Putting together a polished and professional-looking presentation is not some new-fangled task. From elementary students to the c-suite, you all have grabbed those Powerpoint templates and tried your best to make them shine, to reach and wow your audience.
The problem is that those professional presentation templates can fall a little flat, and your expertise is not in modern design and consistency in a company’s branding. And, when those PowerPoint presentations are bad, even the untrained eye can tell exactly what you’re missing and even what you have included too much.
That’s ok – we have your back with some tips on perfecting your visual elements, keeping your audience engaged, and good practices to create a professional presentation that will allow you to shine instead of distract.
Visuals – The Key to Professional PowerPoint Designs
Are you using clip art and word art in your presentations? You know, the juvenile and bulky graphic elements that your presentation software has on the ready? If so, you’re doing nothing more than letting your audience know that your depth of presentation skill called it quits with Windows 98.
Use your own images instead of using these stock graphic elements that will date you and tell your audience that professional presentations are not of concern.
All the elements you decide to use need to be clear and crisp. Don’t attempt to insert a tiny and grainy thumbnail you grabbed off of Google. When selecting your own image, be sure it’s high resolution and related to the existing content in your presentation.
Additionally, adding animation to a presentation can grab your audience’s attention, but less is more. Don’t try to demonstrate what a pro you are with creative slides by going overboard with animation and other features such as audio. You want to captivate your audience, not overwhelm them.
The Danger of PowerPoint Templates in Business Presentations
In your quest for a professional look with minimal design time, using stock templates can be very helpful, tempting, and also troublesome.
While overwhelming your audience with too much movement and poor quality of other visual elements is a big no-no, not giving your presentation any type of differentiator on all the slides in your presentation is equally as bad.
Relying solely on PowerPoint templates and Google will tell your audience that you rushed through your presentation quickly, you gave little thought to creating a professional design, or you need help utilizing this technology… or all of the above.
When putting together your presentations and slides template, you should incorporate your brand colors, color scheme, and corporate look. Use elegant fonts. Enhance your content in your ready-made slides with bold colors, plenty of white space so your audience can process the information in your presentation, and shine with your fully customizable, clean design.
Professional Presentations Need Consistency
Before you present, it’s essential to have your team members or an extra set of eyes review your presentation. Even the sharpest designer eye can miss inconsistencies in your presentation. You want to be sure that your color scheme is steady throughout, that your company’s branding is current and sharp, and that other elements such as font type and size remain the same in your presentation pitch deck.
Taking the time to put together a great template will not only make your business presentation look sharp and professional, but it will save you time putting together your next presentation. Share this presentation template with your team members so they can look competent and polished on their next project, too. It’s also important to note that administrative professionals are not graphic designers.
If you know you need professional templates that are consistent and eye-catching (in a good way) but feel overwhelmed with the task, we’ve got you covered. Our digital design services are here to help and will make you and your team look like the pros you are. Let’s get started!
