You're going to have to create a Powerpoint presentation at some point in your life, whether it's for a quarterly roundup at work, a school project, or even a travel itinerary proposal for your next family trip. The value of a well-written presentation goes well beyond the moment it had people's attention, as it can still be a helpful resource to refer back to down the line. Slide-format presentations are a quick and easy way to get your message across IF you do it the right way.
Here are some tips on how to write a presentation, as well as recommendations on tools you can use to make yours stand out and be memorable.
5 Effective Presentation Techniques for Standout Reports
Moving thoughts to paper — or in this case, a digital slide — can be intimidating. The fact that slides are meant to be concise for easy viewing can make it more daunting. Check out these tips on how to write an outline for a Powerpoint presentation.
1. Keep your text simple and concise.
A Powerpoint presentation is not a visual tool that your audience will read through. It's a guide that will help them better digest and remember what you discuss orally. Include memorable words and sentences that will sum up your main point per slide and then follow up with an explanation as you present. Don't simply read what you typed onto the slides.
Not too confident about your writing skills? Integrating text prediction software like Lightkey to Powerpoint can help you write meaningful content that will get your audience's attention. This AI-powered software not only corrects spelling and grammar errors in real-time (a must for presentations!), but it can also suggest more relevant terms to help make your message unforgettable.
2. Include powerful visual elements.
Images, videos, graphs, and infographics help the audience gain a clearer picture of what you want to say. Visuals should also be accompanied by powerful captions to drive your point home more seamlessly.
3. Consider your audience.
To whom are you presenting? Knowing your audience will help create a more appropriate Powerful presentation. If you're reporting to company management and stakeholders, they will most likely want to see sales data and graphs. If you're presenting to elementary school students, you'll want to up your visuals game to include fun images and videos.
4. Include just one idea per slide.
Each slide should be easy to digest and remember. Limiting one idea in each slide also helps make the transition from one to another more fluid. In this way, your audience will understand that every time you switch to the next slide, a new idea will be presented.
5. Always have an introduction, key message, and conclusion.
The goal of your presentation is to deliver a message and make sure it sticks. The introduction sets the stage and prepares your audience for what's coming, having one overarching message helps keep all points mentioned in one place, while a conclusion serves as a summary and reminder of everything discussed. Ideally, each of these should occupy just one slide.
Create Powerful and Memorable Presentations with Lightkey
Knowing how to write a presentation is one thing, and learning to sustain your audience's attention is another. How do you make both work? Through visuals and writing. Powerpoint has long been the platform of choice for almost all kinds of formal and informal presentations, but many fail to maximize its potential because they don't know what tools they need to connect with their audience.
When it comes to visual presentations, the key is to set the pace, introduce the right visuals, and use the most meaningful words. Integrating Lightkey with Powerpoint (and even MS Word and other Microsoft apps) can help improve your writing and provide more relevant terms that your audience will remember. Its real-time text prediction and spelling and grammar features will keep your message clear and concise so that your file can be something you'll be proud to look back on in the future.
Explore Lightkey's free edition to know more about what this powerful software can do to turbocharge your writing.