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23 presentation examples that really work (plus templates!)

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30 Mar 2023

To help you in your quest for presentation greatness, we’ve gathered 23 of the best business presentation examples out there. These hand-picked ideas range from business PowerPoint presentations, to recruitment presentations, and everything in between.

As a bonus, several of our examples include editable video presentation templates from Biteable .

Biteable allows anyone to create great video presentations — no previous video-making skills required. The easy-to-use platform has hundreds of brandable templates and video scenes designed with a business audience in mind. A video made with Biteable is just what you need to add that wow factor and make an impact on your audience.

Create videos that drive action

Activate your audience with impactful, on-brand videos. Create them simply and collaboratively with Biteable.

Video presentation examples

Video presentations are our specialty at Biteable. We love them because they’re the most visually appealing and memorable way to communicate.

1. Animated characters

Our first presentation example is a business explainer video from Biteable that uses animated characters. The friendly and modern style makes this the perfect presentation for engaging your audience.

Bonus template: Need a business video presentation that reflects the beautiful diversity of your customers or team? Use Biteable’s workplace scenes . You can change the skin tone and hair color for any of the animated characters.

2. Conference video

Videos are also ideal solutions for events (e.g. trade shows) where they can be looped to play constantly while you attend to more important things like talking to people and handing out free cheese samples.

For this event presentation sample below, we used bright colours, stock footage, and messaging that reflects the brand and values of the company. All these elements work together to draw the attention of passers-by.

For a huge selection of video presentation templates, take a look at our template gallery .

Business PowerPoint presentation examples

Striking fear into the hearts of the workplace since 1987, PowerPoint is synonymous with bland, boring presentations that feel more like an endurance test than a learning opportunity. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out these anything-but-boring business PowerPoint presentation examples.

3. Design pointers

This PowerPoint presentation takes a tongue-in-cheek look at how the speakers and users of PowerPoint are the problem, not the software itself.

Even at a hefty 61 slides, the vintage theme, appealing colors, and engaging content keep the viewer interested. It delivers useful and actionable tips on creating a better experience for your audience.

Pixar, as you’d expect, redefines the meaning of PowerPoint in their “22 Rules for Phenomenal Storytelling”. The character silhouettes are instantly recognizable and tie firmly to the Pixar brand. The bright colour palettes are carefully chosen to highlight the content of each slide.

This presentation is a good length, delivering one message per slide, making it easy for an audience to take notes and retain the information.

Google slides examples

If you’re in business, chances are you’ll have come across slide decks . Much like a deck of cards, each slide plays a key part in the overall ‘deck’, creating a well-rounded presentation.

If you need to inform your team, present findings, or outline a new strategy, slides are one of the most effective ways to do this.

Google Slides is one of the best ways to create a slide deck right now. It’s easy to use and has built-in design tools that integrate with Adobe, Lucidchart, and more. The best part — it’s free!

5. Teacher education

Here’s a slide deck that was created to educate teachers on how to use Google Slides effectively in a classroom. At first glance it seems stuffy and businessy, but if you look closer it’s apparent the creator knows his audience well, throwing in some teacher-friendly content that’s bound to get a smile.

The slides give walkthrough screenshots and practical advice on the different ways teachers can use the software to make their lives that little bit easier and educate their students at the same time.

6. Charity awareness raiser

This next Google slide deck is designed to raise awareness for an animal shelter. It has simple, clear messaging, and makes use of the furry friends it rescues to tug on heartstrings and encourage donations and adoptions from its audience.

Pro tip: Creating a presentation is exciting but also a little daunting. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed — especially if the success of your business or nonprofit depends on it.

Prezi presentation examples

If you haven’t come across Prezi , it’s a great alternative to using static slides. Sitting somewhere between slides and a video presentation, it allows you to import other content and add motion to create a more engaging viewer experience.

7. Red Bull event recap

This Prezi was created to document the Red Bull stratosphere freefall stunt a few years ago. It neatly captures all the things that Prezi is capable of, including video inserts and the zoom effect, which gives an animated, almost 3D effect to what would otherwise be still images.

Prezi has annual awards for the best examples of presentations over the year. This next example is one of the 2018 winners. It was made to highlight a new Logitech tool.

8. Logitech Spotlight launch

What stands out here are the juicy colors, bold imagery, and the way the designer has used Prezi to its full extent, including rotations, panning, fades, and a full zoom out to finish the presentation.

Sales presentation examples

If you’re stuck for ideas for your sales presentation, step right this way and check out this video template we made for you.

9. Sales enablement video presentation

In today’s fast-paced sales environment, you need a way to make your sales enablement presentations memorable and engaging for busy reps. Sales enablement videos are just the ticket. Use this video presentation template the next time you need to present on your metrics.

10. Zuroa sales deck

If you’re after a sales deck, you can’t go past this example from Zuora. What makes it great? It begins by introducing the worldwide shift in the way consumers are shopping. It’s a global phenomenon, and something we can all relate to.

It then weaves a compelling story about how the subscription model is changing the face of daily life for everyone. Metrics and testimonials from well-known CEOs and executives are included for some slamming social proof to boost the sales message.

Pitch presentation examples

Pitch decks are used to give an overview of business plans, and are usually presented during meetings with customers, investors, or potential partners.

11. Uber pitch deck

This is Uber’s original pitch deck, which (apart from looking a teensy bit dated) gives an excellent overview of their business model and clearly shows how they intended to disrupt a traditional industry and provide a better service to people. Right now, you’re probably very grateful that this pitch presentation was a winner.

You can make your own pitch deck with Biteable, or start with one of our video templates to make something a little more memorable.

12. Video pitch template

This video pitch presentation clearly speaks to the pains of everyone who needs to commute and find parking. It then provides the solution with its app that makes parking a breeze.

The video also introduces the key team members, their business strategy, and what they’re hoping to raise in funding. It’s a simple, clear pitch that positions the company as a key solution to a growing, worldwide problem. It’s compelling and convincing, as a good presentation should be.

13. Fyre Festival pitch deck

The most epic example of a recent pitch deck is this one for Fyre Festival – the greatest event that never happened. Marvel at its persuasion, gasp at the opportunity of being part of the cultural experience of the decade, cringe as everything goes from bad to worse.

Despite the very public outcome, this is a masterclass in how to create hype and get funding with your pitch deck using beautiful imagery, beautiful people, and beautiful promises of riches and fame.

Business presentation examples

Need to get the right message out to the right people? Business presentations can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

Simply press play and let your video do the talking. No fumbling your words and sweating buckets in front of those potential clients, just you being cool as a cucumber while your presentation does the talking.

Check out two of our popular templates that you can use as a starting point for your own presentations. While they’re business-minded, they’re definitely not boring.

14. Business intro template

Modern graphics, animations, and upbeat soundtracks keep your prospects engaged as they learn about your business, your team, your values, and how you can help them.

15. Business explainer template

Research presentation examples.

When you’re giving a more technical presentation such as research findings, you need to strike the perfect balance between informing your audience and making sure they stay awake.

As a rule, slides are more effective for research presentations, as they are used to support the speaker’s knowledge rather can capture every small detail on screen.

With often dry, complex, and technical subject matter, there can be a temptation for presentations to follow suit. Use images instead of walls of text, and keep things as easy to follow as possible.

16. TrackMaven research deck

TrackMaven uses their endearing mascot to lighten up this data-heavy slide deck. The graphs help to bring life to their findings, and they ensure to only have one bite-size takeaway per slide so that viewers can easily take notes.

17. Wearable tech research report

Obviously, research can get very researchy and there’s not a lot to be done about it. This slide deck below lays out a ton of in-depth information but breaks it up well with quotes, diagrams, and interesting facts to keep viewers engaged while it delivers its findings on wearable technology.

Team presentation examples

Motivating your team can be a challenge at the best of times, especially when you need to gather them together for….another presentation!

18. Team update template

We created this presentation template as an example of how to engage your team. In this case, it’s for an internal product launch. Using colorful animation and engaging pacing, this video presentation is much better than a static PowerPoint, right?

19. Officevibe collaboration explainer

This short slide deck is a presentation designed to increase awareness of the problems of a disengaged team. Bright colors and relevant images combine with facts and figures that compel viewers to click through to a download to learn more about helping their teams succeed.

Recruitment presentation examples

Recruiting the right people can be a challenge. Presentations can help display your team and your business by painting a dynamic picture of what it’s like to work with you.

Videos and animated slides let you capture the essence of your brand and workplace so the right employees can find you.

20. Company culture explainer

If you’re a recruitment agency, your challenge is to stand out from the hundreds of other agencies in the marketplace.

21. Kaizen culture

Showcasing your agency using a slide deck can give employers and employees a feel for doing business with you. Kaizen clearly displays its credentials and highlights its brand values and personality here (and also its appreciation of the coffee bean).

Explainer presentation examples

Got some explaining to do? Using an explainer video is the ideal way to showcase products that are technical, digital, or otherwise too difficult to explain with still images and text.

Explainer videos help you present the features and values of your product in an engaging way that speaks to your ideal audience and promotes your brand at the same time.

22. Product explainer template

23. lucidchart explainer.

Lucidchart does a stellar job of using explainer videos for their software. Their series of explainers-within-explainers entertains the viewer with cute imagery and an endearing brand voice. At the same time, the video is educating its audience on how to use the actual product. We (almost) guarantee you’ll have more love for spiders after watching this one.

Make a winning video presentation with Biteable

Creating a winning presentation doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. Modern slide decks and video software make it easy for you to give compelling presentations that sell, explain, and educate without sending your audience to snooze town.

For the best online video presentation software around, check out Biteable. The intuitive platform does all the heavy lifting for you, so making a video presentation is as easy as making a PowerPoint.

Use Biteable’s brand builder to automatically fetch your company colors and logo from your website and apply them to your entire video with the click of a button. Even add a clickable call-to-action button to your video.

Share your business presentation anywhere with a single, trackable URL and watch your message turn into gold.

Make stunning videos with ease.

Take the struggle out of team communication.

Try Biteable now.

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Create a presentation

Create a presentation in PowerPoint

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Create presentations from scratch or start with a professionally designed, fully customizable template from Microsoft Create .

Tip: If you have Microsoft Copilot it can help you create a presentation, add slides or images, and more. To learn more see Create a new presentation with Copilot in PowerPoint.

Open PowerPoint.

In the left pane, select New .

Select an option:

To create a presentation from scratch, select Blank Presentation .

To use a prepared design, select one of the templates.

To see tips for using PowerPoint, select Take a Tour , and then select Create , .

Add a slide

In the thumbnails on the left pane, select the slide you want your new slide to follow.

In the Home tab, in the Slides section, select New Slide .

In the Slides section, select Layout , and then select the layout you want from the menu.

Add and format text

Place the cursor inside a text box, and then type something.

Select the text, and then select one or more options from the Font section of the Home tab, such as Font , Increase Font Size , Decrease Font Size , Bold , Italic , Underline , etc.

To create bulleted or numbered lists, select the text, and then select Bullets or Numbering .

Add a picture, shape, and more

Go to the Insert tab.

To add a picture:

In the Images section, select Pictures .

In the Insert Picture From menu, select the source you want.

Browse for the picture you want, select it, and then select Insert .

To add illustrations:

In the Illustrations section, select Shapes , Icons , 3D Models , SmartArt , or Chart .

In the dialog box that opens when you click one of the illustration types, select the item you want and follow the prompts to insert it.

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How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation (Step-by-Step)

PowerPoint Tutorials
Presentation Design
January 22, 2024

In this beginner’s guide, you will learn step-by-step how to make a PowerPoint presentation from scratch.

While PowerPoint is designed to be intuitive and accessible, it can be overwhelming if you’ve never gotten any training on it before. As you progress through this guide, you’ll will learn how to move from blank slides to PowerPoint slides that look like these.

Example of the six slides you'll learn how to create in this tutorial

Additionally, as you create your presentation, you’ll also learn tricks for working more efficiently in PowerPoint, including how to:

Change the slide order
Reset your layout
Change the slide dimensions
Use PowerPoint Designer
Format text
Format objects
Play a presentation (slide show)

With this knowledge under your belt, you’ll be ready to start creating PowerPoint presentations. Moreover, you’ll have taken your skills from beginner to proficient in no time at all. I will also include links to more advanced PowerPoint topics.

