11 Microsoft PowerPoint Tips and Tricks for a better Presentation

It's quite easy for your audiences to tell that you've not mastered the presentation topic. If you keep on stammering and referring to your cheat sheets, the audience interprets that as a sign of incompetence, on your side. Such people are very unlikely to buy into your proposals. It's imperative you have all the facts, figures, and stats of the presentation topic at your fingertips to make a lasting impression.

Before you jump into selecting the right templates, color choices, and typography, it best to first write down your presentation in word form. Use Microsoft Word to articulate your flow of ideas and come up with a storyline before you start thinking about the PowerPoint slides.

When you're preparing, take the time to learn about your audiences. Understanding your target listeners allows you to come up with relevant content. A presentation that would work just fine with a professional boardroom may be irrelevant to a youthful audience. All the vital aspects of your pitch are determined by the needs, likes, and preferences of your audiences.

By the time you finally get to make your PowerPoint presentation, you should be knowing it by heart. After all, you should have rehearsed and repeated the speech until it sticks like glue.

Don't be shy when rehearsing, talk out loud and act as well as when you're finally in front of your clients, colleagues, or any other audience. Editing your work is an integral part of this preparation stage. Keep practicing as you do away with unnecessary words with each attempt.

Find someone who will act as your mock audience as you rehearse your PowerPoint presentation. This act gives you the much-needed confidence as you prepare for the real pitching.

Take note of your friend's body language as you give your speech. Ask them to offer candid feedback on where they think you should edit or change. If you're still not convinced that your friend gave you the right assessment, you can also record yourself and check out any mistakes you might be making.

Avoid the temptation of going with complex templates always. It's possible to drive your message home by using simple, free PowerPoint backgrounds. They can come in handy when you’re on a budget, but don’t want to compromise the quality of your presentation. You can find ones that help capture your audience’s attention, allowing you to deliver a memorable presentation.

Luckily, there are hundreds of different PowerPoint background presentation templates out there. Choose the template that you feel is best suited to match your presentation's message and overall theme.

Your presentation should have high-quality images and superb graphics to make a splashing impression with the audience. Be patient in selecting the images to use. Patience allows you to get the most captivating photos to use for your upcoming presentations. There are thousands of free and premium stock photos available on the web. Just search the various stock photo repositories and select the most fitting choice.

If you insist on using bulleted points and other text content on your slides, you risk losing your audience. Entice your viewers with carefully selected graphs, charts, and other visual aids if you want to pass your message.

Infographics give you the opportunity to take huge information or data and compress it into something digestible and interesting. Avoid using complicated graphs as you'll be overworking your audiences, and they really detest being forced to overthink.

An engaging presentation comprises the right fonts and colors. Again, place your audiences above all else when selecting the typography or fonts to use on your PowerPoint slides. Use colors that resonate with the official company or brand's colors to appeal to your audiences.

Avoid using colors or fonts that strain your viewer’s eyes if you want to keep them glued to your presentation from start till finish. Also, make sure you've properly formatted the content, for instance, everything should be perfectly aligned.

Before you even start your pitch, take a moment to study the room. This helps you to know how to break the ice. Then, engage your viewers by asking them direct or rhetorical questions. Don't bore the audience with a lengthy monologue as you'll fail to meet the goals of your presentation. Therefore, when you're preparing your amazing presentation, be sure to incorporate a Q&A section for assured results.

Your mannerisms, body posture, voice, and overall confidence levels must always be on point when you're making that great presentation. Go online and learn a thing or two about the best mannerisms when giving speeches to avoid selling yourself short.