How to write a presentation about What does the perfect presentation look like? A good presentation should be public

Microsoft PowerPoint- a powerful set of tools for creating presentations. When you first explore the program, it may seem that creating a demo here is really easy. Maybe so, but most likely a rather primitive version will come out, which is suitable for the most minor shows. But to create something more complex, you need to delve into the functionality.

First of all, you need to create a presentation file. There are two options here.

Now that PowerPoint is working, we need to create the slides - the frames of our presentation. The button is used for this. "Create Slide" tab "Home", or a combination of hot keys "Ctrl" + "M".

Initially, a title slide is created, which will show the title of the presentation topic.

All further frames will be standard by default and have two areas - for the title and content.

A start. Now all you need to do is fill your presentation with data, change the design, and so on. The order of execution does not really matter, so the next steps do not have to be done sequentially.

Appearance customization

As a rule, even before the start of filling the presentation with data, the design is configured. For the most part, they do this because after adjusting the appearance, existing site elements may not look very good, and you have to seriously rework the finished document. Because most often they do it right away. To do this, use the tab of the same name in the header of the program, it is the fourth from the left.

To configure, go to the tab "Design".

There are three main areas here.

It is worth talking about the last option in a little more detail.

Button "Background Format" opens an additional side menu on the right. Here, in the case of installing any design, there are three tabs.

These tools are quite enough to make the presentation design not only colorful, but also completely unique. If the presentation does not have the specified standard style selected by this time, then in the menu "Background Format" will only "Pouring".

Slide layout customization

As a rule, before filling the presentation with information, the format is also configured. There is a wide range of templates for this. Most often, none advanced settings layouts are not required, since the developers provide a good and functional assortment.

If, nevertheless, there is a need to create a slide in a layout that is not provided for by standard templates, then you can make your own blank.

At the end of all work, press the button "Close sample mode". After that, the system will return to working with the presentation again, and the template can be applied to the slide in the manner described above.

Filling with data

Whatever was described above, the main thing in the presentation is filling it with information. Anything can be inserted into the show, as long as it harmoniously combines with each other.

By default, each slide has its own title and a separate area is allocated for this. Here you should enter the name of the slide, the topic, what is being said in this case, and so on. If a series of slides speaks about the same thing, then you can either delete the title, or simply do not write anything there - the empty area is not displayed when the presentation is shown. In the first case, you need to click on the border of the frame and click the button Del. In both cases the slide will not have a title and the system will label it as "nameless".

Most slide layouts use "Content Area". This section can be used both for entering text and for inserting other files. In principle, any content added to the site automatically tries to occupy this particular slot, adjusting to the size on its own.

If we talk about text, then it is easily formatted using standard Microsoft Office tools, which are also present in other products of this package. That is, the user can freely change the font, color, size, special effects and other aspects.

As for adding files, the list is wide. It can be:

Pictures;
Mathematical, physical and chemical formulas;
SmartArt schemes, etc.

To add all this, a variety of methods are used. In most cases, this is done through the tab "Insert".

Also, the content area itself contains 6 icons for quickly adding tables, charts, SmartArt objects, pictures from a computer, images from the Internet, and video files. To insert, you need to click on the corresponding icon, after which the toolkit or browser will open to select the desired object.

Inserted elements can be freely moved around the slide with the mouse, manually selecting the desired layout. Also, no one forbids changing sizes, position priority, and so on.

Additional functions

There is also a wide range of different features that enhance the presentation, but are not required to be used.

Transition setup

This point is half related to the design and appearance of the presentation. It does not have such paramount importance as setting up the external one, so it is not necessary to do it at all. This toolkit is located in the tab "Transitions".

In the area of "Go to this slide" presented wide selection various animation compositions that will be used to transition from one slide to another. You can choose the presentation you like the most or suit the mood of the presentation, as well as use the customization function. The button is used for this. "Effect Options", each animation has its own set of settings.

Region "Slide Show Time" no longer has to do with visual style. Here you can set the duration of viewing one slide, provided that they will change without the author's command. But it is also worth noting here the important button for the last paragraph - "Apply to all" allows you not to apply the transition effect between slides on each frame manually.

