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PowerPoint Tips  - Simple Rules for Better PowerPoint Presentations

Powerpoint tips  -, simple rules for better powerpoint presentations, powerpoint tips simple rules for better powerpoint presentations.

PowerPoint Tips: Simple Rules for Better PowerPoint Presentations

Lesson 17: simple rules for better powerpoint presentations.

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Simple rules for better PowerPoint presentations

Have you ever given a PowerPoint presentation and noticed that something about it just seemed a little … off? If you’re unfamiliar with basic PowerPoint design principles, it can be difficult to create a slide show that presents your information in the best light.

Poorly designed presentations can leave an audience feeling confused, bored, and even irritated. Review these tips to make your next presentation more engaging.

Don't read your presentation straight from the slides

If your audience can both read and hear, it’s a waste of time for you to simply read your slides aloud. Your audience will zone out and stop listening to what you’re saying, which means they won’t hear any extra information you include.

Instead of typing out your entire presentation, include only main ideas, keywords, and talking points in your slide show text. Engage your audience by sharing the details out loud.

Follow the 5/5/5 rule

To keep your audience from feeling overwhelmed, you should keep the text on each slide short and to the point. Some experts suggest using the 5/5/5 rule : no more than five words per line of text, five lines of text per slide, or five text-heavy slides in a row.

Don't forget your audience

Who will be watching your presentation? The same goofy effects and funny clip art that would entertain a classroom full of middle-school students might make you look unprofessional in front of business colleagues and clients.

Humor can lighten up a presentation, but if you use it inappropriately your audience might think you don’t know what you’re doing. Know your audience, and tailor your presentation to their tastes and expectations.

Choose readable colors and fonts

Your text should be easy to read and pleasant to look at. Large, simple fonts and theme colors are always your best bet. The best fonts and colors can vary depending on your presentation setting. Presenting in a large room? Make your text larger than usual so people in the back can read it. Presenting with the lights on? Dark text on a light background is your best bet for visibility.

Don't overload your presentation with animations

As anyone who’s sat through a presentation while every letter of every paragraph zoomed across the screen can tell you, being inundated with complicated animations and exciting slide transitions can become irritating.

Before including effects like this in your presentation, ask yourself: Would this moment in the presentation be equally strong without an added effect? Does it unnecessarily delay information? If the answer to either question is yes—or even maybe—leave out the effect.

Use animations sparingly to enhance your presentation

Don’t take the last tip to mean you should avoid animations and other effects entirely. When used sparingly, subtle effects and animations can add to your presentation. For example, having bullet points appear as you address them rather than before can help keep your audience’s attention.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you create a presentation—your audience will thank you. For more detailed information on creating a PowerPoint presentation, visit our Office tutorials .

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Everything You Need to Know About Word Count in a PowerPoint Presentation

Think of the scenario when you actually get to present your slides to your audience. It’s a room full of people, and you start with an overview of the presentation, giving its context and purpose. And eventually, when you start with the details, you realize that not everybody is walking at the same pace because people were trying to read the content from your slides and got lost somewhere. Not a good scenario, right?

That’s what too much content on your slide can do. It can cloud you as a presenter, make your presentation look illegible and crowded, and might distract your audience.

You have to decide on the particular word count that keeps your presentation readable, catchy, and interesting.

This article tells you everything you need to know about word count in your PowerPoint presentation.

Few Factors You Need to Remember When Creating Your Presentation Slides

Try to keep these factors in mind when deciding on the word count in your presentation.

1. Why Fewer Words are a Better Choice?

The central purpose of a presentation is to acquaint your audience with your product/service, idea, project/cause, etc. Create slides that give people an overview or summary points of your information. The human eye can read 150-300 words per minute, and a presentation slide (on average) contains 40 words, which means it will take around 15 seconds to read the 40 words slide. The slides are said to be meaningful if the audience gets your point in 3 seconds or less. 15 seconds is quite a long time, and the result is a confused audience trying to take in a lot of information in a limited time.

2. Is Your Audience Interested?

How you draft your slides will decide what trajectory your presentation will take in terms of keeping people interested. Imagine a title like – The top 10 benefits of the product or Tips to boost your brand image. And on the other hand, think of a slide that mentions A header like – Replacing old procedures with new processes to entice your clients and keep them engaged. 

On the one hand, you have a crisp title targeting keywords only, and on the other, an elongated sentence as the title. Slides with heavy information are bound to create disinterest in your audience. Design your slides in a way (including the heading) that doesn’t make your audience doze off.

3. How Difficult Is Your Content?

If you have to present information that you know is difficult, find out ways to make it easy for people. For example, you can break complex financial information into small bars, tables, and charts and then compile them all into one. Better over spreadsheets, right? Also, encourage your audience to take notes or ask you questions in between to understand better.

4. What Kind of Audience Do You Have?

You will not have the same kind of people in your audience. Be mindful of their language preferences , qualification, knowledge, etc., when designing your content. For instance, if you have a mixed group where only half of the people are comfortable with the language you speak, it would be wise to include more words in your slides and give your audience more time to read.

Why is it Bad to Have Too Many Words on Your Slides?

With texts on your slide , you are just trying to share as much information as possible, right? Content that is useful and relevant to your cause. So, why is it bad to have a high word count? A few of the reasons are –

1. Visual Distraction

Have you ever taken an online course where you have a speaker and a screen with all the written information? We end up reading everything that’s there on the screen, even if that means pausing the lecture to take in the information. 

Too much content on your slides will distract your audience. They tend to read it, and till the time they are not finished, their attention isn’t on what you say as a presenter. The result would be that your presentation becomes a catch-up for people. Also, your audience loses interest in listening to you if they can find everything on the slide. 

If you keep your presentation short and crisp, which your audience can take, let’s say, a few seconds to read, their mind will immediately and completely redirect towards what you are saying. 

2. More Words Will Make the Slide Look Cluttered

The negative space or white space is important in any design. It gives breathable space to the content on your slide. Over-worded slides will make your presentation look cluttered and unprofessional. And it will take twice as much time to navigate the slide for you as well as your audience. Overworded slides, thus, reduce the aesthetic appeal of your presentation design and might make your audience lose interest in the beginning stage.

3. Portrays You as a Less Knowledgeable Presenter

How would you feel if you visited a doctor and he tried to read the diagnosis through books? An amateur, right? That’s what you might look like with an over-worded slide. If you include too much content (more often than not), you will be reading information from the presentation slide. It will make you look unprepared to your audience, and they might see you as an amateur. It will reduce the overall impact of your presentation.

4. You Will Have to Go for Smaller Fonts

You wouldn’t want your audience to squint at the screen to read the information and waste everyone’s valuable time. But that’s what will happen with a slide high on word count. If you want to put too many words, obviously, you will have to go for smaller fonts to accommodate everything. And the result would be illegible texts that your audience most probably will not be interested to read.

Pro Tip – It is wise to keep your font size 24 and bigger. And in fact, a lot of presenters suggest it to be 30. Make sure your text is readable even to the audience who are sitting in the last row of the conference hall.

How Many Words/Texts Should You Put on a Slide?

Coming to the most important part of this article, let’s find out how to arrange words on your slides to make them catchy and interesting.

1. Number of Words

Go for not more than 30 words per slide. Keep your target to a minimum and try going for 4-5 bullet points with 4-5 words each and a 3-4 words title. Rephrase your sentences to make them as crisp as possible. For instance, when you want to tell why your product is a good option, write “benefits” in the title instead of the entire line. 

Note – Some rules that can help you keep your word count short are – the 5 by 5, 6 by 6, and 7 by 7 rules . If we talk about 5 by 5, the method states that you can’t have more than 5 bullet points per slide and not more than 5 words per line. Similarly, you can switch the rule with 6 words per line and 6 bullet points for 6 by 6 and make it 7 for the 7 by 7 rule. 

You can decide on the method depending on the quantity of data and information you intend to share.

2. Go for Bullets

Write your texts in bullet points but don’t overuse them. Create bullets as if you are writing headlines or your personal shorthand notes. Your audience will have to listen to you to get the complete information. It will also prove handy to you by keeping you organized and structured during your presentation.

3.   Use Visual Content

Sharing images is quick and easy, and the audience can properly visualize your message. Not everything needs to be said in words, and sometimes images and graphics convey messages in a much more powerful way.

In a Nutshell

PowerPoint lets you count the number of words in your slides and notes pages and also lets you know other information like the format and number of your slides. The simple rule is to keep your audience in mind when you create your presentation. Understand your people and learn about their attention curves to build slides they can best absorb. Keep your word count as minimum as possible and give your audience time to read from the slides. This way, you will have their complete attention when you speak.

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Presentation Training Institute

A division of bold new directions training, the 6 by 6 rule for presentations explained.

There are countless tips and tricks for giving great presentations but one that you might be familiar with is the 6×6 Rule. This presentation rules suggests that you should include no more than six words per line and no more than six bullet points per slide. The goal of this rule is to prevent your slides from becoming so dense and text heavy that people don’t want to look at it. While it might sound like a great idea in theory, it’s not as cut and dry as it seems. Here’s a little more information and what the 6×6 rule actually looks like and why it could use a little tweaking.

What does the 6×6 Rule look like? If you were to present on a topic using the 6×6 rule, all of your slides would resemble something like this: Have only one idea per slide Have no more than six points This slide has six bullet points Each bullet point has six words Is this a good presentation rule? If you were bored reading these bullet points, then you understand why this technique is not always effective. Sure, there are times when we come across a simple saying that truly sticks in our minds such as “Today’s decisions are tomorrow’s realities.†However, it’s nearly impossible to fill all of your slides with such eloquent and profound statements. As a result, you end up cutting out valuable information just to stick to the 6×6 Rule.

Why it doesn’t always work. Your main focus should be conveying your main points as clearly as possible. While it’s true that you don’t want to lose people in text heavy slides, there are times when it’s just not possible to explain your point in six words or less. When you try, you end up cutting and distorting the information to the point where your meaning gets lost. Furthermore, if you want to use a quote or tagline to further explain your message, you can’t exactly break up the quote and eliminate words. This is just one example of how the rule does not apply in all situations

How the 6×6 Rule can act as a guide. This isn’t to suggest that the 6×6 Rule should never be implemented, it’s simply to explain why it shouldn’t be forced all the time. When you are designing your presentation, you have to find a way to convey your message without being too wordy. The 6×6 Rule is a great reminder to cut and edit when possible to keep things concise, but it doesn’t have to be the standard for every single slide. Remember that you should be the star of your presentation so don’t be overshadowed by poor slide design.

Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Presentations > Implementing The 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint

Implementing The 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint

If you’re not used to making a PowerPoint presentation , it can be tough to know how long to make it and how to format the slides. On the other side of the coin: you might overthink your presentation and put too much information on too many slides.

With help from the 10-20-30 rule, you can make a PowerPoint presentation that’s engaging and efficient . The guidelines for this rule are as follows:

• No more than 10 slides.
• No longer than 20 minutes.
• No larger than 30-point font.

Let’s look deeper at the 10-20-30 PowerPoint rule, why it’s a good rule to follow and things to do to follow this guideline.

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Don’t use more than 10 slides. A good presenter shouldn’t have to (or want to) lean heavily on their PowerPoint slides. The slides should be a supplement for your presentation, not the headliner. Limiting to 10 slides will ensure that you’re not going over the top with the length of your presentation and keeps it moving. Your slide count should include both your title and conclusion. A presentation that goes on any longer than 10 slides will distract from what you’re saying and starts to feel like an information overload.

Keep your presentation 20 minutes MAX. During a presentation, people start tuning out after about 10 minutes.Limiting your presentation to this length will ensure that your audience will remember much of what you’re saying. If you’re covering a more complex topic and need more time, stick to the 20-minute MAX rule—it’s much easier to schedule your presentation by timing each slide down to about two minutes. That feels like a much more manageable timeframe, doesn’t it?

Don’t use fonts smaller than size 30. A 30-point font is a great minimum size because it ensures that your text is easy to read from a distance. The recommended guideline to make your presentation accessible to those who might be visually impaired is a 24-point font. Upping the size to 30 is a significant difference, and you can be confident that your audience can see what you’ve written. In addition, choose a font that’s easy to read. For years it was recommended that you stick solely to sans-serif fonts with digital media because serifs could blur together, making certain fonts hard to read. High-resolution screens have nearly eliminated this problem, so some serif fonts can be used and are easy to read in PowerPoint presentations.

Tips for sticking to these guidelines. It’s not always easy to cut down your presentation to fit the 30-20-10 rule if you’re presenting a lot of information. Follow these tips while putting together your presentation to make the entire process easier on yourself:

• Limit text to the 6×6 rule. It can feel like there are a lot of rules for making a PowerPoint presentation, but they’re all there to help you make a well-organized and engaging presentation. The 6×6 rule suggests that you don’t use more than six lines or bullet points on each slide and limit each line or bullet point to six words. Following the 6×6 rule helps to ensure that you’re limiting the amount of information on your slides so you can continue to present it rather than have your audience read it.
• Use visuals instead. Visuals like graphics, animated gifs, and videos can help to keep your audience engaged . Including visuals with your presentation will also help you limit the amount of time and content on each slide. A graph or illustration on the right side of your slide limits the amount of space you have on the left side. This can help to minimize the amount of text you have.
• Practice makes perfect. There’s a very cool, free tool called PowerPoint Speaker Coach , which leverages AI to help you nail your presentation. Speaker coach gives you feedback on your pace, pitch, use of filler words, poor grammar, lack of originality, use of sensitive phrases, and more as you rehearse your presentation. You’ll get a Summary Report at the end—with key pieces of feedback to help you become a confident presenter .

Use the 10-20-30 PowerPoint rule and these other tips to keep your presentation simple. Whether you’re a college student presenting a class project or a teen making the case for a new car, following these guidelines will help.

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Find the word count of your presentation

PowerPoint can count the number of words that are in a presentation and also provide information such as the presentation format and the number of slides, notes, hidden slides, and multimedia clips.

Count words in slides and notes pages

To count the number of words in both your PowerPoint presentation’s slides and its notes page, do the following:

On the File tab, click Info .

At the bottom of the rightmost pane, click Show All Properties . The Words property counts all the text on slides and notes pages.

Count only the words in notes pages

You can also count only the words in your PowerPoint presentation’s notes pages, but its best to do so in Word.

