Point of Presentation

Presentation is a brief and visual demonstration of information that helps the speaker to reveal the essence of their work. As a rule, a presentation consists of several slides containing images, charts, tables, brief descriptions.

The most common program for making presentations is PowerPoint. The program allows creating beautiful slides.

Experts believe that creating a high-quality, hitting presentation does not depend on knowing the program much, but the ability to highlight the most important points in your work. In addition, a student has to know some features of the perception of information by a person.

An attractive presentation is pleasant to the eye of your audience, balanced and has an interesting content. After such a presentation, there is always a good impression.

Below we will give you guide on making a good presentation, describe common mistakes in making your presentation and indicate what you should pay attention to.

Common mistakes of unsuccessful presentations

There are three most common mistakes students do in their presentations:

Mistake 1. There is no image on the slide and too much text (small, unreadable and unstructured). The possible problem is that the audience may be reading the information on the slide faster than you. This will cause a conflict of visual and auditory perception.

Mistake 2. The information containing digital, percentage information is presented in the form of the text. It is better to use the PowerPoint feature and insert a chart: less text, more visualization and contrast on the slide.

Mistake 3. Misspelling. You should go through your presentation several times, or ask someone else to look through it to be sure it contains no mistakes.

Main components of presentation

Program

The main program for creating presentations is Microsoft PowerPoint. It gives you a number of opportunities and is convenient to use.

Material

Make sure you have high-quality material:

Text.  Of course, ideal version is when you know your topic well and are able to prepare the text. You can use books, research papers, refer to reliable internet sources;

Pictures, schemes, graphics. Of course, the most interesting option would be your personal photos that you took in preparation for writing a presentation. Graphs and charts can be drawn by yourself.

To make a high-quality video is not a simple matter, but also expensive. One video camera is not affordable for everyone, and you still need to properly handle the video. If you have such an opportunity – by all means use it.

How to prepare for your presentation

There are several things you should do before making your presentation:

1. Determine the topic and target audience.
2. Collect the material, highlight theses.
3. Use simple templates. Try avoiding complex patterns and contrast of bright colors. The background should be preferably white. Use simple – not exotic – fonts.
4. Do not use photos as background – they need to be used on separate slides.
5. Do not put too much text on slides. Try to render the main idea with talking points.
6. Your presentation should have meaning, structure, be logic and designed creatively:

• Meaning: try to answer the questions: why am I doing this presentation, how will I draw attention of the audience and what result do I want to achieve with my presentation.

• Structure: understandable, logical.

• Slides: 1 thought per slide; picture wherever applicable; one-three colors and fonts.

• The slides should have photos and diagrams, not canvas of text. It is completely inappropriate to read from the slide or repeat the same text in your speech.

Practical tips to make an ace PowerPoint presentation

The most common reason for unsuccessful presentations is desire to look extremely smart. As our life becomes more complicated, it is becoming more and more difficult for us to talk simple about complex things. We are afraid to look ridiculous in front of our audience during the presentation. This is what makes students fill their presentations with a huge number of slides and unnecessary information. The tips below will help you create a spectacular presentation:

1. Draw a plan of your presentation.
2. Do not forget that your audience will remember the impression not the details.
3. Use emotionally positive pictures.
4. Good infographic does not present numbers, it represents an idea.
5. Choose a neutral, uniform, but stylish background for your presentation slides.
6. Let all the slides be in one style, set of colors, same or similar fonts.
7. Adapt the content to your target audience.
8. The title slide is always the selling one. Your first picture should be provocative, unusual, it should make your audience ask for more.
9. Each slide should have a heading – unusual, figurative and short. It is the heading your audience will read first when looking at the slide.  
10. The recommended font size in PowerPoint is from 28 to 48 pt.
11. Once again – less text.
12. It is good to show a slide without information in it before each new block. Use a relevant photo or picture. This will allow your audience rest for a few seconds and switch to new information.
13. If you draw short conclusions on the bottom of each slide, your audience will be able to digest the info faster.
14. Insert jokes, they will help clearing the atmosphere.
15. Think over the ending. The beginning and end of the presentation are best remembered.
16. Call for action. Make it clear what exactly the audience should do after viewing the presentation.
17. Rehearse your presentation before family or friends, and take note of the remarks. It is also a good idea to leave the project for some time and then return to it in order to have a fresh look.