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8 tips to make the best powerpoint presentations.

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6 steps to ensure you never lose a microsoft office file again, microsoft office vs. google docs, sheets, slides: which is best, quick links, table of contents, start with a goal, less is more, consider your typeface, make bullet points count, limit the use of transitions, skip text where possible, think in color, take a look from the top down, bonus: start with templates.

Slideshows are an intuitive way to share complex ideas with an audience, although they're dull and frustrating when poorly executed. Here are some tips to make your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations sing while avoiding common pitfalls.

It all starts with identifying what we're trying to achieve with the presentation. Is it informative, a showcase of data in an easy-to-understand medium? Or is it more of a pitch, something meant to persuade and convince an audience and lead them to a particular outcome?

It's here where the majority of these presentations go wrong with the inability to identify the talking points that best support our goal. Always start with a goal in mind: to entertain, to inform, or to share data in a way that's easy to understand. Use facts, figures, and images to support your conclusion while keeping structure in mind (Where are we now and where are we going?).

I've found that it's helpful to start with the ending. Once I know how to end a presentation, I know how best to get to that point. I start by identifying the takeaway---that one nugget that I want to implant before thanking everyone for their time---and I work in reverse to figure out how best to get there.

Your mileage, of course, may vary. But it's always going to be a good idea to put in the time in the beginning stages so that you aren't reworking large portions of the presentation later. And that starts with a defined goal.

A slideshow isn't supposed to include everything. It's an introduction to a topic, one that we can elaborate on with speech. Anything unnecessary is a distraction. It makes the presentation less visually appealing and less interesting, and it makes you look bad as a presenter.

This goes for text as well as images. There's nothing worse, in fact, than a series of slides where the presenter just reads them as they appear. Your audience is capable of reading, and chances are they'll be done with the slide, and browsing Reddit, long before you finish. Avoid putting the literal text on the screen, and your audience will thank you.

Related: How to Burn Your PowerPoint to DVD

Right off the bat, we're just going to come out and say that Papyrus and Comic Sans should be banned from all PowerPoint presentations, permanently. Beyond that, it's worth considering the typeface you're using and what it's saying about you, the presenter, and the presentation itself.

Consider choosing readability over aesthetics, and avoid fancy fonts that could prove to be more of a distraction than anything else. A good presentation needs two fonts: a serif and sans-serif. Use one for the headlines and one for body text, lists, and the like. Keep it simple. Veranda, Helvetica, Arial, and even Times New Roman are safe choices. Stick with the classics and it's hard to botch this one too badly.

There reaches a point where bullet points become less of a visual aid and more of a visual examination.

Bullet points should support the speaker, not overwhelm his audience. The best slides have little or no text at all, in fact. As a presenter, it's our job to talk through complex issues, but that doesn't mean that we need to highlight every talking point.

Instead, think about how you can break up large lists into three or four bullet points. Carefully consider whether you need to use more bullet points, or if you can combine multiple topics into a single point instead. And if you can't, remember that there's no one limiting the number of slides you can have in a presentation. It's always possible to break a list of 12 points down into three pages of four points each.

Animation, when used correctly, is a good idea. It breaks up slow-moving parts of a presentation and adds action to elements that require it. But it should be used judiciously.

Adding a transition that wipes left to right between every slide or that animates each bullet point in a list, for example, starts to grow taxing on those forced to endure the presentation. Viewers get bored quickly, and animations that are meant to highlight specific elements quickly become taxing.

That's not to say that you can't use animations and transitions, just that you need to pick your spots. Aim for no more than a handful of these transitions for each presentation. And use them in spots where they'll add to the demonstration, not detract from it.

Sometimes images tell a better story than text can. And as a presenter, your goal is to describe points in detail without making users do a lot of reading. In these cases, a well-designed visual, like a chart, might better convey the information you're trying to share.

The right image adds visual appeal and serves to break up longer, text-heavy sections of the presentation---but only if you're using the right images. A single high-quality image can make all the difference between a success and a dud when you're driving a specific point home.

When considering text, don't think solely in terms of bullet points and paragraphs. Tables, for example, are often unnecessary. Ask yourself whether you could present the same data in a bar or line chart instead.

Color is interesting. It evokes certain feelings and adds visual appeal to your presentation as a whole. Studies show that color also improves interest, comprehension, and retention. It should be a careful consideration, not an afterthought.

You don't have to be a graphic designer to use color well in a presentation. What I do is look for palettes I like, and then find ways to use them in the presentation. There are a number of tools for this, like Adobe Color , Coolors , and ColorHunt , just to name a few. After finding a palette you enjoy, consider how it works with the presentation you're about to give. Pastels, for example, evoke feelings of freedom and light, so they probably aren't the best choice when you're presenting quarterly earnings that missed the mark.

It's also worth mentioning that you don't need to use every color in the palette. Often, you can get by with just two or three, though you should really think through how they all work together and how readable they'll be when layered. A simple rule of thumb here is that contrast is your friend. Dark colors work well on light backgrounds, and light colors work best on dark backgrounds.

Spend some time in the Slide Sorter before you finish your presentation. By clicking the four squares at the bottom left of the presentation, you can take a look at multiple slides at once and consider how each works together. Alternatively, you can click "View" on the ribbon and select "Slide Sorter."

Are you presenting too much text at once? Move an image in. Could a series of slides benefit from a chart or summary before you move on to another point?

It's here that we have the opportunity to view the presentation from beyond the single-slide viewpoint and think in terms of how each slide fits, or if it fits at all. From this view, you can rearrange slides, add additional ones, or delete them entirely if you find that they don't advance the presentation.

The difference between a good presentation and a bad one is really all about preparation and execution. Those that respect the process and plan carefully---not only the presentation as a whole, but each slide within it---are the ones who will succeed.

This brings me to my last (half) point: When in doubt, just buy a template and use it. You can find these all over the web, though Creative Market and GraphicRiver are probably the two most popular marketplaces for this kind of thing. Not all of us are blessed with the skills needed to design and deliver an effective presentation. And while a pre-made PowerPoint template isn't going to make you a better presenter, it will ease the anxiety of creating a visually appealing slide deck.

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HUGH CULVER

Author, speaker, coach, 10 easy ways to make any powerpoint presentation awesome.

Updated to Speaking on May 3, 2023.

This post was updated in 2023.

It was 20 minutes before lunch, my client was frantically looking at the clock, and the audience was squirming. We had suffered through endless forgettable PowerPoint slides and were all hoping for a merciful end. That’s when the presenter announced, “I see I’m running out of time, so I’ll just hurry through my last 30 slides.”

We’ve all suffered through slide shows with long lists of unreadable bullets, unnecessary YouTube clips, and overuse of graphics. Instead of holding our attention and making their point even stronger, each slide distracts the audience with more content they don’t need. Bad slides are agnostic. You can use PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, Google Slides, or hold up a piece of paper – it’s all a distraction if you don’t do it well.

Done well, a thoughtfully prepared slide deck can be the perfect slide dish for your full meal presentation. Done poorly and your audience will feel like they made one too many trips to the buffet table. This post will help you do it well.

For the first years of my speaking career, I presented with 35mm slides. You know, the photographs framed by cardboard that got jammed in the projector? That was me – hauling out the projector, clicking in the carousel, and praying that tonight it would all work. I soon learned that the more slides I showed the less the audience listened to me. So I cut back on the slides. I also noticed that when I switched to a black screen (see #9) the audience turned all their attention to me. So I practiced fading to black whenever I told a story or had an important point to make.

How I started

When I switched to PowerPoint I suddenly had a candy shop full of treats to sweeten my presentations with. And I started making all the same mistakes again: too many slides, too much content on each slide, and too distracting. After every presentation I always do a quick debrief – what worked, what needs to change? And slowly I developed a checklist for slide presentations.

I have shared with checklist with hundreds of speakers to help put the spotlight on them. Some were designing a new speech, some were preparing for a webinar and others needed slides to back up a video presentation. In every case, this checklist made their presentation better. They sold more products, got more referrals, and, in most cases, spent a lot less time working on their slide deck.

If you’ve ever struggled to create interesting slides or worry your slides are too wordy or you have too many of them, this will help.

Here are my 10 easy ways to make any PowerPoint presentation awesome.

1. Build your slides last

This might be the most important rule on the list. Don’t build your slide deck until you build your presentation.

You could be tempted to start monkeying with slides early in your speech writing process – after all, it’s a fun way to procrastinate from all that hard thinking – don’t. Building your slide deck before you build your presentation is like building a road before you know where it’s going.

Your slides are there to ADD to a well-designed speech, not to replace it.

2. Don’t try to replace you

People come to hear you. If you are launching your service on a webinar, they want to know how this solution has helped you and whether is it right for them. If you are delivering a keynote speech or workshop, they want a glimpse into your solutions that can help move them forward in their work or in life.

Fancy transitions, superfluous video clips, and endless bullet points will get your audience’s attention, but take their attention off of you. Every time you hit the clicker the audience leaves you and goes to the screen.

Your goal for every presentation is to deliver the goods, not the slides.

3. Use a consistent theme

We are easily distracted and confused. That’s why brands always anchor advertising on their unique colors, fonts, slogan, or a jingle. They know that consistency in their brand theme builds recognition and puts more attention on the message. You should do that with your slides.

Start with a simple, white background and san serif fonts.

A consistent, simple theme helps your audience focus on the content of each slide. Watch TED talks that have gone viral to see how simple a slide theme can be, like the ones by Dan Pink The puzzle of motivation (30M views), and Shawn Achor The happy secret to better work (25M views).

4. More images, less text

Want to quickly reenergize a tired slide deck? Make your images larger ( in this post I share where to get free images ) and reduce the text size. Remember, the theme in this post is that you are the presentation, not your slides.

Your brain can process images 60,000 times faster than text. When you use images (and less text) you allow your audience to process the image without distracting them away from your powerful story, or making a critical point. Like subtle mood music in the background of a dramatic movie scene, images can augment and enhance what you are saying without stealing the show.

5. One story per slide

When I started using PowerPoint I would have 60 to 80 slides for a 60-minute speech. It was a lot of work to prepare each deck and when I was deep into the speech I would sometimes forget where I was and have to jump forward a couple of slides.

Then it became 30-35 slides and I could breathe easier, knowing that fewer clicks meant less to worry about. As my confidence grew it became 10-12 slides and each slide became a key part of storytelling or point-making—they had to earn their place.

I might use a slide as a backdrop to a story or for a short list that supports a lesson I’m delivering. Either way, it’s always on ‘story’ per slide. If I don’t need a slide, I fade to black (#9).

But, I always stick to one story per slide.

6. Reveal one bullet at a time

This is an easy one – reveal one bullet at a time. The function of bullets is to reinforce (not replace) what you are delivering. That’s why they need to be short (see the 2/4/8 rule, below). A good bullet point is complete on it’s own, but much better when combined with a live presentation of it. Here’s an example from a list of (very wordy) time management strategies:

• Infrequent visits to your Inbox give you more time for deep work
• time blocking allows you to protect time for important work
• the Pomodoro technique can help you focus with fewer distractions

A better list – like one you might use on a PowerPoint slide – would be:

• visit your Inbox less often
• block time for important work
• the Pomodoro technique helps you focus

To reveal one bullet at a time in PowerPoint, right-click on your text box, select Custom Animation > Add Entrance Effect and then choose the effect you want. In Keynote, click Animate > Build in and choose the effect you want.

7. Leave the fireworks to Disney

It’s great that you know how to turn text into flames and make images spin with the click of your mouse – but leave those fireworks to Disney. Your job is to make your content the star of the show. Every time you haul the audience’s attention away to some animation you lose a truckload of opportunity to help them.

Your slides can still be amazing and helpful, but that should always be secondary to your primary purpose of helping people. Simple transitions, clean, san serif fonts, and large, attractive graphics trump PowerPoint tricks, every time.

8. The 2/4/8 rule

When I am advising other speakers I often don’t know their topic—certainly not as well as they do. So I rely on certain rules I have developed over many years. For slide decks, I use my 2/4/8 rule. Here’s how it goes…

• about every 2 minutes I have a new slide (that’s 30 slides for a 60-minute speech),
• no more than 4 bullets per slide, and
• no more than 8 words per bullet.

Just like any recipe, you can mess with the ingredient a bit. If your content is more technical, you might need more slides. Sometimes I need 5 or 6 bullets. I use the 2/4/8 rule to remind me that slides are there to support what I have to say, not replace me.

9. Fade to black

The last time I was shopping for a car, I noticed the salesperson had a clever technique. While he asked how I liked the car and if I had any questions, he kept his sales offer face-down on the table. Because there were no other distractions, he had my full attention. And when it was time to reveal his offer, it was much more dramatic (so was the price!) Use the same technique with your slides.

When you fade to black you regain your audience’s attention. For example, after I present a solution, I’ll fade to black while I expound on how to apply that solution in my audience’s work/life. When I’m finished, I turn black off and go to the next point. Or if I’m halfway through a story I’ll fade to back before the punchline so I know I have everyone’s attention.

It’s no different than a close-up scene in a movie—the director wants you to focus only on the speaker. Note that if you are shopping for a slide remote, be sure that yours has the black screen feature.

10. When in doubt, delete

This might be the most advice I can leave you with. When in doubt, delete it.

There is a weird attraction to more. Authors add more pages thinking it makes the book more valuable. Sales people who talk too much miss the opportunity to ask for the sale. And presenters add more slides thinking it will make them look better. Wrong.

When you are doing the final edits on your slide deck, the ultimate question you should be asking about each slide is, “Will it make my speech better?” If not, dump it.

Remember, nobody will miss what isn’t there. Also fewer slides allows you more time for side stories, spontaneous thoughts or even time for Q&A.

Remember this…

I’ve said it numerous times in this post, but it’s worth repeating. You are the show, not your slides. More slides means more time your audience is not paying attention to you. Fewer (and better) slides means you have more time to build rapport, share memorable stories, explain your solutions and motivate your audience to action. You are there for a reason. Now go and deliver.

One last thing. Spend the $80 and pack a remote (with spare batteries.) Nothing’s worse than watching a speaker repeatedly lean over, hunt for the right key, and then peck away to advance the slides.

If you enjoyed this article, here is more about presentation skills:

How the experts create world-class PowerPoint Slides (and you can too) PowerPoint Primer – the only 3 slides you’ll ever need How to add video to PowerPoint and Keynote like a pro

Slide by  Nathan Anderson  on  Unsplash

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How to Make a Beautiful PowerPoint Presentation: A Simple Guide

Ready to craft a beautiful and attention-grabbing powerpoint presentation we’ll walk you through slideshow design tips, show you some tricks to maximize your powerpoint skills, and give you everything you need to look really good next time you’re up in front of a crowd..

In this post, we’ll cover:

Key Elements of Winning PowerPoints

Illustrative, not generic, supportive, not distracting, inspiring and engaging, other considerations when creating a slideshow.

How many times have you sat through a poorly designed business presentation that was dull, cluttered, and distracting? Probably way too many. Even though we all loathe a boring presentation, when it comes time to make our own, do we really do any better?

The good news is you don’t have to be a professional designer to make professional presentations. We’ve put together a few simple guidelines you can follow to create a beautifully assembled deck.

We’ll walk you through some slide design tips, show you tricks to maximize your PowerPoint skills, and give you everything you need to look really good next time you’re up in front of a crowd.

And, while PowerPoint remains one of the biggest names in presentation software, many of these design elements and principles work in Google Slides, as well.

Let’s dive right in.

1. Use Layout to Your Advantage

Layout is one of the most powerful visual elements in design, and it’s a simple, effective way to control the flow and visual hierarchy of information. It’s also one of the most important elements to consider when thinking about how to make your PowerPoint look better.

For example, most Western languages read left to right, top to bottom. Knowing this natural reading order, you can direct people’s eyes in a deliberate way to certain key parts of a slide that you want to emphasize.

You can also guide your audience with simple tweaks to the layout. Use text size and alternating fonts or colors to distinguish headlines from body text.

Placement also matters. There are many unorthodox ways to structure a slide, but most audience members will have to take a few beats to organize the information in their head—that’s precious time better spent listening to your delivery and retaining information.

Try to structure your slides more like this:

And not like this:

Layout is one of the trickier PowerPoint design concepts to master, which is why we have these free PowerPoint templates already laid out for you. Use them as a jumping off point for your own presentation, or use them wholesale!

Presentation templates can give you a huge leg up as you start working on your design.

2. No Sentences

This is one of the most critical slide design tips. Slides are simplified, visual notecards that capture and reinforce main ideas, not complete thoughts.

As the speaker, you should be delivering most of the content and information, not putting it all on the slides for everyone to read (and probably ignore). If your audience is reading your presentation instead of listening to you deliver it, your message has lost its effectiveness.

Pare down your core message and use keywords to convey it. Try to avoid complete sentences unless you’re quoting someone or something.

Stick with this:

And avoid this:

3. Follow the 6×6 Rule

One of the cardinal sins of a bad PowerPoint is cramming too many details and ideas on one slide, which makes it difficult for people to retain information. Leaving lots of “white space” on a slide helps people focus on your key points.

Try using the 6×6 rule to keep your content concise and clean looking. The 6×6 rule means a maximum of six bullet points per slide and six words per bullet. In fact, some people even say you should never have more than six words per slide!

Just watch out for “orphans” (when the last word of a sentence/phrase spills over to the next line). This looks cluttered. Either fit it onto one line or add another word to the second line.

Slides should never have this much information:

4. Keep the Colors Simple

Stick to simple light and dark colors and a defined color palette for visual consistency. Exceptionally bright text can cause eye fatigue, so use those colors sparingly. Dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background will work well. Also avoid intense gradients, which can make text hard to read.

If you’re presenting on behalf of your brand, check what your company’s brand guidelines are. Companies often have a primary brand color and a secondary brand color , and it’s a good idea to use them in your presentation to align with your company’s brand identity and style.

If you’re looking for color inspiration for your next presentation, check out our 101 Color Combinations , where you can browse tons of eye-catching color palettes curated by a pro. When you find the one you like, just type the corresponding color code into your presentation formatting tools.

Here are more of our favorite free color palettes for presentations:

• 10 Color Palettes to Nail Your Next Presentation
• 10 Energizing Sports Color Palettes for Branding and Marketing
• 10 Vintage Color Palettes Inspired by the Decades

No matter what color palette or combination you choose, you want to keep the colors of your PowerPoint presentation simple and easy to read, like this:

Stay away from color combinations like this:

5. Use Sans-Serif Fonts

Traditionally, serif fonts (Times New Roman, Garamond, Bookman) are best for printed pages, and sans-serif fonts (Helvetica, Tahoma, Verdana) are easier to read on screens.

These are always safe choices, but if you’d like to add some more typographic personality , try exploring our roundup of the internet’s best free fonts . You’ll find everything from classic serifs and sans serifs to sophisticated modern fonts and splashy display fonts. Just keep legibility top of mind when you’re making your pick.

