Presentation Slides in English

 

Even if you’re a great public speaker, there’s more to a great presentation than just being able to speak well. Nowadays, people expect presentations to look as good as they sound and most of us have to prepare slides for any presentation we are giving. Use these five simple rules to make sure you wow the audience at your next presentation.

1. Keep It Simple

Make sure the slides aren’t too complicated. If they are difficult to understand, the audience will pay more attention to trying to understand the slides than listening to you. Even if you have a massive screen to display your presentation on, it’s still difficult to read text on a screen if there’s too much of it. Also, if people are busy reading the screen, they’re not going to be listening to you. Cut out all unnecessary information from your slides and use bullet points to introduce it a step at a time. If there’s anything you need to show in more detail, split it into separate slides or try to explain it with a chart or image.

2. Stay Consistent

Animations and attractive fonts can help presentation slides look great, as long as they are not distracting. If you choose to use animations to introduce your bullet points, stick with one type. If you are using an attractive font for your headings, make sure it’s the same one on each slide. If you want to use colour, use it consistently. Sudden changes are distracting and unless they have a clear function will take the audience’s attention away from what you are saying.

3. Ask a Question

Putting a question on a slide is a great way to engage the audience. The question could be in the heading of the slide then you could answer it in bullet points below. If you have several questions on the screen, you could answer them verbally to engage the audience in what you are saying.

4. Use Sound Bites

Sound bites, are small phrases that are easy to remember from a presentation, a bit like a company slogan. Think of a memorable phrase to explain each of your main points and use it when you begin or end talking about that point to make it easier for the audience to remember.

5. Sum Up Properly

Put your key points on the last slide to help the audience remember what you have said. Sometimes people call the most important point in a presentation the ‘take-away’ point. Write this up on your last slide using simple language that the audience will remember. That way you can make sure they have understood you effectively.