Animation settings

You can add a special effect to each element, whether it is text, a media file or anything else. It's called "Animation". The settings for this aspect are located in the corresponding tab in the program header. You can add, for example, the animation of the appearance of an object, as well as the subsequent disappearance. detailed instructions for creating and configuring animation is in a separate article.

Hyperlinks and control system

In many serious presentations, control systems are also set up - control keys, slide menus, and so on. For all this, the hyperlink setting is used. Not in all cases, there should be such components, but in many cases it improves perception and systematizes the presentation well, practically turning it into a separate manual or program with an interface.

Outcome

Based on the foregoing, we can come to the following most optimal algorithm for creating a presentation, consisting of 7 steps:

Create as many slides as you need
It is far from always possible for the user to say in advance how long the presentation will be, but it is best to have an idea. This will help in the future to harmoniously distribute the entire amount of information, set up various menus, and so on.
Customize visual design
Distribute slide layout options
To do this, either existing templates are selected, or new ones are created, and then distributed to each slide individually, based on its purpose. In some cases, this step may even precede the setting of the visual style, so that the author can adjust the design parameters just for the chosen arrangement of elements.
Enter all data
The user brings all the necessary text, media or other types of data into the presentation, distributing it over the slides in the desired logical sequence. All information is edited and formatted here.
Create and configure additional elements
At this stage, the author creates control buttons, various content menus, and so on. It is also not uncommon for individual moments (for example, creating slide control buttons) to be created during the framing stage so that you do not have to manually add buttons each time.
Add secondary components and effects
Setting animations, transitions, background music and so on. Usually done already at the last stage, when everything else is ready. These aspects have little effect on the finished document and can always be abandoned, which is why they are dealt with last.
Check and fix bugs
It remains only to double-check everything by running the preview, and make the necessary adjustments.

Additionally

In the end, I would like to make a couple of important points.

Like any other document, a presentation has its own weight. And it is the larger, the more objects are inserted inside. This is especially true for music and video files in high quality. So you should once again take care to add optimized media files, since a multi-gigabyte presentation not only presents difficulties with transportation and transfer to other devices, but in general can work extremely slowly.
There are various requirements for the design and content of the presentation. Before starting work, it is best to find out the regulations from the management, so as not to make a mistake and not come to the need to completely redo the finished work.
By the standards of professional presentations, it is recommended not to make large piles of text for those cases where the work is intended to accompany a presentation. No one will read all this, all the basic information should be delivered by the announcer. If the presentation is intended for individual study by the recipient (for example, an instruction), then this rule does not apply.

As you can understand, the procedure for creating a presentation includes many more options and steps than it might seem from the very beginning. No tutorial will teach you how to create demos better than just experience. So you need to practice, try different elements, actions, look for new solutions.

Hello.

Why "experienced advice"? I just happened to be in two roles: how to make and present presentations myself, and evaluate them (of course, not in the role of a simple listener :)).

In general, I can immediately say that the majority draws up a presentation, focusing only on their “likes / dislikes”. Meanwhile, there are still some important "moments" that simply cannot be ignored! That's what I wanted to talk about in this article ...

Note:

In many educational institutions, firms (if you are making a presentation on work), have their own rules for the design of such work. I don’t want to replace them or interpret them differently (just add :)), in any case, the one who will evaluate your work is always right (that is, the buyer, customer is always right)!
By the way, I already had an article on my blog with step by step creation presentations: . In it, I also partially touched on the issue of design (pointed out the main errors).

1. Incompatible colors

In my opinion, this is the worst thing they do in presentations. Judge for yourself how to read presentation slides if colors merge on them? Yes, of course, on your computer screen - it might not look bad, but on a projector (or just a larger screen) - half of your colors will just blur and fade.

For example, you should not use:

Black background with white text. Not only does the contrast in the room not always allow you to clearly convey the background and see the text well, but your eyes get tired pretty quickly when reading such text. By the way, it’s a paradox, many people can’t stand reading information from sites with a black background, but they make such presentations…;
Don't try to make a rainbow out of your presentation! 2-3-4 colors in the design will be enough, the main thing is to choose the right colors!
Lucky colors: black (though, provided that you don’t flood everything with it. Also keep in mind that black is a bit gloomy and does not always fit the context), burgundy, dark blue (in general, give preference to dark bright colors - they all look great), dark green, brown, purple;
Bad colors: yellow, pink, light blue, gold, etc. In general, everything that relates to light shades - believe me, when you look at your work from a distance of several meters, and if there is still a bright room, your work will be seen very poorly!