Try to stick with one font, or choose two at the most. Fonts have very different personalities and emotional impacts, so make sure your font matches the tone, purpose, and content of your presentation.

6. Stick to 30pt Font or Larger

Many experts agree that your font size for a PowerPoint presentation should be at least 30pt. Sticking to this guideline ensures your text is readable. It also forces you, due to space limitations, to explain your message efficiently and include only the most important points. .

7. Avoid Overstyling the Text

Three of the easiest and most effective ways to draw attention to text are:

• A change in color

Our eyes are naturally drawn to things that stand out, but use these changes sparingly. Overstyling can make the slide look busy and distracting.

8. Choose the Right Images

The images you choose for your presentation are perhaps as important as the message. You want images that not only support the message, but also elevate it—a rare accomplishment in the often dry world of PowerPoint.

But, what is the right image? We’ll be honest. There’s no direct answer to this conceptual, almost mystical subject, but we can break down some strategies for approaching image selection that will help you curate your next presentation.

The ideal presentation images are:

• Inspirational

These may seem like vague qualities, but the general idea is to go beyond the literal. Think about the symbols in an image and the story they tell. Think about the colors and composition in an image and the distinct mood they set for your presentation.

With this approach, you can get creative in your hunt for relatable, authentic, and inspirational images. Here are some more handy guidelines for choosing great images.

Tips on Making Beautiful PowerPoint Presentations

So, the slide in question is about collaborating as a team. Naturally, you look for images of people meeting in a boardroom, right?

While it’s perfectly fine to go super literal, sometimes these images fall flat—what’s literal doesn’t necessarily connect to your audience emotionally. Will they really respond to generic images of people who aren’t them meeting in a boardroom?

In the absence of a photo of your actual team—or any other image that directly illustrates the subject at hand—look for images of convincing realism and humanity that capture the idea of your message.

Doing so connects with viewers, allowing them to connect with your message. This is one way to learn how to make your PowerPoint stand out and ensure a dynamic presentation PowerPoint.

The image above can be interpreted in many ways. But, when we apply it to slide layout ideas about collaboration, the meaning is clear.

It doesn’t hurt that there’s a nice setting and good photography, to boot.

Now that we’ve told you to get creative with your image selection, the next lesson is to rein that in. While there are infinite choices of imagery out there, there’s a limit to what makes sense in your presentation.

Let’s say you’re giving an IT presentation to new employees. You might think that image of two dogs snuggling by a fire is relatable, authentic, and inspirational, but does it really say “data management” to your audience?

To find the best supporting images, try searching terms on the periphery of your actual message. You’ll find images that complement your message rather than distract from it.

In the IT presentation example, instead of “data connections” or another literal term, try the closely related “traffic” or “connectivity.” This will bring up images outside of tech, but relative to the idea of how things move.

There’s a widespread misconception that business presentations are just about delivering information. Well, they’re not. In fact, a great presentation is inspirational. We don’t mean that your audience should be itching to paint a masterpiece when they’re done. In this case, inspiration is about engagement.

Is your audience asking themselves questions? Are they coming up with new ideas? Are they remembering key information to tap into later? You’ll drive a lot of this engagement with your actual delivery, but unexpected images can play a role, as well.

When you use more abstract or aspirational images, your audience will have room to make their own connections. This not only means they’re paying attention, but they’re also engaging with and retaining your message.

To find the right abstract or unconventional imagery, search terms related to the tone of the presentation. This may include images with different perspectives like overhead shots and aerials, long exposures taken over a period of time, nature photos , colorful markets , and so on.

The big idea here is akin to including an image of your adorable dog making a goofy face at the end of an earnings meeting. It leaves an audience with a good, human feeling after you just packed their brains with data.

Use that concept of pleasant surprise when you’re selecting images for your presentation.

Setting Appropriate Image Resolution in PowerPoint

Want to learn how to make a PowerPoint look good? Though you can drag-and-drop images into PowerPoint, you can control the resolution displayed within the file.

All of your PowerPoint slide layout ideas should get the same treatment to be equal in size.

Simply click File > Compress Pictures in the main application menu.

If your presentation file is big and will only be viewed online, you can take it down to On-screen , then check the Apply to: All pictures in this file , and rest assured the quality will be uniform.

This resolution is probably fine for proofing over email, but too low for your presentation layout ideas. For higher res in printed form, try the Print setting, which at 220 PPI is extremely good quality.

For large-screens such as projection, use the HD setting, since enlarging to that scale will show any deficiencies in resolution. Low resolution can not only distract from the message, but it looks low-quality and that reflects on the presenter.

If size is no issue for you, use High Fidelity (maximum PPI), and only reduce if the file size gives your computer problems.

The image quality really begins when you add the images to the presentation file. Use the highest quality images you can, then let PowerPoint scale the resolution down for you, reducing the excess when set to HD or lower.

Resizing, Editing, and Adding Effects to Images in PowerPoint

PowerPoint comes with an arsenal of tools to work with your images. When a picture is selected, the confusingly named Picture Format menu is activated in the top menu bar, and Format Picture is opened on the right side of the app window.

In the Format Picture menu (on the right) are four sections, and each of these sections expand to show their options by clicking the arrows by the name:

• Fill & Line (paint bucket icon): Contains options for the box’s colors, patterns, gradients, and background fills, along with options for its outline.
• Effects (pentagon icon): Contains Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Soft Edges, 3-D Format and Rotation, and Artistic Effects.
• Size & Properties (dimensional icon): Size, Position, and Text Box allow you to control the physical size and placement of the picture or text boxes.
• Picture (mountain icon): Picture Corrections, Colors, and Transparency give you control over how the image looks. Under Crop, you can change the size of the box containing the picture, instead of the entire picture itself as in Size & Properties above.

The menu at the top is more expansive, containing menu presets for Corrections, Color, Effects, Animation, and a lot more. This section is where you can crop more precisely than just choosing the dimensions from the Picture pane on the right.

Cropping Images in PowerPoint

The simple way to crop an image is to use the Picture pane under the Format Picture menu on the right side of the window. Use the Picture Position controls to move the picture inside its box, or use the Crop position controls to manipulate the box’s dimensions.

To exert more advanced control, or use special shapes, select the picture you want to crop, then click the Picture Format in the top menu to activate it.

Hit the Crop button, then use the controls on the picture’s box to size by eye. Or, click the arrow to show more options, including changing the shape of the box (for more creative looks) and using preset aspect ratios for a more uniform presentation of images.

The next time you design a PowerPoint presentation, remember that simplicity is key and less is more. By adopting these simple slide design tips, you’ll deliver a clear, powerful visual message to your audience.

If you want to go with a PowerPoint alternative instead, you can use Shutterstock Create to easily craft convincing, engaging, and informative presentations.

With many presentation template designs, you’ll be sure to find something that is a perfect fit for your next corporate presentation. You can download your designs as a .pdf file and import them into both PowerPoint and Google Slides presentation decks.

PowerPoint Presentations FAQs

What is the 5 5 5 rule in powerpoint.

The 5 5 5 rule in PowerPoint is fairly simple: 5 lines per slide, each line with no more than 5 words, and make sure your presentation is no longer than 5 minutes.

How long should your PowerPoint be?

A PowerPoint can be as long as it needs to be, but some people—and the 5 5 5 rule—advise you to keep five minutes or shorter.

What is the easiest way to make a PowerPoint prettier?

Beyond using eye-catching imagery and colors, a pretty PowerPoint should also follow good design principles. You want the information to be organized, balanced, and easy to digest. It doesn’t matter how many appealing images you include are if the information is hard to internalize. Use appropriate fonts and shorts sentences to make sure the words are legible and don’t crowd the slides with too many elements.

License this cover image via F8 studio and Ryan DeBerardinis .

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17 PowerPoint Presentation Tips From Pro Presenters [+ Templates]

Published: April 26, 2024

PowerPoint presentations can be professional, attractive, and really help your audience remember your message.

If you don’t have much experience, that’s okay — I’m going to arm you with PowerPoint design tips from pro presenters, the steps you need to build an engaging deck, and templates to help you nail great slide design.

Download Now

Buckle up for a variety of step-by-step explanations as well as tips and tricks to help you start mastering this program. There are additional resources woven in, and you’ll find expert perspectives from other HubSpotters along the way.

Table of Contents

How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

Powerpoint presentation tips.

Microsoft PowerPoint is like a test of basic professional skills, and each PowerPoint is basically a presentation made of multiple slides.

Successful PowerPoints depend on three main factors: your command of PowerPoint's design tools, your attention to presentation processes, and being consistent with your style.

Keep those in mind as we jump into PowerPoint's capabilities.

Getting Started

1. open powerpoint and click ‘new.’.

A page with templates will usually open automatically, but if not, go to the top left pane of your screen and click New . If you’ve already created a presentation, select Open and then double-click the icon to open the existing file.

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Creating PowerPoint Slides

3. insert a slide..

Insert a new slide by clicking on the Home tab and then the New Slide button. Consider what content you want to put on the slide, including heading, text, and imagery.

• Finally, PowerPoint Live is a new tool that enables you to do more seamless presentations during video calls and may be a better overall match for doing presentations remotely. Check out this video:

11. Try Using GIFs.

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15. Embed multimedia.

PowerPoint allows you to either link to video/audio files externally or to embed the media directly in your presentation. For PCs, two great reasons for embedding are:

• Embedding allows you to play media directly in your presentation. It will look much more professional than switching between windows.
• Embedding also means that the file stays within the PowerPoint presentation, so it should play normally without extra work (except on a Mac).

If you use PowerPoint for Mac it gets a bit complicated, but it can be done:

• Always bring the video and/or audio file with you in the same folder as the PowerPoint presentation.
• Only insert video or audio files once the presentation and the containing folder have been saved on a portable drive in their permanent folder.
• If the presentation will be played on a Windows computer, then Mac users need to make sure their multimedia files are in WMV format.
• Consider using the same operating system for designing and presenting, no matter what.

16. Bring your own hardware.

Between operating systems, PowerPoint is still a bit jumpy. Even between differing PPT versions, things can change. The easiest fix? Just bring along your own laptop when you're presenting.

The next easiest fix is to upload your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides as a backup option — just make sure there is a good internet connection and a browser available where you plan to present.

Google Slides is a cloud-based presentation software that will show up the same way on all operating systems.

To import your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides:

• Navigate to slides.google.com . Make sure you’re signed in to a Google account (preferably your own).
• Under Start a new presentation , click the empty box with a plus sign. This will open up a blank presentation.
• Go to File , then Import slides .
• A dialog box will come up. Tap Upload.
• Click Select a file from your device .
• Select your presentation and click Open .
• Select the slides you’d like to import. If you want to import all of them, click All in the upper right-hand corner of the dialog box.
• Click Import slides.

When I tested this out, Google Slides imported everything perfectly, including a shape whose points I had manipulated. This is a good backup option to have if you’ll be presenting across different operating systems.

17. Use Presenter View.

In most presentation situations, there will be both a presenter’s screen and the main projected display for your presentation.

PowerPoint has a great tool called Presenter View, which can be found in the Slide Show tab of PowerPoint. Included in the Presenter View is an area for notes, a timer/clock, and a presentation display.

For many presenters, this tool can help unify their spoken presentation and their visual aid. You never want to make the PowerPoint seem like a stack of notes that you’re reading off of.

Use the Presenter View option to help create a more natural presentation.

Pro Tip: At the start of the presentation, you should also hit CTRL + H to make the cursor disappear. Hitting the “A” key will bring it back if you need it.

Your Next Great PowerPoint Presentation Starts Here

Now that you have these style, design, and presentation tips under your belt, you should feel confident to create your PowerPoint presentation.

But if you can explore other resources to make sure your content hits the mark. After all, you need a strong presentation to land your point and make an impression.

With several templates to choose from — both in PowerPoint and available for free download — you can swiftly be on your way to creating presentations that wow your audiences.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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27 Super Hidden PowerPoint Tips and Tricks Only The Pros Know!

Ausbert Generoso

Ever felt like your PowerPoint presentations could use a little magic? You’re not alone. Whether you’re a seasoned presenter or just getting started, there’s a world of PowerPoint tips and tricks waiting for you. In this guide, we’re diving into the nitty-gritty of Microsoft PowerPoint to uncover 30 hidden gems that’ll transform the way you create and deliver slides.

From making your designs pop to streamlining your workflow, these PowerPoint hacks are designed for real-world impact. No jargon, just practical insights that’ll have you presenting like a pro in no time.

Let’s cut through the noise and get straight to the good stuff – your next presentation is about to level up. Ready? Let’s get started.

27 PowerPoint Tips and Tricks That Put The Power in PowerPoint

1. Morph Transition for Seamless Animation

What’s it for:  Elevate your presentation by seamlessly animating objects and creating smooth transitions between slides. Morph transition is your key to a dynamic and visually engaging storytelling experience, allowing you to captivate your audience effortlessly. 

How to do it:

• Position the same object in different parts on multiple slides
• Select all slides, and go to the Transitions tab.
• Choose “Morph” as the transition effect.

2. SVG Image Integration

What’s it for:  Did you think SVG’s only work for websites and professional photo editing tools? They do, too, in PowerPoint! Import high-quality Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Maintain image clarity, resize without loss, and enhance your presentations with crisp logos and icons. 

• Save your chosen SVG on your device.
• Click on the Insert tab.
• Choose “Pictures” and select your SVG file.
• Adjust the size without compromising image quality.

3. Designer Feature for Quick Layouts

What’s it for:  Effortlessly create professional-looking slides with the Designer feature. Receive instant layout suggestions based on your content, saving time and ensuring your presentation looks polished. 

• Select a slide.
• Go to the Design tab and click Designer on the far right along the ribbon.
• Select through ready-made slide designs for instant layouts.

4. Insert 3D Models

What’s it for:  Amp up your presentations with manipulable 3D models, adding a dynamic dimension. Whether it’s showcasing products or visualizing data, 3D models bring your slides to life. 

• Click on the “3D Models” dropdown and proceed to Stock 3D Models.
• Search for a 3D model of your choice and insert.
• Manipulate and customize as needed.

5. SmartArt Graphics for Visual Hierarchy

What’s it for:  Convey complex ideas with visual hierarchy using SmartArt graphics. These graphics offer a structured and visually appealing way to organize information, making your content more digestible. 

• Go to the Insert tab.
• Select “SmartArt” and navigate through the available categories.
• Select a graphic template that fits your presentation needs.
• Enter your content and customize as needed.

6. Eyedropper Tool for Color Matching

What’s it for:  Maintain a cohesive design by using the Eyedropper tool to pick colors from images or elements within your presentation. Ensure consistency and professional aesthetics in every slide. 

• Select the editable, native PowerPoint object you wish to customize.
• Go to the Shape Format tab and click on the Shape Fill dropdown.
• Select “More Fill Colors…” and click the eyedropper icon to begin color appropriating.

7. Record and Insert Audio

What’s it for:  Infuse personality into your presentation by recording audio directly within PowerPoint. Ideal for adding voiceovers, explanations, or personal touches that enhance audience engagement. 

• Click on “Audio” and choose “Record Audio.”
• Record your audio and insert it into the slide.

8. Presenter Coach for Rehearsing

What’s it for:  Elevate your presentation skills with Presenter Coach. Receive valuable feedback on pacing, filler words, and more, refining your delivery for a confident and impactful performance. 

• Click on the Slide Show tab.
• Choose “Rehearse with Coach” to start practicing.

9. Hyperlink Navigation for Seamless Transitions

What’s it for:  Streamline your presentation flow by implementing Hyperlink Navigation. This trick allows you to create clickable links within your slides, enabling effortless transitions between related content or external resources, enhancing the overall navigational experience. 

• Select the text or object you want to hyperlink.
• Right-click and choose “Hyperlink” or use the Ctrl+K shortcut.
• Specify the destination, whether it’s another slide, a website, or a file, to create a seamless navigational experience.

10. Alt Text for Accessibility

What’s it for:  Improve accessibility by adding descriptive alternative text to images and objects. Ensure inclusivity for visually impaired individuals, making your presentation accessible to a wider audience. 

• Right-click on the image or object.
• Choose “Edit Alt Text” and enter a descriptive text.

11. Slide Zoom for Dynamic Navigation

What’s it for:  Elevate your presentation’s navigation with Slide Zoom, offering the flexibility to jump to specific slides during a presentation without adhering to a linear sequence. This dynamic feature ensures a more engaging and tailored audience experience. 

• Set a master slide where you’d like to put your “mini slides” altogether.
• Navigate to the Insert tab > Zoom dropdown > Slide Zoom.
• Select the slides you want to link onto your master slide and insert.

12. Live Captions and Subtitles

What’s it for:  Foster inclusivity by enabling live captions and subtitles in multiple languages. This feature enhances accessibility, making your presentation more engaging and comprehensible for a diverse global audience. 

• Go to the Slide Show tab.
• Select “Always Use Subtitles” and choose your language.

13. Password Protection for Security

What’s it for:  Safeguard your presentation’s sensitive content by adding a password. This security measure ensures that only authorized individuals can access and view the information, adding an extra layer of protection. 

• Navigate to the File tab.
• Select “Info” and click on “Protect Presentation.”
• Choose “Encrypt with Password” and set your password.

14. Animation Painter for Consistent Animations

What’s it for:  Maintain a polished and consistent look throughout your presentation by using the Animation Painter. Copy and apply animations across different objects with ease, ensuring a cohesive visual experience. 

• Select the object with the same, desired animation as the others.
• Go to the Animation tab.
• Click on “Animation Painter” and apply to other objects.

15. Linked Excel Charts for Real-Time Updates

What’s it for:  Integrate linked Excel charts for real-time updates in your PowerPoint presentation. Any modifications made to the linked Excel file automatically reflect in your slides, ensuring data accuracy. 

• Copy your Excel chart.
• In PowerPoint, use “Paste Special” and choose “Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object.”

16. Custom Slide Sizes

What’s it for:  Tailor your presentation to various screen dimensions by customizing slide sizes. This feature, accessible through the Design tab, ensures your content fits seamlessly across different display settings. 

• Navigate to the Design tab.
• Click on the “Slide Size” dropdown and choose “Page Setup”.
• Change “Slide sized for” to Custom.

17. Grid and Guidelines for Precision

What’s it for:  Achieve precise object alignment with gridlines and guides. This feature, essential for creating visually polished and organized presentations, ensures your content is visually appealing and professionally structured. 

• Go to the View tab.
• Check the “Grids” and “Guidelines” toggles for display options and customization.

18. Slide Master for Consistent Design

What’s it for:  Establish a cohesive presentation design by utilizing the Slide Master. This time-saving feature enables you to set consistent layouts, fonts, and colors throughout your presentation. 

• Click on “Slide Master” to access and customize master slides.

19. Quick Access Toolbar Customization

What’s it for:  Streamline your workflow by personalizing the Quick Access Toolbar with your most-used commands. This customization ensures quick access to essential tools, enhancing efficiency during presentation creation. 

• Click on the dropdown arrow on the Quick Access Toolbar.
• Select “More Commands” to customize your toolbar.

