or academia, you'll need at some point to give a talk and/or make a powerpoint presentation. This is unavoidable! Even if you go for a job interview, you'll need to make a presentation and impress your future employers. And the audience's confidence in your abilities is generally proportional to how well you deliver your talk.

You need to learn to make neat slides for a start. I've seen lots of people who do good work but make horrible presentations. After the horrendous talk, their credibility goes down exponentially.

I can give a whole lecture regarding powerpoint slides but I'll cut to the chase.

Here are a few pointers:

1. Design your own template or buy them online. People are sick of seeing the same old powerpoint templates.

Use a white background (Colored backgrounds are distracting!). Go for a minimalistic design.

2. Use high quality graphics, logos and make some 3D illustrations.

Avoid making your powerpoint dull with low-resolution graphics and too many 2D images.

3. Cut down on text. Avoid crowded slides and use more graphics to get your message across.

4. Use some powerpoint custom animation (appear/disappear) to help the audience focus on some specific information on the slide.

Make information appear one at a time, if the slide is full of information. But don't go overboard on the custom animation.

5. Always use a powerpoint presenter.

It makes you look more professional! I always carry my Kensington presenter whenever I need to give a talk. It's old school using the page up/down button on a keyboard.


6. Check out Garr Reynolds (presentation guru!) presentation tips.

7. Rehearse...

You have to bear in mind that you have only one shot at it. Just one bullet so to speak, and you cannot afford to miss the target! So rehearse a few times before the actual event. Also, make sure that you're conveying your message.

When delivering the actual presentation, be enthusiastic about your talk and convey your enthusiasm!