What makes a good presentation?

What makes a good presentation? With the help of powerpoint most of us think that our problem is solved. But what is actually needed to make a good and effective presentation in order to convey the right message to our audiences? Firstly, you need to know what exactly you are presenting and how are you going to convey those messages in order for your audiences to receive it and understand it. Keep the slides simple, in point form and only put key phrases because the slides are visual aides not the focus of the presentation.

Other than that, the layout of the presentation slides should remain clear of obstructions. Too many images and text clustered around the main points can disturb the audiences view and concentration which can make the audiences confuse. This not only distracts your audiences but also create an uncertainty to the floor about your whole presentation.

Also, it is important for the slides to have consistent layout whereby the title should be placed on the top of the slide following by the most important information going from left to right, top to bottom.

Besides that, it is good to provide pictures, video's and charts which will ease the understanding for the audiences because it is said a picture paints a million words.

 Avoid using Capital letters which shouts to the audiences and fancy fonts can sometimes be hard for the audiences to read. Keep the fonts to Times New Romans or Arial which is universal to most people and allow enough space in between fonts and images. Other than that, Bold and Italic fonts should only be used to highlight key points and additionally, you can add in formal colors to the highlighted to create hype towards the audiences. For example:

 From my perspective on my groups presentation slides, i personally feel that it fulfill the requirements of a great presentation slides because every slide was clear-cut  and  easy  to the eye and understanding. Moreover, at the end of the presentation, the audiences fully understood what we wanted them to know and the visual aides gave the exact meaning we wanted to portray instead of using too many text. Which is why, text and visual aides are important because both gives out different meaning and composition for different situations and explanation.

These are the few important pointers to creating a great presentation slide. Others include:

• Limit the number of slides
• Don't confuse audiences by putting excessive animations and unify them.
• Use high quality graphics
• Use appropriate visuals

With these in hand, you can be sure to create a great presentation slides for your business, education, and lots lots more.


Reference:

1. About.com,10 Tips for Creating Successful Business Presentations [Online] Available at :  http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpointbusiness/tp/bus_pres_tip.htm [Accessed on 27 August 2010]
2. Garr Reynolds.com, Top Ten slide tips [Online] Available at:  http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/slides.html [ Accessed on 27 August 2010]
3. Presentation Zen, 2005, What is a good powerpoint design? [Online] Available at: http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/09/whats_good_powe.html [Accessed on 27 August 2010]
4. Microsoft at work, 12 tips to create better presentation, [Online] Available at:  http://1007k67218.blogspot.com  [ Accessed on 27th August 2010]
5. Tech Republic, 2006,10 slide design tips for producing powerful and effective presentations [Online] Available at: http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-22_11-6117178.html [Accessed on 27th August 2010]
6. Slide Share, 2006, Death by Power Point [Online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net /thecroaker/death-by-powerpoint [ Accessed on 27th August 2010]
7. Cesserone, J, 2009, How to give a great slide presentation? [Online] Available at: http://engineeringsolutions.homestead.com/presentation.html [Accessed on 27 August 2010]
8. Putnis, P & Petelin R, 1996, Professional Communication: Principles and Application