20. Ink Annotations for Handwriting

What’s it for:  Personalize your presentations with a touch-enabled device using ink annotations. This feature allows you to draw or write directly on slides, adding a unique and handwritten touch to your content. 

• Go to the Draw tab and click on Draw to begin drawing.
• Choose “Ink to Text” or “Ink to Shape” for handwriting annotations.

21. Crop to Shape for Image Customization

What’s it for:  Unleash your creativity by utilizing the Crop to Shape feature, allowing you to create custom image shapes. This adds a distinctive flair to your presentation, providing a visually dynamic and engaging experience. 

• Select the image.
• Navigate to the Picture Format tab.
• Click on “Crop” and choose “Crop to Shape.”
• Select the shape you want your image to have as frame.

22. Slide Show Recording with Narration

What’s it for:  Capture your entire presentation, including narration and animations, by recording a self-running slideshow. This feature is invaluable for sharing presentations with a wider audience, ensuring a consistent and engaging delivery. 

• Click on “Record Slide Show” and choose recording options.

23.  Dynamic Color Scheme Switch for Vibrant Slides

What’s it for:  Infuse energy into your presentation by dynamically switching color schemes. This handy trick allows you to quickly experiment with various color palettes, giving your slides a vibrant and fresh appearance in just a few clicks. 

• Explore different color options by selecting “Colors” and experimenting with the available palettes. Instantly transform the look of your presentation to match your desired mood and style.

24.  Smart Alignment and Distribution for Pixel-Perfect Precision

What’s it for:  Attain pixel-perfect precision in your presentation design with the Smart Alignment and Distribution trick. This technique allows you to not only align objects with accuracy but also evenly distribute them horizontally, ensuring a polished and visually appealing layout. 

• Select the objects you want to align.
• Navigate to the Format tab.
• Click on “Align” to access options like Align Left, Center, or Right for precise alignment.
• Further refine your layout by choosing “Distribute Horizontally,” ensuring equal spacing between objects and achieving a professional design.

25. Insert Online Videos

What’s it for:  Seamlessly integrate online videos directly into your presentation. This feature eliminates the need for external players, offering a smooth and immersive viewing experience for your audience. 

• Click on the “Video” dropdown and select Online Movie.
• Paste the video link and your video should be embedded onto your PowerPoint slide.

26. Embed Fonts for Portability

What’s it for:  Ensure consistent visual appeal on any device by embedding fonts in your presentation. This is particularly useful when sharing your work with others who may not have the same fonts installed, enhancing portability. 

• Go to the File tab.
• Select “Options” and go to the Save tab from the window popup.
• Check “Embed fonts in the file” as well as “Embed all characters”.

27.  Text Transformation

What’s it for:  Uncover the elegance of text transformation with the Shape Format trick. This hack allows you to access a myriad of text transformation designs, offering a swift and sophisticated way to elevate the visual appeal of your presentation. 

• Select the text you want to transform.
• Navigate to the Shape Format tab.
• Click on “Text Effects” and explore the “Transform” options for a variety of stylish text designs. Instantly apply a transformation that suits the tone and style of your presentation.

5 Critical Best Practices to Implement These Pro PowerPoint Tips and Tricks for a Technically Proficient Presentation

Enhance the technical brilliance of your presentation by focusing on these crucial best practices:

1.  Streamlined Font Selection

• Practice:  Limit your font styles to a maximum of three per slide.
• Why:  Simplifying fonts enhances readability, maintains visual consistency, and prevents distraction, ensuring your message is clear and impactful.

2.  High-Resolution Images

• Practice:  Source HD images from reputable free resource websites like Freepik or Unsplash .
• Why:  High-resolution images prevent pixelation, ensuring clarity and professionalism. Crisp visuals contribute to a visually appealing presentation.

3.  Cohesive Color Palette

• Practice:  Stick to a consistent color palette throughout your slides; use the eyedropper tool for precise color matching.
• Why:  A unified color scheme enhances visual harmony, reinforces brand identity, and elevates the overall aesthetics of your presentation.

4.  Efficient Data Visualization

• Practice:  Use charts and graphs for data-driven slides, choosing appropriate chart types for different data sets.
• Why:  Visualizing data through charts improves comprehension, making complex information more accessible and engaging for your audience.

5.  Transitions with Purpose

• Practice:  Apply slide transitions judiciously. Choose transitions that complement the content and avoid excessive animations.
• Why:  Subtle transitions maintain audience focus, while excessive animations may distract from the core message.

Final Thoughts

In presentation-making, technical practices harmonized with thoughtful design is the key to delivering an impactful message. Whether it may be as simple as considering font choices, to incorporating high-resolution visuals, you do not only get to enhance the aesthetics but also ensure your audience’s undivided attention.

Remember, a technically proficient presentation is not just a showcase of information, but also one that leaves a rather immersive experience for those who will see. But at the end of the day, it comes down to your delivery. So, no sweat! You’re doing amazing, rockstar!

Find them useful? Save them, or share these PowerPoint tips and tricks with others to make their day!

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A step-by-step guide to captivating PowerPoint presentation design

november 20, 2023

by Corporate PowerPoint Girl

Do you often find yourself stuck with a lackluster PowerPoint presentation, desperately seeking ways to make it more engaging and visually appealing? If your boss has ever told you to "please fix" a presentation and you didn't know where to start, you're not alone. In this article, we'll walk you through a straightforward method to transform your PowerPoint slides into a visually captivating masterpiece. 

Let's dive right in! 

Clean up your slides 

The first step in this journey to presentation excellence is all about decluttering your slides and elevating their impact. Say goodbye to those uninspiring bullet points that often dominate presentations. Instead, focus on what truly matters – the key call-out numbers. By increasing the font size of these numbers, you ensure they take center stage, immediately drawing your audience's attention. 

To make those numbers pop, consider breaking the text after the numbers into the next line and adding a touch of color. The contrast created by pairing a dark color with a lighter shade, like dark teal and light teal or burnt orange with peach, can work wonders. This simple adjustment makes your data more engaging , enhancing the overall impact of your presentation. 

Add dimension with boxes 

Now, let's introduce an element of depth and organization to your slides. By adding boxes, you'll create a visually pleasing structure that guides your audience through the content. In the "Insert" menu, select "Table" and opt for a one-by-one table. Change the table color to a light gray shade, elongate it, and position it neatly to the left of your text. 

To improve readability and aesthetics, increase the spacing between text phrases. A small adjustment in the before spacing setting (setting it to 48) significantly enhances the visual appeal of your slides. 

Insert circles 

To further enhance the visual appeal and engagement of your slides, let's introduce circles. In the Insert menu, navigate to Shapes and choose the circle. Adjust the circle's height and width to 1.2, ensuring it complements your content seamlessly. Match the circle's shape fill color with the corresponding text color for a harmonious look. 

Avoid using colored outlines for the circles, as they may distract from the overall aesthetic. This simple addition of circles adds an element of visual interest to your presentation, making it more captivating. 

Choose icons 

Now, it's time for a touch of creativity. Selecting icons to complement your text can elevate the clarity and appeal of your slides. In the "Insert" menu, you can search for relevant keywords to find the perfect icon from PowerPoint's extensive library . 

For instance, if your text discusses investment portfolio yield, search for "growth" and choose an upward arrow growth icon. These icons add an extra layer of visual appeal and clarity to your content, making it more engaging and informative. 

Final touches 

To wrap up the transformation process, we come to the final touches that give your presentation a polished, professional finish. Align your icons with their corresponding circles and change the shape fill color to white. This simple adjustment creates a crisp, cohesive look that ties everything together seamlessly. 

In conclusion, by following these steps, you've embarked on a journey to enhance your PowerPoint presentation . These initial steps are just the beginning of your exploration into the world of design elements and styles that can cater to your specific presentation needs. The key to a stunning PowerPoint presentation lies in the details. By following these steps, you can turn a lackluster set of slides into a visually engaging and dynamic presentation that will captivate your audience. So, the next time your boss says, "Please fix," you'll know exactly where to start. Happy presenting! 

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

PowerPoint presentations are not usually known for being engaging or interactive. That’s often because most people treat their slides as if they are notes to read off  and not a tool to help empower their message.

Your presentation slides are there to help bring to life the story you are telling. They are there to provide visuals and empower your speech.

So how do you go about avoiding a presentation “snoozefest” and instead ensure you have an engaging and interactive presentation?  By making sure that you use your slides to help YOU tell your story, instead of using them as note cards to read off of.

The key thing to remember is that your presentation is there to compliment your speech, not be its focus.

In this article, we will review several presentation tips and tricks on how to become a storytelling powerhouse by building a powerful and engaging PowerPoint presentation.

Start with writing your speech outline, not with putting together slides

Use more images and less text, use high-quality images, keep the focus on you and your presentation, not the powerpoint, your presentation should be legible from anywhere in the room, use a consistent presentation design, one topic per slide, avoid information overwhelm by using the “rule of three”.

• Display one bullet at a time

Avoid unnecessary animations

• Only add content that supports your main points
• Do not use PowerPoint as a teleprompter
• Never Give Out Copies of the Presentation

Re-focus the attention on you by fading into blackness

Change the tone of your voice when presenting, host an expert discussion panel, ask questions, embed videos, use live polling to get instant feedback and engage the audience.

• He kept his slides uncluttered and always strived for simplicity
• He was known to use large font size, the bigger, the better.
• He found made the complex sound simple.

He was known to practice, practice, and keep on practicing.

Summary – how to make your presentation engaging & interactive, fundamental rules to build powerful & engaging presentation slides.

Before we go into tips and tricks on how to add flair to your presentations and create effective presentations, it’s essential to get the fundamentals of your presentation right.

Your PowerPoint presentation is there to compliment your message, and the story you are telling. Before you can even put together slides, you need to identify the goal of your speech, and the key takeaways you want your audience to remember.

YOU and your speech are the focus of this presentation, not the slides – use your PowerPoint to complement your story.

Keep in mind that your slides are there to add to your speech, not distract from it.  Using too much text in your slides can be distracting and confusing to your audience. Instead, use a relevant picture with minimal text, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

This slide is not unusual, but is not a visual aid, it is more like an “eye chart”.

Aim for something simpler, easy to remember and concise, like the slides below.

Keep in mind your audience when designing your presentation, their background and aesthetics sense. You will want to avoid the default clip art and cheesy graphics on your slides.

While presenting make sure to control the presentation and the room by walking around, drawing attention to you and what you are saying.  You should occasionally stand still when referencing a slide, but never turn your back to your audience to read your slide.

You and your speech are the presentations; the slides are just there to aid you.

Most season presenters don’t use anything less than twenty-eight point font size, and even Steve Jobs was known to use nothing smaller than forty-point text fonts.

If you can’t comfortably fit all the text on your slide using 28 font size than you’re trying to say and cram too much into the slide, remember tip #1.4 – Use relevant images instead and accompany it with bullets.

Best Practice PowerPoint Presentation Tips

The job of your presentation is to help convey information as efficiently and clearly as possible. By keeping the theme and design consistent, you’re allowing the information and pictures to stand out.

However, by varying the design from slide to slide, you will be causing confusion and distraction from the focus, which is you and the information to be conveyed on the slide.

Technology can also help us in creating a consistent presentation design just by picking a topic and selecting a sample template style. This is possible thanks to the SlideModel’s AI slideshow maker .

Each slide should try to represent one topic or talking point. The goal is to keep the attention focused on your speech, and by using one slide per talking point, you make it easy for you to prepare, as well as easy for your audience to follow along with your speech.

Sometimes when creating our presentation, we can often get in our heads and try to over-explain. A simple way to avoid this is to follow the “Rule of Three,” a concept coined by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

The idea is to stick to only 3 main ideas that will help deliver your point.  Each of the ideas can be further broken into 3 parts to explain further. The best modern example of this “Rule of Three” can be derived from the great Apple presentations given by Steve Jobs – they were always structured around the “Rule of Three.”

Display one sentence at a time

If you are planning to include text in your slides, try to avoid bullet lists, and use one slide per sentence. Be short and concise. This best practice focuses on the idea that simple messages are easy to retain in memory. Also, each slide can follow your storytelling path, introducing the audience to each concept while you speak, instead of listing everything beforehand.

Presentation Blunders To Avoid

In reality, there is no need for animations or transitions in your slides.

It’s great to know how to turn your text into fires or how to create a transition with sparkle effects, but the reality is the focus should be on the message. Using basic or no transitions lets the content of your presentation stand out, rather than the graphics.

If you plan to use animations, make sure to use modern and professional animations that helps the audience follow the story you are telling, for example when explaining time series or changing events over time.

Only add engaging content that supports your main points

You might have a great chart, picture or even phrase you want to add, but when creating every slide, it’s crucial to ask yourself the following question.

“Does this slide help support my main point?”

If the answer is no, then remove it.  Remember, less is more.

Do not use PowerPoint as a Teleprompter

A common crutch for rookie presenters is to use slides as their teleprompter.

First of all, you shouldn’t have that much text on your slides. If you have to read off something, prepare some index cards that fit in your hand but at all costs do not turn your back on your audience and read off of your PowerPoint.  The moment you do that, you make the presentation the focus, and lose the audience as the presenter.

Avoid Giving Out Copies of the Presentation

At least not before you deliver a killer presentation; providing copies of your presentation gives your audience a possible distraction where they can flip through the copy and ignore what you are saying.

It’s also easy for them to take your slides out of context without understanding the meaning behind each slide.  It’s OK to give a copy of the presentation, but generally it is better to give the copies AFTER you have delivered your speech. If you decide to share a copy of your presentation, the best way to do it is by  generating a QR code  for it and placing it at the end of your presentation. Those who want a copy can simply scan and download it onto their phones.

Tips To Making Your Presentation More Engaging

The point of your presentation is to help deliver a message.

When expanding on a particularly important topic that requires a lengthy explanation it’s best to fade the slide into black.  This removes any distraction from the screen and re-focuses it on you, the present speaker. Some presentation devices have a built-in black screen button, but if they don’t, you can always prepare for this by adding a black side to your presentation at the right moment.

“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Part of making your presentation engaging is to use all the tools at your disposal to get your point across. Changing the inflection and tone of your voice as you present helps make the content and the points more memorable and engaging.

One easy and powerful way to make your presentation interactive is experts to discuss a particular topic during your presentation. This helps create a more engaging presentation and gives you the ability to facilitate and lead a discussion around your topic.

It’s best to prepare some questions for your panel but to also field questions from the audience in a question and answer format.

How To Make Your Presentation More Interactive

What happens if I ask you to think about a pink elephant?  You probably briefly think about a pink elephant, right?

Asking questions when presenting helps engage the audience, and arouse interest and curiosity.  It also has the added benefit of making people pay closer attention, in case they get called on.

So don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if rhetorical; asking a question engages a different part of our brain. It causes us to reflect rather than merely take in the information one way. So ask many of them.

Asking questions can also be an excellent way to build suspense for the next slide.

(Steve Jobs was known to ask questions during his presentations, in this slide he built suspense by asking the audience “Is there space for a device between a cell phone and a laptop?” before revealing the iPad) Source: MacWorld SF 2018

Remember the point of your presentation is to get a message across and although you are the presenter, it is completely fine to use video in your PowerPoint to enhance your presentation.  A relevant video can give you some breathing time to prepare the next slides while equally informing the audience on a particular point.

CAUTION: Be sure to test the video beforehand, and that your audience can hear it in the room.

A trending engagement tool among presenters is to use a live polling tool to allow the audience to participate and collect immediate feedback.

Using a live polling tool is a fun and interactive way to engage your audience in real-time and allow them to participate in part of your presentation.

Google Slides has a built-in Q&A feature that allows presenters to make the slide deck more interactive by providing answers to the audience’s questions. By using the Q&A feature in Google Slides, presenters can start a live Q&A session and people can ask questions directly from their devices including mobile and smartphones.

Key Takeaways from one of the best presenters, Steve Jobs

He kept his slides uncluttered and always strove for simplicity.

In this slide, you can easily see he is talking about the battery life, and it uses a simple image and a few words. Learning from Jobs, you can also make a great presentation too. Focus on the core benefit of your product and incorporate great visuals.

Source: Macworld 2008

SlideModel.com can help to reproduce high-impact slides like these, keeping your audience engagement.

He was known to use large font sizes, the bigger, the better

A big font makes it hard to miss the message on the slide, and allows the audience to focus on the presenter while clearing the understanding what the point of the slide is.

He found made the complex sound simple

When explaining a list of features, he used a simple image and lines or simple tables to provide visual cues to his talking points.

What made Steve Jobs the master of presentation, was the ritual of practicing with his team, and this is simple yet often overlooked by many presenters.  It’s easy to get caught in the trap of thinking you don’t need to practice because you know the material so well.

While all these tips will help you create a truly powerful presentation , it can only achieve if applied correctly.

It’s important to remember when trying to deliver an amazing experience, you should be thoroughly prepared. This way, you can elevate your content presentation, convey your message effectively and captivate your audience.

This includes having your research cited, your presentation rehearsed.  Don’t just rehearse your slides, also take time to practice your delivery, and your tone.  The more you rehearse, the more relaxed you will be when delivering. The more confident you will feel.

While we can’t help you with the practice of your next presentation, we can help you by making sure you look good, and that you have a great design and cohesiveness.

You focus on the message and content; we’ll focus on making you look good.

Have a tip you would like to include?  Be sure to mention it in the comments!

Like this article? Please share

Audience, Engaging, Feedback, Interactive, Poll, Rule of Three, Steve Jobs Filed under Presentation Ideas

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13 PowerPoint Presentation Tips to Create Engaging Presentations

Written by: Chloe West

Have to create a PowerPoint presentation and dread it? Your presentations don’t always have to be dry, boring and limited. With these PowerPoint presentation tips, you’ll be able to put together a dynamic and engaging presentation.

Let’s start from the very beginning before you even open up your presentation tool.

• Start by writing out your talking points.
• Get creative with your slide design.
• Keep your design consistent throughout.
• Make your presentation interactive.
• Add animation.
• Put together seamless transitions.
• Use text creatively.
• Align objects with the grid.
• Create non-linear presentations.
• Place shapes strategically.
• Crop images into shapes.
• Utilize the presenter notes.
• Use a dynamic presentation software.

1. Start by writing out your talking points.

The first thing you need to do, before even considering your presentation design, is to write out your talking points and outline your speech.

Pay attention to popular and engaging presentation structures so you know the framework you want to follow throughout your talk. This will also make it easier to create an outline that focuses on each of your talking points.

Once you’ve put together an outline that represents your topic and touches on each important element you need to cover, you can start searching for a PowerPoint presentation template that will fit your topic.

Or, you can start browsing through Visme’s presentation templates below.

Presentation Templates

Ecommerce Webinar Presentation

Buyer Presentation

PixelGo Marketing Plan Presentation

Technology Presentation

Product Training Interactive Presentation

Work+Biz Pitch Deck - Presentation

Create your presentation View more templates

2. Get creative with your PowerPoint presentation slide design.

When it comes to putting your content onto your PowerPoint presentation slides, you want to be sure your slides are clean, easy to read and engaging.