Ready to start learning how to make a PowerPoint presentation?

Take your PPT skills to the next level

Start with a blank presentation.

Note: Before you open PowerPoint and start creating your presentation, make sure you’ve collected your thoughts. If you’re going to make your slides compelling, you need to spend some time brainstorming.

For help with this, see our article with tips for nailing your business presentation here .

The first thing you’ll need to do is to open PowerPoint. When you do, you are shown the Start Menu , with the Home tab open.

This is where you can choose either a blank theme (1) or a pre-built theme (2). You can also choose to open an existing presentation (3).

For now, go ahead and click on the Blank Presentation (1) thumbnail.

In the backstage view of PowerPoint you can create a new blank presentation, use a template, or open a recent file

Doing so launches a brand new and blank presentation for you to work with. Before you start adding content to your presentation, let’s first familiarize ourselves with the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint interface

Picture of the different parts of the PowerPoint layout, including the Ribbon, thumbnail view, quick access toolbar, notes pane, etc.

Here is how the program is laid out:

The Application Header
The Ribbon (including the Ribbon tabs)
The Quick Access Toolbar (either above or below the Ribbon)
The Slides Pane (slide thumbnails)

The Slide Area

The notes pane.

The Status Bar (including the View Buttons)

Each one of these areas has options for viewing certain parts of the PowerPoint environment and formatting your presentation.

Below are the important things to know about certain elements of the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint Ribbon

The Ribbon is contextual. That means that it will adapt to what you’re doing in the program.

For example, the Font, Paragraph and Drawing options are greyed out until you select something that has text in it, as in the example below (A).

Example of the Shape Format tab in PowerPoint and all of the subsequent commands assoicated with that tab

Furthermore, if you start manipulating certain objects, the Ribbon will display additional tabs, as seen above (B), with more commands and features to help you work with those objects. The following objects have their own additional tabs in the Ribbon which are hidden until you select them:

Online Pictures
Screenshots
Screen Recording

The Slides Pane

This is where you can preview and rearrange all the slides in your presentation.

Right-clicking on a slide in the pane gives you additional options on the slide level that you won’t find on the Ribbon, such as Duplicate Slide , Delete Slide , and Hide Slide .

Right clicking a PowerPoint slide in the thumbnail view gives you a variety of options like adding new slides, adding sections, changing the layout, etc.

In addition, you can add sections to your presentation by right-clicking anywhere in this Pane and selecting Add Section . Sections are extremely helpful in large presentations, as they allow you to organize your slides into chunks that you can then rearrange, print or display differently from other slides.

Content added to your PowerPoint slides will only display if it's on the slide area, marked here by the letter A

The Slide Area (A) is where you will build out your slides. Anything within the bounds of this area will be visible when you present or print your presentation.

Anything outside of this area (B) will be hidden from view. This means that you can place things here, such as instructions for each slide, without worrying about them being shown to your audience.

The notes pane in PowerPoint is located at the bottom of your screen and is where you can type your speaker notes

The Notes Pane is the space beneath the Slide Area where you can type in the speaker notes for each slide. It’s designed as a fast way to add and edit your slides’ talking points.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about adding, printing, and exporting your PowerPoint speaker notes, read our guide here .

Your speaker notes are visible when you print your slides using the Notes Pages option and when you use the Presenter View . To expand your knowledge and learn the ins and outs of using the Presenter View , read our guide here .

You can click and drag to resize the notes pane at the bottom of your PowerPoint screen

You can resize the Notes Pane by clicking on its edge and dragging it up or down (A). You can also minimize or reopen it by clicking on the Notes button in the Status Bar (B).

Note: Not all text formatting displays in the Notes Pane, even though it will show up when printing your speaker notes. To learn more about printing PowerPoint with notes, read our guide here .

Now that you have a basic grasp of the PowerPoint interface at your disposal, it’s time to make your presentation.

Adding Content to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Notice that in the Slide Area , there are two rectangles with dotted outlines. These are called Placeholders and they’re set on the template in the Slide Master View .

To expand your knowledge and learn how to create a PowerPoint template of your own (which is no small task), read our guide here .

Click into your content placeholders and start typing text, just as the prompt suggests

As the prompt text suggests, you can click into each placeholder and start typing text. These types of placeholder prompts are customizable too. That means that if you are using a company template, it might say something different, but the functionality is the same.

Example of typing text into a content placeholder in PowerPoint

Note: For the purposes of this example, I will create a presentation based on the content in the Starbucks 2018 Global Social Impact Report, which is available to the public on their website.

If you type in more text than there is room for, PowerPoint will automatically reduce its font size. You can stop this behavior by clicking on the Autofit Options icon to the left of the placeholder and selecting Stop Fitting Text to this Placeholder .

Next, you can make formatting adjustments to your text by selecting the commands in the Font area and the Paragraph area of the Home tab of the Ribbon.

Use the formatting options on the Home tab to choose the formatting of your text

The Reset Command: If you make any changes to your title and decide you want to go back to how it was originally, you can use the Reset button up in the Home tab .

Hitting the reset command on the home tab resets your slide formatting to match your template

Insert More Slides into Your Presentation

Now that you have your title slide filled in, it’s time to add more slides. To do that, simply go up to the Home tab and click on New Slide . This inserts a new slide in your presentation right after the one you were on.

To insert a new slide in PowerPoint, on the home tab click the New Slide command

You can alternatively hit Ctrl+M on your keyboard to insert a new blank slide in PowerPoint. To learn more about this shortcut, see my guide on using Ctrl+M in PowerPoint .

Instead of clicking the New Slide command, you can also open the New Slide dropdown to see all the slide layouts in your PowerPoint template. Depending on who created your template, your layouts in this dropdown can be radically different.

Opening the new slide dropdown you can see all the slide layouts in your PowerPoint template

If you insert a layout and later want to change it to a different layout, you can use the Layout dropdown instead of the New Slide dropdown.

After inserting a few different slide layouts, your presentation might look like the following picture. Don’t worry that it looks blank, next we will start adding content to your presentation.

Example of a number of different blank slide layouts inserting in a PowerPoint presentation

If you want to follow along exactly with me, your five slides should be as follows:

Title Slide
Title and Content
Section Header
Two Content
Picture with Caption

Adding Content to Your Slides

Now let’s go into each slide and start adding our content. You’ll notice some new types of placeholders.

Use the icons within a content placeholder to insert things like tables, charts, SmartArt, Pictures, etc.

On slide 2 we have a Content Placeholder , which allows you to add any kind of content. That includes:

A SmartArt graphic,
A 3D object,
A picture from the web,
Or an icon.

To insert text, simply type it in or hit Ctrl+C to Copy and Ctrl+V to Paste from elsewhere. To insert any of the other objects, click on the appropriate icon and follow the steps to insert it.

For my example, I’ll simply type in some text as you can see in the picture below.

Example typing bulleted text in a content placeholder in PowerPoint

Slides 3 and 4 only have text placeholders, so I’ll go ahead and add in my text into each one.

Examples of text typed into a divider slide and a title and content slide in PowerPoint

On slide 5 we have a Picture Placeholder . That means that the only elements that can go into it are:

A picture from the web

A picture placeholder in PowerPoint can only take an image or an icon

To insert a picture into the picture placeholder, simply:

Click on the Picture icon
Find a picture on your computer and select it
Click on Insert

Alternatively, if you already have a picture open somewhere else, you can select the placeholder and paste in (shortcut: Ctrl+V ) the picture. You can also drag the picture in from a file explorer window.

To insert a picture into a picture placeholder, click the picture icon, find your picture on your computer and click insert

If you do not like the background of the picture you inserted onto your slide, you can remove the background here in PowerPoint. To see how to do this, read my guide here .

Placeholders aren’t the only way to add content to your slides. At any point, you can use the Insert tab to add elements to your slides.

You can use either the Title Only or the Blank slide layout to create slides for content that’s different. For example, a three-layout content slide, or a single picture divider slide, as shown below.

Example slides using PowerPoint icons and background pictures

In the first example above, I’ve inserted 6 text boxes, 3 icons, and 3 circles to create this layout. In the second example, I’ve inserted a full-sized picture and then 2 shapes and 2 text boxes.

The Reset Command: Because these slides are built with shapes and text boxes (and not placeholders), hitting the Reset button up in the Home tab won’t do anything.

That is a good thing if you don’t want your layouts to adjust. However, it does mean that it falls on you to make sure everything is aligned and positioned correctly.

For more on how to add and manipulate the different objects in PowerPoint, check out our step-by-step articles here:

Using graphics in PowerPoint
Inserting icons onto slides
Adding pictures to your PowerPoint
How to embed a video in PowerPoint
How to add music to your presentation

Using Designer to generate more layouts ideas

If you have Office 365, your version of PowerPoint comes with a new feature called Designer (or Design Ideas). This is a feature that generates slide layout ideas for you. The coolest thing about this feature is that it uses the content you already have.

To use Designer , simply navigate to the Design tab in your Ribbon, and click on Design Ideas .

To use Designer on your slides, click the

NOTE: If the PowerPoint Designer is not working for you (it is grey out), see my troubleshooting guide for Designer .

Change the Overall Design (optional)

When you make a PowerPoint presentation, you’ll want to think about the overall design. Now that you have some content in your presentation, you can use the Design tab to change the look and feel of your slides.

For additional help thinking through the design of your presentation, read my guide here .

A. Picking your PowerPoint slide size

If you have PowerPoint 2013 or later, when you create a blank document in PowerPoint, you automatically start with a widescreen layout with a 16:9 ratio. These dimensions are suitable for most presentations as they match the screens of most computers and projectors.

However, you do have the option to change the dimensions.

For example, your presentation might not be presented, but instead converted into a PDF or printed and distributed. In that case, you can easily switch to the standard dimensions with a 4:3 ratio by selecting from the dropdown (A).

You can also choose a custom slide size or change the slide orientation from landscape to portrait in the Custom Slide Size dialog box (B).

To change your slide size, click the Design tab, open the slide size dropdown and choose a size or custom slide size

To learn all about the different PowerPoint slide sizes, and some of the issues you will face when changing the slide size of a non-blank presentation, read my guide here .

B. Selecting a PowerPoint theme

The next thing you can do is change the theme of your presentation to a pre-built one. For a detailed explanation of what a PowerPoint theme is, and how to best use it, read my article here .

In the beginning of this tutorial, we started with a blank presentation, which uses the default Office theme as you can see in the picture below.

All PowerPoint presentations start with the default Microsoft Office theme

That gives you the most flexibility because it has a blank background and quite simple layouts that work for most presentations. However, it also means that it’s your responsibility to enhance the design.

If you’re comfortable with this, you can stay with the default theme or create your own custom theme ( read my guide here ). But if you would rather not have to think about design, then you can choose a pre-designed theme.

Microsoft provides 46 other pre-built themes, which include slide layouts, color variants and palettes, and fonts. Each one varies quite significantly, so make sure you look through them carefully.

To select a different theme, go to the Design tab in the Ribbon, and click on the dropdown arrow in the Themes section .

On the Design tab you will find all of the default PowerPoint templates that come with the Microsoft Office Suite

For this tutorial, let’s select the Frame theme and then choose the third Variant in the theme. Doing so changes the layout, colors, and fonts of your presentation.

Example choosing the Frame PowerPoint theme and the third variant of this powerpoint presentation

Note: The theme dropdown area is also where you can import or save custom themes. To see my favorite places to find professional PowerPoint templates and themes (and recommendations for why I like them), read my guide here .

C. How to change a slide background in PowerPoint

The next thing to decide is how you want your background to look for the entire presentation. In the Variants area, you can see four background options.

To change the background style of your presentation, on the Design tab, find the Background Styles options and choose a style

For this example, we want our presentation to have a dark background, so let’s select Style 3. When you do so, you’ll notice that:

The background color automatically changes across all slides
The color of the text on most of the slides automatically changes to white so that it’s visible on the dark background
The colors of the objects on slides #6 and #7 also adjust, in a way we may not want (we’ll likely have to make some manual adjustments to these slides)

What our PowerPoint presentation looks like now that we have selected a theme, a variant, and a background style

Note: If you want to change the slide background for just that one slide, don’t left-click the style. Instead, right-click it and select Apply to Selected Slides .