On the File tab, click Export > Create Handouts .

Click Create Handouts .

In the Send to Microsoft Word dialog box, click the page layout that you want, and then do one of the following:

To paste content that you want to remain unchanged when the content in the original PowerPoint presentation is updated, click Paste , and then click OK .

To ensure that any updates that occur to the original PowerPoint presentation are reflected in the Word document, click Paste Link , and then click OK .

The presentation opens as a Word document in a new window. You can edit, print, or save as with any Word document. Word automatically counts the number of pages and words in your document and displays them on the status bar at the bottom of the workspace.

If you don't see the word count in the status bar, right-click the status bar, then and click Word Count .

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Click File > Properties , and then click Statistics .

Tip:  PowerPoint includes punctuation in word counts, so your count may seem higher than you expect.

PowerPoint for the web doesn't have word-count information. You have to use a desktop version of PowerPoint to see the word count.

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The 5/5/5 Rule for Presentations: How to Use it and Examples

Last updated on June 21st, 2024

In today’s fast-paced world, delivering effective presentations is more important than ever. Whether you are presenting to colleagues, clients, or conference attendees, the ability to communicate your message clearly and concisely is essential.

One proven method for creating visually appealing presentation slides is the 5/5/5 Rule. This rule is designed to streamline the presentation design process and keep your audience engaged. By following the 5/5/5 Rule, you’ll be able to create presentation slides that are both visually appealing and informative, leading to more successful presentations.

What is the 5/5/5 Rule?

The 5/5/5 Rule is a simple yet powerful guideline for creating presentation slides that are easy to understand and visually engaging. The rule breaks down into three components:

5 words: Limiting 5 words per line

When creating slide templates, it’s essential to prioritize readability. By limiting the number of words on a single line to five, you ensure that your text is easy to read and comprehend, even from a distance. This constraint forces you to be concise and choose your words carefully, ultimately leading to clearer and more effective communication.

The first “5” in the 5/5/5 Rule also encourages presenters to use succinct, powerful language. By condensing your message into a few essential words, you increase the likelihood that your audience will remember and understand the key points of your presentation.

5 lines: Limiting lines of text per slide

Too much text on a single slide can overwhelm your audience, making it difficult for them to process and retain the information being presented. By limiting the number of text lines to five, you reduce the cognitive load on your audience, allowing them to focus on the most important aspects of your message.

Visually appealing slides are crucial for keeping your audience engaged. When you limit the number of text lines on a slide, you create more white space, which can make your presentation slides look cleaner and more professional. This increased visual appeal can help maintain your audience’s attention and contribute to the overall success of your presentation. You can combine this idea with the rule of threes for presentations .

5 slides: Limiting consecutive slides with text

To keep your audience engaged, it’s important to break up long stretches of text-heavy slides. By limiting the number of consecutive slides with text to five, you encourage the use of visuals, multimedia, and other forms of content that can help maintain interest and enhance understanding.

Incorporating visuals such as images, infographics, charts, and videos into your presentation can help illustrate complex concepts and reinforce key points. You can separate essential parts of your presentations into different topics, then keep up to 5 slides in each section. Following the third “5” of the 5/5/5 Rule ensures that your presentation is balanced, engaging, and informative.

Benefits of the 5/5/5 Rule for Presenters

Implementing the 5/5/5 Rule in your presentation design process can lead to several benefits, including:

1. Enhanced audience focus

By reducing the amount of text on your slides and incorporating more visuals, you can help your audience focus on the essential aspects of your message. This focused attention can lead to increased understanding and retention of your presentation’s key points.

2. Improved information retention

When you simplify your slides and present information in a clear, concise manner, your audience is more likely to remember what you’ve shared. The 5/5/5 Rule helps you distill complex ideas into easily digestible slides, increasing the likelihood that your audience will retain the information long after your presentation has ended.

3. More effective communication

The 5/5/5 Rule encourages presenters to be mindful of their audience’s needs and attention spans. By following this guideline, you can communicate your message more effectively, making it easier for your audience to understand and engage with your content.

4. Reduced cognitive load

Limiting the amount of text on your slides and interspersing visuals helps reduce the cognitive load on your audience. When they are not overwhelmed by information, they can better process and remember the key points of your presentation.

How to Implement the 5/5/5 Rule in your own Presentations?

To incorporate the 5/5/5 Rule into your presentation design process, consider the following steps:

1. Analyzing your content

1.1 Identifying key points. Before you start designing your slides, take the time to identify the most important points of your presentation. This process will help you determine what information to include on your slides and how to structure your content effectively.

1.2 Simplifying complex ideas. Once you have identified your key points, consider ways to simplify and distill complex ideas into easy-to-understand concepts. This will make it easier for your audience to grasp your message and increase the likelihood that they will retain the information.

2. Designing your slides

2.1. Emphasizing brevity and clarity. As you design your presentation slides, focus on keeping your text concise and clear. Use the 5x5x5 Rule to guide you in limiting the amount of text on each slide, prioritizing readability and visual appeal.

2.2. Using visuals and multimedia effectively. Incorporate visuals, such as images, graphs, and videos, to support your message and engage your audience. Be mindful of the third “5” in the 5/5/5 Rule, and ensure that you break up long stretches of text-heavy slides with visually appealing and informative multimedia content.

3. Balancing text and visuals

3.1. Knowing when to break the rules. While the 5/5/5 Rule is a helpful guideline, it’s essential to recognize that there may be instances when it’s appropriate to deviate from it. Depending on the complexity of your topic or the needs of your audience, you may need to adjust the rule to suit your specific situation.

3.2. Tailoring your approach to your audience. Consider the preferences and expectations of your audience when designing your slides. Some audiences may appreciate a more text-heavy approach, while others may respond better to visuals and multimedia. Be flexible and adapt your presentation design to meet the needs of your audience.

Relevant Facts Related to 5/5/5 Rule for Presentations

• Attention spans: According to a study conducted by Microsoft, the average human attention span has decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013, which is shorter than a goldfish’s attention span (Microsoft, 2015). The 5/5/5 Rule for presentation helps presenters deliver information concisely, catering to these shorter attention spans and improving audience engagement.
• Information overload: A study by the University of California, San Diego, estimated that the average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of data daily (Bohn & Short, 2009). The 5/5/5 Rule for presentation design helps presenters avoid overwhelming their audience with excessive information, allowing them to focus on key points and better retain the presented content.
• Visual learning: According to research, 65% of the population are visual learners (Bradford, 2016). By implementing the 5/5/5 Rule, presenters can create a balanced mix of text and visuals, enhancing understanding and information retention for a majority of the audience.
• Presentation effectiveness: A study from the University of Tennessee found that presentations using visual aids were 43% more persuasive than those without (Vogel et al., 1986). By limiting consecutive text-heavy slides, the 5/5/5 Rule for presentations encourages the use of visual aids, which can improve the overall effectiveness of a presentation.
• Cognitive load: Reducing cognitive load by simplifying information is an essential aspect of effective instructional design (Sweller, 1994), also relevant with the ADDIE model . The 5/5/5 Rule addresses this by limiting words per line and lines per slide, making it easier for the audience to process and retain the presented information.

The 5/5/5 Rule is a powerful presentation design tool for creating visually appealing and effective presentation slides. By limiting the amount of text on your slides, incorporating visuals and multimedia, and tailoring your approach to your audience, you can improve the overall success of your presentations. As you embark on your next presentation design process, consider implementing the 5/5/5 Rule to enhance your PowerPoint slides or Google Slides, and make your message more engaging and memorable for your audience.

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10 Tips to Make Your PowerPoint Presentation Effective

You may have heard of the famous 10/20/30 rule , devised by Guy Kawasaki , for designing presentations. This rule states that using 10 slides in 20 minutes at a 30 point minimum font size is the most effective presentation strategy—but what does this really mean?

The most important thing to remember, particularly if you’re using PowerPoint to convey your message, is to keep your audience in mind when preparing your presentation. Your audience wants a relevant presentation, not just something that is visually appealing .

A common mistake speakers make when designing PowerPoint presentations is being too passionate about it that they put everything they know into it. In trying to get their point across, presenters tend to use complex jargon and impart too much information, leaving the audience confused about the actual purpose of the presentation.

So how can you simplify your information but still convey a powerful message to your audience?

Here are 10 suggestions:

1) Cut out the wordiness

Ironic as it may seem, an essential part of proving a point is to use a minimal amount of words per slide so that the audience is focused on you, not on the screen. It’s rather difficult for any kind of audience to read texts and listen to you at the same time. If you have longer statements, break them down into multiple slides and highlight the key words. This doesn’t mean you limit your content to dull, boring facts. Feel free to incorporate anecdotes or quotes as long as they’re relevant and support your message.

2) Add pictures

Instead of more words, supplement your ideas with vivid imagery. Again, the key is not overusing photos to the point that it makes your presentations look unprofessional. Photos should only be used if they promote or emphasize the main idea of your slide.

3) Use appropriate animation

Like pictures, use animation only when appropriate and only if you’ve completely rehearsed your presentation with the animation flow. Otherwise, they will be distracting and will make it appear that you’ve designed your presentation in poor taste.

4) Don’t overuse numbers

As with words, minimize the amount of numbers you present in each slide. If you have charts that summarize the total figures toward the end, then you no longer need to fill up your entire chart with the little numbers on the scale.

5) Use large fonts

Aside from the obvious reason that larger fonts are more readable, size dictates the impact of your message and a larger one makes it easier for your audience to clearly grasp what you’re saying or want to highlight. Aside from font size, pay attention to the spacing between paragraphs, rows, and columns; you don’t want your text to appear jumbled.

6) Maintain consistency

The whole objective of your presentation is to drive home a point, not to make your presentation look cheesy. Keep your font sizes and the size and format of a box on one page consistent throughout your slides.

7) Limit bullet points

Keep your bullet points to a maximum of 5-6 per slide. In addition, the words per bullet point should also be limited to 5-6 words. It’s also wise to vary what you present in each slide, such as alternating between bullet points, graphics, and graph slides, in order to sustain the interest and focus of your audience.

8) Choose colors and contrast effectively .

Use bold colors and high contrast. A color may look completely different on your monitor than it will when projected on a large screen.

9) Tell a story

Everyone loves a good story , especially if it’s something that they can easily relate to. A good story begins with a problem and the more irritating the problem is for the audience, the more effective your presentation will be once you’ve provided a possible solution for them.

10) Be flexible

In order to develop a strong connection with your audience, you need to be flexible with your slides. During your speech, you may feel that some slides have become unnecessary; therefore you want to prepare your presentation in such a way that you can easily interchange or eliminate them. Conversely, prepare some optional slides in anticipation of questions or ideas you expect from your audience. This will give your presentation the “wow” factor.

When using PowerPoint to deliver a PowerFUL point, your goal isn’t to design the best presentation but the most effective one. This means creating a presentation that your audience can connect with through interest, participation, memory recall, and ideally, learning something useful.

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How Many Words Should Your PowerPoint Slides Contain?

Slides with fewer words will always be more effective than slides with lots of words.

The Fewer Words, the Better

Your worst-case scenario is that you present a slide with lots of words. You stand at the front of the room and start talking. You are putting the subject in context. You deliver a 45-second overview that lets your audience understand the big picture. But they haven’t heard a word that you’ve spoken because they’ve been reading your slide. At the point where you start talking at the detail level, your audience has no idea what you’re talking about because they didn’t hear you put the topic in context.

The purpose of the words – and images – on your slides is to help members of the audience get an overview, as well as small bites of detailed or summary data. Your text and images help them get organized. Your slide’s words should be traffic signs and not long expositions. Be a person of few words.

How Interested is Your Audience?

If you’re delivering a PowerPoint training presentation entitled “Ten tips to increase your sales” then you can be certain that you have the attention of the people in the audience. You can put some extra words on your slides, and you probably won’t experience any bad results from your error. The people in your audience are motivated to learn. They will.

By contrast, if you work in the personnel department of a large corporation, and your presentation is called “Replacing the old HRM Process Procedure with the new HRM Procedure Process” then you can count on people dozing off, early and often. If you want to keep them motivated, then show them short slides. Make sure all of your bullet points “agree.” That is, make all of your bullet points verb phrases, or all of them noun phrases. Make all of these phrases roughly the same length. Make it as easy as possible for the audience to pay attention to the presentation.

How Difficult is Your Material?

If you’re presenting information that is complex or technical in nature, then try to craft bullet points that are one or two words long. Consider replacing too-long text with well-designed charts or graphics. Speak slowly so that people can take notes. Encourage them to ask questions.

How Mixed is Your Audience?

Delivering complex information to a knowledgeable audience isn’t particularly difficult. Delivering complex information to a mixed audience of power-users and newbies can be a nightmare. Similarly, it’s very difficult to deliver information – even if it isn’t particularly complex information – to an audience in which only 50 percent of the people speak English as their first language.

With a mixed audience, you should put more words on each slide. And slow down the pace of your delivery. Read each bullet point, and then explain it. Encourage questions and comments.

So, How Many Words Should I Put on Each Slide?

A good target would be a three-word title plus five bullet points of four words each.

Try to use fewer words. If the topic of a slide is “Why should you buy our product?” then use “Benefits” as the title. And the bullet points could be:

• Eliminate frustration
• Increase productivity
• Beat the competition

Again, you’re creating street signs and putting your thoughts in context. You don’t have to present all of your information in writing on your slides.

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• November 23, 2015

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How to get the word count of your powerpoint presentation.

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View the powerpoint presentation word count on windows, view the powerpoint presentation word count on mac.

Knowing the word count of your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and speaker notes can give you a rough idea of how long it may take to present the slideshow and where you may need to cut back. Here's how to find out.

You can get the word count of your PowerPoint notes and slides---or just the speaker notes---on both Windows 10 and Mac. Unfortunately, you can't currently get the word count on PowerPoint for the web.

To get the word count of your slides and notes on Windows 10, open the PowerPoint presentation and click the "File" tab.

Next, select "Info" in the left-hand pane.

Now, under the "Related Documents" section, click "Show All Properties."

The "Properties" group will expand. Next to the "Words" option, you can see the word count of the PowerPoint slides and notes. Know that the "Notes" option just shows how many notes appear in the PowerPoint presentation rather than the word count of the notes.