This means you should try out a variety of different creative themes. And while we have a post with over 100 creative presentation ideas you should check out, here are a few ways to really make your slideshow stand out.

Use more design elements than photos.

While a photo collage or stock image background tends to be PowerPoint presentation go-to’s, we’re trying to empower you to do something different!

Take a page out of this template’s book by taking advantage of different design elements. Here, we see a solid colored background, shapes, icons and text decorating the slides of this presentation.

In this example PowerPoint slides, we do still see a photo added to emphasize the point on one of the slides, but it’s used as a design element rather than the foundation of the slide.

Use a bold color scheme.

When customizing example PowerPoint slides , your color palette matters. Using a more bold and bright color scheme is a great way to grab audience attention and make yourself seem more serious about your topic.

A more powerful color scheme makes an impression on your viewers, helping them to further see you as an authority on the information you’re sharing.

This example PowerPoint slides uses a bold blue and orange color scheme to stand out. To get an idea for a color palette for your next presentation, take a look at these 50 combinations .

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3. Keep your design consistent throughout.

We just shared a couple of different presentation templates available with our platform in the last point. What do you notice?

Here’s another example for you to take a look at.

All of the example PowerPoint slides have a similar look and feel, creating a cohesive presentation deck that looks intentional and professionally designed.

Imagine if you were sitting in a presentation that looked something like this.

This looks messy and cluttered. It’s an amateur-looking design, and your audience will be confused about how these slides make any sense together.

Because keeping your design consistent is an essential part of creating an engaging presentation, we’ve also created a few different presentation themes with hundreds of example PowerPoint slides that all follow the same design theme.

Here’s an example of our Modern presentation theme below with over 900 different slides so that you can find a variety of slides perfect for your next slide deck.

4. Make your presentation interactive.

One way to create a really dynamic presentation that will keep your audience engaged and create a memorable experience is to make your presentation interactive.

While we’ve covered 17 ways to create an interactive presentation before, let’s go over how you can do this using a tool like Visme.

PowerPoint is widely known as the go-to presentation software, but there are so many alternatives that can lead you to a better solution and a better end result.

In Visme’s presentation maker, you can easily add links to any object in your presentation that lead to web pages, other slides within your presentation or create popup or hover effects with other objects on your slide.

Simply click on the element that you want to add a link to, head to the Actions menu, then select which type of interactive link you want to add.

You’re also able to create interactive maps and data visualizations that allow you or your viewers to hover over each element in your visual to see more information.

Here’s an example of an interactive map that you can easily create to showcase more information in a more digestible format.

Visme also allows you to embed external content like videos, polls, forms, surveys, quizzes and more. Plus, there are several third-party integrations you can use to embed and connect even more interactive content.

5. Add animation.

Another way to help your slides stand out is by adding in animated elements. Try to incorporate enter and exit effects for various objects on your slides to grab your audience’s attention as new slides fly onto the screen.

Here’s a great example of how this could look.

Or, if you put together your PowerPoint presentation slides with a different tool – like Visme, wink wink – you can gain access to even more animated elements.

Visme provides users with fully customizable animated illustrations, icons, shapes and more that can have their size, colors and animation speed updated to fit your needs.

These illustrations can be perfect for adding even more depth to your presentation slides, especially when it comes to your title slides and section headers to help break up your presentation.

6. Put together seamless transitions.

When customizing example PowerPoint slides, you want to put a creative spin on it. Instead of having one slide disappear for another to appear in full, why not try out some creative transitions?

It’s important for us to note that if you find a transition you like, you should stick with it throughout your presentation. This goes back to our point about cohesive design. You want everything to flow well.

This means that you don’t want to throw a ton of different slide designs, animation types and transitions into the mix, or you’ll end up with a cluttered and hard-to-follow presentation deck.

Visme’s unique transitions offer not just slide transitions, but a way to seamlessly transition all of your elements onto the screen as well.

Take a look at this presentation below to see how this looks. Click through the slides to see them transition.

To get this effect, simply choose one of the following transitions that also show the slide elements following suit after the background appears.

Ready to create your own presentation in minutes?

• Add your own text, images and more
• Customize colors, fonts and everything else
• Choose from hundreds of slide designs and templates
• Add interactive buttons and animations

7. Use text creatively.

There are hundreds of fonts to choose from, so how do you know the best ones to use and how to make them stand out on your slides?

First, you can check out our guide to font pairing to understand some basics for choosing the right fonts for your slides.

For example, make sure you’re using 3 fonts max, and that each has a specific role in your presentation, as you see below.

Once you’ve chosen your preferred fonts, whether you look through our selections of top fonts , modern fonts , pretty fonts or elsewhere, start considering how you can use them creatively in your presentation design.

Pro Tip: It’s important to remember that in a presentation, you won’t have many words on the screen. So you want to make sure the text that you do include focuses on your main point of each slide and grabs attention.

Let’s cover a few ways that you can use text creatively and really make your slides stand out to your viewers.

Surround your text with shapes.

If you really want to make certain words pop off the slide, add a shape behind them like you see in this presentation about dinosaurs above.

While this is more of an informational presentation, this tactic can also be used for business-related presentations as well. 

Simply search through Visme’s library of shapes for something that matches your theme and set it behind your content.

Place your text on the white space of a photo.

Try positioning your photos strategically and utilizing pictures with more white space than you normally would. This helps you find the perfect spot to place your text so that it’s easy for your audience to read while still being visual.

In the above example PowerPoint slides, these minimalistic nature photos are the perfect backdrop for the text, providing tons of white space while still offering texture and visual elements.

Use color overlays.

Another great way to really make your words pop is by adding a translucent color overlay on top of your background photo.

Incorporating a photo into your presentation slide helps create more depth and visualize the words you’re saying, but you still want to be able to have your text be legible throughout the slide deck.

8. Align objects with the grid.

When using a tool like Visme to create your presentation, you can turn on a grid that allows you to ensure your design elements are properly aligned and perfectly symmetrical.

To access the grid in Visme’s editor, click the hamburger menu, then go to View Options , then toggle the Show grid option to turn it on.

You can set the size you want your grid to be to strategically align elements around your slide as well as set how opaque the grid lines are.

9. Create non-linear presentations.

You don’t have to go from slide to slide in your PowerPoint presentation. In fact, there are endless options for how you could navigate between slides when presenting.

Whether you let the audience decide the direction of your presentation by offering them different options to choose from, you create a navigation bar for your presentation or you allow yourself to determine the flow as you go by adding a progress bar, you have tons of options.

Here’s a great example of what your presentation could look like with a navigation menu within your slides.

10. Place shapes strategically.

Don’t underestimate the power of shapes in your presentation design. Or any design, really. 

Using various geometric shapes or even shapes you may not have heard of before to draw attention to various elements on the screen is a great design practice.

Our Creative presentation theme – with over 300 different slide layouts – is a great example of using shapes strategically to add design elements and emphasize various parts of your content.

Visme presentation maker has a library full of different types of shapes that can be used in diagrams, as backgrounds to icons , to frame text and so much more.

Put together a set of guidelines for which shapes you plan to use in your presentation and stick to no more than two or three different shapes throughout. While you can resize them based on your needs, you don’t want to clutter your slides.

11. Crop images into shapes.

Back with the shapes! Another creative way to bring shapes into your designs is to crop photos into different geometric shapes.

The presentation template below is the perfect example for how you can visually incorporate these cropped images into your slide design.

It’s easy to do this with a tool like Visme. Simply drag and drop your choice of photo from the photo library in the left sidebar onto your slide, click it, choose Frames in the navigation bar and choose the one that fits your design.

Take a look at a few of the frames available in our software.

12. Utilize presenter notes.

Want to really give a good presentation ? It’s important not to read off the slide and actually speak directly to your audience throughout your PowerPoint presentation.

One great way to keep yourself on task and ensure you don’t skip over any important information is to take advantage of presenter notes available to you when up on stage or in front of your audience presenting.

Visme has dynamic and comprehensive presenter notes built in that help ease the pressure of presenting.

Take a look below at what you can expect to see on your screen when presenting – all while your audience only sees the slide you’re showcasing.

You get access to the time of your presentation, the current slide, the slide you can expect next to help with the flow of your slideshow and the notes you’ve prepared for your talking points.

13. Use a dynamic presentation software.

The last way to create an amazing and engaging PowerPoint presentation is to use a dynamic presentation software that isn’t PowerPoint.

I know what you’re thinking – how can you deliver a PowerPoint by using a different software?

With a tool like Visme, you’ll get tons of premade example PowerPoint slides to choose from. You’re able to both import existing PowerPoints to edit and spice them up and export editable PowerPoints to present offline and make any last minute changes.

When creating your presentation, you can use Dynamic Fields to automatically update key information throughout the slides. You can also personalize the fields and apply them to other projects.

Our analytics tool helps you track the performance of your presentation. You can track views, unique visits, average time, average completion and a host of other key metrics.

Learn more about turning your Vismes into PowerPoint presentations in this quick tutorial video.

Start improving your PowerPoint presentations with Visme.

Ready to start creating PowerPoint presentations with Visme? Sign up for a business account today and improve your brand and the presentations you share with your audience. Start creating engaging and interactive presentations that your viewers will love.

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About the Author

Chloe West is the content marketing manager at Visme. Her experience in digital marketing includes everything from social media, blogging, email marketing to graphic design, strategy creation and implementation, and more. During her spare time, she enjoys exploring her home city of Charleston with her son.

Blog > Tips for good PowerPoint Presentations

Tips for good PowerPoint Presentations

08.14.21   •  #powerpoint #tips.

If you know how to do it, it's actually not that difficult to create and give a good presentation.

That's why we have some examples of good PowerPoint presentations for you and tips that are going to make your next presentation a complete success.

1. Speak freely

One of the most important points in good presentations is to speak freely. Prepare your presentation so well that you can speak freely and rarely, if ever, need to look at your notes. The goal is to connect with your audience and get them excited about your topic. If you speak freely, this is much easier than if you just read your text out. You want your audience to feel engaged in your talk. Involve them and tell your text in a vivid way.

2. Familiarize yourself with the technology

In order to be able to speak freely, it is important to prepare the text well and to engage with the topic in detail.

However, it is at least as important to familiarize yourself with the location’s technology before your presentation and to start your PowerPoint there as well. It is annoying if technical problems suddenly occur during your presentation, as this interrupts your flow of speech and distracts the audience from the topic. Avoid this by checking everything before you start your talk and eliminate any technical problems so that you can give your presentation undisturbed.

• Don't forget the charging cable for your laptop
• Find out beforehand how you can connect your laptop to the beamer. Find out which connection the beamer has and which connection your laptop has. To be on the safe side, take an adapter with you.
• Always have backups of your presentation. Save them on a USB stick and preferably also online in a cloud.
• Take a second laptop and maybe even your own small projector for emergencies. Even if it's not the latest model and the quality is not that good: better bad quality than no presentation at all.

3. Get the attention of your audience

Especially in long presentations it is often difficult to keep the attention of your audience. It is important to make your presentation interesting and to actively involve the audience. Try to make your topic as exciting as possible and captivate your audience.

Our tip: Include interactive polls or quizzes in your presentation to involve your audience and increase their attention. With the help of SlideLizard, you can ask questions in PowerPoint and your audience can easily vote on their own smartphone. Plus, you can even get anonymous feedback at the end, so you know right away what you can improve next time.

Here we have also summarized further tips for you on how to increase audience engagement.

4. Hold eye contact

You want your audience to feel engaged in your presentation, so it is very important to hold eye contact. Avoid staring only at a part of the wall or at your paper. Speak to your audience, involve them in your presentation and make it more exciting.

But also make sure you don't always look at the same two or three people, but address everyone. If the audience is large, it is often difficult to include everyone, but still try to let your eyes wander a little between your listeners and look into every corner of the room.

5. Speaking coherently

In a good presentation it is important to avoid jumping from one topic to the next and back again shortly afterwards. Otherwise your audience will not be able to follow you after a while and their thoughts will wander. To prevent this, it is important that your presentation has a good structure and that you work through one topic after the other.

Nervousness can cause even the best to mumble or talk too fast in order to get the presentation over with as quickly as possible. Try to avoid this by taking short pauses to collect yourself, to breathe and to remind yourself to speak slowly.

6. Matching colors

An attractive design of your PowerPoint is also an important point for giving good presentations. Make sure that your slides are not too colorful. A PowerPoint in which all kinds of colors are combined with each other does not look professional, but rather suitable for a children's birthday party.

Think about a rough color palette in advance, which you can then use in your presentation. Colors such as orange or neon green do not look so good in your PowerPoint. Use colors specifically to emphasize important information.

To create good PowerPoint slides it is also essential to choose colors that help the text to read well. You should have as much contrast as possible between the font and the background. Black writing on a white background is always easy to read, while yellow writing on a white background is probably hard to read.

7. Slide design should not be too minimalistic

Even though it is often said that "less is more", you should not be too minimalistic in the design of your presentation. A presentation where your slides are blank and only black text on a white background is likely to go down just as badly as if you use too many colors.

Empty presentations are boring and don't really help to capture the attention of your audience. It also looks like you are too lazy to care about the design of your presentation and that you have not put any effort into the preparation. Your PowerPoint doesn't have to be overflowing with colors, animations and images to make it look interesting. Make it simple, but also professional.

8. Write only key points on the slides

If you want to create a good presentation, it is important to remember that your slides should never be overcrowded. Write only the most important key points on your slides and never entire sentences. Your audience should not be able to read the exact text you are speaking in your PowerPoint. This is rather annoying and leads to being bored quickly. Summarize the most important things that your audience should remember and write them down in short bullet points on your presentation. Then go into the key points in more detail in your speech and explain more about them.

9. Do not overdo it with animations

Do never use too many animations. It looks messy, confusing and definitely not professional if every text and image is displayed with a different animation. Just leave out animations at all or if you really want to use them then use them only very rarely when you want to draw attention to something specific. Make sure that if you use animations, they are consistent. If you use transitions between the individual slides, these should also always be kept consistent and simple.

10. Use images

Pictures and graphics in presentations are always a good idea to illustrate something and to add some variety. They help keep your audience's attention and make it easier to remember important information. But don't overdo it with them. Too many pictures can distract from your presentation and look messy. Make sure the graphics also fit the content and, if you have used several images on one slide, ask yourself if you really need all of them.

11. Choose a suitable font

Never combine too many fonts so that your presentation does not look messy. Use at most two: one for headings and one for text. When choosing fonts, you should also make sure that they are still legible at long distances. Script, italic and decorative fonts are very slow to read, which is why they should be avoided in presentations.

It is not so easy to choose the right font. Therefore, we have summarized for you how to find the best font for your PowerPoint presentation.

12. Do not use images as background

In a good presentation it is important to be able to read the text on the slides easily and quickly. Therefore, do not use images as slide backgrounds if there is also text on them. The picture only distracts from the text and it is difficult to read it because there is not much contrast with the background. It is also harder to see the image because the text in the foreground is distracting. The whole thing looks messy and distracting rather than informative and clear.

13. Never read out the text from your slides

Never just read the exact text from your slides. Your audience can read for themselves, so they will only get bored and in the worst case it will lead to "Death by PowerPoint". You may also give them the feeling that you think they are not able to read for themselves. In addition, you should avoid whole sentences on your slides anyway. List key points that your audience can read along. Then go into more detail and explain more about them.

14. Don't turn your back

Never turn around during your presentation to look at your projected PowerPoint. Not to read from your slides, but also not to make sure the next slide is already displayed. It looks unprofessional and only distracts your audience.

In PowerPoint's Speaker View, you can always see which slide is currently being displayed and which one is coming next. Use this to make sure the order fits. You can even take notes in PowerPoint, which are then displayed during your presentation. You can read all about notes in PowerPoint here.

15. Do not forget about the time

In a good presentation, it is important to always be aware of the given time and to stick to it. It is annoying when your presentation takes much longer than actually planned and your audience is just waiting for you to stop talking or you are not able to finish your presentation at all. It is just as awkward if your presentation is too short. You have already told everything about your topic, but you should actually talk for at least another ten minutes.

Practice your presentation often enough at home. Talk through your text and time yourself as you go. Then adjust the length so that you can keep to the time given on the day of your presentation.

16. Avoid a complicated structure

The structure of a good presentation should not be complicated. Your audience should be able to follow you easily and remember the essential information by the end. When you have finished a part, briefly summarize and repeat the main points before moving on to the next topic. Mention important information more than once to make sure it really gets across to your audience.

However, if the whole thing gets too complicated, it can be easy for your audience to disengage after a while and not take away much new information from your presentation.

17. Choose appropriate clothes

On the day of your presentation, be sure to choose appropriate clothing. Your appearance should be formal, so avoid casual clothes and stick to professional dress codes. When choosing your clothes, also make sure that they are rather unobtrusive. Your audience should focus on your presentation, not on your appearance.

18. Adapt your presentation to your audience

Think about who your audience is and adapt your presentation to them. Find out how much they already know about the topic, what they want to learn about it and why they are here in the first place. If you only talk about things your audience already knows, they will get bored pretty soon, but if you throw around a lot of technical terms when your audience has hardly dealt with the topic at all, they will also have a hard time following you. So to give a successful and good presentation, it is important to adapt it to your audience.

You can also ask a few questions at the beginning of your presentation to learn more about your audience and then adapt your presentation. With SlideLizard , you can integrate polls directly into your PowerPoint and participants can then easily answer anonymously from their smartphone.

19. Mention only the most important information

Keep it short and limit yourself to the essentials. The more facts and information you present to your audience, the less they will remember.

Also be sure to leave out information that does not fit the topic or is not relevant. You will only distract from the actual topic and lose the attention of your audience. The time your audience can concentrate and listen with attention is rather short anyway, so don't waste it by telling unimportant information.

20. Talk about your topic in an exciting way

Tell compelling and exciting stories to make your presentation really good. If you speak in a monotone voice all the time, you are likely to lose the attention of your audience. Make your narration lively and exciting. Also, be careful not to speak too quietly, but not too loudly either. People should be able to understand you well throughout the whole room. Even if it is not easy for many people, try to deliver your speech with confidence. If you are enthusiastic about the topic yourself, it is much easier to get your audience excited about it.

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About the author.

Helena Reitinger

Helena supports the SlideLizard team in marketing and design. She loves to express her creativity in texts and graphics.

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Audience response system (ars).

Audience Response Systems (ARS) are technical solutions that are used in presentations in order to increase the interaction between the presenter and the audience. There are various forms of ARS that offer different features.

A webinar is a seminar that takes place in a specific digital location at a specific time. It's a seminar that combines live and online formats.

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Hybrid learning means that one group of students are in class at school. Another group of students takes part in class from home at the same time. They both get taught at the same time.

Interpersonal communication

Interpersonal communication is face-to-face communication. It means that people exchange information and feelings through verbal and non-verbal messages.

