How To Create Your Own Background On Powerpoint

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PowerPoint is Microsoft's proprietary presentation software that lets you create digital slideshows utilizing a diversity of media. Originally designed for business organizations to run during group presentations, meetings and other events, PowerPoint, as part of Microsoft's Office suite of programs, is now utilized by everyone from students to nonprofits. Anyone who wants to create visuals for organizing and supplementing a presentation can do so with a PowerPoint slideshow. But what's the best way to go nigh doing that? If yous're new to PowerPoint or haven't used it much, these tips can assistance you get the virtually out of the programme.

Keep Things Simple

Your PowerPoint slideshow is a supplement to your presentation, not a stand-in for it. The slides should serve as visual aids for the topic you're discussing; they shouldn't include big paragraphs of text that you lot but read back to the audition. Go along slides ataxia-free and focus on conveying i point per slide.

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Don't feel like you accept to fill each slide with multiple graphics and tons of color, either. Negative space is a good affair hither because it helps the audience focus on what you're proverb and on the minimal content of a slide. And those funky transitions between slides? They tin can bore and distract audiences, detracting from your content in the process. Stick to one or 2 simple animations, and don't include them between all slides — save them for the points when you switch gears to a new topic.

This tip goes along with the previous one: Information technology'south important to keep text to a minimum for simplifying your slideshow presentation. Audiences will glaze over long swathes of text, even if they're in bullet format, and so this doesn't keep them engaged with your content. Remember that PowerPoint presentations aren't reports; they're extras meant to help viewers better imagine what you're giving a talk virtually. Call back of it this way: A PowerPoint presentation should be of almost no utilize to someone without you there to talk most it.

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Another unintended issue of including slides full of text is that you might be tempted to turn around and read directly off of them. You never desire to turn your back on your audience this mode — although information technology'southward fine to glance at the slides every bit they alter merely to be sure yous're on track or to reference something that appears on one. Ideally, yous'll create a split up document or flashcards that y'all can read from during your presentation; don't rely on the PowerPoint slideshow alone.

Recollect Artistically

So, you've probably gotten the idea that a PowerPoint slideshow is meant to be a visual help that enhances your presentation, not detracts from it. But there are a few central things to think for harnessing that visual power and making the slides pop in a helpful style.

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The first is to use high-quality graphics. Avert cheesy clip-art (and equally corny stock photos), and don't include anything that looks too cartoony. Stick to well-photographed pictures of real people instead. The reasoning here is twofold: Using high-quality images gives your presentation an air of professionalism (boosting your credibility in the procedure), and the audience won't become bored looking at stale line drawings that are included with PowerPoint — and that they've seen dozens of times already.

The 2nd? Go with a theme, only avoid using PowerPoint's congenital-in templates if possible. Once again, this keeps things feeling fresh and prevents viewers from growing tired of visuals they've seen before. Only information technology also makes the slides feel cohesive. You lot tin can do this by using the same colors throughout the presentation, fifty-fifty though your images, graphs and charts will probable vary in color. Keeping backgrounds light and any text night is easiest to read, simply reverse that if yous're showing the presentation in a dark room.

Promote Active Listening and Watching

To actually raise your presentation, include video or sound clips (or both) that illustrate the point you're trying to brand. Hearing and seeing some activity keeps your audience's brains engaged and tin can likewise help separate your slideshow into sections that are more digestible. They serve to reinforce information you lot're discussing. But, don't become wild with sound effects, such every bit those you tin insert during slide transitions. These can be jarring and disrupt audition focus, and they don't contribute anything to the presentation other than making sounds.

Use video and audio clips judiciously, such as if you're trying to give the grouping a better idea of the size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or you want them to hear a portion of an interview you conducted. Including sound for sound's sake doesn't make the slideshow better; it just makes it noisier. If there'due south something you don't feel you tin convey as well in words, a video or audio prune may be merely what yous need, though.

Think Beyond Design

The slideshow itself isn't the main goal of the presentation — but what yous say is. Part of creating an engaging presentation overall is knowing how y'all're going to utilise the slideshow and how well it works. Information technology'due south essential to practice your actual presentation and come across how the slideshow facilitates it before you head up to the podium. You can programme out your cadency and decide if there'southward annihilation you lot need to modify, like the slide order or the content of a slide itself. This also gives yous a chance to proofread the slide to ensure information technology's ready for the audience.