How to Make a Great PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint allows you to maintain viewers' interest during presentations by adding special effects. But animations and fetching pictures are not the only add-ons you can use with this software. The tips below offer additional tricks for creating a winning presentation.

Instructions

1. Use more tables rather than filling up your presentation with animated slides. Tables organize information and make it easier for viewers to assimilate. You can create and edit tables more quickly than complicated graphics.

2. Draft the presentation in Microsoft Word first before ever starting the PowerPoint version. Establish precise paragraphs with headings that stand out. With a specific outline as a guide, you can express your key ideas more clearly and succinctly.

3. Show your viewers that the presentation does more than illustrate a topic with pictures. Add text footnotes. Write an appendix that provides additional resource information for those interested in pursuing the topic further or considering it from a different angle.

4. Add borders around essential paragraphs and tables or the entire slide. Experiment with eye-catching colors and styles.

5. Import entire pages or sections of documents from a different application, such as Excel or Access. This eliminates monotony from your presentation.

6. Add images of anyone you quote in the presentation, to give your audience a sense of who is "talking."