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How to make the best Powerpoint presentation + real examples!

July 1, 2023

Ever sat through a PowerPoint presentation and thought, "Wow, that was mind-blowing"? Yeah, us either. But, let's face it, we've all been there—either on the giving or receiving end of a less-than-stellar presentation. It's high time we changed that narrative. Creating your best PowerPoint presentation isn't just about throwing together a bunch of slides – it's an art. It’s about telling a story that captivates, informs, and even entertains your audience. 

A new age is upon us, and it’s time to explore the ins and outs of what makes a PowerPoint presentation not just good, but great. From nailing your content and story flow to the nuances of design and delivery, we've got you covered. So, whether you're gearing up for that crucial sales pitch or prepping for an all-important investor meeting, buckle up! Your presentation skills are about to go from mundane to magnificent.

Your Presentation Should Tell a Story

When it comes to creating a killer PowerPoint presentation, it all starts with the story. You heard that right! Not the fancy animations or the snazzy graphics (though they do have their place), but the story. It’s the backbone, the foundation, the heartbeat of your presentation.

Think about how you feel when you watch your favorite TV show or read a book you can’t put down. Good storytelling takes us to another place, where the rest of the world slips away and the story steps into the forefront. Great presentations can do the same thing if the presenter can harness the power of storytelling. 

There are also plenty of science-backed reasons to prioritize good storytelling. One article by Lani Peterson for Harvard Business Corporate Learning says, “Scientists are discovering that chemicals like cortisol and dopamine are released in the brain when we’re told a story. Why does that matter? If we are trying to make a point stick, cortisol assists with our formulating memories. Dopamine, which helps regulate our emotional responses, keeps us engaged.“ More engagement; more impactful presentations.

So, how do you nail down a storytelling strategy that sticks? Let’s break it down.

Craft Your Narrative

First, identify your core message. What’s the one thing you want your audience to remember when they walk out of the room? This is your North Star, guiding every aspect of your presentation. If you’re having trouble with this step, ask yourself, “Why am I giving this presentation?”

Understand Your Audience

Who is your audience? Tailor your story to resonate with them. Are they tech-savvy millennials or industry veterans? Your story should speak their language. Presentations that skip this step will miss out on a crucial opportunity to connect with the audience. And if you can’t connect with them, then what’s the point? One solution is to focus on understanding the needs, challenges, and aspirations of your audience. That way, you’ll be able to address their specific pain points and interests.

Create a Structured Flow

Like any good story, your presentation needs a beginning, middle, and end. Start with an introduction that hooks, follow with content that informs and engages, and conclude with a memorable takeaway. If you need ideas on how to start your presentation, see this guide with 12 ideas for hooking your audience from the very start .

Find Inspiration

Look to the pros! Ever read an article by Andy Raskin or April Dunford ? These folks know their stuff when it comes to strategic narratives. Dive into their work for some inspiration on how to weave a compelling story in your presentation. Just like we’ve all been through our fair share of boring presentations, most likely you’ve experienced a presentation that left an impression. Ask yourself why it was so impactful–you might be able to draw from their expertise!

Change the Narrative

Say you’re working on a sales deck. Instead of going with the typical problem-solution story structure, Andy Raskin has a different take on it:

Start with a big, relevant shift in the world. “We are living in a new era” type of statement. This will grab the attention, but also create some urgency for the prospect.

Then you move on to show that there will be winners and losers in this new era. The ones who act on this shift will have more probability of winning. In other words, “what I am about to offer you is crucial for winning in this new era.”

Now that you have set the stage, you can “tease the promise land” as Andy calls it. This is not where you show your product features. This is simply a teaser about this new future state and what to expect if you react to this shift in the market.

Then, you highlight the “Old world vs New world” to show the contrast, and how old methods do not work in this new era.

And finally, you provide real-life stories to support your claims. These could client case studies, article snippets, industry updates - anything that adds credibility to everything you just said.

Voilà, you’ve got yourself a story arc! This is a simple and straightforward way to craft a story that connects.

Nail Your Story First

Remember, at the end of the day, your presentation is more than just a collection of slides, but rather a vessel for storytelling. It’s not just about what you say, but how you say it. A well-crafted story can transform your presentation from a mere transfer of information to an impactful, memorable experience. So, take the time to nail your story, and you’re already halfway to creating your best PowerPoint presentation. Your audience will thank you!

Embracing Professional Design for Impactful Presentations

When you've nailed your narrative, the next crucial step in crafting your best PowerPoint presentation is design. This stage is where your story gets visually translated, elevating it from a mere script to an engaging, compelling experience.

The Role of a Presentation Agency

Not everyone possesses an innate talent for design, and that's perfectly fine. This is where a presentation design agency can become an invaluable asset. These presentation experts act as the alchemists of your PowerPoint, transforming basic slides into visually stunning and strategically aligned pieces of art. However, be selective when you choose who to work with. There is a big difference between a "meh" designer vs a “wow” designer when it comes to preparing well-crafted presentations.

Simplifying Complexity

One of the critical talents of a presentation design agency is their ability to distill complex concepts into simple, digestible visuals. An overcrowded slide can quickly lose your audience's attention, but a well-designed one can convey your message succinctly and effectively. Not only that, presentation experts can remove the complexity of creating great slides by designing the best presentation templates for your needs, making the process easier for you in the end.

"We have been using SLIDES™ services for our corporate PowerPoint template, and the PPT template is so well done and easy to use that we all feel like we now have PowerPoint superpowers creating new presentations in no time with stunning look!"

Jérôme neuvéglise, product owner qoqa, creating visual harmony.

Consistency in your presentation’s visual elements - such as color schemes, typography, and imagery - is essential. A presentation design agency ensures that these elements work in harmony, creating a unified and professional look that enhances your overall narrative. The best presentation layouts are those created by experts who know how to make your brand stand out.

Visualizing Ideas Effectively

Presentation agencies excel in translating your ideas into impactful visuals. They ensure that your graphics, charts, and images aren't just visually appealing but also contribute significantly to the telling of your story. After all, why spend so much time honing your story if your visuals fall flat?

When to Opt for Professional Presentation Design

We know that deciding to outsource is a tough call, and you want to make sure your resources are well spent. Here are a few things to consider before seeking out help from a presentation agency:

High-Stakes Presentations

For presentations that can have a significant impact on your business - such as those in sales, partnerships, or investment pitches - professional design isn't just a luxury, but a necessity. These are the scenarios where the expertise of a presentation design agency can make a substantial difference. 

Stripe’s CEO Patrick Collison said in a recent podcast:

 “My intuition is that more of Stripe's success than one would think is down to the fact that people like beautiful things and for rational reasons. Because, what does a beautiful thing tell you? It tells you the person who made it really cared, and you can observe some superficial details, but probably they didn’t only care about those and did everything else in a slapdash way. So, if you care about the infrastructure being holistically good, indexing on the superficial characteristics is not an irrational thing to do.“

Oftentimes in presentations, we ignore how we are making people feel with our slides. Think about this quote next time you’re preparing your slides.

Overcoming Skill and Time Constraints

If you're not well-versed in design or if time constraints are tight, opting for professional help is a wise decision. This not only ensures quality but also frees you up to concentrate on refining and rehearsing your presentation. This guide shows 18 of the most common presentation mistakes people make, and gives tips on how to avoid them.

In essence, professional design is about giving your presentation the visual edge it needs to not just capture but also maintain your audience's attention. By considering the services of a presentation design agency, you're ensuring that your presentation is not just seen, but also remembered and appreciated.

Mastering the Art of Delivery

Alright, you’ve got a gripping story and a set of stunning slides. But wait! There’s still a crucial piece of the puzzle left – your delivery. This is where the rubber meets the road. Remember, no matter how dazzling your slides are, they can’t rescue a lackluster delivery. 

More Than Just Slides

First things first, let’s get one thing straight: people aren’t just buying into your PowerPoint. They’re buying into you – your ideas, your enthusiasm, your conviction. Your slides are merely a tool to complement your narrative, not the other way around. Your slides are never the star of the show. It's you. It sure is harder to improve your delivery compared to your slides. But it will be the best investment of your life.

The Human Connection

At its core, a great presentation is about making a connection with your audience. It’s about storytelling, not just through words on a slide, but through the way you present them. Your tone, your body language, your ability to engage – all these elements combine to create a compelling delivery.

Know Your Story Inside Out

Your first step should be to know your story like the back of your hand. This doesn’t mean memorizing your script word for word but being familiar enough with your content to speak confidently and fluidly about it.

Rehearse, Then Rehearse Some More

Practice might not always make perfect, but it sure does make confidence. Rehearse your presentation multiple times. This will help you iron out any kinks in your delivery and help you manage those pesky nerves.

When our founder Damon gave his first keynote presentation, he experienced some technical issues that would throw off any professional speaker. But since he had rehearsed his speech so well, he knew it inside out. And he could handle the mishap with calm, make some jokes about it, and then get back to his talk when the tech decided to work again.

Engage With Your Audience

Remember, a presentation is a two-way street. Engage with your audience, ask questions, and encourage participation. This interaction makes your presentation more memorable and impactful. The former product manager at Netflix , Gibson Biddle, shared this great example:

“In a virtual setting you need to double-down on engagement tactics. Today, I use Google Slides plus Slido to do real-time polling, word clouds and to answer questions. It makes the experience incredibly interactive to the extent that I now have an equal NPS for virtual and in-person presentations.”

Body Language Matters

Your body language speaks volumes. Maintain eye contact, use gestures to emphasize points, and move around if possible. This non-verbal communication can significantly enhance the impact of your delivery.

In today’s increasingly digital world, we also have to think about virtual presentations and how to put our best foot forward through a screen. An awkward camera angle or a weird background can be a distraction to your audience, so shift your focus to a flattering camera angle, solid camera quality, and a neutral background. 

Authenticity is Key

Be yourself. Your audience can tell when you’re putting on a façade. Authenticity breeds trust and connection, which in turn makes your message more persuasive.

Investing in Yourself

Finally, investing in your delivery skills is investing in yourself. Whether it’s through public speaking courses, professional coaching, or simply seeking feedback from peers, improving your delivery skills is invaluable. Remember, a great delivery can elevate a good presentation to a great one. So, give your delivery the attention it deserves, and watch as you transform from a presenter to a storyteller, captivating your audience one slide at a time.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it – the roadmap to creating a PowerPoint presentation that’s not just good, but outstanding. It all starts with crafting a compelling story, enhanced by visually striking and well-thought-out design, and brought to life through engaging and authentic delivery. Remember, your best PowerPoint presentation will feel like more than just a collection of slides to your audience. This is a powerful storytelling tool, and you are the storyteller.

The key takeaway? Invest time and effort into each aspect of your presentation. Understand your narrative, collaborate with design professionals if needed, and hone your delivery skills. It’s this combination of content, design, and delivery that transforms a standard presentation into an unforgettable experience.

In the end, what sets a great PowerPoint presentation apart is the ability to not just share information but to tell a story that resonates, inspires, and persuades. Whether you’re pitching to potential clients, investors, or sharing insights with your team, remember that the most impactful presentations are those that connect with the audience on a deeper level. So go ahead, create, deliver, and captivate.

Your audience is waiting.

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60+ Best Cool PowerPoint Templates (With Awesome Design)

PowerPoint slideshows used to be the boring part of a meeting or presentation. But now, with the help of cool PowerPoint templates, everyone can make presentation slideshows look more interesting and attractive, even if you don’t have any experience in PowerPoint slideshow design.

For this collection, we gathered some modern and stylish PowerPoint presentation templates you can easily customize to make your slideshows look cooler. Download one of these cool PowerPoint templates, open it up, and start customizing right away!

Plus, we’re featuring our tips for making a cool PowerPoint template that stands out from the crowd!

How Does Unlimited PowerPoint Templates Sound?

Download thousands of PowerPoint templates, and many other design elements, with an Envato membership. It starts at $16 per month, and gives you unlimited access to a growing library of over 19+ million presentation templates, fonts, photos, graphics, and more.

Business PPT Templates

Corporate & pro.

Pitch Deck Templates

Startup pitch deck.

BeMind Minimal Template

Explore PowerPoint Templates

Spectrum – Colorful PowerPoint Presentation Template

Spectrum not only comes with a cool and colorful design but it also features a massive collection of over 100 unique slide designs.

It includes lots of multipurpose slides with charts, graphs, icons, vector shapes, and much more. As a bonus, you’ll also get an Apple Keynote version of the template as well.

Why This Is A Top Pick

Being able to choose from so many cool slide designs is only one of the many benefits of this template. The multipurpose design also makes it suitable for all sorts of presentations.

Trato – Cool PowerPoint Portfolio Template

This PowerPoint template comes filled with lots of cool colors that give it a fun and creative feel. It will fit perfectly for your portfolio presentations, especially for creators, artists, freelancers, and small agencies. The template has 24 customizable slide layouts with editable graphics.

Convita – Cool PowerPoint Pitch Deck Template

Are you a fan of gradient colors, creative geometric shapes, and uncommon content layout designs? Then this PPT is for you. It has one of the coolest designs of all the templates on our list. And there are more than 30 different slide designs in this template for you to choose from.

Maroon – Minimal & Cool Powerpoint Template

Maroon is a minimalist PowerPoint template that uses some cool shapes and graphics to make each slide look cooler than the other. You get 40 different slide layouts that are available in 50 color themes as well as in dark and light versions.

Shinos – Cool Dark Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

If you look closer, you’ll notice the creative approach used in this PowerPoint template. It uses a very pitch-black dark background to clearly highlight all of the other graphics and typography. It’s a great template for making pitch decks for marketing presentations.

Bell Curve – Free Cool PowerPoint Template

Marketers will surely appreciate this free PowerPoint template as it comes with some useful slide layouts filled with charts and graphs. It includes 25 slides with cool designs and editable elements. You can download it for free.

Telo – Cool Business PowerPoint Template

Telo is another cool and creative PowerPoint template you can use for business presentations. It has lots of modern slide layouts that are most suitable for product and startup slideshows. There are 39 unique slides in this template.

Baekju – Cool Business Presentation PPT

This PowerPoint template comes with 25 carefully crafted slide designs. These slides feature clean and minimal designs with an aesthetic feel. It’s ideal for creative agencies and lifestyle businesses. The template includes image gallery slides, charts, graphs, and more.

Expro Studio – Colorful Business PPT Template

If you’re working on a presentation for a modern agency, conference, or event, this template will help you craft a cool slideshow for your project. There are 36 slides in this template with easily customizable shapes, fonts, colors, and image placeholders.

Bida – Agency Portfolio Cool PowerPoint Template

Bida is a cool PowerPoint presentation with a bold design. This template is perfect for crafting modern slideshows for businesses in the lifestyle, sports, luxury watches, and men’s products industries. The template has 39 unique slides that you can customize to your preference.

Free Cool Acid Graphics Style PowerPoint Template

You can download this PowerPoint template for free to create a cool and groovy presentation for a modern agency. It features 24 unique slides with acid graphics-style objects, shapes, and elements.

Lelelike – Cool PowerPoint Templates

Lelelike is a cool and creative PowerPoint presentation that can be fully customized to meet your requirements. Whether you want to create a pitch deck, startup investment presentation, or a personal portfolio, Lelelike is your sure-fire bet.

Karbon – Cool PowerPoint Templates

If you’re looking for a colorful and trendy PowerPoint template that really helps you make an impression, consider Karbon, a modern and unique ppt design featuring 100 plus slides, high contrast color schemes, and much more.

Ciri – Minimal Cool PowerPoint Template

Sometimes the coolest things come in simple designs. This PowerPoint template is just like that. It features a calm yet cool design that’s ideal for designing both professional and creative presentations. It includes 59 unique slides with editable charts, graphs, and animations.

Source Exclusive – Cool PowerPoint Templates

An absolute dapper of a presentation, Source Exclusive comes with a cool and stylish design that perfectly fits a range of creative applications. It offers 36 unique slides, drag and drop image placeholders, free fonts, and editable graphics.

Mooshie – Free Cool PowerPoint Templates

Check out Mooshie, a cute, and pretty-looking presentation featuring a dazzling design inspired by pop art culture. It offers an array of beautiful slides, fully customizable graphics, and virtually everything you’d express in a cool, and innovative PowerPoint template.

XGDragon – Free Cool PowerPoint Templates

Wanting an edgy, unconventional PowerPoint template for your next fashion or photography presentation? Look no further than XGDragon, a ppt that reflects style and personality in every slide. The best part? It’s available for free download.

Mevla – Creative PowerPoint Template

Featuring a dark and creative color theme, this PowerPoint template comes with 30 unique slides. You can also choose from 5 different color schemes to customize the design of this template. It includes lots of editable graphics and shapes as well.

Onfire – Creative PowerPoint Template

This is a modern and creative PowerPoint template that certainly does justice to its name. It features a set of 30 unique slides that feature attractive designs filled with shapes that allows you to showcase information is a professional way. The template is available in 5 different color schemes as well.

Neaches – Minimal PowerPoint Template

Featuring a minimal and stylish slide design, this PowerPoint template comes with a total of 150 slides that are ideal for making presentations for creative brands and agencies. The template also includes lots of editable vector graphics, illustrations, and image placeholders for easier editing.

Clover – Modern PowerPoint Template

Clover is an attractive PowerPoint template that comes with a set of creative slides that are designed for promoting apps, services, and products. The template is easily customizable and comes with 3 different color schemes as well as in light and dark background themes.

Dotto – Cool Free PowerPoint Template

This modern and free PowerPoint template features a cool and stylish design that lets you create unique slideshows for creative presentations. The template includes 20 unique slide designs with fully editable content layouts.

Free Business PowerPoint Presentation Template

Another great free PowerPoint template featuring a set of colorful and creative slides. It’s perfect for making a simple presentation for business and branding projects. The template includes 22 unique slides.

Blurry Night – Innovative PowerPoint Templates

Blurry Night is a bold, and stylish presentation template that offers 22 gorgeously designed slides, fully editable in Microsoft PowerPoint. It provides you with everything that you might need to deliver a stand out presentation and impress your audience.

Tesla – Cool PowerPoint Templates

If you’re looking to hunt down cool PowerPoint templates, Tesla is well worth checking out. It features 76 slides that can be molded to your specific requirements in just a few easy clicks.

Morning – Modern PowerPoint Templates

Morning is a clean, and creative PowerPoint template that will make your presentation next level attractive. It’s a must-have product in your PowerPoint collection if you truly value standing out from the pack.

WaterColor – Cool PowerPoint Templates

WaterColor is an effortlessly stylish, and unique Powerpoint template that will instantly draw your audience’s attention, and keep it there. It features 80 unique slides that can be fully customized to your heart’s content.

Koffee – Cool PowerPoint Templates

Koffee is a solid choice for anyone looking to create a cool, and innovative presentation. It’s a multipurpose template that can be used for nearly any business, or industry under the sun. Check it out now.

