If you’re new to making presentation decks, worry not! Our friends over at exitcreative.net have bestowed us with 5 helpful tips for newbies on creating effective presentations. It doesn’t stop there! Andres from our One Twelfth office has also contributed some tips of his own.
Clay Parker Jones says:
1. No section intro slides, unless they’re saying something reallyfucking important
2. Write a full, conversational narrative first, and then split it across multiple slides in the presenter notes…you’ll be a better presenter, and move faster than you would if you blocked out slides
3. All headlines must say something aggressive and substantia
4. No alignment inconsistencies, ever
5. Respect your master slides by keeping them clean and using them frequently. If you come up with a new design, turn it into a master. This is the key to speed
Now, I remember starting at One Twelfth back in January as a junior account analyst (and trust me I am still very much a junior in many way) when Andres took me under his wing and showed me ins and outs of SEO and SEM. Part of our work with clients is to present information in powerpoint presentations commonly known as “decks”.
I remember being asked to create a deck for a client and submit it through our cloud based project manager for review and comments. When Andres took the time to discuss the deck with me, I learned right off the bat that my decks needed a lot of work. When Andres showed me a deck he had created for a client, it reassured that notion threefold. My main issue is not so much the information that is put on the slides, but i would say the aesthetics of the presentation.
My slides were very minimal, not visually appealing and inconsistent in formatting. Andres is a major advocate for rule number 4, because inconsistencies in alignment and formatting will distract the viewer from the information being presented and instead direct their attention to the insignificant visual changes.
In addition to the rules that Clay Parker Jones so kindly provided to the world wide web, Andres, the Jedi Master deck creator has a few noteworthy tips for creating effective presentations.
Andres says:
1. Use visuals to convey messages whenever possible. If you have a point to make in text, try to find a way to make that point visually through an image or infographic. Also use multimedia whenever possible. If its possible go ahead and use a video. The audience will more than likely appreciate that.
2. Create a narrative out of your presentation. Start your presentation highlighting the conflict, then go through strategies and finally end your presentation by finding the resolution.
3. Target your content to your specific audience. What does the audience care about or want to learn? Try to tell them something that they don’t already know.
4. I don’t have to stress the part about formatting your slides and being consistent.
5. Give suggestions that can be implemented. In your presentation make sure to provide your audience with items that can be turned into a deliverable.
If you are new to making presentations it is wise to take these tips from both these very intelligent gentlemen but also know that making great and effective presentations takes time and experience. Keep at it and one day you too can be a Jedi Master.