If you want to find out the word count of just the notes, you'll need to export and open them in Microsoft Word .

Click the "File" tab and, in the left-hand pane, click "Export."

In the "Export" group, select "Create Handouts."

The "Create Handouts in Microsoft Word" section will appear. Again, click "Create Handouts."

The "Send to Microsoft Word" dialog box will appear. Choose the page layout style that you want by clicking the bubble next to the desired option. In the "Add slides to Microsoft Word document" group, there are two options to choose from:

• Paste: The content pasted in Word won't reflect any updates made to the presentation.
• Paste Link: Any updates made to the presentation will be reflected in Word.

Click "OK."

The presentation will open in Microsoft Word. You'll see the word count of the notes in the bottom-left corner of the window.

If you're using Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac, you can get the word count of your slides and notes. However, Mac's export option doesn't allow you to export the PowerPoint file as a Word doc, so to get the word count of just your notes, you'll need to manually copy and paste them over to Word.

To get the word count of your presentation and notes, open PowerPoint and click the "File" tab.

Select "Properties" in the drop-down menu.

In the "Properties" window, click the "Statistics" tab.

You can find the word count in the "Statistics" group.

That's all there is to it.

Related: How to Use Speaker Notes in PowerPoint

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Best practices for making awesome PowerPoint slides

Whether you’re presenting a slideshow to your executives, clients, or peers, you want to convey your message clearly and successfully, and at the very least prove that you know how to use PowerPoint . Unfortunately, many mistakes can be made when creating PowerPoint presentations.

Choose the fonts wisely

Select pleasing colors.

• Don’t overuse animations and effects

Use a standard presentation rule

From hard-to-read fonts to colors that hurt the eyes of your audience, here are some best practices to keep in mind for your next PowerPoint slideshow.

Using a fancy, dramatic, or even whimsical font can be tempting. But you must consider the readability of the font. You want your audience to easily see your headings and bullet points. Consider the two basic font styles: serif and sans serif.

Serif fonts are more decorative, have a classic appearance, and are frequently used in print publications. Each letter has a stroke that extends from a point in the letter. Popular serif styles include Times New Roman, Garamond, Georgia, and Baskerville.

Sans serif fonts are more precise, have a clean appearance, and are frequently used in digital publications. Each letter is clear-cut without wings or curves at its points. Popular sans serif styles include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, and Calibri.

Because of the extended strokes, serif fonts can appear a bit blurry on a screen. This makes a sans serif font the favored choice. The bottom line is that you should remain consistent and use the same type, serif or sans serif, for all fonts in the slideshow.

The colors you use in your PowerPoint presentation can be just as important as the content. You want to use those that enhance the appearance of the slideshow, not distract or give your audience a headache.

As Microsoft’s Robert Lane explains in his article about combining colors in PowerPoint, mixing red and blue or red and green can cause eye strain. Plus, red and green mixtures are difficult to see for those with color blindness.

The article mentions that warm colors like reds, oranges, and yellows are eye-catching, whereas cool colors like blues, greens, and purples draw less attention. Additionally, lighter colors are more noticeable than dark.

One of the easiest ways to choose the colors for your presentation is to use a built-in theme. Select the Design tab and you’ll see a collection of Themes in the ribbon.

Once you select a theme, you can then use the Variants section to choose a different color scheme. Each scheme includes eight complementing colors. You can also pick the font style you want to use in the Variants drop-down menu.

Tip : You can also check out the Design Ideas if you need help with the layouts for your slides.

Don’t overuse animations and effects

Animations can be attention-grabbing additions to a slideshow. But if you overuse or misuse them, they can be detrimental to your presentation and actually turn off viewers. The best thing to do is consider your audience and slideshow’s purpose.

For instance, if you are presenting the slideshow to a classroom of 8-year-old students, animations can grab and hold their attention more than simple images or words. However, if you’re presenting to your company’s executive team or board of directors, animations can come across as unprofessional. Also, be wary of embedding videos in PowerPoint — only do so when relevant.

If you really want to include animations, make them subtle or purposeful. As an example, you may want to expand on each bullet point in your list. You can create an animation to display the bullet points one by one and only when you click.

To do this, select the first bullet point, go to the Animations tab, and choose the Appear effect. Then, in the Timing section of the ribbon, choose On click in the Start drop-down list. Do the same for each bullet point in your list.

This creates a simple animation that benefits your presentation. It doesn’t distract but instead keeps your audience focused on your current talking point.

What is the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint? What is the five-by-five rule? What about the 5/5/5 and seven-by-seven rules? Rules, rules, rules. These are different standards that many recommend using when it comes to creating PowerPoint presentations.

• The 10/20/30 rule : Have no more than 10 slides, a presentation no longer than 20 minutes, and a font size no smaller than 30 points.
• The five-by-five rule : Have no more than five words per line and five lines per slide.
• The 5/5/5 rule : Have no more than five words per line, five lines per slide, and five text-heavy slides in a row.
• The seven-by-seven rule : Have no more than seven words per line and seven lines per slide.

What each of these rules basically means is: Keep it simple.

The first rule, 10/20/30, is a good rule to follow for your overall presentation. While it may not always be possible, the more succinct a presentation, the more successful it will be.

The last three rules are helpful ones to follow when you’re adding text to your slides. As you know, presentations are visual. Using too much text means your audience is reading more than watching.

Hopefully, these best practices will help you create a memorable and effective slideshow. For other ways to enhance your presentation, look at how to add audio to the slides or how to  include music in PowerPoint .

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More From Forbes

Debunking the presentation 6x6 rule.

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Photo by the Propoint team

You might already be familiar with the 6x6 rule. This presentation rule suggests that you should include no more than six words per line and no more than six bullet points per slide. The goal is to keep your slide from being so dense and packed with information that people don’t want to look at it.

Illustration by Propoint designer Zach J.

But there’s a huge problem with the 6x6 rule:

Sure, the sentiment behind it is pretty valid. Nobody likes it when they’re presented with the dreaded wall of text, but this tip is so out of date, that it’s right up there with the PowerPoint mistakes that’ll make you look old. And plus, by these standards having a presentation with slides overloaded with text is just fine.

Do you know what the 6x6 rule could look like in practice? It looks like your audience tuning you out and reading what’s above your head.

Let’s just get this straight: brevity is an art. There’s something incredibly powerful about conveying a profound and eloquent thought in just a short sentence. And while we’ve all had those moments when our eyes glaze over when looking at slides that are overloaded with information, constraining content to six words per line just isn’t foolproof. There’s a difference between cutting and editing. The 6x6 rule lends itself more to the first.

Your first focus should always be conveying your points in the best way possible. As far as word limits are concerned, it’s more about balance than anything else. What if you’re incorporating a tagline that shouldn’t be broken up? What if you really want to incorporate a quote that has seven words? Do you just let the last one float awkwardly on an empty line by itself? Of course not. You should edit your message until it's compelling, then support it with an equally compelling composition.

Check Out The Word Count On That Second Line.

With the 6x6 rule, slides like this one aren’t possible. Again, brevity is great, but cutting and distorting the meaning of your message is just a shame.

When it comes to presentation design, you have to make what works visually. So why should you throw great content by the wayside because of a concept that was really popular in 2010? The 6x6 rule makes you cut for brevity instead of editing for clarity. Not to mention, the rule doesn’t seem to account for brand assets and design work of any kind. This shouldn’t be the norm or a standard.

It’s your presentation. You’re supposed to be the star of the show, so don’t let bad slide design overshadow you.

This post originally appeared on the Propoint blog .

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What is the 7 by 7 Rule for PowerPoint Presentations?

By: Author Shrot Katewa

PowerPoint presentations are a powerful way of conveying a message to your colleagues, clients, and peers. The problem is if you do not know how to use PowerPoint in a way that grabs the attention of your audience, you might lose them by the second slide. This is where the 7 by 7 rule comes in handy. But, what exactly is it?

The 7 by 7 rule is a method used where each line has no more than 7 words and a slide has no more than 7 lines. This is a way of keeping your presentations easily readable and understandable to the audience. If your lines and slides are too “wordy” you run the risk of turning your audience away.

It is easy to forget the role of the audience in a presentation’s success. It does not matter how much time and energy you put into a presentation if your audience finds it a drab. If your presentation does not grab the attention of your audience, all the other qualities become meaningless.

The 7 by 7 rule lets you overcome this challenge with ease even if you are a beginner. So, let’s talk about this rule for PowerPoint.

What is the 7 by 7 Rule for PowerPoint?

I want you to think of how much effort you are putting into your presentations. Imagine all that work only for your audience to lose interest within the first few minutes. This happens more than most people think.

Using the 7 by 7 rule is the best way to keep your audience interested in the presentation. All it means is, there must be no more than 7 lines per slide and no more than 7 words per line.

The 7 by 7 rule is for presentations that have a lot of information in them. You get different rules such as the “5 by 5”, the “6 by 6”, and of course the 7 by 7. The last one being the bigger of the 3 and the focus of this article, it is used for presentations that are jam-packed with information.

While this rule helps, it is important to note that you still need to create a great presentation. The 7 by 7 rule should be used as a guideline to improve the presentation . Unfortunately, there is no secret method that can be a substitute for a well researched and well put together the presentation.

Why 7 Lines Per Slide?

When someone has a lot on their mind regarding their work and personal life, sitting in for a presentation can be a little tiring. It is easy for people to wander off into the abyss of their minds. This does not have to be the case for your presentations.

The 7 line rule is a guideline to help you keep your slides as clean and easily readable as possible. It is to reduce clutter in each of your slides so that when your audience scans the slide, they can easily navigate each point you are trying to make.

Use the guideline to help you stay on the topic through each slide. It is best to use each line as a bullet point and when you combine this with the 7-word rule below, your audience will mostly stay focused.

Another aspect that you need to keep in mind is that these 7 lines are merely points for you to elaborate on. Think of them as trigger points that will help you remember the overall discussion that you want to have for a particular slide.

You don’t want the audience to just read what is written on the slides. This will become boring pretty quickly. Keeping the points short and succinct, and directly related to the topic of your presentation is key to keeping the audience engaged. This way, the audience will also be able to absorb all the information a lot easier than if your slide was cluttered.

Why 7 Words Per Line?

When I see a presentation that has too much stuff on it, it is a big turn off for me.

A common mistake we make is to make the slide look too text-heavy, and we sound too verbose when we are trying to explain something. This is especially true when we are passionate about something. Being passionate about something is great but being too verbose is a sure-fire way to lose your audience in the clutter of words.

Using the 7-word guideline will help you be specific. You do not even have to structure your sentences, in fact, why not just get rid of sentences altogether? With the 7 word rule, you can make short statements.

Try to structure each line with small bullet points instead of long drawn-out sentences. This will help your presentation be more factual and less boring.

Remember, you want to use the slides only as visual reference to the points that you want to make during the presentation. Thus, it doesn’t make sense to stuff it with words when you are anyway going to talk about it.

How to Create the 7 by 7 Rule in PowerPoint

Great, so you are considering implementing this into your next presentation and want to know how to do it!

Making a presentation using the 7 by 7 rule is as easy as the name sounds. There is no specific option or a flip-switch that will help you create your presentation using the 7 by 7 rule in PowerPoint.

It is all about structuring the presentation according to the rule. Use the rule to structure the content on the slides in a clean a clutterless fashion. Use each line as a bullet point and the words per line should be mini statements instead of sentences.

That said, there are a few tips that can help you master this technique of presentation creation.

Tip 1 – Treat Each Line as a Reference for the Overall Point

It can not be highlighted enough that you ought to use the slides with text only as a reference to the whole story that you want to share using that slide.

Think of it this way – the slides that you are creating are like your personal short-hand notes . Only you can make a complete sense of what is written and connect the dots from one bullet point to another.

Likewise, when writing the text on the slides, make it more like short-hand personal notes that you can look at and elaborate in detail during the presentation. Keep it brief and succinct such that each line triggers the memory in your brain about what you want to convey on that specific slide.

This does 2 things –

• It makes sure that merely by reading what is written on the slide, your audience is not completely able to understand the point. Thus, they have to actively listen to your brief explanation of the point on the slide. This keeps them engaged and involved during the presentation.
• It also ensures that the audience is looking at you rather than the screen. That way, you can keep them engaged with your expressions and gestures.

Tip 2 – Don’t make it Obvious, use the Text for a Brain-tease

This one is a pro-tip!

Instead of using the text on the slides to merely laying out what point of a research study, you can perhaps pose a question or an interesting fact!

So, for instance, if you are giving a presentation about the fastest car on the earth and you want to talk about the speed of the car on a particular slide –

Instead of stating that the car is fast, and it goes at 305 mph, you could write the text a bit differently as follows –

• Bugatti Chiron – A Rocket on Road!

This clearly highlights that you will be talking about a fast car, but they still need to hear you out completely to fully understand the speed of the car and how it feels while driving the car.

As you can see, this example also kind of ties in with the first tip.

Remember, you don’t have to be conventional with the text on the slides. It is a presentation and not a word document.

What Is The Goal Of The 7 By 7 Rule

When it comes to the goal of the 7 by 7 rule, there are 3 main goals that it is designed to help you achieve. If you stick with the guideline, your presentation will have a greater chance of selling your product. Even if you are not selling anything, it will help your audience better understand the presentation.

Below is a list of the 3 main goals of the 7 by 7 rule, we will go into more detail for each one:

• Keep your presentation on topic.
• Reduces clutter and improves readability.
• Captivate your audience from start to finish.

Now, let us take a quick look at each of these goals a little bit closer and find out how it all fits together.

1. Keeps your Presentation on Topic

Sometimes it is hard to stay on topic throughout an entire presentation. It becomes even harder if your presentation is full of non-important words.

This is especially true when we are passionate about what we are talking about or selling. So, use the 7 by 7 rule to help you stay on topic.

2. Readability

A good portion of your audience will scan a slide before you even start talking. You want them to finish their scan as soon as possible and you want them to understand as much as possible. This is so that they can turn their attention back to you.

You don’t want your presentations to be cluttered or your sentences to be drawn out. This will make it harder for the audience to scan the slide. This might lead to them feeling lost as they will have missed most of your points.