Rice. 1. Presentation Design Options: Choice of Colors

By the way, in Fig. 1 shows 4 different presentation designs (with different color shades). The most successful are options 2 and 3, on 1 - eyes will quickly get tired, and on 4 - no one will be able to read the text ...

2. Font selection: size, writing, color

A lot depends on the choice of font, its size, color (it was told about the color at the very beginning, here I will focus more on the font)!

I recommend choosing the most common font, for example: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana (i.e. without serifs, different divorces, “beautiful” frills ...). The fact is that if the font is chosen too "lurid" - it is inconvenient to read it, some words are invisible, etc. Plus - if your new font is not on the computer on which the presentation will be shown - hieroglyphs may appear (how to deal with them, I gave advice here: ), or the PC will pick up a different font and everything will “move out” for you. Therefore, I recommend choosing popular fonts that everyone has and that are easy to read ( note: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana ).
choose optimal size font. For example: 24-54 pts for headings, 18-36 pts for plain text (again, numbers are approximate). The most important thing - do not shrink, it is better to place less information on the slide, but so that it is convenient to read (up to a reasonable limit, of course :));
Italics, underlining, text highlighting, etc. - I do not recommend messing around with this. In my opinion, it is worth highlighting some words in the text, headings. The text itself is best left in normal font.
On all sheets of the presentation, the main text must be made the same - i.e. if you chose Verdana, then use it throughout your presentation. Then it will not turn out that one sheet is well readable, and the other - no one can make out (as they say "no comment")…

Rice. 2. An example of different fonts: Monotype Corsiva (1 on the screen) VS Arial (2 on the screen).

On fig. 2 is a very revealing example: 1 - the font is used Monotype Corsiva , on 2 - Arial. As you can see, when trying to read the font text Monotype Corsiva(and even more so for deletion) - discomfort appears, words are more difficult to parse than text in Arial.

3. Variety of different slides

I don’t quite understand why each page of the slide should have a different design: one in a blue tone, another in a “bloody” one, and a third in a dark one. Meaning? In my opinion, it is better to choose one optimal design, which can be used on all pages of the presentation.

The fact is that before the presentation, they usually adjust its display in order to choose the best visibility for the hall. If you have different colors, different fonts and design for each slide, then you will only do what to set up the display on each slide, instead of telling your report (well, or, many will not see what is displayed on your slides).

4. Title page and plan - are they needed, why do they

Many, for some reason, do not consider it necessary to sign their work and not make a title slide. In my opinion, this is a mistake, even if it is not explicitly required. Just imagine yourself: open this work in a year - and you will not even remember the topic of this report (let alone the rest) ...

I do not pretend to be original, but at least such a slide (as in Figure 4 below) will make your work much better.

Rice. 4. Title page (example)

I could be wrong (since I haven’t been doing this for a long time :)), but according to GOST (on the title page), the following should be indicated:

organization (for example, an educational institution);
name of the presentation;
surname and initials of the author;
surname and initials of the teacher/supervisor;
contact details (website, phone number, etc.);
year, city.

The same applies to the presentation plan: if it is not there, then the audience cannot even immediately understand what you will talk about. Another thing, if there is summary and you can already understand what this work is about at the first minute.

Rice. 5. Presentation plan (example)

In general, on this about the title page and the plan - I finish. They are just needed, and that's it!

5. Are graphics inserted correctly (pictures, diagrams, tables, etc.)

In general, pictures, diagrams, and other graphics can make it much easier to explain your topic and present your work more visually. Another thing is that some people abuse it too much ...

