Great PowerPoint Presentation Design Gets Our Vote

There are a million theories about why Hillary Clinton wasn’t able to beat Donald Trump in the recent election and how she might have been more successful. At eSlide, we have our theory too. And it has to do with PowerPoint presentation design.

It starts with a study conducted by Microsoft which shows that since 2000, attention spans have decreased from 12 to 8 seconds. (Which helps explain the popularity of emojis 🙂 ).

Take a moment now to add up all of the screens you pay attention to throughout the course of your day. When you do this, you begin to get an idea of the kind of competition politicians and presenters are up against.

So here’s our theory on the election. We think Clinton, and indeed most politicians and presenters, would benefit from adding strong visuals to their presentations, because visuals command attention in a way that words alone don’t anymore.

Faster, better

It’s a proven fact that humans are visual animals. More than 90% of information that is processed by our brains is visual.

Great visuals allow the speaker to communicate more information, faster – up to 60,000 times faster than words alone.

Visuals are also more memorable. And the right words combined with strong visuals allow a presenter to connect with his or her audience better – even when there’s competition for their attention.

Storytelling without words

When working in PowerPoint, you should consider each slide to be a piece of visual content. And each one another opportunity to guide your audience in the right direction, i.e., down the thought path you want them to take.

Think of it as storytelling with no words (or very few). When PowerPoint presentation design is done well, the visual story leads the audience to the conclusions the presenter intends.

Glance and get it

You want your audience to glance and get it, not leave the meeting room scratching their heads, trying to decipher what it was you were saying. To get the results you want, avoid confusing your key messages with visual clutter.

The best slides contain only the most important information. Don’t bog down your PowerPoint presentation design with material that could be better placed in footnotes, references, or omitted entirely.

The information on your slides needs to be clear and simple and the design should make good use of white space. Think more slides, less information, and not the other way around.

Hit ‘em in the gut

Humans interpret and respond to visual information on a subconscious level. Before we even understand why we like or don’t like something, our subconscious brain has already made a judgment call.

This is why visual content in a presentation is so effective, and why it’s so important to make sure your PowerPoint presentation design is sending the right message. Visuals are a powerful tool, and you want to wield it effectively.

Planning ahead will help. Carefully conceived and thoughtfully designed visuals and slides will show an audience that you took the time to prepare, reinforcing the importance of the presentation or meeting.

Help is at hand

Every politician and presenter has felt the pressure of being able to present something that will make their audience stop and pay attention; to deliver information that will be heard and remembered among the constant hubbub that permeates our lives nowadays.

At eSlide, we’re well versed in assisting presenters with creating winning presentations. We partner with you to adapt your critical messages into informative visuals, custom infographics, and professional looking slides all wrapped in a consistent design theme. The result is compelling, persuasive PowerPoint presentation design that grabs audience attention, stands out from the crowd and conveys your message in an impactful, effective way.

We haven’t worked with any politicians yet, but we’re ready for the call.