3. Captivate your Audience

This pretty much stems from the readability goal. If you lose an audience member, even just through one slide, it is hard to draw them back in. The minute they feel lost, their mind starts wandering to all the important things they could be doing.

The 7 by 7 rule, if followed and implemented in an already good presentation, is designed to not only assist you but also assist your audience. It is a great way to grab and hold their attention.

Different Variations of the 7 by 7 Rule

There are a few different variations of this rule but the concept stays the same. If you have mastered how to convey your messages with as little wording as possible you could use fewer lines and fewer words per line. Let’s take a quick look at these rules.

• 5 by 5: 5 lines per slide and 5 words per line.
• 6 by 6: 6 lines per slide and 6 words per line.
• 7 by 7: 7 lines per slide and 7 words per line.
• 8 by 8: 8 lines per slide and 8 words per line.

As you can see, the concept stays the same for each of these rules.

Rule of 7 vs 7 by 7 Rule: What’s the Difference?

Sometimes people, especially in sales, might mistake the 7 by 7 rule with the rule of 7. There is a big difference between the two and in fact, they are not related at all. We have discussed, in detail, the 7 by 7 rule so lets just briefly explain what the rule of 7 is.

The rule of 7 is a simple but old marketing concept that is tried and tested to work. It suggests that if a customer sees your product or service 7 times, they are likely to become a customer or client.

I guess you can add the rule of 7 to your presentations if you are trying to sell something, perhaps in the form of pictures of your brand. That said, it should not be mistaken for the 7 by 7 rule.

Final Thoughts

Creating presentations, especially if you are the speaker, can be a little bit daunting. I could also use the word intimidating, because, let’s be honest, it is, especially for new professionals.

Luckily, there are experts who have developed techniques that make everything easier. These techniques, like the 7 by 7 rule can alleviate a lot of the stress of potentially losing your audience.

PRESENTATION DESIGN

PowerPoint 101: The 5/5/5 Rule

When it comes to presentations, we believe that content should drive design. That is, the way that you structure and organize your presentation should follow the needs of the content, rather than a rigid structure.

But this is a lot of work, and isn’t always easy, particularly if you are still learning the ropes of presentation design and storytelling. That’s where rules come in. If you’re struggling to get started, or are unsure of how best to structure a PowerPoint presentation, rules can offer an easy on-ramp to help you get going. And the 5/5/5 Rule is both one of the simplest and most effective.

What is the 5/5/5 Rule

The 5/5/5 Rule explains what it is right in the name: when creating slides for your presentation, use at most:

5 words on a single line

5 lines of text on a single slide.

5 slides that apply the first two rules in a row

Now, let’s take a closer look at each part of the rule, and see how it helps build a better presentation.

Presentations are multi-dimensional. They rely on a combination of written words, spoken language, and visual storytelling to effectively communicate information. So if you are writing out lengthy, complete sentences in order to make sure that “all the information is there,” you are missing the point (and the value) of PowerPoint.

By applying the “5 words per line” rule, you’re ensuring that your writing stays sharp and clear, and that the audience is focused more on you than on the screen. As we noted in our blog 3 ways to up your PowerPoint game , too much content can actually lead to less information retention, which is very counterproductive.

When we are designing PowerPoints for clients, we have our own general rule we try to follow: one idea per slide .

That’s because people tend to think of a slide as a single unit of content. This tells the brain to keep those ideas together, creating associations between bits of info and helping us to cement them in our minds. And if a seminal piece of neuroscience is true, we can hold “ seven, plus or minus two ” pieces of short-term information in our brains.

By limiting yourself to 5 lines of text, not only are you helping to make your presentation more effective, you’re also helping your audience to internalize more of the information your trying to share.

(No more than) 5 slides that apply the first two rules in a row

If you followed the first two rules to the letter on every slide in your PowerPoint, you could still have way too much content for an effective presentation. So if you catch yourself relying too heavily on the first two 5’s, you should take a step back and look for ways to vary your content.

This could mean trimming back certain slides to reduce the amount of content, adding in more images/infographics, or simply removing some slides altogether.

When to use the 5/5/5 Rule

The purpose of this rule isn’t to blindly apply it to every PowerPoint you make. Rather, it’s to force you to take a step back and carefully consider each slide you’re creating for it’s content as well as keep the audience’s considerations front and center.

It’s also a great way to outline your content. If you’re ever feeling stuck on how to get started with a big presentation, creating content within the 5/5/5 Rule can help you to structure your presentation just enough that you can ignore the rule.

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How to Find Your PowerPoint Presentation Word Count

Knowing the word count for your PowerPoint presentations can be important for keeping within time limits for conferences and presentations. It can also help ensure you have enough content without going overboard. Luckily, there are a few easy ways to find the word count in PowerPoint.

Why Word Count Matters for PowerPoint

Built-in word count in powerpoint, the inspect document feature.

Another way to find word counts, especially if you want to exclude words in charts or images, is the Inspect Document feature. Follow these steps:

Tips for Managing Your Word Count

Here are some tips for keeping your PowerPoint word counts in check:

Tracking your PowerPoint presentation word counts does not need to be a chore. With the built-in Word Count tool or Inspect Document feature, you can easily view counts to create professional, readable, and appropriately-paced presentations. Use the tips above to keep your word total in check.

About The Author

Vegaslide staff, related posts, how to update powerpoint on windows and mac, how to export powerpoint slide as a picture, how to blur part of a picture with powerpoint.

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10 Top PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Beginners (2022 List)

Written by: Heleana Tiburca

Creating a PowerPoint presentation can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t need to be.

In this list, you’ll find the best practices and tips for creating a powerful PowerPoint presentation for beginners.

You’ll learn how to:

• Create a professional-looking slideshow presentation
• Keep your PowerPoint presentation design cohesive
• Make your slides interactive
• Animate text and graphics

So without further ado, let’s jump right in.

In this video, we've put together our top 13 presentation design tips to help you wow your audience and create the best slide deck they've ever seen.

10 Tips for Effective PowerPoint Presentations

Tip #1: choose an interesting topic, tip #2: do some deep research, tip #3: use an amazing presentation tool, tip #4: pick out a presentation template, tip #5: keep your audience in mind, tip #6: add eye-catching headings and text, tip #7: keep it engaging with animations, tip #8: make your powerpoint interactive, tip #9: add visuals to your presentation, tip #10: practice presenting your slideshow.

So, you need to create a PowerPoint presentation but don’t know where to start. The very first and most important thing you’ll need to do is to decide on your topic.

You’ll want to make sure that the topic you choose is interesting and engaging for those who will be listening to you present your slideshow.

If you’re not in control of your topic and you’ve been assigned a task to present, don’t worry. There are lots of different ways that you can capture your audience’s attention, and transform a boring topic into an incredibly interactive and engaging presentation.

You can do this by using an effective PowerPoint presentation template that will capture your audience’s attention, no matter how bland the subject.

Learn more about PowerPoint templates and how you can use them to your advantage in tip #4!

Once you’ve chosen your PowerPoint presentation topic, you need to make sure that you get all of your facts straight.

Do a deep dive into your research and come up with useful and interesting information that you can use at your next presentation.

Once you’ve gathered up some information, it’s time to make a bullet point list of topics you want to cover, to make sure you don’t leave anything important out in your presentation.

After you’ve created a bullet point list full of your main points and all the important points that you want to convey, you can then make an outline of your speech.

This can be a rough draft, or you can write out in great detail your entire “script”, so to say. If you’re a spontaneous writer, then you may want to write directly in the slideshow editor of your choice.

If not, you can write it all out on a document, so that you’re ready to copy and paste right onto your slideshow presentation.

The best way to create an amazing slideshow is by using an equally amazing slideshow tool.

A tool like Visme will help you create a professional-looking and exciting PowerPoint presentation efficiently and quickly, even as a beginner.

Visme is a slideshow presentation maker that lets you easily create your entire presentation from start to finish. You can even import existing PowerPoint presentations into Visme and edit them there. When you’ve finished editing, you can export editable PowerPoints to present offline.

Visme is a diverse tool that does so much more than just create PowerPoint presentations. You can create anything design-related there, including videos, social media posts, ebooks, manuals, infographics and more.

Other than hundreds of slide templates and fully designed presentations, you also get access to advanced editing tools to make your presentation unique and creative.

Add and replace backgrounds, tap into free libraries of photos, videos, icons and illustrations, add pre-animated assets or manually animate objects and text, and switch up the color scheme with a single click.

With Visme, creating presentations that stand out is as easy as 1-2-3.

Now, let’s jump into the specifics of how to make an effective presentation.

Ready to create your own presentation in minutes?

• Add your own text, images and more
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• Choose from hundreds of slide designs and templates
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Next on our list of PowerPoint tips for beginners is picking out the perfect template.

Visme is an amazing presentation software that has an abundance of slideshow presentation templates that you can choose from and customize.

We have modern PowerPoint templates, data-driven presentation templates, colorful templates and everything in between. Just scroll through all the templates and we’re confident you’ll find the perfect one for you.

If you want, you can even design templates of your own and save them for future slideshows that you want to create in a similar fashion.

You can also browse through our presentation themes, which include hundreds of pre-made slides you can mix and match to create your own presentation deck.

Once you pick out your template, you can edit every single design aspect, from the overlays to images, to the color scheme, clipart and stickers, slide transitions and more.

We recommend finding a template that resembles the presentation that you need so that the design process goes as smoothly and easily for you as possible. Creating a presentation should be enjoyable, and Visme makes that process possible.

If you are feeling confident and you don’t want to use one of our professionally designed slideshow templates, you can start from scratch and create your own. Add and remove as many pages are you want and benefit from our stock images and videos, stickers, text templates and more.

Once you’ve chosen your template, you need to think of your audience. Not every presentation design is going to be appropriate for every audience.

In order to make an effective PowerPoint, you need to get in your audience’s head. Ask yourself, “What do they want to see?” or “What value can I bring to them?”.

The design approach you take will greatly impact the results of your audience’s retention. You want to make sure that you please your audience as much as possible and keep them engaged with what you’re trying to convey to them.

If you need to create a report-based, data-driven presentation, then you need to add lots of charts. But not just any type of boring chart. You can use one of Visme’s beautiful charts and edit the values, axis, legend, colors, appearance and more.

If you already have your data in an Excel sheet or Google sheet, you can import them into Visme’s editor and they will automatically be turned into visual data.

You can also add charts and graphs, diagrams, tables, maps and data widgets. Whatever you need, Visme has it.

You want to make sure that your PowerPoint slideshow’s readability is on point. You can do this by choosing the clear and engaging fonts that go with your presentation topic and theme.

In Visme, you can customize the font, style, size and color of your text. Adjust spacing, borders and even animate the text to make your slides more engaging.

We have tons of typefaces for you to choose from, from Helvetica to Calibri and Arial, to sans-serif and serif fonts, we know you’ll find the perfect one to create a great presentation.

Remember, less is more when it comes to a seamless design. Instead of lines upon lines of text, you should be strategic about your text design.

Make sure not to use more than 3 different typefaces per slide. This will keep your design looking sleek and not overloaded.

You can do also use premade text templates created by our professional designers. Simply scroll through all the different text templates, find one you like, and drag and drop it onto your slide. From there, you can customize it as much as you please.

It’s important to keep all the design elements and text on your slideshow aligned, so take advantage of our grid and keep everything visually pleasing and aligned.

You can drive your main points home with a large heading, and align other, smaller text boxes beneath to make sure you stay on track and don’t deter from your main points.

One way you can make your text stand out is to incorporate shapes. If you want to make your text pop out and come to life, add a shape behind them.

Make sure the shape color you choose is a good contrast to the text color so that you can easily see what is written out without having to squint your eyes and decipher what’s written.

You can also take advantage of negative space in your design. If you feel like there’s an empty spot in your slide that looks a little awkward, it’s the perfect place to add some text.

Using negative space for showcasing text is always visually appealing, so use those blank spaces to your advantage!

Another great way you can keep your audience engaged with your presentation is by animating objects. Instead of just showing them a boring, static slide, why not animate the text and objects to bring everything to life?

In Visme’s editor, you can animate any object with just the click of a button.

Make any element slide in and out, bounce, fade in or fade out, spin, appear from thin air and more. There are so many ways you can animate objects and fit your design style to make your presentation stand out from the rest.

You can even go through our library of professionally designed animated graphics and drop them onto your slide. Choose from animated characters, illustrations, icons, special effects and avatars.

Once you add an animated graphic to your design, you can customize them in many different ways, such as editing the pose, speed, repetitions and colors.

Instead of just having your next slide show up as a static image, use a transition between the two slides in order to make the transition seamless.

Visme has lots of elegant and modern transitions to choose from. Scroll through our transition presets and try them out to see which one suits your style best. You might like the zoom-in transition, slide-in or fade.

There are so many transitions for you to choose from, but we recommend you find the one you like most and use it for all slide transitions for the entire slideshow presentation. This will keep your design cohesive and easy on the eyes.

Don’t forget, you can also use sound effects in your presentation when necessary and you want to grab your audience’s attention!

Throughout the entire presentation, you’ll want to make sure that you keep things interactive and entertaining for your audience.

Even though PowerPoint is widely used for creating slideshows, there are many different presentation softwares you can use.

If you use Visme’s presentation maker, you can make your slideshow interactive. One way you can do that is by adding external links to any graphic in the presentation. This way, you can quickly access different pages and documents without ever needing to leave the slideshow.

Another amazing interactive feature of Visme’s is the interactive maps and data visualizations. You can have your viewers simply scroll and hover over an object and more information will pop up.

For example, if you want to create a map with statistics regarding each state, you could add the information to each state in the chart, and then when someone hovers over the state, the statistic will pop up.

This is very convenient for conveying lots of information in an organized way.

You can’t have a good presentation without adding high-quality images, videos, stickers and clipart to your presentation. Without engaging visuals, you’ll quickly lose your viewer’s attention, and risk having a boring PowerPoint presentation.

Visme makes it incredibly simple to add your own multimedia. If you want to upload your own photos, video or audio, you can do so by clicking on “photos” or “media” and clicking “upload.”

Once you click on the “upload” button, you can upload your multimedia from your computer, then find it in your Visme library.

If by chance you aren’t happy with the media you have, or you don’t have any images to upload at all, there’s no need to worry.

Visme is loaded full of high-quality videos and images that are free for you to use in your presentation designs.