In my opinion, everything is simple here, a couple of rules:

do not insert pictures, only for them to be. Each picture should illustrate, explain and show something to the listener (everything else - you can not insert it into your work);
do not use a picture as a background to the text (it is very difficult to choose the color scheme of the text if the picture is heterogeneous, and such text is read worse);
it is highly desirable to provide explanatory text for each illustration: either under it or on the side;
if you are using a graph or diagram: label all axes, points, etc. elements on the diagram so that at a glance it is clear where and what is displayed.

Rice. 6. Example: how to correctly insert a description for a picture

6. Sound and video in the presentation

In general, I am somewhat opposed to the sound accompaniment of the presentation: it is much more interesting to listen to a living person (and not a soundtrack). Some people prefer to use background music: on the one hand, this is good (if it is relevant), on the other hand, if the hall is large, it is quite difficult to choose the optimal volume: those who are close will listen too loudly, those who are far away will listen quietly ...

Nevertheless, in presentations, sometimes, there are such topics where there is no way without sound at all ... For example, you need to bring the sound when something breaks - you can’t show it in text! The same applies to video.

Important!

(Note: for those who will present the presentation not from their computer)

1) Your videos will not always be saved in the body of the presentation and sound files(depending on the program in which you make the presentation). It may happen that when you open the presentation file on another computer, you will not see any sound or video. Therefore, advice: copy your video and audio files along with the file of the presentation itself to a USB flash drive (to the cloud :)).

2) I also want to note the importance of codecs. The computer on which you will present your presentation may not have the codecs you need to play your video. I recommend taking video and audio codecs with you as well. By the way, I have a note about them on my blog:.

7. Animation (a few words)

Animation is some interesting transition between slides (fade, shift, appearance, panorama, etc.), or, for example, an interesting presentation of a picture: it can sway, tremble (attract attention in every possible way), etc.

Rice. 7. Animation - a spinning picture (see Fig. 6 for completeness of the "picture").

There's nothing wrong with that, using animation can bring a presentation to life. The only point: some people use it very often, literally every slide is “saturated” with animation ...

I finish on sim. To be continued…

By the way, once again I will give one small piece of advice - never put off creating a presentation until the last day. It's better to do it in advance!

1.1 Example correct selection Material: Year of manufacture: Country: England Power: 520 hp Max. speed: 347 km/h

1.2 An example of material mismatch: The Jaguar XJ220 was released by Jaguar in 1991 and is listed as Jaguar's first supercar. It was created as a continuation of the XK120, released 40 years before the XJ220. In 40 years, the XJ220 is the first road race car to reach 217 mph (347 km/h) outside of Le Mans Jaguars. XJ220 was first conceived technical director Jim Randle and a small team known as The Saturday Club. They saw the launch of the Porsche 959, which was a four-wheel drive supercar prepared for Group B races. As early as 1984, a small team at Jaguar was contemplating an all-wheel drive Jaguar that would take the company to the top. Since the start of the car's production, Randle's team has supported the feasibility of production and racing entry into the automotive arena. This naturally meant that the V12 had to be mounted in the middle of a lightweight aluminum chassis.

2.2 An example of an incorrect presentation structure 1. Part of the work 2. Main concept 1 3. Part of the work 4. Main concept 2 5. Intermediate conclusion 6. Historical / lyrical digression 7. Part of the work 8. Concept And so on and in the same spirit

3. How to make a presentation for correct design Presentations should: Use only neutral, pastel colors White background if you are going to present the presentation on a projector in front of the public Provide information with illustrations, if possible, Highlight particularly important information in bold Use animation if necessary

An example of an incorrectly designed slide Located in the Himalayas and located on the border (the highest in the world) of Nepal and China (Tibet Autonomous Region), the peak itself lies on the territory of China. Has the shape of a pyramid; the southern slope is steeper. On the southern slope and ribs of the pyramid, snow and firn are not retained, as a result of which they are exposed. The summit consists mainly of sedimentary deposits. It is located in the Mahalangur-Himal (Khumbu-Himal) range on the border of eastern Nepal. Southern peak 8760 m. North-eastern shoulder 8393 m. national park Sagarmatha (Nepal). At the top there are strong winds blowing at speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, and the air temperature at night drops to minus sixty degrees.

