We have all been there. You need to make a presentation for class, a club, or for lab meeting, it seems like so much work and creativity needs to go into a really good looking presentation. Whether it’s a group project, or you are working alone, these tips will show you that less work is actually better and will make for a visually appealing, easy to follow, and sleek presentation!
1. Simplicity is key.
When you first create a new presentation before you even add any slides, pick a low-key theme for your presentation. Avoid raging colors and blaring shapes for your presentations theme. Either on google slides or powerpoint, I typically never pick a theme. I just use plain black and white and engage the audience with my delivery of the presentation (in my speaking and body language) and through my pictures and figures. Just look at how I designed this website! Plain and simple does not equal boring. Colors and shapes in the theme are more likely to be distracting to your audience. Those who are color blind may be at a disadvantage based on your color scheme. Think high contrast dark and light (not bright) colors for text against your background of choice. This way your audience does not have to put in any work to visually follow your slides!
2. Be consistent.
I do not take this lightly in my own presentations or when viewing others! The font, text size and spacing of all titles and words must be consistent throughout your presentation. Do this first before creating and adding content to all of your slides. It’s super simple to start with your title, or second slide and duplicate it multiple times so you do not have to reformat the font and text size after your presentation is already done. Again, this is less distracting for your audience and they will spend less time noticing what is on your slides (because it does not change with every slide) and more time focusing on the words you speaking as your present!
3. Less text is best.
The amount of text that is recommended per slide is quite controversial. Many professors, advisors, peers, ect. will have different opinions on how much text you should put on each slide. I say, aside from the title of the slide (which should fit to one line), 15 words or less. I know, impossible right? With practice it gets easier to cut your text. It is so easy to put up lines of text on a slide because it is exactly what you need to say, and want the audience to know! But do not use that text as a presentation crutch, you can find ways to get the information across to the audience by 1. practicing and saying those words or 2. add a relevant picture! If you must add text, add a phrase (one or two words) that will jog your memory about what you need to say next/ expand on that point, but stay away from full sentences. This again is to ensure your audience is spending less time focusing on reading your slides and more time listening to what you are saying. Leading to my next point, if adding bullet points of text, make it less overwhelming and direct your audience to the point you are currently speaking about by using animations!
4. Bigger is always better.
Large text and photos are the epitome of aesthetically pleasing to your audience who does not want to have to work hard to read small fonts or data from the back of the room. Even in our virtual world, where you may be presenting online and do not have to worry about your audience far and wide, bigger text and photos means your slides are simple, do not have too much text, and are easy to follow! So stretch out those titles to fit from left to right on the top of your slide, and make pictures and graphs as large as possible. This will again direct your audiences focus on YOU because of your sleek slides!
5. Add animations.
I always get told by peers that my presentation must have taken so long because of the animations I use to have a bullet point appear or to make parts of a picture pop up when I begin to speak about them and its simply not true! When I say add animations, I do not mean your title slide flying in and zooming in and out, or a transition animation between each slide of your presentation. I mean using a white box to cover up your subsequent bullet points, or the other half of a figure you are not talking about yet, and adding an animation for it to “disappear on click” so it shows up when you are ready to talk about it. If this still seems like too much work, make more slides! You can have multiple slides for the same point that adds a new line of text or another picture if you do not want to bother with animations. Using this will make your presentation sleek, engaging, and simple all at the same time. Again, you are directing your audience to only focus on what you want them to see. With practice, you know exactly what will pop up on the slide next and your audience will spend the time listening to you explain rather than trying to decipher the text/photo you have not gotten to yet. You are in control, not the audience!
My examples
Looking for some inspiration? Here are some presentations I have done for journal club! Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any comments or questions!
Madison (Honer) Lineberger 