If you want to browse through millions of stock videos and stock images, just click on “photos” in the left menu toolbar. This will take you to all of our stock images. To search for a specific image, type a keyword in the search bar to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Once you find the perfect image or video, you can drag and drop it onto your presentation. You can then add shapes and frames to your image for a modern, geometric look.

If you’d like to edit and enhance your chosen image, you can do so in the Visme editor. You can change the brightness, contrast, colors, shadows and more. You can add and customize filters to your images for a cohesive color scheme.

For a highly effective and great presentation, you need to feel confident when presenting.

Firstly, You can rest assured that after creating a PowerPoint presentation in Visme, your design will be professional and engaging for your crowd, but now it’s up to you.

You need to be as engaging and exciting as your presentation is, so don’t wait until the last minute to practice your public speaking. Rehearsing your slideshow presentation will simplify the public speaking process and things will go much better if you practice.

Having a bulleted list next to you so you stay on track and making eye contact with your audience will help them pay attention, and will make a good presentation an excellent one.

The more you practice, the more comfortable you’ll be with your presentation. So make sure to run through it a few times and you’ll be good to go.

Ready to Level Up Your Presentations?

The best way you can create a powerful Microsoft PowerPoint presentation is by using a tool that isn’t necessarily PowerPoint.

Visme is an all-in-one design tool that will aid you in not only creating slideshows but any other type of visual content that you need, such as infographics, social media posts and documents.

Give Visme a go and create a free account today . You might become addicted to its awesomeness, so use it at your own risk!

We know that after reading all these tips, your presentation skills have gone through the roof. You’re practically a master slide-maker by now.

If want even more information and tips that can help you create modern PowerPoint designs, you can check out some of our tutorials on our YouTube channel .

We hope this article was helpful to you and we wish you the best of luck on your upcoming presentation. We know you’re going to smash it!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We have received lots of questions regarding PowerPoint presentations and we want to make sure you get the answers you're looking for.

So let’s dive into your questions.

Q1. What is the 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint?

The 10 20 30 Rule of PowerPoint suggests that each presentation should have 10 slides, shouldn’t last any more than 20 minutes in total and all fonts should be at least 30 points or larger.

This is a great rule of thumb to keep in mind when creating a PowerPoint presentation.

Q2. What is the 5 by 5 rule in PowerPoint?

The 5 by 5 rule was put in place to help keep your audience from feeling overwhelmed by text.

The text on each slide should be short and to the point and have no more than five words per line and no more than five lines of text per slide.

Q3. How do you make a good PowerPoint presentation?

A good PowerPoint presentation is created in a great design tool like Visme.

Choose an engaging template, know your main points, use engaging images and animations, and drive home your main points by practicing presenting your presentation before going public with it.

Q4. What makes an effective PowerPoint presentation?

You can create an effective PowerPoint presentation by using no more than 10 slides, not overwhelming your audience with big chunks of text, having all your design elements aligned, using a great template, knowing your main points and driving them points home with a great closing argument.

Q5. What are the advantages of PowerPoint templates?

Some of the advantages to using PowerPoint templates are that you get professionally designed slideshows without having to know how to design and you can quickly copy and paste your text into the text boxes already set up for you.

But you don’t have to use PowerPoint to create PowerPoint presentations. You can use a design tool like Visme to create amazing PowerPoint Presentations.

Q6. How to make a PowerPoint presentation attractive?

One powerful way you can make your PowerPoint presentation attractive is by using high-quality visuals. This includes having high-quality images, videos, stickers, transitions, animations and more.

One easy way you can do this is by using a Visme PowerPoint presentation PowerPoint and customizing it to suit your needs.

Q7. What should a PowerPoint presentation include?

A good PowerPoint presentation should include about 10 slides full of useful information, engaging visuals, interactive elements and high-quality images among other important things.

You text should be clear and easy to read, the images shouldn’t be blurry, your main points need to be easy to spot as soon as you open the slide and you should include seamless transitions.

Q8. What’s the best alternative to PowerPoint?

The best alternative to PowerPoint in our opinion is Visme.

Visme is a presentation maker, but it's also much more than that. You can create animated slideshows, documents, infographics, social media posts, videos, and more quickly and easily.

Unlike other tools, Visme gives you the most value for your money. You can also tap into features like data visualization, brand management, team collaboration, customizable animated assets like illustrations, icons and characters, and much more.

Ready to get started? Sign up for a free Visme account today and take it for a test drive for as long as you like.

Create beautiful presentations faster with Visme.

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About the Author

I’m Heleana and I’m a content creator here at Visme. My passion is to help people find the information they’re looking for in the most fun and enjoyable way possible. Let’s make information beautiful.

.css-1qrtm5m{display:block;margin-bottom:8px;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5714285714285714;-webkit-letter-spacing:-0.35px;-moz-letter-spacing:-0.35px;-ms-letter-spacing:-0.35px;letter-spacing:-0.35px;font-weight:300;color:#606F7B;}@media (min-width:600px){.css-1qrtm5m{font-size:16px;line-height:1.625;-webkit-letter-spacing:-0.5px;-moz-letter-spacing:-0.5px;-ms-letter-spacing:-0.5px;letter-spacing:-0.5px;}} Best Practices The #1 rule for improving your presentation slides

by Tom Rielly • May 12, 2020

When giving presentations, either on a video conference call or in person, your slides, videos and graphics (or lack of them) can be an important element in helping you tell your story or express your idea. This is the first of a series of blog posts that will give you tips and tricks on how to perfect your visual presentations.

Your job as a presenter is to build your idea -- step-by-step -- in the minds of your audience members. One tool to do that is presentation graphics, such as slides and videos.

Why graphics for your presentation?

A common mistake is using slides or videos as a crutch, even if they don’t actually add anything to your presentation. Not all presentations need graphics. Lots of presentations work wonderfully with just one person standing on a stage telling a story, as demonstrated by many TED Talks.

You should only use slides if they serve a purpose: conveying scientific information, art, and things that are hard to explain without pictures. Once you have decided on using slides, you will have a number of decisions to make. We’ll help you with the basics of making a presentation that is, above all, clear and easy to understand. The most important thing to remember here is: less is more.

Less is so much more

You want to aim for the fewest number of slides, the fewest number of photos, the fewest words per slide, the least cluttered slides and the most white space on your slides. This is the most violated slide rule, but it is the secret to success. Take a look at these examples.

As you can see in the above example, you don’t need fancy backgrounds or extra words to convey a simple concept. If you take “Everything you need to know about Turtles”, and delete “everything you need to know about” leaving just “turtles”, the slide has become much easier for your audience to read, and tells the story with economy.

The above example demonstrates that a single image that fills the entire screen is far more powerful than a slide cluttered with images. A slide with too many images may be detrimental to your presentation. The audience will spend more mental energy trying to sort through the clutter than listening to your presentation. If you need multiple images, then put each one on its own slide. Make each image high-resolution and have it fill the entire screen. If the photos are not the same dimensions as the screen, put them on a black background. Don’t use other colors, especially white.

Your slides will be much more effective if you use the fewest words, characters, and pictures needed to tell your story. Long paragraphs make the audience strain to read them, which means they are not paying attention to you. Your audience may even get stressed if you move on to your next slide before they’ve finished reading your paragraph. The best way to make sure the attention stays on you is to limit word count to no more than 10 words per slide. As presentation expert Nancy Duarte says “any slide with more than 10 words is a document.” If you really do need a longer explanation of something, handouts or follow-up emails are the way to go.

Following a “less is more” approach is one of the simplest things you can do to improve your presentation visuals and the impact of your presentation overall. Make sure your visuals add to your presentation rather than distract from it and get your message across.

Ready to learn more about how to make your presentation even better? Get TED Masterclass and develop your ideas into TED-style talks.

© 2024 TED Conferences, LLC. All rights reserved. Please note that the TED Talks Usage policy does not apply to this content and is not subject to our creative commons license.

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• Communication

How Many Slides to Use for a 5, 10, 15+ Minute Presentation?

Presentations—they're a part of life. One of the first things you may wonder about when you're assigned a presentation is how long it needs to be. You may also wonder how many minutes per slide.

Unfortunately, that question doesn't have a simple answer. But in this guide, I'll help you to work out how many slides you need for presentations of different lengths . I'll also include some tips to help you with presentation timing and delivery. 

Jump to content in this section:

How Many Slides for a 5-Minute Presentation?

How many slides for a 10-minute presentation, how many slides for a 15-minute presentation, how many slides for a 20-minute presentation, how many slides for a 30-minute presentation, how many slides for a 45-minute presentation, how many slides for a 1-hour presentation, how many powerpoint slides per minute, how to make your presentations better, learn more about presentation preparation, find a template for your next presentation, the top source for premium presentation templates.

Let's start with the answer to a common question: how many slides for a 5-minute presentation? 

While 5-minute presentations may not be the norm (let's face it, that's a pretty short presentation slot), sometimes that's all the time you've got. Typically, you might do a 5-minute presentation at a weekly stand-up or similar meeting. 

Can a Presentation Be Too Short? 

If your presentation lasts less than ten minutes, then it is considered a short presentation. It isn't bad to have a short presentation as long as you're able to deliver the message you're supposed to correctly.

But if you’re unable to deliver your message, then your presentation is too short.

For short presentations, it's best to limit the number of slides. In fact, you probably won't want more than 10 slides. And you could get away with fewer.

Here are five tips to make an effective short presentation:

Only put essential information in your presentation. This means that any unnecessary information should be left out. This means that your slides should be brief and concise.

Context is important, so just because you are taking out unnecessary information doesn’t mean that you should leave out context. You want everyone to be able to understand what you are talking about.

3. Series of Three

Try using the series of three. This helps people remember your topic better. You do this by breaking your topic into three main ideas. This makes your presentation more concise.

4. Use Stories

People relate to stories more than facts. So, try to use stories to get your main point across in a relatable or entertaining way.

5. Bare Minimum

You should keep your presentation minimal. They should look good but also not have a ton of information on them.

For example, if you’re wondering how many slides are in a 5-minute presentation, The answer is you should have only five slides. That’s about one minute per slide. The general rule is 1-2 minutes per slide.

So, if a 5-minute presentation is short and sweet, how many slides do you need for a 10-minute presentation? There are a couple of answers to this question. 

One option is to keep the number of slides similar (no more than 10) and spend longer discussing key points. 

But another option is to have more slides, ideally no more than 20. Then decide how much time you want to spend on each slide. As before, it's good practice to stick to one main point per slide. 

Get more PowerPoint presentation tips in How to Use PowerPoint (Ultimate Tutorial Guide) .

As you start to increase the length of your presentation, the issue of the number of slides becomes less important. So, when thinking about how many slides for a 15-minute presentation, you can include more slides. You could perhaps use as many as 30. 

But you don't have to. You can also stick with a smaller number of slides and spend more time talking about key points . In other words, adjust the verbal part of your presentation without changing much else. 

If you do decide to go for more slides, you can move beyond the bare-bones approach. That means besides having slides for your main talking points, you can include slides for supporting points, too.

Once your presentation starts getting a bit longer, the question of how many slides you need for a 20-minute presentation gets more complex. Guy Kawasaki believes the ideal presentation has 10 slides, lasts 20 minutes, and has no font smaller than 30 points. That's his 10/20/30 rule.

Here are some tips for a 20-minute presentation:

1. Go Longer

With 20 minutes, you can go longer. Some recommend 20 slides for a 20-minute presentation, with an allocation of a minute of speaking time per slide. 

2. Spend Time on Slides

But it's not always necessary to have a set time per slide . Just spend more time on the slides where you've got more to say. With longer presentations, include a brief introduction and conclusion to make your presentation even more polished. 

3. Use Charts and Graphs

A 5-minute presentation can have a pretty simple design. As presentations get longer, it's important to think about ways to hold your audience's attention. This is a good time to illustrate key points with graphics, photos, charts, and graphs. They'll give your audience images they'll remember long after you end your presentation.

The same principles apply when considering how many slides for a 30-minute presentation. If you used 30 slides for a 15-minute presentation, you'll likely feel more comfortable with more slides for a longer presentation slot. In that case, add more slides for sub-points.

But if you prefer a minimalist approach, that's OK, too.  Stick to the main talking points and spend more time talking about each one. See our public speaking guide for more presentation tips:

Once your presentation slot gets longer, you'll probably want to have a LOT more slides. When planning how many PowerPoint slides for a 45-minute presentation, it's unlikely that you're going to stop at 10 or 15 slides.

As always, well-designed slides will help hold your audience's attention.

So, what about the number of slides for a 1-hour presentation? This is a pretty long presentation slot. There's a good chance your audience's attention will wander. Here are some tips for longer presentations:

1. Make a Choice

As advised for presentations 20 minutes and above, you've got the choice to add more slides for supplementary points. Or you can speak much longer about the key points. And you'll need to keep slide design appealing to give your audience something to focus on.

2. Make it Interactive

There's another option, though. Even if you've got a 1-hour presentation slot, you don't have to fill the whole thing with your own voice. Instead, make it interactive by getting the audience involved throughout. You can also leave plenty of time for a Q&A session at the end. 

3. Plan a Break

An hour can be a long time to sit and listen to a person speak. If you're working on a longer presentation, scheduling a break not only gives your audience a chance to stretch and move around. It also gives you a fresh chance to capture their attention when they come back.

Another question people often ask is how many PowerPoint presentation slides per minute you should have for a typical presentation. Again, this question doesn't have a simple answer. 

The number of slides you need per minute may depend on your topic. If it's simple, a few slides might do, while a more complex topic might need more slides. 

Another factor is your speaking rate. The average person speaks at 150 words per minute . If you speak faster than that, you'll cover more slides in a minute than someone who speaks more slowly.

Match your slides to your material. Even long presentations can hold attention if the topic is interesting enough. 

A notable example is Mary Meeker's Internet Trends  (Source: TechCrunch ). This runs over 100 slides. It makes good use of graphs and charts. Learn how to do this for your own presentations in our infographics creation guide . 

Instead of focusing on how many PowerPoint presentation slides per minute you need, there are other ways to improve your presentation. 

For example,  focus on what your audience needs . Choose the presentation length that's right for your subject and the occasion. Here are a couple of examples:

An executive presentation is usually short and focused. So, you'll get straight to the point and may only need a few slides.