4. How to actually "present" During the presentation, stick to the following rules: Do not read anything from a piece of paper Do not read yourself what is written on your slide Do not make long pauses, but do not speak too quickly Show your interest in the topic Expand each point mentioned in the presentation 15

A presentation is a special form of presenting information. For this, technical means are usually used. The main objective of the presentation, for example, is to interest the audience in the promoted product, service, idea, etc. Immediately before the presentation, a so-called script is drawn up.

In accordance with the theme of the presentation and the conditions for its holding, a video sequence is selected to demonstrate the product, computer graphics, sound and color design, handouts are prepared in advance. The brighter the presentation, the better and more attractive it is for target audience.

If you want to make a truly colorful and excellent presentation, then our PowerPoint templates are at your service, which you can buy now with a 40% discount.

PROMO CODE FOR 40% OFF: k8pk8azpdv The word "presentation" itself means from Latin - to transfer, hand over, but from English "to present" - to represent. In the dictionary of marketing terms, the definition of "presentation" is as follows: a speech that can be accompanied by visual images, aimed at conveying the main idea and information to the target audience. The purpose of the presentation is to convey information to the audience and encourage them to take any action necessary for the organizers.

How to prepare a presentation

Who are the organizers of the presentations? PR specialists are most often responsible for conducting presentations in companies. As a rule, for their implementation, a pre-compiled detailed plan. Here you need to state the goals of the event, describe the audience, present the concept and express the general intention of the PR message, make a list of proposed videos, diagrams, tables and other means of visual support for the presentation.

How is a presentation written? The presentation script consists of listing all the main events and stages of the event in sequential order. When conducting a presentation directly, the presenter must adhere to this particular regulation. The PR appeal itself should not be intrusive, but take place in the style of improvisation. At the same time, the text itself must be prepared in advance and carefully rehearsed and checked for perception in a small audience.

The presentation solves several problems at once:

notifies about an event that meets the interests of the audience;
encourages the audience to take actions that are generally consistent with the ideas of the presentation and its overall intent;
assists the company in attracting customers.

The presentation strategy is as follows: at the first stage, build trust in the company, and then proceed to convince the client of the actions proposed in the presentation.

So that the performance does not seem dry and boring, the organizers must pursue another important goal - to entertain and surprise the audience. Without it, the presentation risks turning into an empty meeting.

Presentation effectiveness

To maintain interest in the presentation, the speaker should choose optimal time for her perception. The "report" should be interesting and original. It is necessary to try to tell a lot about a lot in the shortest possible time and not tire the listeners. Elements of humor dispel the distrust of the audience, it is only important to monitor their appropriateness.

Preparing for a presentation

study of the topic of the speech;
definition of tasks and goals;
audience knowledge;
presentation structure;
introduction and concluding part;
visual materials.

Audience research

When speaking, you need to focus on the audience. It is important to consider: age, education, professional quality, ethnicity and gender, social steps, etc. the smaller the audience, the more information you need to get about it before the event.

A fascinating story, this is a story divided into several parts at once, in which there is an introduction, main part and conclusion. To capture the attention of the audience, the report can be started with a pre-prepared joke. If the speaker is asked a question from the audience, it is necessary to thank the questioner and indicate the importance of his question. The presentation assumes freedom of speech and action of the speaker. It is hardly possible to achieve trusting contact with the audience, being constantly in one position. A dynamic speaker is able to inspire more confidence in the public.

Contact with the audience

Rhetorical questions and short, provocative discussions serve to establish contact with the audience. It is important to feel the audience in front of which you speak. Facial expressions, postures, reactions, phrases - this should certainly be monitored and, in accordance with manifestations of indifference and inattention, increase interest and counteract certain methods of its extinction. You can choose one listener from the audience and address the story directly to him.

The terms that will be used in the presentation should be clear to the audience. If the presentation is planned to use visual materials, it is important to remember a few basic points when perceiving text from a projector screen:

headings and titles should be printed in black;
capital letters are usually perceived worse than lowercase letters, therefore their use is recommended only in short titles;
on one slide, you should not place more than five lines and more than seven words per line;
if you plan to use several colors on a slide, their number should not exceed three. In order to delimit the elements of diagrams, some diagrams, it is enough to use only 1-2 colors;
it is important to follow the style: if an element on one slide is highlighted in a certain color, the same color should be used on all other pages and slides of the presentation.

