Step1
**Know your audience**
It's very important that you create your presentation with your audience always in mind. This means being aware of their knowledge, education, and backgrounds. Why? Because you don't want to make it too simple or complex. Knowing more about your audience will help you mold your presentation to the needs of your audience.
Step2
**Beware of different lightings**
You can spend hours playing around with different backgrouds, graphics, and colors. But all this can go to waste if you don't know what kind of lighting you'll have during your presentation. So I suggest finding out how the room will be lit in advance.
For example, will you be able to dim the lights near the screen? Will the entire room need to be dark? Can you turn off alternating lights, such as every other row?
Why is this important? For two main reasons:
a) If audience members want to take notes, it makes it much easier for them to see,
b) Different colors and backgrounds can look differently under various lighting conditions. For example, a red can appear more orangey.
TIP: You may want to have multiple versions or one without a colored background just in case lighting isn't appropriate.
This way, you'll be ready just in case the lights won't display things to your satisfaction. And it'll save you the time of having to redo things before your actual presentation.
Step3
**Simpler works better**
PowerPoint should be thought of as a tool. That means it's to supplement what you have to say. So keep it simple! That means not using tons of text or graphics everywhere. Make use of whitespace to break things up. And use bullets to draw attention to particular things.
Also stick with 1 to 3 fonts. The more you use, the more people will notice differences. And that could signal poor organization. Perhaps somebody will think you didn't notice that things aren't the same.
It's like writing a letter and having one paragraph in a different font than the next. It's noticeable! So consistency between fonts and headings makes your presentation more pleasing on the eye.
And keep your text less wordy. This makes it easier for them to read quickly and write down if needed. Remember, PowerPoint should supplement what you have to say. So it's there as a reference and for illustration purposes.
Step4
**Don't overuse animations and motion**
PowerPoint has many options for having your text and graphics moving around. For example, you can have bulleted points appear one word at a time. Or you can have a graphic gradually fill-in.
Now these things may look fancy and seem pretty cool. But they can also annoy an audience or take up valuable presentation time. I'm not saying you shouldn't use them because there is a place for them. But I am saying not to go overboard!
In other words, you don't need to animate everything! Pick and choose carefully what should and should not be animated.
This also applies to transitions between slides. You don't need to animate every single slide, plus what's on those slides. You select particular slides to transition with an animated effect. This will draw attention to that particular one. Or can be useful to separate various sections.
The point is not to overuse motions and animations of text and graphics.
Step5
**Add slide notes**
To help you prepare and present your information, I suggest typing important points into the note section of slides. Use them to highlight a particular point you want to make, or a reference you want to use.
For example, in the classroom, I would put a particular page in the textbook. Or an aside I wanted to mention. That way, I would remember to mention this to my students without having to look it up.
When you make your presentation, these notes can really come in handy! They'll help you to remember key points you want to mention. And can be used to include additional information in case you have extra time or it comes up. In other words, it will make you better-prepared!
Step6
**Print-out handouts**
One nice feature of PowerPoint is the ability to print your slides with those notes. This way, you can keep them handy while you're presenting. In other words, you won't have to memorize things. Instead, you'll have something handy you can always refer to. This can also help you remember which slide has what information. That can come in handy if you need to refer back to a particular slide later on.
And if you'd like, you can print handouts of just the slides without your notes. These can be given to your audience members to write on or review at their leisure.
Authority 