In contrast, a keynote speech or lecture is usually longer. Spend more time painting a picture or telling a story. 

Use templates to give your presentations a harmonious and attractive look without having to do the design work yourself. Human beings are very visual. Attractive slides will subtly enhance the appeal of your presentation. 

When designing your slides, avoid walls of text , which are a real turnoff.  Keep your slides uncluttered. It'll be easier for the audience to focus on them.

Finally, practice your presentation so you know your speaking rate and get the timing right for moving from slide to slide. This will help you deliver an appealing presentation, no matter how long it is.

If you want to learn more about preparing presentations, check out the articles below:

I've shared some example presentation templates throughout this guide. You can find even more stunning templates for your next presentation in the following presentation template guides:

Make sure your slides pop with an attractive design template. If design isn't your strong point, there's no need to worry. Envato Elements has a great offer you can take advantage of today. Download as many PowerPoint presentation templates for your 5-minute presentation as you want all for one low price.

To find the perfect PowerPoint slide design, select Presentation Templates from the onscreen search box. You'll find thousands of templates. Use the on-site filtering tools to find the perfect one for your next presentation.

Find Presentation Templates

These PowerPoint slide designs are professionally created and well supported to allow you to create virtually any kind of presentation you want.

Plus, Envato Elements now has AI-assisted search . So, you can find the presentation template you need even more quickly.

Download Your Next Presentation Template and Get Started!

We've just discused questions such as how many minutes per slide and how many slides are needed for various timeframes. As we've learned, the number of slides per timeframe can vary per speaker. But it's important to plan your presentation to fit the time allotted.Remember, for a head start on creating the perfect visual identity for your presentation, download unlimited PowerPoint template s from Envato Elements. 

Now it's over to you now to get started on creating the perfect slides for your next presentation.

Editorial Note : This tutorial was originally published in February of 2019. It's been completely reviewed for accuracy and relevancy by Sarah Joy .

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• 50 tips on how to improve PowerPoint presentations in 2022-2023 [Updated]

While PowerPoint helps create a compelling presentation, a business meeting or a lecture can easily turn boring if the information is less engaging or distracting. This post acts as a guideline on how best to improve PowerPoint presentation and make your message remembered by any audience, whether business owners, students or even homemakers. Plus, you will also learn the easiest ways to make a better PowerPoints presentation without it taking forever and convey the content in the best possible way by presenting it with maximum impact. So let’s get down to it!

Create a memorable opening slide

Your presentation’s opening slide resembles a book cover. You choose whether to open and read the book based on what you see. The same often holds true for PowerPoint slides. To make better PowerPoint slides that immediately catch the audience’s attention, you should always make sure the opening slide contains an intriguing headline and a noticeable image.

These tips will help you create a perfect opening slide:

• Come up with a catchy headline.
• Keep your ppt slides tidy.
• Impress with sophisticated colors and images.

Remember, for your PowerPoint slides makeover to get the desired results, your slides have to be designed following the best practices.

Keep your presentation simple

Do you often find yourself typing, “how to improve my presentation,” but can’t seem to get a definitive answer? The answer could be a PowerPoint slide makeover. Too much text on a PowerPoint makes the presentation forgettable, hard to pay attention to, confusing, and overwhelming.

To improve PowerPoint presentation:

• Ensure that your slides don’t have too many words.
• Go for a PowerPoint redesign where a striking image is teamed with a simple but clear message.
• Use the 1-6-6 ppt presentation redesign rule to include not more than six bullet points and six words per slide.

Pros usually improve PowerPoint presentation by limiting the words on the slides to allow the audience to listen to you and not focus more on reading. So instead of using complete sentences in your ppt redesign, use short forms that improve your memory. That way, a presenter can focus on each specific point and make it easier for the audience to comprehend which point in the ppt slides is being covered.

Present one idea per slide

If you want to craft a powerful PowerPoint like a pro, the first tip is to have only one idea per slide. But why is it necessary to have one main point per slide?

The first reason is to improve PowerPoint presentation. Your slides should not read like a textbook or novel. Otherwise, you might redo the whole thing or get a PowerPoint slide makeover. So let’s uncover more reasons why you should have only one idea per slide.

• The audience will focus on a single idea that prevents them from getting confused or overwhelmed by the slides.
• It allows the presenter to give more details orally, which motivates students to attend class.
• It prevents giving out too much information that dilutes the central message in the slides.

If you are worried about the low word count in your slides, go for a PowerPoint redesign and add impactful imagery or visual aids. Ensure each point is consistently structured and there is a clear transition in all slides.

Relevance and quality of content are key

There is plenty to consider when making a PowerPoint slide makeover. However, the relevance and quality of the content are among the top factors. The text has to be supported by relevant and quality images to ensure the presentation exudes professionalism.

In addition, PP slides created specifically for students must be aimed at improving learning. Some quick tips to ensure your slides are relevant and of decent quality are:

• Before presenting the content, ensure it engages the audience.
• Maintain quality by ensuring a slide is not full of text.
• Use structure to keep the content organized.
• If it does not fit in a single line, chances are high it is not relevant.

Ensure your slides don’t have too much information, as it reduces relevance. Since the human brain process images faster than text, convert any long paragraphs into appropriate visual formats.

Eliminate unnecessary text

The first step to improve PowerPoint is removing unnecessary text that might reduce the white space and make the slide look uncluttered. If the text is too much, your audience will focus more on reading the slides than what you want to say.

Don’t know how to make your slides simple? Use these tips:

• Remove any content that is not intended for your audience.
• Any phrases that are not clear should be eliminated.
• Be brief and clear.
• Only add two to three sentences on each slide.
• Replace words with visual elements.

No need to cram everything into a single slide redesign. Instead, include main phrases that help you remember what you want to talk about and ensure the listeners absorb the information you are conveying.

Always use one story per slide

The correct way to improve PowerPoint presentation is to use one story per slide. That way, your ppt slides won’t overwhelm your audience with too much information. Moreover, if you improve a ppt redesign, it will also prevent the presenter from diverting away from the main topic. Besides, people don’t attend lectures to read the ppt slides. But rather to hear you speak because you are an expert in that subject matter.

When you include only one story in a ppt redesign, it gives the audience a chance to:

• Concentrate on what you are saying.
• Quickly digest the information.
• Use the texts on the ppt slides to support your verbal presentation.

The story is what helps you focus on the central message and drive the point home. But even if you put a single story in each slide, ensure there is a great transition to avoid confusing the listeners. Also, make sure the story is consistently structured and doesn’t generalize the subject under discussion.

Use white space to make texts more readable

Using white space to your advantage is another way to improve PowerPoint presentation. How? With a good redesign, you will improve the readability of the text and add a professional effect to your slides. Without white space in a redesign, the information on your slides becomes disorganized, hard to read, and showcases clutter.

We all know that cluttered PowerPoint presentation slides are unattractive. But how do you know you need white space in your PowerPoint presentation slides? If you try to add white space but run out of space, your slides could probably benefit from less content and a redesign.

To improve PowerPoint presentation and make your redesign effective, consider active and passive white space and micro and macro white space. Overall, the type of white space to use to improve your redesign is determined by:

• User research
• The message being conveyed
• User interface design

White space is also crucial in directing the audience to focal points and helps improve specific text parts. So play around with the number of white spaces to improve your ppt redesign and shine the spotlight on specific points. If you are still wondering, “how do I redesign my presentation?” try improving the white or negative space.

Rework text-heavy PPT screens

Most people, especially in formal presentations, focus on making text-heavy slides. This often bores the audience and results in a disastrous presentation. Such a case leads a presenter to wonder, “how do I improve my presentation.” Ensure your slides are not loaded with text, as it reduces the chances of the audience paying attention to what you have to say.

Instead, the audience will be busy reading the heavy text screens, which reduces learning or understanding of the information. If you have heavy text slides and urgently need to enhance PowerPoint presentation, here are three tips to help you change them into impressive slides:

• Change data into graphs, charts, diagrams, or appropriate visual elements.
• Use infographics to showcase step-by-step procedures.
• Use different shapes to show the relationship between subjects or items.
• Convert long texts into bullets.

Finally, remove all text irrelevant to the central message and include only short phrases.

Visualize data

Do you have a lot of data in text format and want to change it to improve your slides? Visualize that data to enhance PowerPoint presentation. For complex data that can be compared, consider changing it into a graph format. This helps to reduce heavy text usage and makes the information easier to comprehend.

Wondering, “how do I improve my presentation through data visualization?” Use these tips:

• Go for visual elements that tell a story.
• Tweak the elements to make them easier to comprehend.
• Always opt for visual consistency.
• The headers for graphs and charts should be simple.
• Use one color to represent one type of data.

Data visualization is a great option for those who want to improve PowerPoint presentation. It makes it easier to convey a lot of information and still uses limited space. It also allows the audience to comprehend complex data.

Use original PowerPoint presentation templates

Looking at the same old PowerPoint template slides can make a fascinating topic boring. That’s why if you wish to make better PowerPoint slides, you must use original templates from trustworthy sites. For example, Microsoft PowerPoint has original template slides that you can use to create a great visual experience for the audience.

But why do you need original ppt template slides?

• To access a wide range of ppt redesign choices.
• To make it easy to create professional and visually appealing ppt presentations.

And the best part is that you don’t have to be an IT pro to use the ppt template slides.

Overall, original ppt template slides improve the redesign and give you confidence in the work you are presenting. They also eliminate the time-wasting factor of looking for and arranging the ppt redesign slides from scratch. When you redesign a PowerPoint template, the slides are already prepared and laid out for you. Adding fancy fonts, graphics, and relevant photos helps to improve your PowerPoint slides makeover even more.

These template examples can provide some inspiration:

Remember, even after you improve the slides and have a ppt template at your disposal, you can still create custom slides. So take advantage of all the great features such as themes, shapes, and editing tools to improve a ppt redesign and give it a professional look.

Don’t let PowerPoint decide how you use it

If you allow the default settings of PowerPoint to dictate how you will create and present your slides, you are more likely to come up with a less creative piece. Instead, opt to improve your PowerPoint presentation with a ppt redesign.

Consider PowerPoint as a blank canvas but keep the design simple. That way, you won’t get overwhelmed by what to do or, worse, end up with a confusing ppt slide. Listed below are important tips to use when creating PowerPoint slides.

• Make better PowerPoints when dealing with macro details or concepts.
• Balance the text and image appropriately to avoid losing the audience’s attention.
• Make the message in the ppt slide clear and clutter-free.

After PowerPoint slides makeover, ensure that the content or concept is easy to absorb. Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and PowerPoint slides are effective for a large audience of around 20 people.

Create a new PPT presentation for a template or blank page

When you start a project in PowerPoint, you have to create a new presentation. This can either be from a ppt template or blank slides. You can also opt to open a previously made or an existing presentation and edit it to improve PowerPoint. The great part about making professional ppt slides is that you can work with the same presentation without making several changes.

Using a predesigned ppt presentation or template is also advantageous and time-saving. This is because ppt templates have custom formatting options that allow you to save designs. This, in turn, reduces the need to start a new ppt project from scratch. With a ppt template acting as the foundation, each presentation will inherit:

While ppt templates come with the material you can recycle for future presentations, they are often harder to modify. In such a case, it’s better to consider a PowerPoint redesign and start with a blank presentation.

Use slide master to edit your PPT slide template design

Knowing how to redesign a slide template is a great skill for anyone who wants to improve PowerPoint presentation. Editing a template allows the user to make the necessary changes that translate to an effective ppt presentation.

When you redesign your favorite ppt template or one that you really love, it creates custom designs that are clean and professional-looking. So how do you edit a PowerPoint template?

• First, pick a suitable ppt template.
• Add the number of ppt slides that fit the content elements you want to include.
• Adjust the ppt fonts and color.
• Remove the ppt slides you don’t need to make the redesign process easier.

The trick with good ppt slides redesign is to use the slide master placed under view and ensure the slides grouping fits what you want. Note that while the slide master is open, any changes you make to one ppt slide affect the entire pack.

Use duplicate slides to save time

Are you asking yourself, “how do I redesign my presentation without spending a lot of time doing it?” Use duplicate ppt slides! Using slides from a previous presentation eliminates the need to redesign the entire PowerPoint lecture.

The duplicate slide and copy-paste are some methods used to create duplicate ppt slides. The easiest method to duplicate ppt slides is to use the copy and paste method. For this ppt procedure to work, follow these steps:

• Start by right-clicking the ppt slide you want to duplicate.
• Select “copy” from the menu.
• Move it to a specific section on the ppt slide.

The duplicate technique involves opening the ppt slides show and selecting the sliding thumb from the slide you wish to duplicate. Then, when you right-click on any of the ppt slides, a menu will appear, allowing you to click on the duplicate slide option.

Select the right font

Font can make or break your PowerPoint presentation. When chosen right, it will improve PowerPoint presentation. Unfortunately, most presenters make the mistake of choosing a fancy font to add visual appeal to the content. That is a big mistake. When it comes to professional presentation, stick to a standard-looking font that doesn’t detract from the main message.

Some of the standard fonts that give slides a professional and clean look while making the text readable include:

• Times New Roman

You don’t even need to download these fonts as they are accessible in all PowerPoint slides. So if you are still wondering, “which is the easiest way to redesign my presentation,” the answer is to use the appropriate font. Comic Sans and Mistral should be avoided, and using fonts like Forte sparingly is better. Serif and Helvetica are great for headers.

Make sure you use the proper font size

Your content font size greatly impacts how the audience perceives the information you are presenting. For example, it can affect navigation speed, the amount of content included in a single slide, and a reader’s experience. That’s why presenters who ask, “how do I improve my presentation?” are often advised to check the font size.

But which font size is appropriate for a PowerPoint presentation?

• Larger than 18 points improve readability.
• For titles, the font size is between 36 and 44.
• For text, maintain a range of between 24 and 36.
• Use a font size of 18-20 when adding explanatory text to a diagram or graph.

Overall, use a big enough fit to ensure anyone sitting at the back of the room can clearly see the slides’ contents.

Settle on specific style and color to use in a redesign

Thanks to its numerous features, PowerPoint has become the go-to option for making professional and impactful presentation redesign. That’s why when considering a PowerPoint slide makeover, style and color are some of the first things you should look into. For your redesign to improve, you can choose a specific style, color, and design with themes. To create consistency and improve the redesign, use the same style or design in all the slides.

