Success Craves Creative PowerPoint Presentation Design

Do you think of yourself as a creative person?

Creativity is a key part of professional success. Yet, like many, you probably think creativity is the exclusive remit of the ‘creatives’ in your business. They are the ones responsible for new and imaginative ideas and bringing them to fruition, right?

Actually, that’s limited thinking. Creativity at work should be encouraged across every company, regardless of the employee’s role. Business professionals who take a creative approach to work are shown to be more engaged and more successful than their counterparts. A study by Adobe and Forrester Consulting found that 82 percent of companies believe there is a strong connection between creativity and business results. In fact, companies that actively foster creative thinking outperform their rivals in revenue growth, market share and competitive leadership, according to the report.

If you’re thinking, ‘how am I going to be creative with data points and sales figures?’ – here’s your answer: through PowerPoint presentation design.

Giving a presentation is a perfect opportunity to inject some creativity into your professional approach. And here’s two effective ways to make your presentations more creative from your experts at eSlide:

Add an element of surprise

Everyone loves a surprise. Research conducted by scientists at Emory and Baylor universities suggests that “people are designed to crave the unexpected”. Indeed, we’re addicted to surprise. It’s why our smartphones can have such a powerful influence over us. Every time a social media push notification pops up or a text or email pings, it’s a little surprise delivered to the palm of your hand. The dopamine hit your brain gets with each pop or ping leaves you wanting more.

Surprise may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think of PowerPoint presentation design. Yet it’s the perfect opportunity to add surprise because of its revelatory structure, i.e., each turn of the slide providing an opportunity to uncover something new for the audience.

Surprise is a powerful emotion because it makes an event more likely to be remembered. Research from the University of Magdeburg shows that the brain is more active when it encounters unfamiliar stimuli compared with familiar stimuli. When the brain is more active, it’s more likely to remember. That can be a powerful tool when used in a business context.

Again, PowerPoint presentation design makes it easy to surprise an audience not only because of the way it allows your story to unfold but also because it gives you the opportunity to tell your story using surprising content, e.g., unique visuals, multimedia content, eye-catching charts and graphs and more.

Adding an element of surprise to your PowerPoint presentation design is one great way to boost your professional creativity quotient.

Let emotions get the best of you

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, according to research by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

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, according to research by global consulting firm Capgemini.

Turning your data points and sales figures into emotionally-charged visuals will not only make you the envy of your company’s ‘creative’ team, it’ll make you more successful in your business.

If you’re worried that your design skills aren’t up to the task, you can always get in touch with the team at eSlide for help. We can help touch up your PowerPoint presentation design or start from scratch with your raw data and information.

We’ve been doing this for more than 20 years and we know how to deliver creative presentations that get real results. We’re happy to discuss your PowerPoint needs today.