After you change the background for your entire presentation, you can easily adjust the background for an individual slide.

You can either right-click a PowerPoint slide and select format background or navigate to the design tab and click the format background command

Inside the Format Background pane, you can see you have the following options:

Gradient fill
Picture or texture fill
Pattern fill
Hide background

You can explore these options to find the PowerPoint background that best fits your presentation.

D. How to change your color palette in PowerPoint

Another thing you may want to adjust in your presentation, is the color scheme. In the picture below you can see the Theme Colors we are currently using for this presentation.

Example of the theme colors we are currently using with this presentation

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own color palette. By default, the Office theme includes the Office color palette. This affects the colors you are presented with when you format any element within your presentation (text, shapes, SmartArt, etc.).

To change the theme color for your presentation, select the Design tab, open the Colors options and choose the colors you want to use

The good news is that the colors here are easy to change. To switch color palettes, simply:

Go to the Design tab in the Ribbon
In the Variants area, click on the dropdown arrow and select Colors
Select the color palette (or theme colors) you want

You can choose among the pre-built color palettes from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

As you build your presentation, make sure you use the colors from your theme to format objects. That way, changing the color palette adjusts all the colors in your presentation automatically.

E. How to change your fonts in PowerPoint

Just as we changed the color palette, you can do the same for the fonts.

Example of custom theme fonts that might come with a powerpoint template

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own font combination. By default, the Office theme includes the Office font pairing. This affects the fonts that are automatically assigned to all text in your presentation.

To change the default fonts for your presentation, from the design tab, find the fonts dropdown and select the pair of fonts you want to use

The good news is that the font pairings are easy to change. To switch your Theme Fonts, simply:

Go to the Design tab in the Ribbon
Click on the dropdown arrow in the Variants area
Select Fonts
Select the font pairing you want

You can choose among the pre-built fonts from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

If you are working with PowerPoint presentations on both Mac and PC computers, make sure you choose a safe PowerPoint font. To see a list of the safest PowerPoint fonts, read our guide here .

If you receive a PowerPoint presentation and the wrong fonts were used, you can use the Replace Fonts dialog box to change the fonts across your entire presentation. For details, read our guide here .

Adding Animations & Transitions (optional)

The final step to make a PowerPoint presentation compelling, is to consider using animations and transitions. These are by no means necessary to a good presentation, but they may be helpful in your situation.

A. Adding PowerPoint animations

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust animations engine designed to power your creativity. That being said, it’s also easy to get started with basic animations.

Animations are movements that you can apply to individual objects on your slide.

To add an animation to an object in PowerPoint, first select the object and then use the Animations tab to select an animation type

To add a PowerPoint animation to an element of your slide, simply:

Select the element
Go to the Animations tab in the Ribbon
Click on the dropdown arrow to view your options
Select the animation you want

You can add animations to multiple objects at one time by selecting them all first and then applying the animation.

B. How to preview a PowerPoint animation

There are three ways to preview a PowerPoint animation:

Click on the Preview button in the Animations tab
Click on the little star next to the slide
Play the slide in Slide Show Mode

To learn other ways to run your slide show, see our guide on presenting a PowerPoint slide show with shortcuts .

To adjust the settings of your animations, explore the options in the Effect Options , Advanced Animation and the Timing areas of the Animation tab .

The Animations tab allows you to adjust the effects and timings of your animations in PowerPoint

Note: To see how to make objects appear and disappear in your slides by clicking a button, read our guide here .

C. How to manage your animations in PowerPoint

You can see the animations applied to your objects by the little numbers in the upper right-hand corner of the objects

The best way to manage lots of animations on your slide is with the Animation Pane . To open it, simply:

Navigate to the Animations tab
Select the Animation Pane

Inside the Animation Pane, you’ll see all of the different animations that have been applied to objects on your slide, with their numbers marked as pictured above.

Note: To see examples of PowerPoint animations that can use in PowerPoint, see our list of PowerPoint animation tutorials here .

D. How to add transitions to your PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust transition engine so that you can dictate how your slides change from one to the other. It is also extremely easy to add transitions to your slides.

In PowerPoint, transitions are the movements (or effects) you see as you move between two slides.

To add a transition to a slide, select the slide, navigate to the transitions tab in PowerPoint and select your transition

To add a transition to a PowerPoint slide, simply:

Select the slide
Go to the Transitions tab in the Ribbon
In the Transitions to This Slide area, click on the dropdown arrow to view your options
Select the transition you want

To adjust the settings of the transition, explore the options in the Timing area of the Transitions tab.

You can also add the same transition to multiple slides. To do that, select them in the Slides Pane and apply the transition.

E. How to preview a transition in PowerPoint

There are three ways to preview a transition in PowerPoint

There are three ways to preview your PowerPoint transitions (just like your animations):

Click on the Preview button in the Transitions tab
Click on the little star beneath the slide number in the thumbnail view

Note: In 2016, PowerPoint added a cool new transition, called Morph. It operates a bit differently from other transitions. For a detailed tutorial on how to use the cool Morph transition, see our step-by-step article here .

Save Your PowerPoint Presentation

After you’ve built your presentation and made all the adjustments to your slides, you’ll want to save your presentation. YOu can do this several different ways.

Click the file tab, select Save As, choose where you want to save your presentation and then click save

To save a PowerPoint presentation using your Ribbon, simply:

Navigate to the File tab
Select Save As on the left
Choose where you want to save your presentation
Name your presentation and/or adjust your file type settings
Click Save

You can alternatively use the Ctrl+S keyboard shortcut to save your presentation. I recommend using this shortcut frequently as you build your presentation to make sure you don’t lose any of your work.

The save shortcut is control plus s in PowerPoint

This is the standard way to save a presentation. However, there may be a situation where you want to save your presentation as a different file type.

To learn how to save your presentation as a PDF, see our guide on converting PowerPoint to a PDF .

How to save your PowerPoint presentation as a template

Once you’ve created a presentation that you like, you may want to turn it into a template. The easiest – but not technically correct – way, is to simply create a copy of your current presentation and then change the content.

But be careful! A PowerPoint template is a special type of document and it has its own parameters and behaviors.

If you’re interested in learning about how to create your own PowerPoint template from scratch, see our guide on how to create a PowerPoint template .

Printing Your PowerPoint Presentation

After finishing your PowerPoint presentation, you may want to print it out on paper. Printing your slides is relatively easy.

The print shortcut is control plus P in PowerPoint

To open the Print dialog box, you can either:

Hit Ctrl+P on your keyboard
Or go to the Ribbon and click on File and then Print

In the Print dialog box, make your selections for how you want to print your PowerPoint presentation, then click print

Inside the Print dialog box, you can choose from the various printing settings:

Printer: Select a printer to use (or print to PDF or OneNote)
Slides: Choose which slides you want to print
Layout: Determine how many slides you want per page (this is where you can print the notes, outline, and handouts)
Collated or uncollated (learn what collated printing means here )
Color: Choose to print in color, grayscale or black & white

There are many more options for printing your PowerPoint presentations. Here are links to more in-depth articles:

How to print multiple slides per page
How to print your speaker notes in PowerPoint
How to save PowerPoint as a picture presentation

So that’s how to create a PowerPoint presentation if you are brand new to it. We’ve also included a ton of links to helpful resources to boost your PowerPoint skills further.

When you are creating your presentation, it is critical to first focus on the content (what you are trying to say) before getting lost inserting and playing with elements. The clearer you are on what you want to present, the easier it will be to build it out in PowerPoint.

If you enjoyed this article, you can learn more about our PowerPoint training courses and other presentation resources by visiting us here .

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How To Write A Presentation 101 | Step-by-Step Guides with Best Examples | 2024 Reveals

Jane Ng • 05 April, 2024 • 9 min read

Is it difficult to start of presentation? You're standing before a room full of eager listeners, ready to share your knowledge and captivate their attention. But where do you begin? How do you structure your ideas and convey them effectively?

Take a deep breath, and fear not! In this article, we'll provide a road map on how to write a presentation covering everything from crafting a script to creating an engaging introduction.

So, let's dive in!

What is a presentation , what should be in a powerful presentation.

How To Write A Presentation Script
How to Write A Presentation Introduction

Key Takeaways

Tips for better presentation.

How to start a presentation
How to introduce yourself

Start in seconds.

Get free templates for your next interactive presentation. Sign up for free and take what you want from the template library!

How long does it take to make a presentation?	20 - 60 hours.
How can I improve my presentation writing?	Minimize text, optimize visuals, and one idea per slide.

Presentations are all about connecting with your audience.

Presenting is a fantastic way to share information, ideas, or arguments with your audience. Think of it as a structured approach to effectively convey your message. And you've got options such as slideshows, speeches, demos, videos, and even multimedia presentations!

The purpose of a presentation can vary depending on the situation and what the presenter wants to achieve.

In the business world, presentations are commonly used to pitch proposals, share reports, or make sales pitches.
In educational settings, presentations are a go-to for teaching or delivering engaging lectures.
For conferences, seminars, and public events—presentations are perfect for dishing out information, inspiring folks, or even persuading the audience.

That sounds brilliant. But, how to write a presentation?

Clear and Engaging Introduction: Start your presentation with a bang! Hook your audience's attention right from the beginning by using a captivating story, a surprising fact, a thought-provoking question, or a powerful quote. Clearly state the purpose of your presentation and establish a connection with your listeners.
Well-Structured Content: Organize your content logically and coherently. Divide your presentation into sections or main points and provide smooth transitions between them. Each section should flow seamlessly into the next, creating a cohesive narrative. Use clear headings and subheadings to guide your audience through the presentation.
Compelling Visuals: Incorporate visual aids, such as images, graphs, or videos, to enhance your presentation. Make sure your visuals are visually appealing, relevant, and easy to understand. Use a clean and uncluttered design with legible fonts and appropriate color schemes.
Engaging Delivery: Pay attention to your delivery style and body language. You should maintain eye contact with your audience, use gestures to emphasize key points, and vary your tone of voice to keep the presentation dynamic.
Clear and Memorable Conclusion: Leave your audience with a lasting impression by providing a strong closing statement, a call to action, or a thought-provoking question. Make sure your conclusion ties back to your introduction and reinforces the core message of your presentation.

How To Write A Presentation Script (With Examples)

To successfully convey your message to your audience, you must carefully craft and organize your presentation script. Here are steps on how to write a presentation script:

1/ Understand Your Purpose and Audience

Clarify the purpose of your presentation. Are you informing, persuading, or entertaining?
Identify your target audience and their knowledge level, interests, and expectations.
Define what presentation format you want to use

2/ Outline the Structure of Your Presentation

Strong opening.

Start with an engaging opening that grabs the audience's attention and introduces your topic. Some types of openings you can use are:

Start with a Thought-Provoking Question: "Have you ever...?"
Begin with a Surprising Fact or Statistic: "Did you know that....?"
Use a Powerful Quote: "As Maya Angelou once said,...."
Tell a Compelling Story : "Picture this: You're standing at...."
Start with a Bold Statement: "In the fast-paced digital age...."

Main Points

Clearly state your main points or key ideas that you will discuss throughout the presentation.

Clearly State the Purpose and Main Points: Example: "In this presentation, we will delve into three key areas. First,... Next,... Finally,.... we'll discuss...."
Provide Background and Context: Example: "Before we dive into the details, let's understand the basics of....."
Present Supporting Information and Examples: Example: "To illustrate...., let's look at an example. In,....."
Address Counterarguments or Potential Concerns: Example: "While..., we must also consider... ."
Recap Key Points and Transition to the Next Section: Example: "To summarize, we've... Now, let's shift our focus to..."

Remember to organize your content logically and coherently, ensuring smooth transitions between sections.

You can conclude with a strong closing statement summarizing your main points and leaving a lasting impression. Example: "As we conclude our presentation, it's clear that... By...., we can...."

3/ Craft Clear and Concise Sentences

Once you've outlined your presentation, you need to edit your sentences. Use clear and straightforward language to ensure your message is easily understood.

Alternatively, you can break down complex ideas into simpler concepts and provide clear explanations or examples to aid comprehension.

4/ Use Visual Aids and Supporting Materials

Use supporting materials such as statistics, research findings, or real-life examples to back up your points and make them more compelling.