Presentation types:

fashion;
training;
interview;
briefings;
trading;
motivational and informational;
first meetings etc.

It is generally accepted that the presentation, as a rule, refers to business areas, but more and more often you can hear about presentations from the non-profit sector, organizations, various assistance programs, educational programs, presentations cultural projects etc.

Main objectives of the presentation

Informing;
Belief;
Motivation to action.

Presentation Benefits

Presentation - live communication in the dialogue mode. The audience at the presentation is interested in obtaining the information it needs, and therefore feedback and quick response to customers are very important here. Another important advantage of the presentation is the efficient and fast dissemination of large amounts of information. The use of visual aids only enhances the effect of the presentation, making it more lively and visual.

PowerPoint presentations

Visual and live presentation greatly facilitates the perception of information by the audience of listeners. The presentation today is not only an oral presentation of the speaker, it is new format submission of information. With help Microsoft programs power point speeches, lectures, reports become even more clear and transparent. Dry speech without visual materials is poorly perceived by listeners, while the demonstration of images, videos, clear and convincing slides with large headings, numbers, allow you to take a break from your own imagination, and focus more on the perception of basic information.

The main elements of PowerPoint presentations are pictures and images, concise and understandable texts, graphics, animation, video, audio. Thanks to these components, the listener is able to absorb a much larger amount of information, moreover, new knowledge is acquired in this way, as a rule, in an interesting and exciting way. Media files are manageable, which means that if you're running a PowerPoint presentation, you can easily control the slides, showing them at the speed with which the maximum effect is achieved for the listeners' perception.

To create a presentation, you need a template. Important ingredients for effective presentation: design, structure, the ability to immediately start editing your presentation - insert texts, logos, diagrams, graphs, images, etc.

Free presentation template from TemplateMonster

Power Point is a program that organizes electronic presentation in the form of successive slides. PowerPoint presentations developed by the TemplateMonster Russia team have the ability to add and edit not only text, images and logos, but also add sound. The presentation is viewed in slideshow mode. Various original transitions between slides will enliven any even the most serious presentation. Presentations require little editing time and are an inexpensive option for presenting what's new in your business to your target audience.

PowerPoint presentations let you choose appearance slides, adjust their number and sequence of demonstration, change the color scheme, use various animation elements, and create entire photo albums.

A complete guide to creating, designing and filling presentations. There are examples, advice from Guy Kawasaki, one of the first Apple marketers, and patterns that are not ashamed to speak even at the international level.

But if you don’t have such a person in your subordination, but you still need to make a presentation, this article will help you, where we have collected almost all the necessary information. Templates, ingenious examples and professional advice will help you make, if not a masterpiece, then certainly something outstanding!

Presentation (from Latin praesento - I pass, I hand) - a way of presenting information both with the help of technical means, and without them; oral presentation, which may be accompanied by visual images, aimed at conveying information to the public, persuading it to perform certain actions.

Depending on what you want to tell in your presentation, its type will depend. It can be informational, persuasive, image-building, motivating, questioning and multi-purpose.

Guy Kawasaki, one of the first Apple marketers, advises following the 10/20/30 rule: 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30th font. 10 slides is the optimal amount that the audience can fully absorb. If you have done much more, then you have failed to highlight the main theses. 20 minutes is the time that viewers can concentrate without interruption. Font size 30 will allow you to put on the slide only the most necessary and important information.

Components of a presentation

To achieve the desired effect, you need to clearly understand what and when to say and show. The classic presentation structure looks like this:

Title slide (topic, contacts, information about the speaker, product, service).
Table of contents (optional).
Introduction (what is the presentation about, goals, objectives. Interest the listener why he needs to spend time on your report).
The main part (all necessary information: may contain several sections, at the request of the author).
Conclusion.
Application (optional).
Thank you for your attention (don't forget the final thank you slide).

Presentation rules

Now you won’t surprise anyone even with an interactive Prezi presentation. Therefore, others need to "take". First of all, excellent stylish design. And if your company does not have a single corporate template for presentations, this gives you a huge field for creativity. Just don't overdo it.

