When putting together an important presentation for work, you’re likely more focused on making sure all your information is included and accurate than trying to make the presentation look nice. While this may seem like the right thing to do, poor presentation design can be detrimental and negate all the hard work you put into your content.
If your slides are cluttered with words or use bad fonts and images, your audience will be confused and distracted, taking away from your presentation. Additionally, bad design can make it seem like you didn’t put much effort or care into your work, regardless of the presented information.
Laying out your slides effectively and aesthetically can be difficult and time-consuming, making it easy to want to glaze over. However, once you understand good presentation design, you will see how much more effective your presentations will become and will be glad you spent that extra time considering design.
Capturing Your Audience’s Attention
People are naturally drawn to things that are visually appealing and interesting to look at. Graphics, charts, images, and transitions are all visual elements that will help capture and keep your audience’s attention throughout your presentation.
If you are just getting started implementing design elements into your presentations, there are online presentation designers that you can hire to help you out. A presentation designer understands how to use visual elements in the most effective and natural way in order to elevate your presentation.
Helping Your Audience Understand
While you may understand all the ins and outs of the information you’re presenting, your audience may not; therefore, it is important to do everything you can to ease their comprehension.
By organizing your slides in an order that makes sense, your audience will be better able to follow what you’re saying and thus have a better overall understanding of the points you are trying to convey. Consider whether your presentation has any chronology that should be implemented or whether you need to start by defining any key terms or giving background information.
Additionally, if your slides are cluttered or overcrowded, the information will be more challenging for your audience to digest. Your slides should serve as talking points and only contain as much writing as is needed for your audience to follow along. You can then elaborate on those points verbally and use your slides as a guide and reference point for your audience.
Reinforcing Your Brand
Presentations are an excellent opportunity to reinforce and promote your brand voice.
If your presentation is for a specific company, use that brand’s fonts, colours, and logos to ensure consistency. While this may seem simple or obvious, it can be damaging to your presentation if overlooked. For example, if you work for Pepsi but are using red text instead of blue, your audience may be left remembering the presentation as being for Coke.
If you yourself are the brand, decide which fonts and colours you think work best for you and stick with them from presentation to presentation. This way, your audience will have a better chance of remembering you.