Example: "As you can see from this graph,... This demonstrates...."

5/ Include Engagement Techniques

Incorporate interactive elements to engage your audience, such as Q&A sessions , conducting live polls, or encouraging participation. You can also spin more funs into group, by randomly dividing people into different groups to get more diverse feedbacks!

6/ Rehearse and Revise

Practice delivering your presentation script to familiarize yourself with the content and improve your delivery.
Revise and edit your script as needed, removing any unnecessary information or repetitions.

7/ Seek Feedback

You can share your script or deliver a practice presentation to a trusted friend, colleague, or mentor to gather feedback on your script and make adjustments accordingly.

How to Write A Presentation Introduction with Examples

How to write presentations that are engaging and visually appealing? Looking for introduction ideas for the presentation? As mentioned earlier, once you have completed your script, it's crucial to focus on editing and refining the most critical element—the opening of your presentation - the section that determines whether you can captivate and retain your audience's attention right from the start.

Here is a guide on how to craft an opening that grabs your audience's attention from the very first minute:

1/ Start with a Hook

To begin, you can choose from five different openings mentioned in the script based on your desired purpose and content. Alternatively, you can opt for the approach that resonates with you the most, and instills your confidence. Remember, the key is to choose a starting point that aligns with your objectives and allows you to deliver your message effectively.

2/ Establish Relevance and Context

Then you should establish the topic of your presentation and explain why it is important or relevant to your audience. Connect the topic to their interests, challenges, or aspirations to create a sense of relevance.

3/ State the Purpose

Clearly articulate the purpose or goal of your presentation. Let the audience know what they can expect to gain or achieve by listening to your presentation.

4/ Preview Your Main Points

Give a brief overview of the main points or sections you will cover in your presentation. It helps the audience understand the structure and flow of your presentation and creates anticipation.

5/ Establish Credibility

Share your expertise or credentials related to the topic to build trust with the audience, such as a brief personal story, relevant experience, or mentioning your professional background.

6/ Engage Emotionally

Connect emotional levels with your audience by appealing to their aspirations, fears, desires, or values. They help create a deeper connection and engagement from the very beginning.

Make sure your introduction is concise and to the point. Avoid unnecessary details or lengthy explanations. Aim for clarity and brevity to maintain the audience's attention.

For example, Topic: Work-life balance

"Good morning, everyone! Can you imagine waking up each day feeling energized and ready to conquer both your personal and professional pursuits? Well, that's exactly what we'll explore today – the wonderful world of work-life balance. In a fast-paced society where work seems to consume every waking hour, it's vital to find that spot where our careers and personal lives harmoniously coexist. Throughout this presentation, we'll dive into practical strategies that help us achieve that coveted balance, boost productivity, and nurture our overall well-being.

But before we dive in, let me share a bit about my journey. As a working professional and a passionate advocate for work-life balance, I have spent years researching and implementing strategies that have transformed my own life. I am excited to share my knowledge and experiences with all of you today, with the hope of inspiring positive change and creating a more fulfilling work-life balance for everyone in this room. So, let's get started!"

🎉 Check out: How to Start a Presentation?

Whether you're a seasoned speaker or new to the stage, understanding how to write a presentation that conveys your message effectively is a valuable skill. By following the steps in this guide, you can become a captivating presenter and make your mark in every presentation you deliver.

Additionally, AhaSlides can significantly enhance your presentation's impact. With AhaSlides, you can use live polls , quizzes , and word cloud to turn your presentation into an engaging and interactive experience. Let's take a moment to explore our vast template library !

Frequently Asked Questions

How to write a presentation step by step .

You can refer to our step-by-step guide on How To Write A Presentation Script: Understand Your Purpose and Audience Outline the Structure of Your Presentation Craft Clear and Concise Sentences Use Visual Aids and Supporting Material Include Engagement Techniques Rehearse and Revise Seek Feedback

How do you start a presentation?

You can start with an engaging opening that grabs the audience's attention and introduces your topic. Consider using one of the following approaches: Start with a Thought-Provoking Question: "Have you ever...?" Begin with a Surprising Fact or Statistic: "Did you know that....?" Use a Powerful Quote: "As Maya Angelou once said,...." Tell a Compelling Story : "Picture this: You're standing at...." Start with a Bold Statement: "In the fast-paced digital age...."

What are the five parts of a presentation?

When it comes to presentation writing, a typical presentation consists of the following five parts: Introduction: Capturing the audience's attention, introducing yourself, stating the purpose, and providing an overview. Main Body: Presenting main points, evidence, examples, and arguments. Visual Aids: Using visuals to enhance understanding and engage the audience. Conclusion: Summarizing main points, restating key message, and leaving a memorable takeaway or call to action. Q&A or Discussion: Optional part for addressing questions and encouraging audience participation.

A writer who wants to create practical and valuable content for the audience

Tips to Engage with Polls & Trivia

More from AhaSlides

How To Choose A Perfect Presentation Outfit: Best Step-by-Step Guide in 2024

20 Great Examples of PowerPoint Presentation Design [+ Templates]

Published: August 06, 2024

When it comes to PowerPoint presentation design, there's no shortage of avenues you can take.

PowerPoint presentation examples graphic with computer monitor, person holding a megaphone, and a plant to signify growth.

While all that choice — colors, formats, visuals, fonts — can feel liberating, it‘s important that you’re careful in your selection as not all design combinations add up to success.

In this blog post, I’m sharing some of my favorite PowerPoint tips and templates to help you nail your next presentation.

Table of Contents

What makes a good PowerPoint presentation?

Powerpoint design ideas, best powerpoint presentation slides, good examples of powerpoint presentation design.

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In my opinion, a great PowerPoint presentation gets the point across succinctly while using a design that doesn't detract from it.

Here are some of the elements I like to keep in mind when I’m building my own.

1. Minimal Animations and Transitions

Believe it or not, animations and transitions can take away from your PowerPoint presentation. Why? Well, they distract from the content you worked so hard on.

A good PowerPoint presentation keeps the focus on your argument by keeping animations and transitions to a minimum. I suggest using them tastefully and sparingly to emphasize a point or bring attention to a certain part of an image.

2. Cohesive Color Palette

I like to refresh my memory on color theory when creating a new PowerPoint presentation.

A cohesive color palette uses complementary and analogous colors to draw the audience’s attention and help emphasize certain aspects at the right time.

Image source

Mesmerize your audience by adding some neon colors and effects to your PowerPoint slides. Adding pops of color to your presentation will create visual interest and keep your audience engaged.

What I like: Neon will add personality and depth to your presentation and will help the information you're providing stand out and be more memorable.

2. Use an interesting background image.

Do you have some interesting nature photos from a recent road trip? Or maybe a holiday passed, and you have gorgeous photos to share? If so, consider incorporating them into your PowerPoint.

What I like: PowerPoints don't have to be stuffy and boring. They can be fun and a unique or interesting background will enhance the experience of your presentation.

3. Or be minimal.

Have you ever heard of K.I.S.S.? Not the band! I mean, Keep It Simple, Sweetheart. If you're worried too many colors or visuals could take attention away from the message of your presentation, consider going minimal.

Pro tip: Stick to no more than three colors if you're going for a minimalist design in your slides.

4. Incorporate illustrations.

Illustrations are a great way to highlight or break down a point in your presentation. They can also add a bit of whimsy and fun to keep viewers engaged.

5. Use all caps.

Using all capital letters can draw your audience's eyes to where you need them, helping cement your message in their minds. It can also just be aesthetically pleasing.

Pro tip: If you choose to use all capital letters, use varying fonts so readers can tell which information is important and which are supporting details.

6. Alternate slide layouts

You don't want readers to grow bored with your presentation. So, to retain visual interest, use alternating slide layouts. The example above shows PowerPoint slides alternating between vertical and horizontal layouts.

This keeps things interesting and ensures your presentation isn't monotonous.

7. Inject a little humor.

Humor is a great way to drive a point home and help people remember the information you're presenting. People remember a good joke, so if you have a funny pun to connect to a concept in a presentation, why not use it in a slide?

Pro tip: Remember you're in a professional setting, so keep your jokes appropriate. If you're worried a joke can get you a meeting with HR, then keep it to yourself.

8. Use duotones.

Duotones (or gradience) can take the aesthetic of your PowerPoint to new levels. They can provide a calming energy to your presentation and make viewers feel relaxed and eager to stay focused.

9. Include printed materials.

Let's say you have a PowerPoint you're proud of, but you want to go that extra mile to ensure your audience understands the material. A great way to do this would be to supplement your presentation with printed materials, as such as:

Pamphlets
Printed slides
Short quizzes on the material

10. Keep it to one chart or graph per slide.

This is both a design example and a warning. Graphs and charts are an excellent way of displaying quantitative data in a digestible format.

However, you should have no more than one graph or chart per slide so your presentation doesn't get too confusing or muddled.

11. Use a large font.

Just like capital letters, a large font will help your shift your audience's focus to key points in your presentation.

Pro tip: You can combine large fonts and capital letters to boost its effectiveness.

12. Include videos.

Embedding a video into your PowerPoint can help you expand on a point or effectively break down a complex topic. You can either embed a video from a platform like YouTube or TikTok or use HubSpot's Clip Creator to make your own.

Pro tip: Try to keep videos short, like, under a minute, and don't use more than one or two.

13. Use GIFs.

GIFs add more visual interest, and they can be a great way to add humor or personal touch to your PowerPoint presentation.

14. Use contrasting colors when comparing two ideas or arguments.

Contrasting colors can convey the difference between two opposing thoughts or arguments in a way that is visually appealing.

15. Add a touch of nature.

If you want your presentation to exude a calming energy to your audience, including images of trees, flowers, and natural landscapes can do the trick.

PowerPoint Theme Ideas

Atlas (theme).

Covering a more creative subject for a younger or more energetic audience? I’d recommend using the cover slide design below. Its vibrant red color blocks and fun lines will appeal to your audience.

This simplistic presentation example employs several different colors and font weights, but instead of coming off as disconnected, the varied colors work with one another to create contrast and call out specific concepts.

What I like: The big, bold numbers help set the reader's expectations, as they clearly signify how far along the viewer is in the list of tips.

10. “Pixar's 22 Rules to Phenomenal Storytelling,” Gavin McMahon

This presentation by Gavin McMahon features color in all the right places. While each of the background images boasts a bright, spotlight-like design, all the characters are intentionally blacked out.

What I like: This helps keep the focus on the tips, while still incorporating visuals. Not to mention, it's still easy for me to identify each character without the details. (I found you on slide eight, Nemo.)

11. “Facebook Engagement and Activity Report,” We Are Social

Here's another great example of data visualization in the wild.

What I like: Rather than displaying numbers and statistics straight up, this presentation calls upon interesting, colorful graphs, and charts to present the information in a way that just makes sense.

12. “The GaryVee Content Model,” Gary Vaynerchuk

This wouldn‘t be a true Gary Vaynerchuk presentation if it wasn’t a little loud, am I right?

What I like: Aside from the fact that I love the eye-catching, bright yellow background, Vaynerchuk does a great job of incorporating screenshots on each slide to create a visual tutorial that coincides with the tips. He also does a great job including a visual table of contents that shows your progress as you go .

13. “20 Tweetable Quotes to Inspire Marketing & Design Creative Genius,” IMPACT Branding & Design

We‘ve all seen our fair share of quote-chronicling presentations but that isn’t to say they were all done well. Often the background images are poor quality, the text is too small, or there isn't enough contrast.

Well, this professional presentation from IMPACT Branding & Design suffers from none of said challenges.

What I like: The colorful filters over each background image create just enough contrast for the quotes to stand out.

14. “The Great State of Design,” Stacy Kvernmo

This presentation offers up a lot of information in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming.

What I like: The contrasting colors create visual interest and “pop,” and the comic images (slides 6 through 12) are used to make the information seem less buttoned-up and overwhelming.

15. “Clickbait: A Guide To Writing Un-Ignorable Headlines,” Ethos3

Not going to lie, it was the title that convinced me to click through to this presentation but the awesome design kept me there once I arrived.

What I like: This simple design adheres to a consistent color pattern and leverages bullet points and varied fonts to break up the text nicely.