Comersa – Multipurpose PowerPoint Template

This modern PowerPoint template is perfect for making a presentation to showcase your portfolio and fashion designs. The template includes 30 unique slides with multipurpose design and features image placeholders as well.

Lawyero – Law Firm PowerPoint Presentation

If you’re working on a presentation for a law firm or a lawyer, this creative PowerPoint template will help you design an effective presentation that attracts attention. The template includes 40 unique slides with vector icons.

Karpetian – Colorful PowerPoint Template

Karpetian PowerPoint template features a modern and colorful design that also features a professional content arrangement for making presentations for all types of events and purposes. The template includes a total of 150 slides.

Nilo – Education PowerPoint Template

This stylish PowerPoint template has been designed specifically for making presentations for schools and education-related businesses. The template comes with 25 unique slides featuring creative illustrations and transition animations.

Lefite – Magazine PowerPoint Template

A modern and minimalist PowerPoint template ideal for creative professionals and freelancers for making convincing presentations to win more clients. This template includes 30 unique slides featuring customizable vector graphics and image placeholders.

Free Multipurpose PowerPoint Template

A multipurpose PowerPoint template you can use for free to design various presentations. This template comes with 22 stylish slide layouts with animations and transitions. It also features image placeholders as well.

Free Minimalist Style PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template is most suitable for designing clean and simple presentations for creatives and professionals. It includes 30 unique slides you can easily customize to your preference.

Moisture – Modern PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template has also been designed with creative agencies and freelancers in mind. It comes with a set of slides you can use to showcase your services, skills, and portfolio in a professional way. The slides are available in 5 different color schemes as well.

Markethy – Marketing PowerPoint Template

You can use this cool PowerPoint template to design an attractive slideshow for all kinds of marketing and sales presentations. The template is fully customizable and features 3 premade color schemes to choose from with dark and light themes.

MILD – Minimal & Cool PowerPoint Template

Mild comes with a set of 35 unique slides featuring modern and cool designs. It also includes 50 different color themes with light and dark styles. The multipurpose design of the slides will allow you to create any kind of creative, business, or corporate slideshow using this PowerPoint template.

Maximus – Modern & Cool PowerPoint Template

Maximus is a cool PowerPoint template made for business and corporate presentations. It comes with 30 unique slides that are available in 5 different color schemes, making a total of 130 slides. The template includes a unique infographic and lots of other vector elements.

Voda – Creative Cool PowerPoint Template

Voda features a dark and cool color theme that better highlights your content in each slide. The template includes 80 unique slides and a total of 240 slides. You can also choose from 5 different color themes for the slides, including a multi-colored version.

Colors – Free Colorful PowerPoint Template

This colorful and free PowerPoint template comes with 60 unique slide layouts featuring unlimited color options, image placeholders, editable shapes, and much more you can use to create cool and stylish presenattions.

Look – Free Cool PowerPoint Template

Look is a cool free PowerPoint template you can use to make stylish presentations for showcasing fashion brands and designs. The template includes 55 unique slides with fully customizable layouts.

Color FUN – Cool PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template comes with a colorful design filled with attractive designs, icons, vector shapes, infographics, and more. The template includes more than 50 unique slides. You can customize and resize everything in the template and change colors however you like.

F2 & Black End – Cool PowerPoint Template

If you’re looking for a multipurpose PowerPoint template you can use for creative, business, or personal presentation designs, this template is a must-have. It comes in both light and dark color themes as well as a cool design featuring easily customizable vectors and image placeholders.

RAVI – Cool PowerPoint Template

Ravi is a minimal and modern PowerPoint template that comes with plenty of cool slides for creating a professional presentation slideshow. The template includes 100 unique slides featuring 40 curated colors. It also comes with lots of infographics, vector shapes, charts, graphs, and more.

Meldow – Cool PowerPoint Template

Meldow is a clean and stylish PowerPoint template featuring more than 150 slides. The template is available in 5 different premade color schemes. Each template comes with 30 unique slides. It’s perfect for business and agency presentations.

Yellow – Cool Creative PowerPoint Template

Just as the name describes, this cool PowerPoint template features lots of yellow throughout the design. This makes it a great choice for creating marketing and creative presentations. Of course, the colors can also be easily customized to your preference as well.

Wagner – Free Cool PowerPoint Template

Wagner is a free PowerPoint template featuring a set of modern slides you can use to design different types of business and creative presentations. The template comes with editable shapes and vectors as well.

UCorporate – Cool Business PowerPoint Template

Who says corporate presentations shouldn’t look cool? With this stylishly modern PowerPoint template, you can design cool and interesting slideshows for corporate and business meetings without affecting the professionalism. The template is available in light and dark color themes.

SOFT – Minimal & Cool PowerPoint Template

Minimalism is a part of making things look cool. Soft PowerPoint template will make any kind of a creative, business, or professional presentation look cool with its clean design. The template 70 unique slides in multipurpose design featuring data charts, portfolios, gallery slides, and more.

Trending – Cool PowerPoint Template

Trending is a PowerPoint template you can use to design a cool slideshow presentation for business and corporate meetings. It comes with many useful slides such as business model slides, marketing strategy, traction, projections, and more. It includes a total of 420 slides featuring 6 colors.

KEPO – Minimal Cool Powerpoint Template

Kepo is a stylish and creative PowerPoint template that comes with a minimal design. This template is most suitable for educational presentations as it features a design that effectively highlights content. It includes 65 unique slides with 50 curated colors.

Motion – Cool Powerpoint Template

Motion PowerPoint template comes with creative slides filled with stylish graphics, vector shapes, and icons. The template featuring 30 unique slides in 5 premade color schemes. It also includes gallery and portfolio slides as well as image placeholders for easier customization.

Sweet – Cool Powerpoint Template

This PowerPoint template comes with a feminine design that makes it most suitable for fashion and beauty related presentations. It also includes vector graphics, infographics, creative icons, and much more.

Bravo – Modern & Cool Powerpoint Template

Bravo is a minimal and colorful PowerPoint template featuring a total of 225 slides. The template is available in 5 different color schemes with 45 slides in each template. You can use this template to create professional and agency presentations related to design and marketing.

Dilanova – Cool Fashion Powerpoint Template

Dilanova is a cool PowerPoint template made for promoting fashion related brands and businesses. You can use it to promote clothing brands as well as fashion photography. The template includes 30 unique slides and they are available in 2 different color themes.

Creative – Cool Powerpoint Template

Just as the name suggests, this PowerPoint template comes with lots of slides featuring creative designs. It includes 25 slides in 5 color designs, making it a total of 120 slides. It also comes with a handcrafted infographic, gallery and infographic slides, and more.

Agency Portfolio- Cool Powerpoint Template

This PowerPoint template is made for creating presentations for agencies and creative professionals. It features 50 unique slides featuring cool and clean designs. The slides also include lots of charts, graphs, icons, and more for creating more compelling presentations as well.

Wordsmith – Cool Creative PowerPoint Template

Wordsmith PowerPoint template comes with 20 unique slides based on master slide designs. The template uses a dark color theme for creating much cooler and professional presentation slideshows.

FAB – Powerpoint Presentation Template

Fab is the perfect PowerPoint template you can use to create a modern and cool slideshow for photography and fashion related presentations. It comes with 35 unique slides featuring various vector elements. The templates are available in both PPT and PPTX formats for older and new PowerPoint versions.

FLOW- Cool Powerpoint Template

Flow is a cool and creative PowerPoint template that features clean slide designs. The template comes with 40 unique slides with customizable designs and resizable vector elements. You can use it to create pitch decks, business presentations, professional slideshows, and much more.

Carezo- Creative Powerpoint Template

Creating a presentation from scratch can be quite labor-intensive. This cool PowerPoint template is beneficial. It saves time, provides good visual design, and means that you can primarily spend your time and attention on the content of your presentation.

Toddlera – Kindergarten Powerpoint Template

The Toddlera Kindergarten Presentation Template for Microsoft PowerPoint is a modern and sleek professional presentation that will give a boost to your business meetings and lectures. It contains 30 beautifully designed slides that can be easily edited and adjusted to suit all of your professional and business needs.

Braze – Innovative Powerpoint Template

If you were a manager, who wants to present the potential of a company, a lecturer who is eager to attract attention, or a student who wants to present a report – don’t hesitate, Braze is developed just for you!

5 Tips for Making a Cool PowerPoint Presentation

Not sure about how to make your PowerPoint presentation look cool to attract young audiences? Start by following these simple tips.

1. Make It Colorful

Colorful slides not only make your presentation look cooler but also help make it much easier to highlight specific parts of your slide content.

However, making a colorful slideshow is not just about adding lots of colors. You should consider creating a color palette based on a theme like flat color or material color design to create consistency across the presentation.

2. Add Lots of Visuals

Needless to say, using images is one of the most effective ways of creating more impactful presentations that grab everyone’s attention. And it’s not just images that make your slideshow look cooler.

You can also use infographics, icons, and device mockups to show off your designs and visualize data to make your presentation look more visually appealing.

3. Make Creative Layouts

As you browse through our templates collection you’ll notice how the content layout of each PowerPoint template changes from one another. Some feature layouts made with unique shapes, backgrounds, and formatting. Make sure to pick a content layout that helps your presentation stand out from the crowd.

4. Use Bold Fonts

Changing from default fonts to a custom font can drastically improve the look and feel of your entire presentation design. Invest in a pair of premium fonts if you can to create more attractive headings and paragraphs. You can also use great free fonts as well. Just search for free fonts in our archives.

5. Take Advantage of Master Slides

Master slides are pre-made layouts that allow you to create new blank slides with already formatted designs. Most premium templates come with multiple master slides. Use them to your advantage to create cooler presentations with unique designs of your own.

Also, check out the animated PowerPoint templates and minimal PowerPoint templates collections for more.

How To Create The Best PowerPoint Presentation Background

There’s no getting around this – your PowerPoint presentation background matters. A lot of factors go into what makes a particular design stand out, but one of the most overlooked factors is PPT slide background design.

PowerPoint’s default background color is white. If you’re in a hurry and you need to put a presentation up fast, then white will normally suffice. But, if you want to impress your audience, you have to think outside the box.

If you’re interested to know how your PowerPoint presentation background can impact your overall presentation, then you need to read this entire article. It will only take up a few minutes of your time, but by the end of this article you’ll know the importance of using a great PowerPoint slide background!

4 Reasons Why Your PowerPoint Slide Background Design Matters

Humans are visual creatures. We have the gift of sight that allows us to appreciate the infinite variations and combinations of color, texture, style, and design all around us.

Our eyes are automatically drawn to beautiful imagery. Our eyes linger on colorful and beautiful scenes on photos, videos, canvases, and many other different places, including PowerPoint slides.

Think about it – will you pay more attention to an outdated and lousy-looking slideshow or a well-designed one? I bet you’d pick the latter. Your eyes just automatically gravitate to the attractive-looking slideshow.

Without further ado, here are five of the biggest reasons why your PPT slide background design matters:

1. The best PowerPoint presentation background makes your slide elements come alive

To make the most of your PowerPoint slide design, you can use a combination of many different kinds of elements. You can insert text, images, icons, vector images, video, audio, shapes, charts, graphs, tables, and diagrams.

Take note, however, that just because you can insert many different kinds of elements into your slide doesn’t mean you should use these all at once, in a single slide! That would be chaos, pure and simple.

For maximum audience impact, you’d want to use a few elements only on each slide. Make sure there’s plenty of white space, and don’t forget to use a good combination of colors that actually complement, not clash, with each other.

Here’s a sample slide which uses plenty of white space, good typography, excellent color combination, and a nice background that is related to the presentation’s subject (football).

Just by looking at the background (the striped green football field), football fans will immediately recognize what the subject is all about. Since the subject is football, the dark colors in the background’s edges further help to emphasize the masculinity of this sport.

Now imagine if this slide had a plain light or dark-colored background. It probably won’t have the same effect as the current background does.

2. The best PPT slides use backgrounds that add texture to the presentation

One of the least thought about aspects of presentation design is the PowerPoint backdrop. Think about all the PowerPoint presentations you’ve done in your life. Did you bother changing the background in any of those presentations? Or were you happy with the default white background?

Now, please don’t get me wrong. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using a white background. However, if you’ve got the time to spare, don’t settle for the default white when you know your slides can look much better with a different background.

To create truly beautiful PowerPoint slides, you’d need to think about adding some texture to your background. It’s easier to add or create texture when you’re physically holding something. When designing PowerPoint slides, it’s a different story. You’re basically creating a physical illusion for your audience.

For instance, if you use a background image of an expensive and plush looking carpet in your slides, then it’s easier for your audience to imagine the feel of that carpet.

If you want to create the illusion of wetness, then you can use an image of raindrops on a glass window, or the surface of a wet umbrella, or something of that nature. Take a look at this image below:

Wouldn’t you say that when you looked at the image, you ‘felt’ the rain touching your skin? If you used this image as a background on slides that talk about something that’s related to rain or the weather in general, then your audience will find your slides much more relevant and interesting.

Or how about this slide?

There’s a pale pink overlay on top of the brick wall in the slide’s background. I think the background adds a nice texture to the slide, and you can also see how all the elements (fonts, icons, colors) complement and match each other.

3. A good PowerPoint slide background makes your slide look so much more interesting

Imagine if you had to sit through an hour-long PowerPoint presentation and all the slides had nothing but a plain white background on it. No variety, no design, no background. Just that awful default background for an entire hour.

Let’s say this is slide #1 out of 50, and all the slides had the same background:

You’d probably feel physically sick after the first 5 minutes knowing you have another 55 minutes worth of slides to sit through!

If you were the presenter, would you subject your audience to such horror? I sure hope not!

Now, what if you used a different color every 2 or 3 slides? Would that make your presentation appear better? Maybe. Maybe not. But it would sure add some variety to your presentation.

Going back to our example, what if you added a nice background image to slide #1 and it looked something like this?

I think you’ll agree with me when I say this looks much better than the one with the plain white background. The best thing is it will only take you a minute or two to find a good image, and set it as your slide’s background!

Nowadays, with multiple sources of design inspiration which you can easily Google online, poor design skills can get you in real trouble.

Your audience can easily take a video of your disastrous presentation and upload it to social media where you will forever be branded as the world’s worst PowerPoint designer ( this is an exaggeration of course, but with today’s Internet, anything’s possible! ).

You don’t even need design skills to make cool PowerPoint designs. Simply look for inspiration on graphic design websites and then have the initiative to come up with your own design.

The best PowerPoint slides all follow the best practices in graphic design – and that includes using good presentation backgrounds.

4. A nice background for PowerPoint helps lead your audience’s eyes to your subject

When creating PowerPoint presentations, it’s important to pay attention to your content, or the message you want to convey to your audience. It’s also a must that you think about how you’re going to present your points in a clear and succinct manner. You don’t want your audience to tune you out while you deliver your presentation!

One way to tie all these elements together – your message and your audience’s attention – is by leading your audience’s eyes to your subject with the help of a nice background for PowerPoint.

There’s a lot of factors that come into play to lead your audience’s eyes to your subject. You’ll have to consider first what your slide’s main subject is and then look for a suitable background image or create one from scratch. You can use your background’s colors, compositions, shapes, etc. to catch your audience’s attention.

Also, don’t forget that the background should be just that – a background. It’s not meant to superimpose on the foreground. Rather, it’s supposed to enhance the foreground or the subject in your slide.

Remember this point when you get confused about choosing the best background for your PowerPoint presentation. If you’ve got a very colorful image as your background, you can add a color overlay to mute the colors, while still making sure it’s visible.

Don’t worry if you don’t know anything about overlays. I’ll show you how to use overlays later in this article.

Frequently Asked Questions About PowerPoint Presentation Backgrounds

Now that you know why a good PowerPoint presentation background is necessary for your presentation to be a smashing success, it’s time to answer a few of the most commonly asked questions about presentation backgrounds.

Question #1. How to add a background in PowerPoint?

Adding a custom background in PowerPoint is a fairly simple process. There are two ways to go about adding a background to your slides:

• Method 1 – the right-click option . To access this option, click on the slide you want to format the background on. Then right-click on the slide itself. The Format Background option will be the last option (see screenshot):

• Method 2 – the Design tab option . To access this option, go to the Design tab on the ribbon. On the far right side, you will see the Format Background option. Clicking it will open the Format Background pane on the right side of your screen.

The format background PowerPoint options allow you to choose from a number of different elements which you can use as background. Scroll down to Question #3 for more details on the different background options you can use in PowerPoint.

Question #2. How to change the background in PowerPoint?

Changing your PowerPoint custom background works pretty much like adding a background. You can change your background anytime by accessing the Format Background menu options. From there you can change to solid fill, gradient fill, picture or texture fill, and pattern fill.

If you’re using video as your slide background, you will need to delete the video first, and then access the Format Background options to change the background.

Question #3. What are the different types of elements you can use as background in PowerPoint?

There are 4 main elements you can use as a PowerPoint background: color, pattern, image, and video. I’ll describe each element in more detail below:

Color Background

When using color as your background, you can choose to use either a solid or gradient color. Solid is simply using a single color as the background for your whole slide. Gradient, on the other hand, is using a combination of different colors to create a gradual blend or mix of colors.

Here’s how you use a color background on PowerPoint:

• Right-click on the slide and choose Format Background . The Format Background pane will appear on the screen.
• In the Fill section, select Solid Fill (see box 1). The settings for this option are right below (see box 2). You can choose your color and the transparency level .

• If you want to use a Gradient fill, then see the next screenshot:

As you can see, you have more options with Gradient Fill . In addition to choosing the ‘base’ colors for the Gradient Stops , you can choose the gradient type, the direction and angle of the gradient, the position, transparency, and brightness. You’re also free to add or delete any of the preset gradient stops.

Pattern Background

Pattern backgrounds add texture to your slides. In PowerPoint, there are many different patterns to choose from. You can even play around with the foreground and background colors you want to use for each pattern.

Here’s how you use a pattern background in PowerPoint:

After choosing Pattern Fill , select the pattern you want to use. Once you’ve chosen your desired pattern, choose the foreground and background colors. That’s it!

Image Background

You can make cool PowerPoint designs just by selecting an awesome image as your presentation slide’s background. Of course, a professional presentation background means using strictly subject-relevant images.

Just because you like an image doesn’t mean it’s a good fit for your presentation. Remember to consider who your audience is when choosing images.

Using ‘offensive’ background images can dock points off your presentation, leaving you with an unhappy audience.

So, here’s how you use an image as a background in PowerPoint:

There’s quite a number of options when setting an image as background. You can choose to use a file from your computer, clipboard, or online. You can set the transparency, the position, etc.

Play around with the different settings until you find the most suitable appearance for your background image.

Video Background

Using video as a background may seem like an advanced technique that can’t be done on PowerPoint, but trust me it’s really quite simple to do this.

Video backgrounds look nice on its own so you’d have to be really careful not to make your slide look messy and chaotic.

For best results, it’s best to use simple text or shapes on top of your video. But then again, the final output will depend on what your presentation aims to achieve.

