How to Prepare a Killer PowerPoint Presentation

When giving a presentation some of us like to accompany our speech with PowerPoint slides, perhaps because of the massive amount of information we need to deliver or maybe because we want to use the slides as a guide to our speech.

Having a PowerPoint presentation is an effective way to deliver a message and to educate the audience. However, there are few techniques that you want to use when it comes to creating your PowerPoint slides.

Here are a few suggestions.

1. Start by outlining your content and focusing on your main takeaways

2. Be aware of your audience: who are they? how much do they know? what would you want them to get away with from your presentation?

3. Formulate your content in a narrative style. Stories engage and compel people in a way that facts, numbers, and charts can't. Apply this rule to presentations that are less formal and allow flexibility to integrate stories

4. Use reliable data and examples to boost content credibility.

When it comes to the actual creation of the slides, it is recommended to follow the below guidelines:

1. Pick a color scheme that goes with the tone of your speech that doesn't distract your viewers and that is legible.

2. Choose a pre-made design for your template and add a touch of your style.

3. When it comes to filling in the slides, have a title and headers, keywords, and images if needed to

4. Do not fill in your slides with too much information as they are there as a supporting tool for your speech and not for you to read from.

When it comes to starting and ending your presentation, you always want to start and finish with a "bang" For example, when you start a presentation, you can:

1. Begin with a dramatic or a sharp introduction

2. Begin with a challenging question

3. Begin with a powerful statistic or personal story to engage the audience
   

No matter how you start, you want to make sure you hook your audience right from the beginning! When you conclude your presentation, try to keep in mind this: What message am I trying to deliver? End with a strong take-home message, something that the audience will think about after you end your speech.