16. “Digital Transformation in 50 Soundbites,” Julie Dodd

This design highlights a great alternative to the “text-over-image” display we've grown used to seeing.

What I like: By leveraging a split-screen approach to each presentation slide, Julie Dodd was able to serve up a clean, legible quote without sacrificing the power of a strong visual.

17. “Fix Your Really Bad PowerPoint,” Slide Comet

When you‘re creating a PowerPoint about how everyone’s PowerPoints stink, yours had better be terrific. The one above, based on the ebook by Seth Godin, keeps it simple without boring its audience.

What I like: Its clever combinations of fonts, together with consistent color across each slide, ensure you're neither overwhelmed nor unengaged.

18. “How Google Works,” Eric Schmidt

Simple, clever doodles tell the story of Google in a fun and creative way. This presentation reads almost like a storybook, making it easy to move from one slide to the next.

What I like: This uncluttered approach provides viewers with an easy-to-understand explanation of a complicated topic.

19. “What Really Differentiates the Best Content Marketers From The Rest,” Ross Simmonds

Let‘s be honest: These graphics are hard not to love. I especially appreciate the author’s cartoonified self-portrait that closes out the presentation. Well played, Ross Simmonds.

What I like: Rather than employing the same old stock photos, this unique design serves as a refreshing way to present information that's both valuable and fun.

20. “Be A Great Product Leader,” Adam Nash

This presentation by Adam Nash immediately draws attention by putting the company's logo first — a great move if your company is well known.

What I like: He uses popular images, such as ones of Megatron and Pinocchio, to drive his points home. In the same way, you can take advantage of popular images and media to keep your audience engaged.

And if you want more templates and examples, you can download them here .

PowerPoint Presentation Examples for the Best Slide Presentation

Mastering a PowerPoint presentation begins with the design itself.

Get inspired by my ideas above to create a presentation that engages your audience, builds upon your point, and helps you generate leads for your brand.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. This article was written by a human, but our team uses AI in our editorial process. Check out our full disclosure to learn more about how we use AI.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Presentations

16 Best Free PowerPoint PPT Cover Page Design Templates to Download 2024

Creating an attractive presentation cover page for PPT can be challenging.

Create stylish and eye-catching PowerPoint cover slides for your next presentation. Use a professionally designed PowerPoint template.

Having the cover page pop is the first step in creating a memorable presentation.

PowerPoint templates help you focus on the actual content. Creating a template that can compete with other high-quality designs may be hard.

Envato Elements offers a marketplace full of PowerPoint templates. They can all be downloaded with a low monthly cost .

5 Best Top Trending Premium PowerPoint PPT Cover Page Design Templates (From Envato Elements - For (2024)

Now let’s look at a few of the top premium printable flyer templates from Envato. We’ll first explore five of the best cool flyer designs from Envato Elements.

Take a look at these PowerPoint cover page ideas:

1. Minimal PPT Cover Pages

Here's an all-in-one PowerPoint presentation template. The creators made its cover slide for PPT with a minimal look. The template has tons of white space and subtle colors to focus primarily on the information.

A few notable features include:

32 animated unique PowerPoint cover slides
4000+ vector icons
drag and drop photo replace
full HD 16:9 ratio
background covers for PPT

2. The X Note PowerPoint Presentation Cover Page

This effective, modern, and easy-to-customize presentation helps you turn your ideas into persuasive presentations. It features one of the best PowerPoint covers. If you've got a product design coming up, this presentation lets your ideas shine.

Here are a few notable features for this PowerPoint cover page template:

4:3 and 16:9 screen layouts
PowerPoint cover slide templates with transition animations
40+ unique PowerPoint cover slide template
4 pre-made themes

3. Be. - Minimal PowerPoint Cover Pages

Be. focuses on the creatives. The clean and minimalist layout gives you plenty of options to showcase any type of business or personal presentation. The PowerPoint title page is divided into two. One half of the cover page PowerPoint features a place for an image. The other side for the title of your presentation.

Here's what you can expect from this template:

125+ unique and creative PowerPoint cover slide templates
550+ free font icons
all objects are vector and fully editable
Easy drag and drop to change images

4. Expert - PowerPoint Cover Pages for Presentations

This high-quality PowerPoint cover page introduces a whopping 620 unique slides. The welcome slide for PPT has five triangle shapes that allow you to add images to, a title, and a section to add around three sentences.

There are plenty of features that come with this template, including:

100 theme colors
white & dark versions
620 unique PowerPoint cover slide templates
fully animated
16:9 full HD quality presentation

5. PPT Presentation With Cover Pages & Infographics

This is a powerful PowerPoint template presentation with front page designs that let you build whatever you like. The presentation cover page for PowerPoint is full of vibrant and colorful elements. It'll help you deliver PowerPoint cover page designs that'll catch your audience's attention.

Features for these PowerPoint presentation cover pages include:

11 modern and unique PowerPoint covers with slides
widescreen (16:9)
handmade infographics for your PPT cover pages
free icon pack
fully customizable

Now let's look at the best PPT free presentation cover templates with high-quality PowerPoint cover slides.

5 Free Elements PowerPoint Templates With Amazing PowerPoint Covers

Are you on a tight budget, but aiming for the highest quality? Envato Elements is here for you!

Here you have 5 free amazing templates with the perfect cover page for PowerPoint.

1. LIABLE - Multipurpose PowerPoint Template

Liable is a free, premium, and multipurpose PowerPoint template

Get this premium template for free! It offers a PowerPoint title page with room for a large landscape image, as well as:

free font used
editable graphics
Master Slides for quick edits
drag-and-drop image placeholders

2. Remaria - Minimalist PowerPoint Template

Remaria is a free, premium, and minimalist PowerPoint template

Here’s a template with a cute presentation cover page for PowerPoint. With this template PPT free download, you’ll get:

a flowery welcome slide for PPT
5 different color schemes
fully editable layout
vector-based icons
30 modern slides

3. Genius - Multipurpose PowerPoint Template

Genius is a free, premium, and multipurpose PowerPoint template

With Genius, you get so much more than just a PowerPoint title page – and for free! This template PPT free download includes:

used free font
5 color schemes
device mockups
resizable graphics
30 slides per palette

4. Delusi Earth Tone PowerPoint Template

Delusi is a free premium PowerPoint template

This is the most modern and elegant PowerPoint cover page that you can get for free! This template PPT free download offers:

40 total slides
easily editable design
quick edits with Master Slides
drag-and-drop picture placeholders
used and recommended free web fonts

5. Retrobox Multipurpose Presentation

Retrobox is a free, premium, and multipurpose presentation template

Retrobox might as well have the most eye-catching cover slide for PPT. On top of that, this free premium presentation features:

modern layout
used Google Fonts
16:9 widescreen ratio
easy to customize design

16 Top Free PowerPoint PPT Cover Page Design Templates to Download for 2024

One thing before looking for a free PowerPoint cover page template on the web. Check Envato's free offerings first.

Try out premium template files (not always Microsoft cover page downloads) at no cost to you!

Here's the deal:

Every month Envato Elements offers 12 different hand-selected files, (fonts, presentations, videos, and more). Create a free account to download this month's free premium files now.

Do you need some more options for free PowerPoint cover page templates? Take a look at these free PPT cover page ideas:

1. Global Education Solution - PPT Free PowerPoint Cover Pages

This free PowerPoint cover page template features an abstract image, This is to highlight the importance of education. You can include a title and subtitle for the presentation. This Microsoft cover page download as well.

2. Simple & Professional Free PowerPoint Title Page Template

These free PPT slides offer an abstract and modern cover page. It features a neutral background with a yellow circle shape. You can add a double title for a shade effect.

3. Creative Idea Bulb - Free PPT Cover Page

Creative Idea Bulb PowerPoint cover slide combines a pencil and a light bulb to express creative learning. Use this template for teaching and creative presentations.

4. Free Abstract PowerPoint Presentation Cover & Backgrounds

You can expect several free PPT slides that work as background images for your cover page. There are different abstract and colorful designs to choose from. This is a flexible template that can work for business or personal use.

5. My Portfolio - Free Presentation Cover Page in PowerPoint

This template for PPT free to download features an aesthetic PowerPoint cover page. It’s a beige background with black spark shapes and room to add an image. It’s ideal for a business presentation or a portfolio slideshow.

6. City of Business Man - Free First Page of Presentation

City of Business Man PowerPoint cover page template has a cityscape background overlaid in red. The title is in the center of the page with a circle around it.

7. Analysis Consultant - Free Cover Page for Your Presentation

This template is ideal for any business presentation. The cover for PPT has a businessman background image with futuristic icon graphics overlaying the image.

8. Free Brush Stroke PowerPoint Covers & Backgrounds

Here’s another template for PPT free to download. Try any of the free PPT slides as a PowerPoint cover page. Their abstract designs look like they were painted with brush strokes.

9. Free Presentation Title Page With Businessman Cityscape

This cover template for PPT contains a confident businessman against the backdrop of an urban landscape. The template is fully editable and has 135 different icons to choose from.

10. Newspaper Style PowerPoint Cover Page and Slides

This template is great for school presentations and features a newspaper cover page design. You can expect around 20 different slides with this template for PPT free to download.

11. PPT Free Annual Report

This Microsoft cover page download comes with a business graphic on the front. It's best used for economic-type presentations. You could also use this for any type of personal finance presentation.

12. Business Pitch Deck - PPT Free PowerPoint Covers

The PPT cover page design download features an abstract, blue-colored shape, some rows for titles, and a row for graphics. Just like the title says, this presentation cover page is best used for pitch decks.

13. Free Classroom Cover Slide for PPT & Backgrounds

Any type of school presentation can benefit from these free PPT slides. Use any of these as a cover page for PowerPoint. There are several different designs with classroom-related shapes and drawings.

14. PPT Free Business Plan

This simple cover page template has a dark-colored background with abstract shapes. The simplicity of the template allows it to be used for all types of business and personal presentations.

15. Data Analysis - Free PPT Cover Page Ideas

This template design is suitable for the presentations crafted for graphical representation of businesses and economics. The cover page features an abstract spherical shape with a gray-colored background.

16. Simple Retro Interface Free PPT Template

The design of this PowerPoint presentation cover page consists of a squared background with figure icons and pastel colors. There’s room for a large title and a subheading in this welcome slide for PPT. It’s a template for PPT free to download that comes with 20 slides in total.

How to Quickly Customize PowerPoint PPT Cover Page Templates (For 2024)

We’ve explored some of the very best PPT cover page templates from around the web. Once you download cover PPT templates, it’s time to customize them.

Fortunately, with premium Envato Elements templates, this is easy to do. You can customize these cover page templates in just five quick steps! Let’s learn how.

Want to follow along with this mini-tutorial? Head over to Envato Elements. Download the stunning premium Chime Presentation Template today!

Let's get started:

1. Add Title Text to Your PPT Front Page

Once you download cover PPT templates, the first step is to add custom text. Remember, this is the first thing that audiences see. The text that sits on a premium template slide is a placeholder. You can type over it with your own words.

To do this, click into the text box like the one on the first slide here. Select the text inside and replace it with your own text. You can repeat this with any other text until you've got the slide customized to your own needs.

2. Add Font Effects to Your Background Cover PPT

Once you’ve added text, remember that it’s an important part of your style. Download cover PPT templates deserve the use of custom font effects too.

These effects live up on the Home tab, found on PowerPoint’s ribbon. With text selected, you can change the font size and style on the dropdown menus. Plus, you can add effects like italics, underlines, and more. Those options are found on the series of buttons in the Font group.

3. Insert Photos in Your PowerPoint Covers

Your cover PowerPoint slide should capture attention in an instant. One of the best ways to do this is with an image. Photos naturally grab focus, and it pays to include them on your cover slide.

To add a photo, go to the Insert tab, again found on the ribbon. From the Pictures dropdown, choose Picture from File. Browse to an image file stored on your computer and click to insert it. Watch as it appears on your slide.

4. Rearrange the Content of Your Presentation Front Page Design

When you add photos to a slide, PowerPoint places them in a random position. Chances are, you’ll want to move the objects around. To do so, click and drag to move them to a new place on your slide. Release the cursor when you’re finished.

