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Seven Tips to Plan a Successful PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint Presentation is becoming the most sought tool for marketing leaders & management gurus. Would you believe that PowerPoint design Industry is one of the industry that is hitting the mines? If you are not the one to believe, you should check out the number of jobs posted in freelancing sites asking for PowerPoint designers.
A simple Presentation turns out to be a decisive factor in lot of scenarios. While a good presentation can leave a life changing impressions in the minds of stakeholders, a bad one can literally ruin the life of presenter. It is extremely important to plan & present a perfect presentation. Here are seven points to be remembered to plan a perfect presentation.

1. Be perspective about the audience

The tone, length, style, flow etc of a presentation should be carefully planned after assessing the kind of audience attending the presentation. If the audience is group of students, the tone shall be a mix of fun, simple & bright. Believe me; you would not like to stand like a rock before students. You got to be more interactive otherwise they will either leave or if they could not do that, they are sure to fall asleep.
If the audience is a group of top management professionals, the tone shall be mix of powerful facts, charts, trends etc. Basically, the kind of audience decides almost everything about the presentation. Firstly, homework should be done to be perspective about the kind of audience attending the presentation.

2. Do a very good Research

Facts are facts. It is enormously important to be crystal clear on the facts shown in the presentation to equip yourself to be prepared for the questions from audience. Absolute ‘NO’ to beating around the bushes with things not known. If you do not know, admit it but do not throw around false facts.

3. Know your venue

The colours, fonts & text sizes of the presentation should be carefully planned after assessing the venue. The size, type of conference hall matters a lot as far as design of the presentation is concerned. Make sure your designer knows this.

4. Take everything about the presentation

All notes, facts, details, key points, pointer, presentation file in two or more formats etc., everything about the presentation should be carried to the venue. It’s not an uncommon practice to refer the notes & explain the audience if a necessity arises.

5. Take a few copies of presentation for the key dignitaries

Take a few copies of presentation to be given to some key people. It helps a lot and gives a good impression of your preparedness in front of the key people.

6. Check the Presentation for unintended errors

It’s mandatory to go through the presentation atleast three times to check for spell mistakes, grammatical mistakes and any unintended errors in terms of facts, concepts etc. These mistakes should be strictly avoided if you don’t want to put yourself in an aweful situation. These are simple things but they make big impact. If necessity arises, have the presentation browse through by a friend, because simple mistakes always escape our eyes while they dance out big before others.

7. Be confident & Rock the presentation

There is very little to plan in terms of confidence, but it is a well-known fact that practice makes a man perfect. Practice it lot of times, it gives a great boost to your confidence and also helps you to recover in case of any embarrassing situation that may accidently happen in the middle of the presentation.

Though the level of preparedness & planning differs depending on the magnitude of intent & monetary significance of the presentation, it is to be made a general norm to present it perfect & planned no matter, if it’s a simple one or a great presentation.

Also read:  Great Presentations are not made; they are delivered