eSlide’s Top 10 PowerPoint Presentation Design Tips for Success

At eSlide, we want 2020 to be the year you deliver the best presentations of your career. We’re here to help you make it happen. To get you started, here’s our top 10 PowerPoint presentation design tips from the past year.

1. Less is always more

There is a temptation to include everything (including the kitchen sink) in PowerPoint presentation design out of fear that you’ll forget something important or run out of things to say. Don’t give in to the temptation.

At eSlide, we recommend that you aim for one key point per slide and use as few words as possible to convey your meaning. Edit any information that doesn’t relate directly to your key points or the theme of your presentation.

2. Make it font-tastic

Try as much as possible to stick to one font with your PowerPoint presentation design. Mixing multiple fonts may seem like a good way to add visual interest, but there are better ways to accomplish this. Varying font size and font effects is a good way to make things look interesting while maintaining readability, and keeping your slides professional-looking.

3. Use easy-to-understand visuals

Your visuals must be easy to understand at a glance. Too often charts and graphs try to do too much, drawing attention away from the verbal message you’re delivering. But there are some easy techniques you can use to keep the focus where it needs to be, including paring down the design by removing or lightening elements like backgrounds, lines, borders or labels.

Make sure your visuals support and reinforce your message rather than obscure, distort or simply repeat it. Every visual should have a communication goal. Avoid using visuals purely for decoration as they can seem off-topic and diminish the effectiveness of your design.

4. Give visuals context

One of the best ways to make your visuals easy to understand is by giving them context. For example, by presenting your data alongside figures that your audience is already familiar with, they will see easily why your numbers are so amazing. There are many ways to give your visuals context to help your audience digest and remember your information. Here’s more on that subject.

5. Include videos to keep it interesting

Video is a powerful tool and it can be used to great effect in PowerPoint presentation design. Videos add something new to the usual presentation mix, delivering or reinforcing your key messages in a way that’s visually interesting and impactful. Videos also help keep things pacey, by getting your point across quickly and they can add a compelling personal voice to a business presentation.

Quick tip: Make sure to embed your videos in your presentation, rather than linking out to a website. This way, you prevent your audience from getting distracted with other information and you can be sure that your video will play even if the internet isn’t.

6. Don’t dismiss stock photos

Stock photos often get a bad rap, but it is possible to find visually interesting options if you know where to look. A good place to start is with gettyimages.com or shutterstock.com. Photos with natural-looking models in real situations are preferable to images that are obviously staged. It’s worth paying for the right image or enlisting some help to have an image modified to fit your needs. With a little imagination, it’s also possible to use clip art effectively. Clipart.com is a good place to get started exploring the options.

7. Influence your audience with emotion

Evoking emotion is another effective way to be creative with your PowerPoint presentation design. Customers who have emotional attachments to certain products, services or brands are more likely to be loyal. And, emotionally engaged customers are typically three times more likely to both recommend a product, service or brand and to renew their purchase.

Adding content to your PowerPoint presentation design that elicits emotion will help make your presentation more creative and your audience more responsive. Video, photos, color choice, even font choice can move your audience to feel a certain way. Used effectively, all these design elements and more will help you create a presentation that can generate feelings of honesty, integrity and trust, three of the emotions that are most valued by consumers.

8. Be careful with color

Brands place huge importance on color choice because colors conjure up emotions. Think of Coke’s red or Home Depot’s orange. Colors are a powerful way to create feeling and the biggest global brands understand this.

Color can give your audience the right feeling – the one you want them to have – or make them feel a way you hadn’t intended. For example, if you need to elicit excitement about exceeding first quarter sales targets, make sure your color scheme demonstrates excitement. Red does this well; blue doesn’t. It’s important to know which colors evoke which emotions and stick with the ones that work for your purposes.

9. Keep the focus on you

Presenters often squander their opportunity to impress by allowing their presentation to take over. When your PowerPoint presentation design is too busy, confusing or jarring, you risk losing your audience’s attention – sometimes out of boredom and sometimes out of frustration.

When this happens, your presentation is getting the focus that should be on you and your message. But, when your design is well executed, you and your message stay front and center. So, bear this in mind and design your presentation so that the focus stays where it needs to be.

10. Deliver outstanding design

Hopefully these tips will help you deliver outstanding PowerPoint presentation design. But, if you’re feeling like you could use a little assistance getting your next presentation in tip top shape, the experts at eSlide are ready to help.

We have more than 20+ years of experience working with some of the biggest global brands, including many on the Fortune 500 list. We excel at creating presentations that get results. Whether you need one critical slide, a template redesign, a complete transformation or any combination of these, we can help. Get in touch today to find out how we can help make 2020 the year you deliver the best presentations of your career.