You can also resize content on your slides. Pull on the adjustment sliders found in each corner. This is the fastest way to resize images and objects to fit into place perfectly.

5. Change Shape Colors of Your Presentation Title Page

Notice that this slide has colorful shapes on it. While the default colors are beautiful, you may want to change them. To do so, click on one of the colorful shapes. Notice a new tab on the ribbon: Shape Format . Click Shape Format , then open up the Shape Fill dropdown.

You’ll see a color chooser menu, from which you can apply an array of new shades. Click on one of the color thumbnails to apply it to your selected shape. You can repeat these steps with other shapes to add your own custom colors to your download cover PPT.

5 Quick PowerPoint Cover Page Slide Design Tips for 2024

You're looking for the right PowerPoint cover page. Use these quick tips to get the most from your cover page presentation design:

1. Split in Half Your Presentation Title Page

The half and half cover page design works great for all types of presentations. Include an image on one half and the title and short sentences on the other half of the slide to create this type of cover page design.

2. Feature a Center Design in Your PPT Welcome Page

Using a centered design for your slides can help your presentation by making the elements on the slides seem more important. When elements are centered, they're perceived as being crucial to the slide. The audience subconsciously views your text and images as all being important.

3. Include Graphics in Your PowerPoint Covers

While this may be an obvious tip, it's often overlooked. Adding graphics sparingly throughout your presentation gives your slides a professional touch. It makes the presentation more engaging. Be sure to include graphics that fit what you're presenting.

4. Give a Simplicity Look to the First Page of Your Presentation

While your cover page for PPT can work great with many different elements on it, you can still never go wrong with having a very simple cover page design. Including a graphic and title of your presentation in the center of your cover page is more than enough to set the stage for your presentation.

5. Include Skill Bars to Your PowerPoint Cover Slide Templates

Including skill bars in your presentations helps make it much more engaging and memorable. Whether you're giving a pitch deck, creating a project proposal, or showcasing an annual report, skill bars can be used in the presentation.

Still looking for more high-quality PowerPoint templates? Let's look at even more template options for you to choose from.

5 Top Design Trends for Your PowerPoint Cover Pages (For 2024 Presentations)

You’ve seen the very best PowerPoint cover page templates available today. And you’ve learned how to customize them in five easy steps. But you still need to ensure that you’ll make that winning first impression.

To do this, you must embrace the very latest trends for 2024. These five ideas feature in the best PowerPoint cover page designs today. Use them and prepare to wow even the toughest audiences.

Here are some PPT cover page ideas and trends:

1. Give a Minimalist Styling to Your PowerPoint Covers

In 2024, minimalist designs are in style. These layouts help your content shine. Minimalism is an aesthetic that embraces the idea of “less is more.”

By using a minimalist design, audience focus shifts to your message. They won’t be distracted by flashy design elements that add no value. Not only are these designs trendy for 2024. But they also help ensure your success as you present.

2. Add Subtle Animations to the First Page of Your Presentation

Static presentations are falling out of style, and with good reason. They’re dull, flat, and boring. Audiences expect more in 2024. An easy fix is to embrace the trend of animation. Animated slides control the flow of your slides, and they hold the audience's attention.

Try to use basic effects that support, rather than detract from, your message. For more on PowerPoint animations, check out our full tutorial:

3. Add Bold Fonts to Your Background Cover PPT

As you saw in the tutorial section, fonts are a key part of your download cover PPT design. What better way to embrace this than to choose a template with bold, stylish fonts built in? These are the trendiest font effects for 2024.

Bold fonts help your slide cover titles stand out. Audiences will have no doubt about what your presentation is about. With a premium template with built-in fonts, you’ll save time by having some work done for you.

4. Add Stylish Designer Background Covers to Your PPT

You may think of cover slide backgrounds as empty space. But in 2024, they’re something more. Stylish designer backgrounds are in style this year.

By adding a pattern or contrast to the background of your slide, you make every part of your cover page stand out. It makes the most of a single slide, which is always the goal to help you succeed.

Learn more about customizing PPT slide backgrounds with our helpful tutorial:

5. Give The First Pages of Your Presentations Layouts With Contrast

Like the idea of designer backgrounds, contrast-heavy layouts are popular in 2024. Gone are the days when basic two-tone layouts impressed audiences.

By using layouts with contrast, you can transform a PPT cover page into a work of art. Viewers will admire your design skills. These designs, found in premium templates, help your intro slide look its very best.

Discover More PowerPoint Top Cover Pages for Presentations

Still haven't found the right PowerPoint template for your latest presentation? There are plenty of more high-quality and feature-rich PowerPoint templates with stunning-looking cover pages available on Envato Elements.

Continue with your search for more of these templates. Feel free to check out a few more of our roundup articles below:

5 Benefits of Using the Best PowerPoint Covers With Pro Designs

Still unsure about going for the premium PowerPoint cover page options? The professionally designed templates can really make a difference in your presentation. Here are five reasons why:

Save time. This is the first and most common reason to go for a premium presentation cover page. You don’t need to spend hours thinking about the design nor creating it. A pro does this for you!
Focus on the content. As the design is in the hands of the pros, you can put more thought into the information. Make sure every word and number is precise. That’s your only job.
Make an impact. As creative and talented as you can be, most of these presentations were designs with a lot of eye to detail. The balance between the shapes, fonts, and color palette is not a coincidence. It’s all meant to make your presentation cover page (and the rest of it) shine.
Add your own touch. If there’s anything that doesn’t convince you about the design, or if you want to add your brand’s identity, you can still do it! A premium cover slide for PPT will allow you to change the colors, rearrange the shapes, and more.
Keep the pace. The perfect welcome slide for PPT, as well as the rest of the slides, won’t have too much text. Professionally designed presentations tend to give you just enough room for text. This way, you make sure to keep things concise.

Benefits of Envato Elements (The Power of Unlimited Use)

Envato Elements is a unique service. The subscription includes thousands of great PPT templates for a single flat-rate price.

Sign up for Envato Elements. You'll get access to thousands of unlimited use graphics and templates. Choose from web themes to presentation templates , and more — all for one low price.

Common PowerPoint Questions Answered (FAQ)

When you think about using cover page templates, you might have a few questions. You may be wondering about the value PowerPoint can bring to the table.

Or, you may not know which presentation app to use. Here, we’ve provided answers to five common PowerPoint questions to help you:

1. Can I Share PowerPoints on Zoom?

Yes! In today’s global world, this ability is more important than ever. By building slides that look great on Zoom, you can be ready to share with the world.

Want to learn more? We built a handy tutorial to help you start building and sharing PPT cover page slides on Zoom today:

2. How Do I Make PowerPoint Presentations More Diverse?

There are many ways! This is the most important concept in slide design today. It means using diverse imagery. It also includes making slides more accessible to those with disabilities.

Be sure to read up on these ideas and incorporate them in your next PPT design:

3. How Do I Get Design Ideas for PowerPoint?

Design inspiration comes from studying the successful PowerPoint designs of expert creatives. It’s also a feature of premium Envato Elements templates.

Pre-built slide layouts provide plenty of inspiration. You don’t have to invent layouts from scratch. Instead, you can fill in the blanks left for you by creative experts.

4. Can I Make Interactive Quizzes in PowerPoint?

Absolutely! These are great to include very early in your download cover PPT presentations. They help you engage with audiences by making your slides interactive. This is crucial because a focused audience is an interested audience.

For all the details, read our full tutorial:

5. How Do I Avoid Boring Presentations?

Be focused, be direct, and be engaging. Those are some of the key concepts that help you avoid giving a boring presentation. If you lose your audience because of dull slides, there’s no chance that they’ll connect with your message.

For more, visit our guide to building engaging (not boring) PowerPoint slides:

Learn More About Making Great PowerPoint Presentations in 2024

You've got your PowerPoint presentation picked out. Now it's time to edit the template and customize it to fit your particular presentation. A basic knowledge of PowerPoint can take you a long way in the editing process.

For more help with understanding how you can edit templates in Microsoft PowerPoint, go to our PowerPoint tutorial guide . Or take a look at the articles below:

Modern Templates for PowerPoint Presentation Cover Pages on Envato Elements (With Unlimited Use)

Free PowerPoint templates can help kickstart the presentation creation process. But using a professionally designed template helps you stand out from the competition.

Envato Elements has thousands of the best premium PowerPoint templates with high-quality cover slides available on the web!

For a low monthly cost, you can access this massive library of templates and bring your presentations to life .

Modern PPT Front Pages

PowerPoint cover pages on Envato Elements

Plus, now Envato Elements has introduced an AI-powered search feature ! This new tool allows you to input a description of your project to effortlessly locate the finest human-crafted resources.

Find the best human-made assets, with the power of AI-search

Start experimenting with this enhanced search tool! Discover the ideal PowerPoint templates for your presentations in 2024.

Get Your PowerPoint PPT Cover Page Design Templates Today!

The templates featured in this article have incredible designs and feature eye-catching cover slides. Whether you're creating a resume, have a project proposal coming up, or need to showcase your portfolio, these PowerPoint templates can help you take your presentation to the next level.

Envato Elements offers you access to a massive library of high-quality PowerPoint templates. Plus, get access to thousands of other creative assets that can help you with your upcoming projects.

What are you waiting for? Get started on your next PowerPoint presentation with a premium PowerPoint presentation cover page template right now!

Editorial Note: This post has been updated with contributions from Andrew Childress , Gonzalo Angulo , and Renata Martín Intriago . Andrew is a freelance instructor for Envato Tuts+. Gonzalo is the Associate Editor of the Tuts+ Video channel. Renata is a staff writer with Envato Tuts+.

How to Give a Killer Presentation

Chris Anderson

For more than 30 years, the TED conference series has presented enlightening talks that people enjoy watching. In this article, Anderson, TED’s curator, shares five keys to great presentations:

Frame your story (figure out where to start and where to end).
Plan your delivery (decide whether to memorize your speech word for word or develop bullet points and then rehearse it—over and over).
Work on stage presence (but remember that your story matters more than how you stand or whether you’re visibly nervous).
Plan the multimedia (whatever you do, don’t read from PowerPoint slides).
Put it together (play to your strengths and be authentic).

According to Anderson, presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker. It’s about substance—not style. In fact, it’s fairly easy to “coach out” the problems in a talk, but there’s no way to “coach in” the basic story—the presenter has to have the raw material. So if your thinking is not there yet, he advises, decline that invitation to speak. Instead, keep working until you have an idea that’s worth sharing.

Lessons from TED

A little more than a year ago, on a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, some colleagues and I met a 12-year-old Masai boy named Richard Turere, who told us a fascinating story. His family raises livestock on the edge of a vast national park, and one of the biggest challenges is protecting the animals from lions—especially at night. Richard had noticed that placing lamps in a field didn’t deter lion attacks, but when he walked the field with a torch, the lions stayed away. From a young age, he’d been interested in electronics, teaching himself by, for example, taking apart his parents’ radio. He used that experience to devise a system of lights that would turn on and off in sequence—using solar panels, a car battery, and a motorcycle indicator box—and thereby create a sense of movement that he hoped would scare off the lions. He installed the lights, and the lions stopped attacking. Soon villages elsewhere in Kenya began installing Richard’s “lion lights.”

CA Chris Anderson is the curator of TED.

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test

How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test

Cover image of a How to Start a Presentation article with an illustration of a presenter giving a speech.

Knowing how to start a presentation is crucial: if you fail to capture the audience’s attention right off the bat, your entire presentation will flop. Few listeners will stick with you to the end and retain what you have told.

That is mildly unpleasant when you are doing an in-house presentation in front of your colleagues. But it can become utterly embarrassing when you present in front of larger audiences (e.g., at a conference) or worse – delivering a sales presentation to prospective customers.

Here is how most of us begin a presentation: give an awkward greeting, thank everyone for coming, clear our throats, tap the mic, and humbly start to mumble about our subject. The problem with such an opening performance? It effectively kills and buries even the best messages.

Table of Contents

The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction
Open a Presentation with a Hook
Begin with a Captivating Visual
Ask a “What if…” Question
Use the Word “Imagine”
Leverage The Curiosity Gap
The Power of Silence
Facts as Weapons of Communication
Fact vs. Myths
The Power of Music
Physical Activity
Acknowledging a Person

How to Start a PowerPoint Presentation The Right Way

Let’s say you have all of your presentation slides polished up (in case you don’t, check our quick & effective PowerPoint presentation design tips first). Your presentation has a clear storyline and agenda. Main ideas are broken into bite-sized statements for your slides and complemented with visuals. All you have left is to figure out how you begin presenting.