Use the following tips to improve the style and color of your redesign:

• Experiment with different ppt theme styles before settling on a specific one.
• Mix and match color, effects, and font until you get a unique ppt look that fits your presentation.
• Customize the themes to fit the style and color you want.

Using themes makes it easier to get clues on the general style, design, and color you wish to have. But for a ppt redesign, go further and customize the themes by modifying the color, font, background styles, and effects.

Avoid PPT templates with too many colors

One of the things you should do when you want to improve PowerPoint presentation is to use different colors to your advantage to inspire your audience. Unfortunately, ppt templates with too many colors distract and fail to drive the message home.

But the right color combination evokes the right emotions that lead to enjoyment of the PowerPoint presentation. For example:

• Blue shows trust, peace, and confidence.
• Yellow portrays optimism and happiness.
• Red shows passion and grabs attention.
• Green is associated with nature and the environment.

When selecting a ppt template with the right colors, consider the following:

• Your brand or that of the company you are representing.
• Niche or industry.

So if you need to improve PowerPoint presentation redesign quickly, use colors that are easy on the eyes and look harmoniously together. Use ppt templates with complementary color schemes when you want to draw attention to a specific point or data.

Stick to using basic coloring

Color themes are a powerful thing that can easily improve PowerPoint presentation. You can use colors to emphasize specific information or draw attention to a specific element in a slide. Yes, if you are a pro, you can use more than two colors in a slide, especially when giving an informative PowerPoint presentation. However, if you are giving a formal presentation to adults, stick to basic coloring.

Young kids will enjoy bold and vibrant colors in a presentation. However, when dealing with adults, consider using neutral hues. Besides considering your target audience, what else should you do when it comes to colors?

• Use color to create contrast.
• Use colors to make information pop and direct the train of thought.
• Take advantage of complementary and monochromatic color schemes.
• Brighter or vibrant colors balance dark backgrounds.

Don’t use more colors than needed in one slide, as it affects balance and creates confusion. On the other hand, the right colors improve PowerPoint presentation and deliver excellent results.

Contrast in a presentation is essential

One of the most effective ways to improve PowerPoint presentation is through contrast. It draws the eye towards something specific. Colors help to show contrast in slides and draw the viewer to something specific.

But when choosing to use different colors as a way to create contrast, remember that some of your viewers might have color blindness issues. While there are different types of contrast, including shape, shade, color, and size, here are the top tips for creating contrast:

• Black and white provide the strongest contrasts.
• The colors in the background and foreground should be different.
• The colors in the slides should be 30% lighter than what you see on your laptop.

The display for your slide, whether a laptop or projector, and even the room you will be giving the presentation might alter the color and brightness. So check the colors in dark and light to see the contrast difference.

In PPT, images are more powerful than words

Our brains process images faster than text. That’s why visuals or images will be a good option for when you need to improve PowerPoint presentation. Besides, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by text in a ppt redesign.

On the other hand, images add visual appeal to the ppt slides, improve concertation and engagement. Having fewer texts and more images in slides also applies to academics and scientific ppt presentations.

But how many images are too many in ppt? Pros tend to combine beautiful images with text. However, it’s better to have more relevant images than text to redesign the ppt and make the content engaging. We are not just talking about pictures but also infographics, animations, and GIFs added to ppt.

Incorporating images in ppt slides has the following advantages:

• Saves time by preparing the ppt slides.
• Reduces boredom or dullness associated with class PowerPoint presentations.
• Helps to make complex concepts presented in a ppt redesign easy to comprehend.

Overall, the best PowerPoint slides makeover is rich in memorable imagery.

Use high-resolution clip art for your PPT redesign

Adding clip art is one of the things that can spice up a PowerPoint presentation. Instead of having ppt slide after slide, clip art breaks the monotony of the text and adds a striking visual effect to the PowerPoint redesign presentation. It also allows the presenter to showcase additional information not included in the PowerPoint slides. The advantages of adding clip art to a ppt redesign include:

• Helps get rid of using too many words.
• Keeps the audience’s attention.
• Improves the information in the ppt redesign and makes it memorable and engaging.

While, in some cases, outdated clip art makes your redesign presentation look unprofessional, it’s a great PowerPoint slide makeover if only it’s of high quality and can be scaled without distortion. So support your ppt redesign text with clip art as it assists the audience in visualizing the words.

Add meaningful visuals and interactions

Want a PowerPoint slides makeover to ensure your presentation makes a lasting impression? Add meaningful visuals and interactions. Most times, what differentiates a great PowerPoint presentation from a bad one is the content and visuals.

High-quality, relevant images make a presentation more visual. The trick is not to get carried away with the number of visuals included in a single slide. Instead of subjecting your audience to one boring slide after another, make a PowerPoint redesign and create an interactive presentation. How?

Tailor the presentation redesign to suit a wide range of audiences without having to edit the slides beforehand. When it comes to visuals and interactions in a redesign, stick to these three principles:

• Less is more.
• Consistently use high-resolution and quality images.
• Treat each slide as a special visual object.

Not all visuals will fit your message or the redesign you want. So choose correctly and avoid those with too many focal items, color, and contrast.

Align elements properly

Icons, shapes, and images are the most common elements in a PowerPoint presentation. Keeping these crucial elements properly aligned showcases professionalism in ppt and helps to grab the audience’s attention. It also keeps the ppt slides organized and makes it easier to convey the main message effectively.

Here are some tips to help you align elements like a PowerPoint redesign expert:

• Always select the object you want to align.
• Use ppt redesign guides are a reference to align objects correctly.
• For ppt redesign, have the option to align two or more objects.
• In a ppt redesign, you can align left, right, center, top, or bottom.

When you choose a specific position, for instance, to align the center if it’s two or more objects, they will be aligned vertically but centered on the ppt slides. For users who want a ppt redesign, aligning the text is another way to go. This involves tweaking the text placed inside the ppt text box.

Include a good background picture to improve your slides

Are your slides lacking a unique look? The simplest step to improve a ppt redesign is to include a background picture that will improve your PowerPoint presentation and clarify the message. A good background photo will personalize your PowerPoint presentation redesign and take it to the next level.

Here are five tips to help improve and select a great background image for a redesign:

• Go for a photo with a high resolution.
• Avoid choosing small photos as they will be distorted if the slide size is bigger.
• Ensure the picture makes it easier to see the text in the slides.

If the background image obscures the text, improve PowerPoint presentation redesign by adjusting the transparency or fine-tuning the text percentage. If you want to use that same background image in all the slides, don’t forget to select the “apply all” option when redesigning.

Incorporate interactive mockups

Don’t be fooled into believing that screenshots and diagrams can improve PowerPoint presentation. They add too much information to a slide and, in turn, make the presentation boring and visually unappealing. A quick way to improve a PowerPoint redesign is to use interactive mockups.

Even if you don’t have exceptional design skills, a mockup is a great way of ensuring your presentation makes a lasting impression. 3D mockups are also unique and a great tool for conveying your message. In case you feel stuck and require a unique way to make better PowerPoints, consider these tips:

• Use screenshots to create unique mockups.
• Copy the screenshots on a blank ppt slide.
• Edit and crop the image to hide unnecessary elements.
• Ensure the changes made on your mockups are duplicated in all the slides.

It’s optional to use PowerPoint hyperlinks to create interactive mockups. However, always test the mockup on different platforms such as laptops and mobile phones to ensure the font size is not affected regardless of the medium used.

Add relevant images to the redesign

Creating a redesign with engaging presentation slides that summarize the key points and capture attention is not easy. That’s why most professional presenters add pictures to improve PowerPoint presentation slides. But in a formal setting or when presenting complex or scientific information, most people don’t add photos to improve the redesign. However, that’s a mistake because it reduces the overall success of your redesign and PowerPoint presentation.

Before you add a specific visual aid to the redesign, consider its purpose. For example, apart from assisting in ppt redesign, use visual aids to:

• Summarize information.
• Reduce the total words to be included in redesign slides.
• Improve and enforce the points being talked about in the redesign.
• Make a stronger impact.
• Engage your audience and capture their attention.

While there are many benefits of using pictures in a ppt redesign, avoid cluttering them as it will make your work look unprofessional. So if you are asking yourself, “which is the ideal way to improve my presentation slides?” use these redesign tips:

• Use images consistently in all ppt redesign slides.
• Go for pictures that tell a story and improve the ppt slides.
• Incorporate photos that improve understanding of the ppt slides.
• Prioritize clarity and simplicity in your ppt redesign.

Adjust and format images appropriately in a redesign

PowerPoint has numerous effective features that can help correct a picture. That means you can play around with color, resizing, saturation, and even apply artist effects. This is a great option for anyone looking for “quick ways to fix my PowerPoint presentation.” What’s to love about PowerPoint redesign is that it ensures no non-destructive editing for adjusting photos.

If you realize that you have made a mistake in your PowerPoint presentation redesign, you can quickly reset, remove any changes, and get your original image. The editing and redesign option allows you to format your photo to ensure it holds the audience’s attention. Some of the tips that you can use to make your photo better and redesign your slides include:

• Sharpen the image to refine edges and correct slightly blurry images in the presentation redesign.
• Use brightness and contrast to improve the pictures and the redesign.
• Scale an image to fit your redesign slides.

Crop any parts of the images that you don’t want to appear on the redesign slides.

Use graphs to increase understanding of content

Graphs come in handy when ppt data is too large or complicated to be represented in the text. Graphs are a great tool when you need to “fix my PowerPoint presentation” or redesign the project because they can help showcase trends or similarities between two variables. The benefits of incorporating graphs in a PowerPoint presentation include:

• Improve comprehension of data added in the ppt redesign.
• Improve the visual interpretation of any complex numerical to be included in a ppt redesign.
• Highlight and improve the interpretation of salient features of the ppt data.
• Showcase relationships that may not be that obvious when viewing the ppt redesign.
• Improve comparison of a different set of data.

While a specific presentation may call for different types of graphs, all of them work to enhance PowerPoint presentation. Graphs improve focus and allow the audience to concentrate on one salient point. That’s why a presenter should create graphs with one clear message that is simple to understand and find meaning in presented data. Graphs also allow a user to back up their claims.

Modify graphs to suit the data in the presentation

Did you know that one great way to improve PowerPoint presentation is by enhancing the appearance of a chart? To improve it, override the default graph format and edit. However, if not used correctly, graphs can be distracting. So to improve a redesign, keep each graph simple and easy to comprehend.

That way, the audience won’t get confused or spend much time deciphering what the graph from your redesign means. For large data, convert it to graphs but follow these redesign tips to ensure you improve the slides’ visual aid:

• To improve a redesign, you have to choose a specific graph presentation that tells a story.
• The elements included in the graphs should not be distracting but improve the redesign and PowerPoint presentation.
• To improve a redesign, use colors to highlight the key message.
• To improve a redesign, use different colored lines to improve and contrast two items or variables.

Another trick to improve a ppt redesign is adding titles to your graphs with information you want the audience to remember. Then, for a simple PowerPoint slides makeover, apply the simple formatting commands that adjust the font size, color, and style.

Add bulleted lists to organize ideas

Writing, whether in an academic or professional setting, must be clear, concise, and organized. Bullet points can help to organize ideas. For example, to use them to “redesign my presentation and improve it,” list out key points or items from the PowerPoint presentation.

This is mostly because even in a PowerPoint presentation , the audience might scan your content instead of reading it line by line. A bulleted list will break up long blocks of text, improve it, and motivate your audience to read the information.

But for bullet points to be effective in a ppt redesign, you should do the following:

• To improve the ppt redesign, keep bullets short in order to motivate the reader to move through the presentation.
• To improve the ppt redesign, the bullets must be brief and act as mini headlines.
• Bullets should be formatted the same way as the text in the PowerPoint presentation.

Since bullet points should be thematically related to the text, you might wonder how they can help redesign or improve PowerPoint presentation. A bulleted list in a ppt redesign breaks up long blocks of texts into digestible chunks and keeps the audience reading down the slides.

Make the slides pop with the 2/4/8 rule

One of the quickest ways to enhance PowerPoint presentations or give a PowerPoint redesign a fresh look is to use the 2/4/8 rule. To improve your redesign, you should not spend more than 2 minutes on a slide. Moreover, a single slide should not have more than four bullets. Finally, a bullet point should not have more than eight words.

This powerful rule is popular among professional presenters. So to help you out, here are some pointers for the 2/4/8 rule that can help improve a redesign:

• Ensure that 2 minutes are enough to inform the audience about the key points.
• The four bullet points should highlight the main points.
• Adding only eight words per line to every slide ensures the audience doesn’t get bored.

The 2/4/8 rule works to ensure that your slides are not cluttered. It also shows that there is no need to squeeze all the information into a single slide. Instead, it helps supplement the short words with a lengthy verbal presentation

Replace long bullet lists with pictures

Replace a long bulleted list with a high-quality image. Combining graphics and information to create infographics is another great way to achieve an impactful PowerPoint slide makeover.

Since the infographic accommodates varying font types, font sizes, color contrasts, and imagery, it eliminates monotony and adds visual appeal. So which is the correct way to add infographics to PowerPoint slides? Follow these tips:

• Use data visualization to turn lengthy data in slides into fascinating pictures.
• Opt for a ppt slides redesign to play with different shapes and diagrams.
• In your ppt redesign, include icons to improve the overall look.
• Use vector graphics that can be customizable per your preference to improve the ppt redesign.

While bullets in a ppt redesign were meant to break long blocks of text and make paragraphs easier to digest, sometimes they fail to create a fascinating visual aid. But when replaced with a picture or infographic, your message becomes memorable and works to enhance PowerPoint presentation.

Make use of PowerPoint redesign presentation examples

If you want to improve your PowerPoint presentation by always ending up with a blank page, find appealing and relatable redesign examples online. The redesign samples will act as guidelines and inspiration for your next project. With a redesign example to follow, you will know which colors to use and what to include to ensure your PowerPoint slides makeover is a success. The trick is to use online redesign examples from reputable sites. When looking at examples, follow these tips:

• Go for redesign examples that capture your attention and note which areas you focus more on.
• Use the redesign example to check how the slides have been customized and use that aspect to create your pieces.
• Use the redesign sample to determine whether the PowerPoint presentation is image-heavy or text-heavy or combines the two approaches.