Here’s how you use video as background in PowerPoint:

• Go to Insert > Video . You can use a video from your PC or from an online source. Note that if you’re going to be using an online video, you’d need to have to access to it when you play your presentation. Otherwise, your video background won’t work. See screenshot below.

• Once you’ve chosen your video, you can resize it to fit the slide or you can reposition it to show only a particular section in the video. To do the latter, you can unlock the aspect ratio in the Format Video settings (click on the video to access the Format Video pane).
• If you want to insert some text or shapes on top of the video, go to the Insert tab and select the element you want to insert.
• To make sure your video stays in the background, click on the video. The Video Tools tab will then appear on the ribbon. Click on Format and hit Send Backward .

For royalty-free videos, you can visit any of these sites: Pixabay, Videvo , Videezy , and Pexels.

Question #4. What is the best PowerPoint background size?

Your PowerPoint background size will be the same size as your PowerPoint slide. So, whether you’re using standard (4:3 aspect ratio), widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio) or custom slide sizes, your background size will be exactly the same size as well.

For instance, if you’re using a 16:9 image as your background, and your slides are standard 4:3, PowerPoint will resize your image to fit the 4:3 slide.

If you’re not sure what your slide sizes are, you can go to Design > Slide Size as you can see in the image below:

Question #5: How to create the best background for PowerPoint presentation

The most creative PowerPoint slides and the best designer slides have something in common – awesome backgrounds! Of course, backgrounds are just one element in the whole presentation. But with a combination of the right background and foreground elements, the chances of visually delighting your audience are much higher.

Creating the best background for PowerPoint is a subjective endeavor. What may fall in your ‘best’ category may be mediocre for someone else. Likewise, what may look lacking to you may be impressive to another person. At the end of the day, however, you’re presenting in front of an audience, so it’s their opinion that really matters the most.

Think about your presentation topic and who your target audience is. Then work on your presentation slides with your audience in mind. There are plenty of PowerPoint presentation design tips on the Internet and you’ll find many slide design ideas to inspire you.

8 Highly Actionable Tips To Help You Make Cool PowerPoint Presentation Backgrounds

Here are a few PowerPoint slide background ideas to help get your creative juices flowing:

1. Add Shape and Color Overlays to Background Image

When using image backgrounds, you can add a shape overlay to make the background even more interesting or to make the foreground look sharper.

To do this, go to Insert > Shapes .

For this method, I’d normally select a rectangle shape and cover the entire slide. Click on the shape itself so that the Format Shape pane will appear on the screen. I personally find that adding a gradient fill makes the background look better.

Here’s a before and after picture:

You can see just how much better the second image looks after I added an overlay. The word HELLO stands out and provides a nice contrast to the dark background. It’s really a simple trick that you can do in just a few minutes.

2. Use Trendy Geometric Polygon Backgrounds

Geometric polygon backgrounds look great on PowerPoint especially if you pair it with the right kind of font and the right graphics. It also adds texture to your slides and makes your slide look colorful and interesting.

To use geometric backgrounds, you can either download from any royalty-free photo sites, or generate your own. If you want a unique background for your slides, you can visit Trianglify Background Generator .

Here’s what it looks like:

To use this nifty free online tool, simply choose the settings for your background. In the Render Options section, you can specify the Width, Height, Cell Size, Cell Padding, and Bleed. For the color scheme, you can choose from the Palette List .

When you’re happy with how your geometric polygon image looks like, download it and then save it to your computer. You can then use the image as your PowerPoint slide background. You will be able to edit it using the Format Background options.

3. Use Artistic Effects in Format Background Pane

The Format Background menu in PowerPoint gives you plenty of options to customize your background according to your design preferences. For even better control, you can use Artistic Effects to make your background look better.

To access Artistic Effects , click on the background image to open the Format Background menu. Click on the second, pentagon-shaped icon.

You can choose from different artistic effects by clicking on the drop-down menu. You can also change the transparency and the intensity of your chosen effect.

Hover your mouse pointer over the different artistic effects to know what each effect is called. Here’s an example:

Clicking on an effect will lead to individual effect settings. Play around with the options until you find the best background for your slide.

Here’s what my slide background looks like when I chose the Blur effect and set the radius to 54%.

4. Mix up the background colors

You can use a two or three-color theme for your entire presentation. You can use any combination of colors, however, for best results, you may want to check out Adobe’s Color Wheel website.

Feel free to experiment and play around with the settings to find the best color combination for your slide backgrounds. Or you can explore other people’s color themes to give you a head start. It’s a free service, so check it out if you want to use different color combinations.

Another option would be to combine different gradient colors for your background. If you want ideas, you can visit UIGradients and use the suggested combinations to produce great background color gradients for your PowerPoint presentation!

For simplicity’s sake, however, black and white makes a great combo. For example, you can choose to use a black background for your title slides, and then use white for your content slides, or vice versa. Sometimes, there’s no need to complicate things, and simple does the job just fine.

Alternatively, you can also use a different background color for each theme or idea. For example, if you’ve got a presentation on cars, then you can use a red background color for cars made in the 1990s, a blue background for those made in the 2000s, and so on.

Mixing different background colors and/or overlays will definitely help spice up your presentation and avoid boring your audience to sleep.

5. Use Your Company Colors In Your Presentation Background

If your company uses a set of colors for branding purposes, make sure you put it to good use. Using company colors will help your brand especially if your company uses a specific color palette not commonly used in your industry. This not only helps you save time on looking for appropriate colors, but you also get to help your company build your brand.

Also, you don’t necessarily have to put your company’s logo front and center in in all your slide’s backgrounds. A small logo in a slide corner will normally suffice in most company presentations so as not to distract from the presentation at hand.

If your company spends a huge amount of money on advertising and branding activities, then do your part and use your company’s colors and logo in your PowerPoint presentation.

6. Try Using White Fonts Over Images

I’m sure you’ve seen memes or photo quotes on social media with white text overlaid on an image. You’ve probably seen quotes like this on your social media timeline or news feed:

Now, this technique may not be appropriate in some presentations, especially for business-oriented presentations. However, if you’re presenting to a group of people who appreciates quotations and loves memes, then try to surprise them by using a few quotation slides in between your main content slides!

7. Use a Consistent Background Image for Related Topics

If your presentation consists of dozens of slides, you may need to spend plenty of time looking for a unique background image for each slide. To save time, you can use one background for related topics or themes in your presentation.

For example, you can use one background image for your introductory slides, another background image for your company background and history slides, another background image for your timeline and SWOT analysis slides, etc.

To spice things up, you can always add a colored overlay to make each slide background look different from each other.

8. Use Patterns and Textures in Your Background

You can use a combination of image, graphics, patterns, and textures in your presentation slide’s background. Take a look at this example where the main content is divided into two columns – the text description on the left and the supporting image on the right. Wouldn’t you say your eyes quickly settled on the image on the right?

Final Words

A lot of work goes into creative PowerPoint slides. Oftentimes, it’s the main content or the subject that gets the bulk of a PowerPoint designer’s attention. As you’ve learned in this article, however, slide backgrounds play an important, if underrated, role too. Apply the techniques I’ve shared with you to create beautiful PowerPoint slides that will captivate your audience for the entire duration of your presentation!

You might also find this interesting: How To Add Animations To PowerPoint

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9 Cool PowerPoint Slides You Can Make From Scratch

Yousef "yoyo" abu ghaidah.

• March 13, 2018
• One Comment

The idea of having the coolest PowerPoint slides in the office is getting trendier by the year, which I think is great. People are  finally acknowledging that SmartArt and bullet points just won’t do it anymore. It makes sense too; as the years go by, we witness more and more stunning presentations at our meetings, conferences and other events, and we continuously look for ways to incorporate the beautiful stuff we see into our work.

There’s still a problem, though: nobody knows how to design slides that are made to impress. 

Slide Cow: Creating Cool PowerPoint Slides Since Inception

A while ago, I started a video series called Design a Good Slide. The premise was simple. I asked day-to-day presenters to email me their dull, boring slides (no offense, everyone) so that I can base a tutorial on beautifying them. It’s sort of like your local home makeover TV show, except with PowerPoint.

There was only one caveat: I never sent the redesigned slide back to the original sender. I’m a believer that knowledge is meant to be shared and practiced, and that the only way to get people to understand something is to make them do it.

Although the first season of the series has ended, it still would be worth your while to watch how every-day slides that you’re used to can be transformed into something truly epic. I even made sure that these tutorials are straightforward. This means that anybody, even those that are new to PowerPoint, can recreate the results that they see.

So, without further ado, here are nine cool PowerPoint slides that you can make from scratch right now. If all you’re after is sneak peaks, then you can see the original slides on the left and Slide Cow’s redesigned slides on the right.

The Wedding Planner’s Social Media Slide

Jen wanted a way to illustrate the different likes and followers that her wedding planning company attains on various social media platforms. She went for a bullet-point format because of course she would. Everyone does it anyway, right?

I wanted something different, so I tried to create something that doesn’t only express her message, but her company’s too. Her slide went from boring to awesome in no time.

Learn how to make this dazzling social media slide by clicking here.

The Quote Slide (ft. Steve Jobs)

Sandeep was tasked with presenting Steve Job’s biography to his classmates. He wanted a fancy way to illustrate one of the late tech mogul’s quotes. The slide he sent me is pretty much what you’d expect: images of Steve Jobs left, right and center with a quote plastered in the middle.

I opted for something more minimal while upholding layers of emotion . I wanted the slide to speak to the audience, and I think I achieved that. You can too.

Learn how to feature a sleek quote on your slide by clicking here.

The Emoji Bar Chart Slide

John had a slide featuring a bar chart. He claims that it was “boring.” He asked for help to make his slide look more “creative” and fun.”

Fun’s my middle name.

I added life to his bar chart by throwing in a few icons and playing with a few shapes, all while staying consistent with John’s original theme. Sure, the thought of your bar charts growing eyes and arms is terrifying, but I made sure to make this tutorial as adorable as possible. Cool PowerPoint slide overall, don’t you think?

Learn how to bring life to your bar charts by clicking here.

The ‘Keys To Success’ Slide

Ben wanted to base his PowerPoint slide on the idea of success connecting to specific attributes. In layman’s terms, he needed his picture of a key to talk to the text, and vice versa.

I don’t like using generic images of things to highlight important messages, so I opted for making an infographic of a key instead. I didn’t do anything fancy, either. All I used were a few shapes and some built-in PowerPoint features. Result: a cool PowerPoint slide where everything talks to each other.

Learn how to design a key infographic (from scratch) by clicking here.

The Valuable Star Slide

Tiffany sought to express a list of points as being valuable. She went for the infamous bullet-point method because she had trouble finding the right way to design her slide.

I’ll admit, it took me a while to find the best way to express her message. I ended up going for a star infographic. I mean, stars are valuable … right?

Learn how to create a star infographic in PowerPoint by clicking here.

The Vertical Agenda Slide

Melanie designed an agenda slide that, at least in my eyes, was pretty damn good. She even themed it to Slide Cow’s brand colors! She was looking for a “wow-effect” to take her design skills to the next level, though.

This tutorial was one of the most challenging ones I’ve ever published. I didn’t want to drift too far away from the original concept. The only things I could think of was restructuing the content and adding a few icons. Sometimes simple approaches can lead to a cool PowerPoint slide, too!

Learn how to make an awesome agenda slide by clicking here.

The Happy and Creative Front Cover Slide

Stacy wanted a front cover that was simple and effective. She got the simple part right, but the effectiveness could have been worked on a little more.

I stayed true to Stacy’s message by adding a different picture and playing around with different fonts, shapes and colors until I hit the right note. The biggest challenge was making sure everything was working together, which I think I achieved.

Learn how to bring joy to your front cover slides by clicking here.

The Rotating Medical Heart Slide

This one was the toughest of them all.

Sanjay had a medically-themed PowerPoint slide that needed some serious rework. Since his topic is quite niche, it took me days to find something that would work for him. I almost gave up.

I finally opted to go for a heart being the centerpiece of the slide. To seal the deal, I designed a heartbeat in the heart itself, rotated it, and made his points come out from either side. The end result looks fantastic, and I think you can achieve something similar.

The Tinder PowerPoint Template

Oh boy, the story behind this tutorial is EPIC.

Niket Biswas was looking for a way to stand out from the hundreds of thousands of guys on Tinder. Yes, I’m referring to the dating app. Want to have a guess at what he did?

He turned his Tinder Profile into an epic PowerPoint pitch.

I reached out to Niket and asked if I could redesign his slides and feature him on a Slide Cow tutorial. He graciously agreed, and thus, the Tinder PowerPoint tinder template was born!

Learn how to use PowerPoint to get more matches on Tinder by clicking here.

Learned Enough? Now Get To Work

If you want to learn how to create cool PowerPoint slides, then you’re going to have to keep your head down and work your butt off. This sort of thing takes a lot of time because you have to find a way to balance your requirements with your sense of design, all while translating a message into something visually expressive. It took me years to get here, and I still have a long way to go to get to where I want to be.

My advice would be to watch these tutorials, take note of the various principles, learn from them, and keep practicing. You’ll end up creating mouth-watering pieces in no time.

A nice collection of before and after slides you have put up to illustrate how one can “really” improve a dead ppt set. Thanks a lot for the demo!!!

Got a project for us?

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How to create a Powerpoint Presentation

Powerpoint presentations are a great way to share information with a team, but making them is a skillset in its own right. We've got guides on general Powerpoint use , but if you're keen to just get started making a slideshow right now, this is the way.

How to create a Powerpoint presentation

How to build your first slide, how to add more slides to a powerpoint presentation, how to make an awesome slideshow presentation.

Here's how to make a Powerpoint presentation.

What You Need

Powerpoint or Microsoft 365 subscription

The first step in building your fancy slideshow is to create the presentation itself. Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Install Powerpoint (as part of Microsoft 365 ) if you haven't already, then open the app up.

Step 2: The home screen will give you a range of options for selecting templates and premade presentations to give you a great starting-off point. Select one of them if they're applicable. For even more options, select the New tab from the left-hand menu.

Alternatively, if you want to start from a blank canvas, select Blank presentation.

Step 3: From there, it's a good idea to name and save the presentation so you can come back to it later. Select File > Save or* Save As*, then name the file on the right, choose a location for it, and select Save .

Step 1: Your first slide will automatically have text fields for a title and subtitle. If you want to have that on your first slide, select them, then type in what you want them to read. You can also click and drag them around, or resize them using your mouse.

Hover your mouse over the white circles, then click and drag them to resize the box. Alternatively, select the rotational arrows near the corners of the box, to rotate it.

If you don't want those text fields, select their boundary individually and press the Delete key to remove them.

Step 2: If you want to add more text to this slide (or any others in the future), select the Insert tab, then select Text box. Click on the slide where you want the box to appear, then use your mouse to drag the box to the desired shape.

Then click the box and type in what you want that text box to say. The contextual home menu will automatically adjust to give you quick access to font choices and other text style options.

You can access more detailed text formatting options by selecting the Format tab. There you'll find options for changing text coloring, its outline, and any text effects you want to use.

Step 3: To add pictures to your slideshow, select the Insert tab, then select Pictures in the top-left. You'll then have the option to insert an image from your local PC, a selection of stock images, or a range of online images.

Step 4: You can also freehand draw or annotate your slides, using the Draw tab, or alter the entire theme of the slideshow by selecting Design.

To add a new slide to your presentation, select the Insert tab at the top of the screen, then select New slide on the left. Then choose the type of slide you want. You can have a blank slide to do it all yourself, or you can get a headstart on its design by copying a previous slide, using the same theme as another part of your presentation, or having a predefined layout.

Want even more tips on making a great slideshow? We've got you covered. Check out our guide on how to use Microsoft Powerpoint , for all the most important tips.

We've also got a guide for more tips and tricks for making engaging and attractive slides .

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While PowerPoint is widely used to develop presentations, using Google Slides has become a popular alternative. Part of what makes it so popular is that it's free to use, as is other Google software such as Google Docs and Google Sheets – which is a stark contrast to the premium price you'll pay for Microsoft Office and PowerPoint.

Even if you know how to use Microsoft PowerPoint, you might want to jump ship to Slides, and Google makes it easy to do so. In fact, it takes little more than a few clicks to convert a PowerPoint to Google Slides. Whether you need to change the format for a coworker or want to permanently switch to the free platform, here's a look at how to convert your PowerPoint into a Google Slides presentation.

We all know that Microsoft’s PowerPoint software has been a presentations staple for a few decades now. And whether you only used it in school once or twice, or you use it for work on a daily basis, there’s always something new to learn about the classic Microsoft platform.

Even if you know how to use PowerPoint, did you know that you can embed videos in your presentations?

Creating a successful slideshow is no small task. So, if you’re new to Microsoft PowerPoint, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the features and tools you need to build a presentation.

We’ll guide you through the process of creating a PowerPoint slideshow by adding slides and elements as well as how to present the show when you finish. These basics are just what you need as a beginner and should get you off to a terrific start with PowerPoint.

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38 Cool PowerPoint Templates (Amazing PPT Slides for Presentations in 2024)

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Looking for cool PowerPoint templates for your presentation to stand out? Look no further than this article!

We'll share a selection of the coolest outlines to captivate your audience.

The 38 Coolest PowerPoint Themes (New From Envato Elements in 2024)

Here's a hand-curated selection of the coolest PowerPoint templates.

These cool PowerPoint PPT templates  are trending in 2024: 

1. Pilax - Kids World PowerPoint Templates

Pilax is a cool PowerPoint theme with kid-friendly layouts. It's colorful and playful, with unique slide elements. Pilax offers:

• device mockups
• placeholders
• infographics

Use it to create amazing PowerPoint presentations.

2. SHAPER - Good PowerPoint Templates

Shaper not only provides good backgrounds for presentations. It's a top-notch, creative choice if you're looking for  great PowerPoint templates. Its features include:

• 87 unique slides
• 40 curated colors
• cool photo galleries
• dark and light versions
• useful timelines and graphics

3. TESLA - PowerPoint Theme

Tesla is a top choice of cool PowerPoint templates. It's very edgy and modern, featuring:

• 76 unique cool slides
• Smart Art diagrams
• easily editable charts
• 1920x1080 resolution

4. Brand Strategy - Good Backgrounds for Presentations

This creative template offers great PowerPoint themes. It's ideal for an artist, photographer, or anyone with a playful style. Moreover, you'll get:

• 40+ unique slides
• fully editable shapes
• 4 styles of good themes for PPT
• drag-and-drop image placeholders

5. Creafun - Creative Fun Agency PowerPoint

Show your colorful and fun side with great PowerPoint themes like this one. Its many features include:

• vector-based icons
• media placeholders
• strong focus on typography and usability

6. Food - Great PowerPoint Themes

Food is a cool PowerPoint template that's a visual treat. It can be easily customized. You'll also get:

• 22 cool slides
• resizable and editable graphics
• image placeholders
• a help guide file

7. Creative Orange Yellow Company Portfolio 002

The Creative Orange cool PPT template features bright colors and eye-catching designs. It uses simple layouts that focus on organized grids and bold fonts.