The best way is to appeal to and invoke certain emotions in your audience – curiosity, surprise, fear, or good old amusements. Also, it is recommended to present your main idea in the first 30 seconds of the presentation. And here’s how it’s done.

1. The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction

When you don’t feel like reinventing the wheel, use a classic trick from the book – start with a quick personal introduction. Don’t want to sound as boring as everyone else with your humble “Hi, I’m John, the head of the Customer Support Department”? Great, because we are all about promoting effective presentation techniques (hint: using a dull welcome slide isn’t one of them).

Here’s how to introduce yourself in a presentation the right way.

a. Use a link-back memory formula

To ace a presentation, you need to connect with your audience. The best way to do so is by throwing in a simple story showing who you are, where you came from, and why your words matter.

The human brain loves a good story, and we are more inclined to listen and retain the information told this way. Besides, when we can relate to the narrator (or story hero), we create an emotional bond with them, and, again – become more receptive, and less skeptical of the information that is about to be delivered.

So here are your presentation introduction lines:

My name is Joanne, and I’m the Head of Marketing at company XYZ. Five years ago I was working as a waitress, earning $10/hour and collecting rejection letters from editors. About ten letters every week landed to my mailbox. You see, I love words, but decent publisher thought mine were good enough. Except for the restaurant owner. I was very good at up-selling and recommending dishes to the customers. My boss even bumped my salary to $15/hour as a token of appreciation for my skill. And this made me realize: I should ditch creative writing and focus on copywriting instead. After loads of trial and error back in the day, I learned how to write persuasive copy. I was no longer getting rejection letters. I was receiving thousands of emails saying that someone just bought another product from our company. My sales copy pages generated over $1,500,000 in revenue over last year. And I want to teach you how to do the same”

b. Test the Stereotype Formula

This one’s simple and effective as well. Introduce yourself by sharing an obvious stereotype about your profession. This cue will help you connect with your audience better, make them chuckle a bit, and set a lighter mood for the speech to follow.

Here’s how you can frame your intro:

“My name is ___, and I am a lead software engineer at our platform [Your Job Title]. And yes, I’m that nerdy type who never liked presenting in front of large groups of people. I would rather stay in my den and write code all day long. [Stereotype]. But hey, since I have mustered enough courage…let’s talk today about the new product features my team is about to release….”

After sharing a quick, self-deprecating line, you transition back to your topic, reinforcing the audience’s attention . Both of these formulas help you set the “mood” for your further presentation, so try using them interchangeably on different occasions.

2. Open a Presentation with a Hook

Wow your audience straight off the bat by sharing something they would not expect to hear. This may be one of the popular first-time presentation tips but don’t rush to discard it.

Because here’s the thing: psychologically , we are more inclined to pay attention whenever presented with an unexpected cue. When we know what will happen next – someone flips the switch, and lights turn on – we don’t really pay much attention to that action.

But when we don’t know what to expect next – e.g., someone flips the switch and a bell starts ringing – we are likely to pay more attention to what will happen next. The same goes for words: everyone loves stories with unpredictable twists. So begin your presentation with a PowerPoint introduction slide or a line that no one expects to hear.

Here are a few hook examples you can swipe:

a. Open with a provocative statement

It creates an instant jolt and makes the audience intrigued to hear what you are about to say next – pedal back, continue with the provocation, or do something else that they will not expect.

TED.com Jane McGonigal Ted Talk - This Game Will Give You 10 Years of Life

“You will live seven and a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.”

That’s how Jane McGonigal opens one of her TED talks . Shocking and intriguing, right?

b. Ask a rhetorical, thought-provoking question

Seasoned presenters know that one good practice is to ask a question at the beginning of a presentation to increase audience engagement. Rhetorical questions have a great persuasive effect – instead of answering aloud, your audience will silently start musing over it during your presentation. They aroused curiosity and motivated the audience to remain attentive, as they did want to learn your answer to this question.

To reinforce your message throughout the presentation, you can further use the Rhetorical Triangle Concept – a rhetorical approach to building a persuasive argument based on Aristotle’s teachings.

c. Use a bold number, factor stat

A clean slide with some mind-boggling stat makes an undeniably strong impact. Here are a few opening statement examples you can use along with your slide:

Shock them: “We are effectively wasting over $1.2 billion per year on producing clothes no one will ever purchase”
Create empathy: “Are you among the 20% of people with undiagnosed ADHD?”
Call to arms: “58% of marketing budgets are wasted due to poor landing page design. Let’s change this!”
Spark curiosity: “Did you know that companies who invested in speech recognition have seen a 13% increase in ROI within just 3 years?”

3. Begin with a Captivating Visual

Compelling visuals are the ABC of presentation design – use them strategically to make an interesting statement at the beginning and throughout your presentation. Your first presentation slide can be text-free. Communicate your idea with a visual instead – a photo, a chart, an infographic, or another graphics asset.

Visuals are a powerful medium for communication as our brain needs just 13 milliseconds to render what our eyes see, whereas text comprehension requires more cognitive effort.

Relevant images add additional aesthetic appeal to your deck, bolster the audience’s imagination, and make your key message instantly more memorable.

Here’s an intro slide example. You want to make a strong presentation introduction to global pollution. Use the following slide to reinforce the statement you share:

Our Iceberg Is Melting Concept with Penguins in an Iceberg

“Seven of nine snow samples taken on land in Antarctica found chemicals known as PFAs, which are used in industrial products and can harm wildlife”

Source: Reuters

4. Ask a “What if…” Question

The “what if” combo carries massive power. It gives your audience a sense of what will happen if they choose to listen to you and follow your advice. Here are a few presentations with starting sentences + slides to illustrate this option:

What if example with an Opening Slide for Presentation

Alternatively, you can work your way to this point using different questions:

Ask the audience about their “Why.” Why are they attending this event, or why do they find this topic relevant?
Use “How” as your question hook if you plan to introduce a potential solution to a problem.
If your presentation has a persuasion factor associated, use “When” as a question to trigger the interest of the audience on, for example, when they are planning to take action regarding the topic being presented (if we talk about an inspirational presentation).

What if technique analysis for a Financial topic

5. Use the Word “Imagine”

“Imagine,” “Picture This,” and “Think of” are better word choices for when you plan to begin your presentation with a quick story.

Our brain loves interacting with stories. In fact, a captivating story makes us more collaborative. Scientists have discovered that stories with tension during narrative make us:

Pay more attention,
Share emotions with the characters and even mimic the feelings and behaviors of those characters afterward.

That’s why good action movies often feel empowering and make us want to change the world too. By incorporating a good, persuasive story with a relatable hero, you can also create that “bond” with your audience and make them more perceptive to your pitch – donate money to support the cause; explore the solution you are offering, and so on.

6. Leverage The Curiosity Gap

The curiosity gap is another psychological trick frequently used by marketers to solicit more clicks, reads, and other interactions from the audience. In essence, it’s the trick you see behind all those clickbait, Buzzfeed-style headlines:

Curiosity Gap example clickbait Buzzfeed

Not everyone is a fan of such titles. But the truth is – they do the trick and instantly capture attention. The curiosity gap sparks our desire to dig deeper into the matter. We are explicitly told that we don’t know something important, and now we crave to change that. Curiosity is an incredibly strong driving force for action – think Eve, think Pandora’s Box.

So consider incorporating these attention grabbers for your presentation speech to shock the audience. You can open with one, or strategically weave them in the middle of your presentation when you feel like your audience is getting tired and may lose their focus.

Here’s how you can use the curiosity gap during your presentation:

Start telling a story, pause in the middle, and delay the conclusion of it.
Withhold the key information (e.g., the best solution to the problem you have described) for a bit – but not for too long, as this can reduce the initial curiosity.
Introduce an idea or concept and link it with an unexpected outcome or subject – this is the best opening for a presentation tip.

7. The Power of Silence

What would you do if you attended a presentation in which the speaker remains silent for 30 seconds after the presentation starts? Just the presenter, standing in front of the audience, in absolute silence.

Most likely, your mind starts racing with thoughts, expecting something of vital importance to be disclosed. The surprise factor with this effect is for us to acknowledge things we tend to take for granted.

It is a powerful resource to introduce a product or to start an inspirational presentation if followed by a fact.

8. Facts as Weapons of Communication

In some niches, using statistics as the icebreaker is the best method to retain the audience’s interest.

Say your presentation is about climate change. Why not introduce a not-so-common fact, such as the amount of wool that can be produced out of oceanic plastic waste per month? And since you have to base your introduction on facts, research manufacturers that work with Oceanic fabrics from recycled plastic bottles .

Using facts helps to build a better narrative, and also gives leverage to your presentation as you are speaking not just from emotional elements but from actually recorded data backed up by research.

9. Fact vs. Myths

Related to our previous point, we make quite an interesting speech if we contrast a fact vs. a myth in a non-conventional way: using a myth to question a well-accepted fact, then introducing a new point of view or theory, backed on sufficient research, that proves the fact wrong. This technique, when used in niches related to academia, can significantly increase the audience’s interest, and it will highlight your presentation as innovative.

Another approach is to debunk a myth using a fact. This contrast immediately piques interest because it promises to overturn commonly held beliefs, and people naturally find it compelling when their existing knowledge is put to the test. An example of this is when a nutritionist wishes to speak about how to lose weight via diet, and debunks the myth that all carbohydrates are “bad”.

10. The Power of Music

Think about a presentation that discusses the benefits of using alternative therapies to treat anxiety, reducing the need to rely on benzodiazepines. Rather than going technical and introducing facts, the presenter can play a soothing tune and invite the audience to follow an exercise that teaches how to practice breathing meditation . Perhaps, in less than 2 minutes, the presenter can accomplish the goal of exposing the advantages of this practice with a live case study fueled by the proper ambiance (due to the music played in the beginning).

11. Physical Activity

Let’s picture ourselves in an in-company presentation about workspace wellness. For this company, the sedentary lifestyle their employees engage in is a worrying factor, so they brought a personal trainer to coach the employees on a basic flexibility routine they can practice in 5 minutes after a couple of hours of desk time.

“Before we dive in, let’s all stand up for a moment.” This simple instruction breaks the ice and creates a moment of shared experience among the attendees. You could then lead them through a brief stretching routine, saying something like, “Let’s reach up high, and stretch out those muscles that get so tight sitting at our desks all day.” With this action, you’re not just talking about workplace wellness, you’re giving them a direct, personal experience of it.

This approach has several advantages. Firstly, it infuses energy into the room and increases the oxygen flow to the brain, potentially boosting the audience’s concentration and retention. Secondly, it sets a precedent that your presentation is not going to be a standard lecture, but rather an interactive experience. This can raise the level of anticipation for what’s to come, and make the presentation a topic for future conversation between coworkers.

12. Acknowledging a Person

How many times have you heard the phrase: “Before we begin, I’d like to dedicate a few words to …” . The speaker could be referring to a mentor figure, a prominent person in the local community, or a group of people who performed charity work or obtained a prize for their hard work and dedication. Whichever is the reason behind this, acknowledgment is a powerful force to use as a method of starting a presentation. It builds a connection with the audience, it speaks about your values and who you admire, and it can transmit what the conversation is going to be about based on who the acknowledged person is.

Closing Thoughts

Now you know how to start your presentation – you have the opening lines, you have the slides to use, and you can browse even more attractive PowerPoint presentation slides and templates on our website. Also, we recommend you visit our article on how to make a PowerPoint Presentation to get familiarized with the best tactics for professional presentation design and delivery, or if you need to save time preparing your presentation, we highly recommend you check our AI Presentation Maker to pair these concepts with cutting-edge slide design powered by AI.

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Curiosity Gap, Opening, Public Speaking, Rhetorical Triangle, Speech, What If Filed under Presentation Ideas

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Sometimes even the best presenters procrastinate their work until the very last moment. And then, suddenly, they get a flow of ideas to complete their slide deck and present like they have been preparing for it for ages. However, doing so has drawbacks, as even professional presenters cannot always elude the side effects of […]

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How to Become Great in Public Speaking: Presenting Best Practices

Public Speaking takes a lot of practice and grit, however, it also requires a method that can help you through your presentation. Explore more about this subject in this blog post.

