In the final part of our series ( parts 1 and 2 ), you'll find nine more tips for creating your slide content. These final points will show you what to consider when choosing content for your closing slide and how to craft an ending that your audience won't soon forget.

1. Think about the slide layouts.

When adding your content to the presentation slides, it's best to include notes for a suitable layout. Consider which graphics could support the text and jot down ideas for appropriate colors, formatting, etc.

You can then continue revising your texts and making changes to the logical sequence without having to readjust the design each time and thus rendering previously invested work unnecessary. On the other hand, you have already created a foundation for when it comes to the final design of the presentation later on.

2. Use the notes function

Have you ever used the notes bar in PowerPoint? Use this tool to avoid overloading your slides with content. Select only the most important terms to fill the slides with and add supplementary information as notes. This way, you have all the relevant points for your presentation without overwhelming your audience with a text-heavy presentation.

3. Do not use bullet points.

Bullet points seem like useful tools for structuring content at first glance. But before you know it, you've crammed them onto every slide, which can quickly become a problem during presentations: It's easy to be tempted to read out every listed point, even though the audience can easily understand or read what's being said on their own. Furthermore, they create a monotonous, standardized look that doesn't inspire any excitement.

4. Use the Twitter trick to your advantage

We've found a good and simple method to keep your text concise and avoid overwhelming your audience with cluttered slides. If your content doesn't fit into a tweet (140 characters, including spaces), then it's too long. It's best to check all your content on each slide to see if it passes the tweet test. If not, you should definitely shorten it.

5. Pay attention to consistency

Consistent content presentation means selecting appropriate tenses, correcting inconsistencies, and maintaining a uniform amount of text per slide. You can repeatedly click through your presentation until you feel that each slide fits the overall concept.

6. Review relevant points

If you have important content that you absolutely want your audience to remember, don't hesitate to repeat these points emphatically several times. The best approach is as follows: Start by telling your audience what you're going to say, then tell it, and finally remind them of what you've just said. This will firmly establish the key aspects in their minds.

7. Have your concept reviewed by a third party.

Before your presentation, be sure to get feedback from others. Choose trustworthy people from your network and ask them to check the presentation for grammar, language errors, logic, design, and other aspects. You'll see that your helpers will notice mistakes you probably wouldn't have spotted on your own.

8. Design a motivating call to action

A call to action tells your audience exactly what to do after the presentation ends. It can be anything: "Become an investor," "Buy now," "Call us," etc. Make sure your presentation always includes a call to action; otherwise, there's a greater risk that your content will be quickly forgotten after the audience leaves the room.

9. Create a compelling closing slide

Your final presentation slide serves two purposes: it prompts your audience to take action with a clear call to action, and/or it provides a smooth transition to a discussion or Q&A session. Ensure that the content of your closing slide goes beyond a simple "thank you." Instead, it should remind listeners of the key points of your presentation or what they should do after leaving the room.

Don't miss our blog series starting next week with exclusive tips for a stylish presentation design.