Here are some of the features you'll find in this awesome PowerPoint template:

• 27 unique cool slides
• data charts
• over 400 custom icons

With all the customization options, make cool presentations with a single template.

8. TimeLime - Great PowerPoint Templates

TimeLime is a cool and versatile PowerPoint design template. Use it for a pitch deck, proposal, annual report, and more. The template has:

• cool PowerPoint backgrounds
• 30 different slide layouts
• widescreen devices compatibility

9. Passion - Amazing PowerPoint Theme

Passion is one of the cool PowerPoint templates with a clean design. This deck includes:

• free fonts used
• 120+ cool slides
• drag-and-drop master slides
• animation and transition effects

10. Rivka - Minimal Cool PowerPoint Template

• master slides
• 450 vector icons
• 63 unique cool slide designs

11. Golazo - Cool PowerPoint Presentation Template

Sometimes, you just need some cool PowerPoint backgrounds to bring it all together. Golazo is one of the  good themes for PPT that's very easy to use. The included help PDF will save you time.

Here's some of what you'll get with good PowerPoint templates like this:

• 90+ clean and creative multipurpose slides
• 10 color schemes
• 100+ master slides
• full animation

If you're after great PowerPoint templates, then Golazo is an easy score.

12.  Latte - Good Backgrounds for Presentations  

Latte is a cool Microsoft PowerPoint template with a modern look. You'll want to consider this clean and amazing PowerPoint presentation template. You'll find:

• tables for your data

With a few small changes, you can create a cool PowerPoint presentation.

13. Geneva - Unique Cyberpunk PowerPoint PPT Template

Geneva is one of those really cool Microsoft PowerPoint templates that catches a viewer's attention quickly and holds it. This awesome PPT design has intense blue tones throughout its color schemes.

Here are just a few of the many features that the unique PPT template includes:

• 36 distinct cool slides
• 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio
• free web fonts
• drag and drop image placeholders
• documentation file

With these features, Geneva is one of the coolest templates with a tech PowerPoint theme.

14. Fawon - Cool PowerPoint Presentation Template

What makes Fawon a cool business PowerPoint template is its timeless look. Use Fawon for a fashion brand, creative agency, or personal portfolio. It comes with:

• 150+ total slides
• 5 color variations
• handcrafted infographics

15. Okumus - Cool PowerPoint Design Template

To make cool presentations, all you need is the right colors in the right places. Okumus is a clean template that'll help you create an amazing presentation. This fully editable download blends white backgrounds with eye-grabbing colors.

Like other great PowerPoint themes, Okumus has great features, which include:

• 36 unique slides
• 16:9 widescreen ratio
• versatile layouts
• device mockups are included

16. Flexita – Cool Marketing PowerPoint Template

The awesome Flexita PowerPoint template oozes cool. It uses fun colors across different minimal slides. You'll get:

• light and dark backgrounds
• master slides-based layout
• charts and pricing tables

17. Be. PowerPoint Presentation Template

If you're a marketing guru, then take a look at awesome PowerPoint templates like Be. You'll get:

• 125+ unique slides
• minimalistic design 
• layouts with great colors and shapes
• complete documentation

18. Rafael – Awesome Business PowerPoint Template

Looking for a template with cool PowerPoint backgrounds? Rafael is a bold and professional presentation template. You can create a quick presentation deck in minutes thanks to

• 39 cool slides
• master slide layout
• picture placeholders
• charts and vector icons

19. Arcitech - PowerPoint Template

Are you looking to make a cool PowerPoint presentation for your next project? Arcitech is the right template for you. It's got some great features, including:

• 150+ unique slides
• 5 cool slides themes
• eye-catching colorful design

Arcitech is worth trying if you've been looking for cool PowerPoint backgrounds your next presentation.

20. Clean Business Presentation

This cool PowerPoint presentation template helps your slide deck stand out. It can be used for different types of businesses. It's great for agencies and photography studios. It offers:

• 50 unique slides
• custom placeholders
• transitions and animations
• full documentation included

21. Gradient PowerPoint Template

Gradient is a minimal and modern presentation to bring your cool PowerPoint ideas to life. It comes with:

• 10+ cool slides layouts
• clean, minimalist design
• gradient, cool PowerPoint backgrounds

22. Red Code - PowerPoint Template

Red Code is a striking deck if you want cool PowerPoint templates. It features:

• 150+ slides
• gallery and portfolio slides

23. Magenta - Good PowerPoint Templates

This PowerPoint template for 2024 includes some of the best cool PowerPoint slides available today. It comes with powerful features and stunning elements, like.

• editable graphics only
• clean and modern design

24. Void Awesome PowerPoint Template

A nice PowerPoint template like this one includes many amazing features, coupled with a winning, awesome PPT design. These include:

• 16:9 layouts for widescreen displays
• custom, easy-to-edit charts
• slide masters for fast bulk edits

device mockups to show off your website or app

The bold designs pop on every slide. They make Void one of the coolest PowerPoint templates to use.

25. Magnium - Unique PowerPoint PPT Template

Cool PowerPoint templates like Magnium are the best way to present your business in style. Its features include:

• 50+ unique slides
• multipurpose design
• unique mockup devices

You’re guaranteed to perform with good PowerPoint templates like this.

26. Tinalan - PowerPoint Template

This creative bundle of nice PowerPoint templates includes amazing visuals. Enjoy:

• easy to edit
• 5 color combinations
• flexibility with master slides

27. Start Up - PowerPoint Presentation

Start Up is a nice PowerPoint template that will help your business stand out from the crowd. Perfect for companies looking for investment to grow, this pack has:

• cool and vibrant slide layouts
• clean infographics and icons
• drag-and-drop placeholders
• vector-based slide art

28. Project Status PowerPoint Presentation Template  

With 10 color cool slides themes, these sleek slides let you bring cool PowerPoint ideas to your next slide deck. You’ll find:

• 40 unique slides
• readily adaptable slides
• many slide sizes are available
• easy to edit charts, tables and timelines

29. Autumn - PowerPoint Presentation Template

Finding unique PowerPoint templates for your seasonal events can be hard. Thankfully, this stylish design is perfect for fall. This trendy and cool PPT template features:

• 16:9 aspect ratio
• fully customizable layout
• 20 unique slides per theme

If you're an autumn fan, you'll find this better than those cool PowerPoint templates for free out there.

30. Sunflower - Multipurpose PowerPoint Presentation Template

Sunflower is a cool PowerPoint template that is a breath of fresh air. It offers good backgrounds for presentations with key features, like:

• over 30 unique multipurpose slides
• PPT and PPTX files
• full documentation to help you get started
• customized charts
• HD graphics throughout 

It's easy to see why Sunflower is a top choice if you want unique PowerPoint templates.

31. Alpha - Cool PowerPoint Templates

Cool PowerPoint backgrounds can also be clean and understated. Alpha is a cool PowerPoint theme with:

• pre-built placeholders
• modern and minimalistic design

32. Cyberia - Cool PowerPoint Theme

Cyberia is the ultimate choice if you need a niche PowerPoint theme for your cool presentation ideas. It offers:

• cyber security focus
• portfolio slides included
• editable charts and infographics

33. Investor - Cool Pitch Deck PowerPoint Theme

With a focus on infographics, nice PPT templates like this let you pitch with data. Investor Pitch Deck has:

• 4000+ vector icons
• fully editable elements
• professionally-designed placeholders

34. Agoda - Awesome PowerPoint Template

Cool PowerPoint templates for free will always struggle when matched against premium options. Agoda is a great example of the quality you get from professional downloads. It's packed with:

• 280+ stylish slides
• editable elements only
• creative image placeholders

It's one of the coolest PowerPoint templates for any project.

35. Hola – Awesome Business PowerPoint Template

Hola is a great space to put your cool PowerPoint ideas. It's vibrant and makes a great use of white space in its layout. This template features:

• cool and unique slides
• minimalist design
• maps and charts

The cool PowerPoint's slides work for any business and can be edited in no time at all.

36. Modern Company Profile PowerPoint Template

This bold and cool presentation template has a look many businesses can appreciate. You'll get:

• 30 slides with cool colors and fonts
• editable placeholders and graphics
• charts you can use to share data
• easy edits with master slides

37. Pluto - Cool PowerPoint PPT Business Template

Pluto may be out of this world, but it's also a cool PowerPoint template. It comes with:

• 30 unique slides
• customizable color theme

Use Pluto to make cool PowerPoints for yourself or your brand. 

38. Creature - Cool Microsoft PowerPoint Template

Cool presentations come and go, but this is a template to make yours memorable. Creature is a cool PowerPoint template that uses photography and space brilliantly. You'll get:

• mix of clean minimalist design and illustration
• vector-based graphics
• easy-to-edit layout

Get ready to wow your audience with Creature!

How to Make a Cool (Unique) PowerPoint Presentation Quickly

Envato Elements is a great service to source unlimited cool PowerPoint templates. But you might be wondering how you can use those starting templates to create a presentation of your own.

In this section, we'll customize slides from  The X Note .

This is a cool slide template you can use to build amazing PowerPoint presentations. Best of all, it's included with your subscription to Envato Elements. Let's dive in.

1. Craft Cool Outlines

Before you start editing your template, think about the story you want to tell. What can your presentation do to enhance your narrative? What are some things you can do to subvert your audience's expectations?

A cool outline that is well thought out can go a long way.

2. Add a Welcome Slide

Most PowerPoint presentations use a solid welcome that introduces your content. That's why it's a great idea to start off with a slide that sets the tone.

Make your audience feel welcome!

To customize this welcome slide, my first step is to cut down on the amount of text that I'm using. Slides with less text are more likely to stand out. Then, I'll add an image on the left side.

In my case, I'll go with a logo. Finally, I'll update the placeholder text at the top of the slide with branding details.

That's it! With a few clicks, I've created an effective welcome slide to start my presentation.

3. Show the App in Action

This slide may not apply to every presentation, but if your product is on mobile, this slide is a must! Show the product in action with a device mockup slide.

To customize it, I built a mock-up screenshot of my app. Then, I pasted it on top of the iPhone element. Finally, I customized the text surrounding the screenshot to bring more detail to the app.

Showing how a product interacts in real life can help a user picture how it works. That can become a great selling point, so don't leave this slide out.

4. Introduce the Team

Time and time again, I recommend using a slide to introduce a team. That might be the team that helped build a presentation, a company, or that'll lead to the next project.

To customize it, click on the image placeholders and replace them with your team's images. I've also selected the background circles and changed color on the  Shape Fill option.

5 Tips to Create a Cool PowerPoint Presentation

No matter the purpose, your awesome PowerPoint presentation should make an impact.

Here are five presentation tips to help you make a memorable presentation:

1. Invest in a Premium Presentation Template

You may think it's a good idea to get cool PowerPoint templates for free, but quality can be an issue. Plus, most free cool PowerPoint templates don't offer support.

You're better off investing on high-quality premium good themes for PPT from a reliable provider.

2. Use PowerPoint's Animation Effects

PowerPoint has great animation tools that can add interest to your PowerPoint Presentation. Here's a great PowerPoint tutorial to help you learn more about animation:

Plus, many of the cool PowerPoint themes in this list include animation effects.

3. Integrate the Presentation Into Your Branding

This idea is important for businesses , but it can also be important for your personal brand. Your presentation should look like it belongs to you or your business.

Part of branding includes visual branding:

• your colors

Customize the cool PowerPoint presentation templates to add your own design.

4. Remember the Title Slide

The title slide is one of the most important elements of a presentation. It needs to make the right impression.

A good way to do this is by incorporating an image or even a short video.

5. Stay Focused

It's better to have a shorter, more focused presentation that sticks to the point. Long presentations that stray from the purpose tend to lose the viewer's attention.

Even worse, a rambling presentation could make a bad impression.

5 Cool PowerPoint Presentation Design Trends for 2024

We've already shown you the best templates for cool PowerPoint presentations.

Now learn how to get the most out of them with some of the best presentation trends happening this year. From the use of infographics to the importance of content and a fitting template.

Check them out here: 

1. Add Infographics to Your Presentation

Here's a useful trend you won't want to miss. Infographics combine data and visual representation with analysis. And they're a great way to enhance any presentation.

Using infographics brings a lot of benefits. T here's nothing that says you know your stuff like sharing data. That's why using infographics in presentations helps you show your knowledge.

2. Don't Overcrowd the Slides

This is a trend that never gets old. Avoid overwhelming your audience with dozens of elements per slide. Edit your presentation.

S pend some time eliminating the images and text that aren't essential. Your audience will thank you later. 

3. Go for a Special Purpose Template

4. Include Your Contact Details

Keep this trend in mind when you're making your presentation. The last slide of the best PPT presentations always includes the contact information of the presenter .

This way, the audience can follow-up with questions and comments.

5. Write Great Copy

Copywriting for your presentation is as important as the design. Make it concise.

Make it persuasive so you can successfully pitch the idea to your audience. Explain the benefits and the facts. End your presentation with a call to action.

5 Cool PowerPoint Presentations (Interesting Design Examples)

Many talented presenters have paved the way with cool presentations. Here are five of my favorite slide decks that you can look to for inspiration:

1. Blitzscaling Book Trailer

Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn. Since leaving the company he's made his mark as a big thinker with his podcast and new book, Blitzscaling. This "book trailer" is the perfect example of using simple, colorful slides.

2. How to Think Like a Startup

Who  hasn't  thought of launching a startup in 2024? This PowerPoint presentation is the perfect example to draw inspiration if you're preparing your big idea.

3. The Outcome Economy

This inspirational slide deck does a great job of balancing imagery with text. Look to it as a source of inspiration for creating great visual presentations. This example is informative but lacks "walls of text" that bore your audience.

4. How LinkedIn Built a Community of Half a Billion

It's always amazing to study the success stories of companies like LinkedIn.

This inspiring slide deck with a nice PowerPoint theme will show you how LinkedIn grew to a huge user community with a few clever approaches. You might be able to borrow these techniques to grow your project.

See more amazing examples of cool PowerPoint PPT templates in the round-up below:

5. Digital 2020 Global Overview

Infographics are a great way to highlight data in a presentation. This presentation features plenty of them.

Find More Cool and Unique PPT Templates

I've shown you some of the best presentation design ideas and trends. You can use them to create unique PowerPoint presentations from templates. Now, I'd like to share with you more premium templates.

Our templates from Envato Elements are better than any cool PowerPoint templates for free out there. Don't forget to check our complete and detailed guide on how to use Microsoft PowerPoint to create the best presentations:

Benefits of Cool Premium PowerPoint Templates in 2024

Are you still on the fence about using a premium template to build your next presentation? It helps to understand how premium templates are different.

Sure, there are plenty of free cool PowerPoint templates out there. But premium templates have features that you just won't find in the free alternatives.

Here are a few reasons to spring for premium PowerPoint templates:

• Highly targeted purposes . Need a template for  building calendars ? How about a slide deck that's specific to Blockchain ? There a Premium PowerPoint template for every need. Save hours in customization while you're at it.
• Slide variety . Many of the nice PowerPoint templates in this round-up feature dozens or hundreds of slide designs. That means that you'll have everything you need for your presentation.
• Top-notch designs . I'm not a graphic designer, and most presentations don't include the budget to hire one. But you  can make use of the work of talented designers when you use premium templates like the ones from  Envato Elements.

A premium PowerPoint template will save you hours of searching and design work. That's why you should consider  Envato Elements  to source your next presentation template.  One flat-rate, thousands of nice PowerPoint templates. All are under a single, simple license.

Common PowerPoint Questions Answered (FAQ)

1. what versions of powerpoint exist.

There are many different options for how you can buy or license Microsoft Office. Here are the most common ways that you can buy or use Office:

• Office 365. This is the subscription-based model for using Office apps, with a monthly or annual package. You'll always have access to the latest version of the Office apps as long as you continue paying for Office 365.
• Office Home. The "Home" edition is a one-time purchase of Office with no subscription attached. But your app won't stay up to date as Microsoft releases new versions and features.
• Office Online. Run PowerPoint in a web browser. Regardless of which version of PowerPoint you use, pair it with the browser-based version of the app for free.

2. What Types of Presentations Are There?

First, define what type of presentation you need to deliver. There are many types. Each will give you a different result. Here are the most common:

• Persuasive. The goal of these presentations is to change the mind of the audience or impart your perspective.
• Decision-driven. The purpose of these is to provide a recommendation or path forward in a situation or project.
• Introductory. An introductory presentation is designed to be the first point of contact. It showcases your business and work to potential clients.
• Informative (educational). Informative presentations are geared around showing knowledge or new ideas to an audience.

3. Should I Use a Presentation Outline?

The best thing you can do is write a presentation outline. It'll help you break the project into easy-to-conquer tasks. While it may seem like an extra step, we guarantee you that it'll save you time in the long run.

The benefit of using an outline is that your presentation will be more cohesive. Every point will fall naturally into place. Check more details in our guide:

4. Can I Convert Keynote to PowerPoint Files?

If you love to use Keynote for your presentations, but you need to convert it to PPT for other users, we can help you. All you've got to do is export your Keynote file to your desired format. Check out how here: 

5. How Can I Include Data in My Presentation?

More Great PowerPoint Resources on Envato Tuts+ 

We've shown you a few easy ways to customize your cool PPT templates. With these you can make awesome PowerPoint presentations.

Discover how to make a cool PowerPoint presentation. Learn more about using PowerPoint : 

Download Our eBook on Making Great Presentations ( Free PDF )

Need more help? Here's helpful resource that'll walk you through the complete presentation process. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and give a powerful delivery. 

Grab our eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It's available for FREE with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter. 

Discover Cool PowerPoint Templates on Envato Elements (With Unlimited Use)

Browse through hundreds of Cool PowerPoint backgrounds on Envato Elements. It's got a great offer. Enjoy unlimited downloads of 60+ million creative assets.

These cool PowerPoint templates have hundreds of good themes for PPT. All available on Envato Elements. 

Explore Cool PPT Templates

Plus, now Envato Elements has introduced an AI-powered search feature ! This new tool allows you to input a description of your project to effortlessly locate the finest human-crafted resources. 

Start experimenting with this enhanced search tool! Discover the ideal PowerPoint templates for your presentations in 2024.

Create an Impressive Presentation Today With These Really Cool PPT Templates

We've just explored 38 really cool new PowerPoint templates that can help you create a winning presentation. 

Browse through these awesome PowerPoint templates to find the perfect one for you. You can also find more interesting PowerPoint templates on Envato Elements.

Editorial Note : This post has been updated with contributions from Renata Martín Intriago , Lex Soto ,  Maria Villanueva , Andrew Childress , and Nathan Umoh . Lex and Renata are staff writers for Envato Tuts+. Maria is an Associate Editor for Envato Tuts+ Design & Illustration. Andrew and Nathan are freelance instructors for Envato Tuts+.