The thought of giving a presentation might mortify you or, at the very least, make you a little nervous. It’s normal to feel this way, but making your presentation more captivating can help take the edge off. How people react to your presentation makes the experience better for everyone involved.
When creating a presentation, make sure that it’s one you can be proud of and delight your audience with. Here are five tips for making your next presentation more interesting and engaging.
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1. Add Screen Recordings
Whenever you’re able to visually show your audience something rather than tell them about it, use that opportunity. People love visuals. It keeps them engaged and helps them to better understand what’s being explained. Presenters will oftentimes use screenshots to tell a story, but what’s often forgotten about is the ability to screen record.
When creating a presentation, adding screen recordings can help you get your point across. Not to mention, they don’t overcrowd your slides as much. Depending on what you’re trying to show, you may have to add several screenshots. Instead of making a mess of your presentation, just use a screen recorder. You’ll save yourself time and save your audience from any confusion.
2. Cut Unnecessary Info
The only thing worse than too many unnecessary screenshots is too many unnecessary words. When possible, cut text to make your slides less cluttered and more visually appealing. Get creative and figure out how to say the same thing using fewer words. Using a larger font size is also helpful because it forces you to work with what little space you have.
Another great way to make text-heavy slides more digestible is by using lists. Bullet points and numbered lists make content easier to understand and highlight important information. They also force the reader to slow down and really focus on certain aspects of text. After you finish your presentation, make sure to give your slides one last look. If you have too much text anywhere, cut what you can. It will only help to improve your presentation.
Pro tip: As a general rule of thumb, make sure you can talk through info on slides in a minute or less.
3. Add a Design to Your Slides
A presentation is made up of content and photos/screenshots (sometimes videos). But your work shouldn’t stop there. A creative design can make your presentation more captivating and keep your audience engaged. Slide design includes the use of different elements like visuals, colors, typography, layout, and transitions. The right design can enhance your presentation and make it that much more interesting.
To design effective slides, there are a few general guidelines to follow. Incorporate strong visual elements such as drawings, graphics, photos, and diagrams. Animations, sounds, and special effects are great, but don’t overdo it. You still want everything to come across as professional. All slides should also have a consistent look and feel. Even text has a design element to it. For example, each slide should have a captivating headline that’s in a larger font than the rest of the slide.
4. Make Sure to Tell a Story
Easy-to-understand content and impeccable design will mean nothing if your slides aren’t telling a story. Once your presentation starts coming together, make sure that it follows a chronological order or another order that makes sense. You can reel your audience in more easily if your slides are flowing naturally from one to the next. This is what turns a presentation into a story rather than a mess of slides.
Yes, your slides need to look pretty and have solid information. But if there is no cohesiveness, it will feel like a jumbled mess and lead to confusion. Start with a title slide and an overview slide sharing what will be covered in the presentation. End with a recap, final thoughts to leave your audience with, and potentially a slide with your contact information. The middle of the presentation is where the bulk of the storytelling will happen. So, make sure to craft and thoughtfully order them in a way that makes sense.
5. Rehearse and Be Prepared
Lastly, make sure to practice your presentation so that you can deliver it in a way that grabs — and keeps — people’s attention. If you’re just reading text off of slides and you sound confused, your audience will lose interest quickly. This is why it’s so important to be prepared; make sure you can deliver your presentation in a way that makes it sound conversational.
It should sound like you’re an expert on the topic and have the slides memorized. Great design, minimal text, and storytelling will help you to give a killer presentation. Following the advice outlined here will result in a presentation that is not only captivating, but easier to deliver. And that’s the goal at the end of the day, for everyone in the room to feel comfortable and completely tuned-in.
A lot goes into creating the perfect presentation. But you shouldn’t aim for perfection; instead, aim for what will grab people’s attention the most. The best kind of presentation is captivating; it reels the audience in and makes them feel connected to you. Once you understand how not to bore your audience, you can wow them with your next presentation.
I am Very Enthusiastic about Writing Tech, Smart Phones, Products Reviews, Offers, and deals. I have been writing on tricks5.com since 2015.
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