Skillfully Design Presentation Content – Part 3

In the last part of our blog series, we offer nine more tips on creating content for your templates.
These final points show you what to consider when bringing your presentation to an end so that your audience won’t quickly forget your content.

1. Think about the template layouts

While you are inserting your content, you can also work on the layout. Consider which graphics could support the text and note which colors match. The sooner you decide on the basic look of your design, the less you will need to edit and adjust every single slide.

2. Use notes

Have you ever used the notes section at the bottom of the slides? Utilize this tool so your templates won’t be overloaded with information. Only put the most important points on your templates and put the rest as notes for yourself at the bottom of the slides. This way, you have all information you need without overwhelming your audience.

3. Don’t use bullet points

Bullet points seem helpful to structure your information at first glance. However, before you know it, this can be fatal: The tendency with bullet points is to read every single point, even though the audience can read them faster than you can speak. Bullet points can also give your presentation a monotone and dull feel that doesn’t generate curiosity or interest from your viewers.

4. Try the Twitter trick

We found an easy method to keep your texts short so that you don’t overwhelm your audience. If you can’t tweet your content (140 characters including spaces), then it’s too long. Check your content on every slide to see if you pass the tweet test. If not, you should reduce!

5. Be consistent

Stay in the same tense and keep the same amount of text on each slide throughout your presentation. Scroll through your slides until you have the feeling that everything fits together.

6. Review relevant points

You want the audience to remember valuable content so don’t be shy about mentioning significant points several times. Tell your audience what you will be talking about, tell them, and remind them what you just told them. In this way, you will plant your central message in the heads of the audience.

7. Let third parties check your content

Before your presentation, get feedback from others. Ask trusted friends from your network to look through your presentation and check for grammar, spelling, context, design and other aspects. You will see that they will find mistakes that you would probably have never noticed.

8. Create a motivational call to action

A call to action tells your audience exactly what they should do after they have listened to you. It could be anything like “Become an investor,” “buy now,” “call us now,” etc. Always make certain that your presentation has a call to action; otherwise, your presentation will likely be soon forgotten after the audience leaves the room.

9. Create a convincing ending template

Your last slide serves two purposes: it leads your audience to a clear call to action or makes a good transition to a discussion or Q&A session. Make sure the last slide has more than a “thank you,” and provokes the audience to remember your key message.

Don’t miss our blog series with exclusive tips on a chic presentation design: Tips for an Appealing Presentation Design.