It’s often best to combine text and images in equal proportion to help give PowerPoint presentation redesign in a conversational style.

Improve the layout

Did you know that you can improve clarity with layouts? This is simple but important to help improve PowerPoint presentation. When the layout has too much content, including a chart, text, and picture, in a single redesign or slide, the audience often gets confused. That’s why when it comes to a perfect redesign, avoid complex layouts and stick to simple ones.

Not all PowerPoint slides will be equal. However, when it comes to ppt redesign, here are essential tips that result in a great layout:

• Always limit the number of items you add in a single slide layout.
• Ensure every text added to the layout is readable.
• Don’t overfill the entire layout.
• For a stunning redesign, leave white space between each element.

Use placeholders in the slide layout to set a good position for texts, images, graphs, and other visual elements. You can also create custom layouts and save them within the chosen ppt template.

Use shapes to redesign a winning PPT presentation

Are you fond of asking, “how do I redesign my presentation?” Shapes can enhance your PowerPoint presentation. Using other format options, PowerPoint shapes will elevate your slides and add a visual appeal to the content.

What’s even greater is that you don’t have to stick to using common shapes such as rectangles, circles, and ovals. Instead, opt for sleek shapes that transform your ppt presentation.

Shapes can help you create simple or even complex ppt illustrations that will showcase your professionalism. But what’s so great about shapes, and what are their benefits in PowerPoint redesign?

• PPT shapes can be resized without getting distorted or losing image quality.
• PPT shapes offer immense flexibility.
• PPT shapes come in a variety of sizes, from large to small.
• PPT shapes are great for creating flowcharts, illustrations, and other basic diagrams.

Use the rule of thirds to improve PowerPoint slides

Anyone looking for a quick way to improve PowerPoint presentation should use the rule of thirds. It offers an easy way to make attractive slides that capture attention. The rule of thirds is based on the principle of dividing the slides into nine equal parts with two horizontal and vertical intersections.

Based on the rule, you should keep important visual elements in your redesign within the intersections. To use the principle effectively to redesign slides, follow these tips:

• Use the guide feature in PowerPoint to draw four lines on the slides and improve your redesign.
• Both the vertical and horizontal lines should divide your images into thirds and make the redesign better.
• In the redesign, ensure the lines intersect at four points, also known as the power points.

Note that even if your image has several elements, the viewer’s eye will be focused on the power points. Therefore, when you need to improve PowerPoint redesign and achieve maximum impact, place the key elements in the power points.

Add GIFs to your PowerPoint slides

Is your ppt presentation missing a wow factor that can appeal to a target audience? Are you asking yourself, “how do I fix my PowerPoint presentation and make it less boring? Insert a GIF into your ppt slides. A well-placed GIF makes the ppt presentation entertaining, which appeals to a younger audience. The ppt slides redesign can also add humor and capture attention.

Most people might refrain from adding GIFs to PowerPoint presentations because they believe it requires special skills or tools. However, inserting a GIF into ppt slides is just like adding an image. The steps include:

• Download a GIF.
• Open PowerPoint slides.
• Insert a picture.
• Choose the location where you placed the downloaded GIF.
• Insert the GIF in a specific position in the ppt slides.

Depending on the device you are using or the version of PowerPoint, you may choose clip art or picture instead.

Make slides advance automatically

PowerPoint allows users to improve their presentation with special effects. For example, you can create slides that advance automatically using the autoplay feature. This eliminates the need to keep clicking a slide whenever you want to move to the next one.

For a presentation, having an automatic advance feature shows professionalism and that you are well prepared. On the other hand, clicking a slide during a PowerPoint presentation can be distracting and cause you to lose flow or rhythm.

If you want an effective PowerPoint slide makeover, consider creating a slide show that advances automatically. But before setting the advance option, consider the following:

• Have you practiced beforehand to ensure your slides advance with your speech?
• Do you want to focus on the audience instead of looking at the slides?

A self-advancing PowerPoint slide would fit your needs if you answered yes to any of these questions.

Use animations wisely

Animation can improve PowerPoint presentation. It’s also a go-to option for anyone who wants to make better PowerPoints. While adding animation to ppt slides is risky, especially if it’s distracting, it will often improve the presentation redesign.

The trick is to use animations that complement your ppt message. That way, the audience understands what the animation represents, eliminating misunderstandings. If you want to incorporate animations as a way to improve PowerPoint, consider these tips:

• Use animation as a tool to help your audience connect with the message in the ppt.
• Use eye-catching animations to break the monotony of the ppt text and capture attention.
• For long ppt presentations, use animations to engage the audience and prevent fatigue.
• Use animations to draw attention to key points or new terms in the ppt.

While animations are great for presentations, they can only be effective if kept simple. So avoid using several animations in a single slide and use them consistently.

In PPT, it’s better to keep transition effects at a minimum

Animation and slide transition effects have a poor reputation among many professional PowerPoint presenters because they can distract the audience. However, simple animations and quick slide transitions can add meaning and improve PowerPoint presentation or redesign. But before you include a transition and animation into your slide as a way to “improve my presentation redesign,” consider the following:

• Context and relevancy.
• Whether the ppt redesign presentation involves complex or simple data.
• Which points need more attention and can help improve the ppt redesign.

If you fail to use transition effects or animations, your PowerPoint presentation can appear boring. Adding only one or two animation effects is a great PowerPoint slide makeover. This ensures that the effects of the redesign don’t overpower the message.

PPT slide transitions also add professional impact and draw attention to important data. When appropriately customized, you can use the effects to control the speed at which the PowerPoint slides appear on the screen.

Change slide size to fit your presentation

PowerPoint usually has two common slide sizes: 16:9 and 4:3. The first size is ideal for ppt presentations that involve a modern projector. However, 4:3 is great when you are using an old model device. But what if I want to redesign my presentation? Are these the only slide sizes appropriate for ppt? Of course, not.

You can customize the slides to fit the size you want. This is often an option if 4:3 and 16:9 are unsuitable for the ppt redesign. But before you customize the size of your slides, here are some tips to consider:

• 4:3 is great for creating multipurpose ppt content to be printed or shown across different platforms.
• 16:9 is great for high visual ppt content.
• Use 4:3 when the ppt slides are not going to be projected on the LCD screen.

It would be best if you also educated yourself on the ppt aspect ratio. For instance, the 4:3 aspect ratio is 1024×768 pixels, ideal for smaller ppt slides and screens.

When in doubt, dump the slides

Thanks to PowerPoint, it’s possible to have a ppt redesign that creates engaging content. However, sometimes even after looking at several examples, you can find out that your presentation is still dull. For example, if you have tried several times to improve PowerPoint presentation, but the result is slides that will bore the audience, then dump the whole project and start over.

The main aim of a PowerPoint presentation is to hook the audience on the message you are conveying and make them understand it. That is, if your ppt redesign does not have the necessary elements to hook the audience from the word go, it’s best to trash it. To make your next PowerPoint redesign a success, adhere to these tips:

• Replace large chunks of texts in ppt with stunning visual elements.
• Use animations, clip art, and GIFs sparingly in ppt.
• Instead of adding text in ppt, think like an editor and delete what can be omitted.

Finally, be consistent with font size, color schemes, font types, and bullets used in any ppt redesign.

Now that you know how to create a perfectly-balanced presentation, let’s find out how to present it to your audience in the best possible way. These tips will be especially relevant for teachers, lecturers, and presenters.

Present PPT material in short phrases

Presenting the material in short phrases rather than full sentences is another way to improve PowerPoint redesign. It ensures you don’t focus more on reading from ppt slides as it’s an ineffective way to teach. Instead, adding only a few short phrases to improve PowerPoint presentation allows you to focus on one idea and make the topic easier for the audience to understand.

The benefits of shorter phrases in a PowerPoint presentation redesign are as follows:

• It leaves less room for your audience to focus more on what is written on the ppt slides.
• It allows your audience to focus on your thoughts, explanation, and insights on the subject discussed in the ppt redesign.
• It lets the audience know and focus on the main point presented in the ppt redesign.

To improve PowerPoint presentation at any time, stick to short phrases that do not exceed 30 words or one line. Emphasize the short phrases with bold or bigger font sizes.

Include verbal explanations for pictures/graphs

It’s without a doubt that visual aids improve PowerPoint presentation redesign. PPT slides increase an audience’s understanding of the topic. That’s why pictures and graphs are great for anyone asking themselves, “how do I fix my PowerPoint presentation redesign.”

But without a verbal explanation, it can be challenging to comprehend the information in the ppt redesign presentation. So to give PowerPoint slides makeover, accompany visual aids with verbal explanations. Adding verbal explanations in ppt redesign slides is important because:

• A real-time ppt presentation allows the audience to ask questions about the visual aids used in the redesign.
• It enables your audience to assimilate the content better and freely discuss any doubts.
• It allows the lecturer or presenter to give real-time answers to any relevant question asked.

Simplicity in the verbal explanation is key in assimilating the message and a great way to improve a redesign or a PowerPoint presentation.

Don’t make the audience read the information on the slides

It’s hard for people to concentrate on what you are saying and still read the content on the slides. So if you want to make better PowerPoint presentation, don’t make your audience read the slides. Instead, allow them to listen to you and digest the information you have given in the redesign.

When the audience reads the slides, there is a high chance that they will not listen attentively. This reduces the concentration and retention of relevant information. It also beats the purpose of PowerPoint slide makeover. Besides, listening makes it easier for the audience to take notes and remember the key points in the redesign. When making a redesign, instead of allowing your audience to read the slides on their own, consider these four tips:

• At the beginning of the PowerPoint presentation, tell the audience what to expect.
• Elicit conversation to prevent the audience from focusing on the slides.
• Use the redesign to open with a story that ties to the topic to captivate your audience.
• Blackout the screen to ensure you are not competing with the PowerPoint redesign slides.

Fade to black when speaking

In search engines, the phrase “redesign my presentation” is commonly asked by presenters who want to be pros. However, one answer that is often overlooked but can easily improve PowerPoint presentation is the fade-to-black effect.

It’s often considered a transition that prevents the audience from concentrating too much on the slides. Instead, it allows the listeners to focus on the presenter. If fade-to-black is a new concept to you, check out the tips below:

• Use the fade-to-black effect to carry and improve your narrative.
• Fade-to-black provides room to pause and move on to the next slide.
• Use fade-to-black to get undivided attention and connect with the audience.

The chances are high that you have not been using the fade-to-black effect in your presentation. However, we recommend you try it because you are definitely missing out on a big opportunity that can enhance PowerPoint presentation.

Use PowerPoint slides to boost note-taking skills

One efficient way to make better PowerPoint presentation slides is to ensure your lectures improve note-taking skills. How?

With PowerPoint slides that summarize the subject or topic under discussion, students will have all it takes to improve and make good notes. In addition, learners will be able to follow what the lecturer is saying to understand key points given in the ppt slides.

The key to improving note-taking skills is to do it when the professor is not talking, decreasing information retention and learning. If a professor realizes that students focus more on taking notes than listening, they might have to do a PowerPoint redesign. For starters, ensure the ppt slides don’t have too much text that takes too much time for students to write down. When presenting your ppt slides, promote active listening by:

• Repeating the main points stated in the ppt slides.
• Asking questions to help learners focus on what is being said in the ppt slides.
• Don’t cover what is not included in the ppt slides.
• Don’t speak too fast or often point at the ppt slides.

And last but not least, take breaks or pauses between ppt slides to allow students to catch up and not miss any crucial information.

Give PowerPoint slides before the lecture

Do you sometimes see a specific student struggle to understand your ppt presentation? The solution might lie in the PowerPoint slide makeover. Most professors are used to presenting the slides during the actual lecture. This is because some students will not attend class if given the ppt slides before the lesson. However, there are numerous advantages to making the ppt slides available before the lecture.

• The ppt slides act as a guide for note-taking.
• When you improve a ppt redesign, it allows your audience to add information that was verbally discussed during class.
• PPT redesign increases student participation and concentration.

PowerPoint slides given before class allow the audience to gauge which sections they might find difficult to comprehend and ask relevant questions. However, if your students don’t attend class after getting the slides and you ask yourself, “how do I fix my PowerPoint presentation?” we recommend considering the quality of the slides. Ensure the slides don’t divulge every important detail. That way, you leave room for a verbal presentation to fill in the blanks and explain the subject matter further.

Use PowerPoint slides structure to complement lectures

Every teacher has used PowerPoint slides to improve lectures. But some of the teachers end up creating the slides in a dull way that makes students bored. However, the appropriate use of PowerPoint slides can be a great teaching tool as long as it follows a logically sound structure. This is another great tip to improve PowerPoint presentation redesign.

So how do you structure slides and improve PowerPoint presentations?

• As a way to improve the ppt slides, include the outline view to help you get a quick overview of the content
• Ensure slides from the ppt redesign include the table of contents to ease navigation
• Combine ppt slides into collapsible and expandable sections

The trick to improve PowerPoint slides is to make the presentation just like any other narration. Ensure the ppt redesign has an introduction, body, and conclusion. Besides, you can also give the PowerPoint presentation slides to students before class to enhance understanding and memory.

Wrapping up

PowerPoint presentations can be a great tool to get information across, demonstrate your expertise, projects, and accomplishments, as well as supplement a lecture. However, slides have to be created using best practices to get you the result you want.

Observance of a few simple principles will help you easily make effective PowerPoint presentations in 2022:

• Design your PowerPoint slides in one style. Use font, color, and shapes to create a visual hierarchy.
• Arrange elements so that everyone can immediately read the most important message.
• Highlight key elements with color, shape, or layout. Create a contrast or color spot.
• In the text, try to highlight the most critical phrases. This can be done using the color, thickness, or size of the text.
• Choose flat icons and simple shapes instead of 3D elements and rendered details.
• Use the built-in alignment tools (ruler, guides, and grid in PowerPoint).
• Copy slides and elements instead of re-creating them. An excellent PowerPoint presentation design is the reproduction of items, colors, and other objects.

In case you’re not good at slide design, don’t worry. SlidePeak can help you ensure each slide of your PowerPoint presentation looks professional and grabs your audience’s attention from the first line.

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