Decorate everything in the same style. Do not "jump" from one background to another. Watch out for the compatibility of colors, backgrounds and fonts. The font compatibility table is .

Don't use the standard PowerPoint design templates. They are boring and boring. It is better to choose your own color palette. For example, on Piknik all the basic colors are collected, and on Color Lovers you can find both ready-made selections of shades, and make them yourself.

Check out infographic color tips from .

As few words as possible. No one will read huge test blocks for the entire slide. Minimum - 25-30th kegel, font - readable. Change the font to highlight quotes or notes. Use headers.

Do not use animation and music when changing slides. Leave it to the students.

More pictures.

Replace tables and lists with infographics and charts.

Many presentation services have the ability to add video. True, this requires access to the Internet during the demonstration to the audience.

Developer and startup advisor Zach Holman has been working with presentations for various projects for a long time. On his website, he shares tips on how to design them.

Color

Choose contrasting colors. This makes it possible to vary fonts, backgrounds, and other presentation elements. I have about 4 colors that I use all the time, and 8-10 with their shades.

The size

Make your text huge, get rid of half of the words on the slide and make the remaining most important text even bigger.
Usually my text is at least 90 pt, sometimes I use 150 pt and even 300 pt.

Words as forms

The letters themselves can be part of the design. The easiest way to make a slide more interesting is to play with the physical side of the letters that make up the words, i.e. the size.

The text (font) on almost every new slide in my presentations differs in size. This is how I separate one thought from another. It turns out much more interesting than just bulleted lists.

Illustrations in presentation

Images are the basis of a presentation. A presentation in general is a visual thing, so it is important not only to choose good illustrations, but also to place them correctly on the slides.

What do we have to do:

If you find a picture in a search engine, make sure that there is no watermark on it. And if you work at a serious level - also for a license to use!

Keep in mind that your presentation may be viewed from a small screen (tablet or mobile phone), and from a large one (computer screen, projector). Choose high resolution photos.

Use photos as a background. Of course, for this you will need to slightly correct the image: reduce brightness, contrast or darken the picture.

Pay attention to the hand-drawn illustrations. They will definitely make your presentation unique.

Choose an unusual, eye-catching image for the first slide. Don't forget about the picture for the last slide ("Thank you for your attention").

What not to do:

Do not use standard pictures and illustrations, especially from PowerPoint. They can be replaced by vectors.

Don't use too many images on one slide. The audience will not have time to see everything. In addition, to fit everything on the screen, they will have to be greatly reduced.

Do not place the image against an edge or corner.

Do not overlap one image with another.

Presentation Software

In addition to the standard PowerPoint, there are many other excellent programs for creating presentations.

Apple Keynote
The main competitor of PowerPoint, close to him in interface. A large selection of chic templates that are a sin not to try. Available on all Apple devices.

custom show
An excellent tool for creating business presentations from a company with more than 40 years of history. You can not only create presentations and share them with colleagues, but also organize online meetings, work offline and online and on various devices, add video and audio, upload slides from PowerPoint, change settings in accordance with brand requirements.

Haiku Deck
Program for lovers of minimalism. The main rule is the minimum amount of information in the warehouse. One slide - one idea - one visual accompaniment (image, infographic, chart).
Great for making simple presentations. At the same time, editing templates is limited: developers are trying to maintain the high quality of work in this way so that the user does not turn the template into a “quiet horror”.

slidedog
It's not a pure presentation editor. You can't make your own slides, but you can put everything you want into a single presentation: a presentation from PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, a PDF file, a video, an audio file, a web page. No more switching between different programs.

Online services for creating presentations

Prezi
One of the most popular services after PowerPoint. The entire presentation is one field, each part of which is zoomed in by pressing a key. The ability to see the full presentation from above, which immediately gives insight and structure.
The tool is interesting and original, but not very suitable for serious business presentations. There is a free version with limited features. The paid one starts at $4.92 per month. There is a mobile application and a separate program for PC.

Google Slides
Very similar to PowerPoint with slightly reduced features. Allows you to make simple presentations for basic purposes. Although, if you try hard, you can make a cool Google presentation.

Cards
Ready-made slides with various cards.

Paid

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