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How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

August 3, 2018 - Dom Barnard

For many people the thought of delivering a presentation is a daunting task and brings about a great deal of nerves . However, if you take some time to understand how effective presentations are structured and then apply this structure to your own presentation, you’ll appear much more confident and relaxed.

Here is our complete guide for structuring your presentation, with examples at the end of the article to demonstrate these points.

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

If you’ve ever sat through a great presentation, you’ll have left feeling either inspired or informed on a given topic. This isn’t because the speaker was the most knowledgeable or motivating person in the world. Instead, it’s because they know how to structure presentations – they have crafted their message in a logical and simple way that has allowed the audience can keep up with them and take away key messages.

Research has supported this, with studies showing that audiences retain structured information 40% more accurately than unstructured information.

In fact, not only is structuring a presentation important for the benefit of the audience’s understanding, it’s also important for you as the speaker. A good structure helps you remain calm, stay on topic, and avoid any awkward silences.

What will affect your presentation structure?

Generally speaking, there is a natural flow that any decent presentation will follow which we will go into shortly. However, you should be aware that all presentation structures will be different in their own unique way and this will be due to a number of factors, including:

Whether you need to deliver any demonstrations
How knowledgeable the audience already is on the given subject
How much interaction you want from the audience
Any time constraints there are for your talk
What setting you are in
Your ability to use any kinds of visual assistance

Before choosing the presentation’s structure answer these questions first:

What is your presentation’s aim?
Who are the audience?
What are the main points your audience should remember afterwards?

When reading the points below, think critically about what things may cause your presentation structure to be slightly different. You can add in certain elements and add more focus to certain moments if that works better for your speech.

Good presentation structure is important for a presentation

What is the typical presentation structure?

This is the usual flow of a presentation, which covers all the vital sections and is a good starting point for yours. It allows your audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure you can add your content to.

1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself

Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the audience will trust you more and think you’re credible.

Read our tips on How to Start a Presentation Effectively

2. Introduction

In the introduction you need to explain the subject and purpose of your presentation whilst gaining the audience’s interest and confidence. It’s sometimes helpful to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:

Introduce your general topic
Explain your topic area
State the issues/challenges in this area you will be exploring
State your presentation’s purpose – this is the basis of your presentation so ensure that you provide a statement explaining how the topic will be treated, for example, “I will argue that…” or maybe you will “compare”, “analyse”, “evaluate”, “describe” etc.
Provide a statement of what you’re hoping the outcome of the presentation will be, for example, “I’m hoping this will be provide you with…”
Show a preview of the organisation of your presentation

In this section also explain:

The length of the talk.
Signal whether you want audience interaction – some presenters prefer the audience to ask questions throughout whereas others allocate a specific section for this.
If it applies, inform the audience whether to take notes or whether you will be providing handouts.

The way you structure your introduction can depend on the amount of time you have been given to present: a sales pitch may consist of a quick presentation so you may begin with your conclusion and then provide the evidence. Conversely, a speaker presenting their idea for change in the world would be better suited to start with the evidence and then conclude what this means for the audience.

Keep in mind that the main aim of the introduction is to grab the audience’s attention and connect with them.

3. The main body of your talk

The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through them one at a time – it’s important for everything to be organised logically for the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.

Main points should be addressed one by one with supporting evidence and examples.
Before moving on to the next point you should provide a mini-summary.
Links should be clearly stated between ideas and you must make it clear when you’re moving onto the next point.
Allow time for people to take relevant notes and stick to the topics you have prepared beforehand rather than straying too far off topic.

When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make and ask yourself “What I am telling the audience? What should they understand from this?” refining your answers this way will help you produce clear messages.

4. Conclusion

In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks purpose which is a shame as it’s the best place to reinforce your messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal – that could be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.

Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there.

Follow these steps:

Signal that it’s nearly the end of your presentation, for example, “As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…”
Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation – “In this speech I wanted to compare…”
Summarise the main points, including their implications and conclusions
Indicate what is next/a call to action/a thought-provoking takeaway
Move on to the last section

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their time and invite them to ask any questions they may have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will affect the structure of your presentation.

Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the key part of their talk and try to speed through the main body of the presentation. This is totally fine, but it is still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in the Q&A.

Questions being asked after a presentation

Demonstration

Use the demonstration structure when you have something useful to show. This is usually used when you want to show how a product works. Steve Jobs frequently used this technique in his presentations.

Explain why the product is valuable.
Describe why the product is necessary.
Explain what problems it can solve for the audience.
Demonstrate the product to support what you’ve been saying.
Make suggestions of other things it can do to make the audience curious.

Problem-solution

This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.

Briefly frame the issue.
Go into the issue in detail showing why it ‘s such a problem. Use logos and pathos for this – the logical and emotional appeals.
Provide the solution and explain why this would also help the audience.
Call to action – something you want the audience to do which is straightforward and pertinent to the solution.

Storytelling

As well as incorporating stories in your presentation , you can organise your whole presentation as a story. There are lots of different type of story structures you can use – a popular choice is the monomyth – the hero’s journey. In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge – they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.

Storytelling for Business Success webinar , where well-know storyteller Javier Bernad shares strategies for crafting compelling narratives.

Another popular choice for using a story to structure your presentation is in media ras (in the middle of thing). In this type of story you launch right into the action by providing a snippet/teaser of what’s happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. This is engaging because you’re starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious – they’ll want to know how you got there.

Great storytelling: Examples from Alibaba Founder, Jack Ma

Remaining method

The remaining method structure is good for situations where you’re presenting your perspective on a controversial topic which has split people’s opinions.

Go into the issue in detail showing why it’s such a problem – use logos and pathos.
Rebut your opponents’ solutions – explain why their solutions could be useful because the audience will see this as fair and will therefore think you’re trustworthy, and then explain why you think these solutions are not valid.
After you’ve presented all the alternatives provide your solution, the remaining solution. This is very persuasive because it looks like the winning idea, especially with the audience believing that you’re fair and trustworthy.

Transitions

When delivering presentations it’s important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it’s all relevant. This can be done using speech transitions which are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.

Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence – there are many different forms, here are some examples:

Moving from the introduction to the first point

Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:

Now that you’re aware of the overview, let’s begin with…
First, let’s begin with…
I will first cover…
My first point covers…
To get started, let’s look at…

Shifting between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

In the same way…
Likewise…
Equally…
This is similar to…
Similarly…

Internal summaries

Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:

What part of the presentation you covered – “In the first part of this speech we’ve covered…”
What the key points were – “Precisely how…”
How this links in with the overall presentation – “So that’s the context…”
What you’re moving on to – “Now I’d like to move on to the second part of presentation which looks at…”

Physical movement

You can move your body and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.

A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:

Start your introduction by standing in the centre of the stage.
For your first point you stand on the left side of the stage.
You discuss your second point from the centre again.
You stand on the right side of the stage for your third point.
The conclusion occurs in the centre.

Key slides for your presentation

Slides are a useful tool for most presentations: they can greatly assist in the delivery of your message and help the audience follow along with what you are saying. Key slides include:

An intro slide outlining your ideas
A summary slide with core points to remember
High quality image slides to supplement what you are saying

There are some presenters who choose not to use slides at all, though this is more of a rarity. Slides can be a powerful tool if used properly, but the problem is that many fail to do just that. Here are some golden rules to follow when using slides in a presentation:

Don’t over fill them – your slides are there to assist your speech, rather than be the focal point. They should have as little information as possible, to avoid distracting people from your talk.
A picture says a thousand words – instead of filling a slide with text, instead, focus on one or two images or diagrams to help support and explain the point you are discussing at that time.
Make them readable – depending on the size of your audience, some may not be able to see small text or images, so make everything large enough to fill the space.
Don’t rush through slides – give the audience enough time to digest each slide.

Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur and author, suggests that slideshows should follow a 10-20-30 rule :

There should be a maximum of 10 slides – people rarely remember more than one concept afterwards so there’s no point overwhelming them with unnecessary information.
The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes as this will leave time for questions and discussion.
The font size should be a minimum of 30pt because the audience reads faster than you talk so less information on the slides means that there is less chance of the audience being distracted.

Here are some additional resources for slide design:

7 design tips for effective, beautiful PowerPoint presentations
11 design tips for beautiful presentations
10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea

Group Presentations

Group presentations are structured in the same way as presentations with one speaker but usually require more rehearsal and practices. Clean transitioning between speakers is very important in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this consists of:

Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: “So that was a brief introduction on what health anxiety is and how it can affect somebody”
Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: “Now Elnaz will talk about the prevalence of health anxiety.”
Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: “Elnaz”.
The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: “Thank you Joe.”

From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

Example of great presentation structure and delivery

Having examples of great presentations will help inspire your own structures, here are a few such examples, each unique and inspiring in their own way.

How Google Works – by Eric Schmidt

This presentation by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt demonstrates some of the most important lessons he and his team have learnt with regards to working with some of the most talented individuals they hired. The simplistic yet cohesive style of all of the slides is something to be appreciated. They are relatively straightforward, yet add power and clarity to the narrative of the presentation.

Start with why – by Simon Sinek

Since being released in 2009, this presentation has been viewed almost four million times all around the world. The message itself is very powerful, however, it’s not an idea that hasn’t been heard before. What makes this presentation so powerful is the simple message he is getting across, and the straightforward and understandable manner in which he delivers it. Also note that he doesn’t use any slides, just a whiteboard where he creates a simple diagram of his opinion.

The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout – by Rick Rigsby

Here’s an example of a presentation given by a relatively unknown individual looking to inspire the next generation of graduates. Rick’s presentation is unique in many ways compared to the two above. Notably, he uses no visual prompts and includes a great deal of humour.

However, what is similar is the structure he uses. He first introduces his message that the wisest man he knew was a third-grade dropout. He then proceeds to deliver his main body of argument, and in the end, concludes with his message. This powerful speech keeps the viewer engaged throughout, through a mixture of heart-warming sentiment, powerful life advice and engaging humour.

As you can see from the examples above, and as it has been expressed throughout, a great presentation structure means analysing the core message of your presentation. Decide on a key message you want to impart the audience with, and then craft an engaging way of delivering it.

By preparing a solid structure, and practising your talk beforehand, you can walk into the presentation with confidence and deliver a meaningful message to an interested audience.

It’s important for a presentation to be well-structured so it can have the most impact on your audience. An unstructured presentation can be difficult to follow and even frustrating to listen to. The heart of your speech are your main points supported by evidence and your transitions should assist the movement between points and clarify how everything is linked.

Research suggests that the audience remember the first and last things you say so your introduction and conclusion are vital for reinforcing your points. Essentially, ensure you spend the time structuring your presentation and addressing all of the sections.

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How to Create a Successful Project Presentation

Written by: Unenabasi Ekeruke

An illustration showcasing a project presentation being built.

You’ve spent time working on a project that could be a potential game-changer for your company or client. Now you’re buzzing to present it to your team, investors and other key stakeholders.

Creating and delivering project presentations can be nerve-racking and you probably have one question running through your mind.

How do you get the decision-makers to understand your project or secure their buy-in?

Considering that some companies have had about 12% of failed projects in the past year, you want to create presentations that are not only convincing but memorable.

With the right project presentation deck, you can win and keep your audience’s attention long enough to explain project details and why it’s sure to succeed.

Not sure how to create successful project presentations? We’ve got you covered.

This article will show you how to set project goals and create winning presentations that take your project to the next level.

Here’s a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit project presentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:

Let's get to it.

1 Set Goals for Your Project

Before you dive into the main details of your project presentation, you want to answer these questions:

What is your project set out to achieve?
Why is it important for you and your team to achieve your set goals?
How do you plan to communicate your goals to your audience?

If you have to make long guesses before answering these questions, you’ve got a lot of work to do.

Here’s what you should know. Beautiful or well-articulated project presentations aren’t a substitute for project planning. Without clear goals, your project is already set up to fail. And your investors might think, “why bother listening?”

Many project managers tend to rush through the goal-setting phase, but we don't recommend this. That’s because you could be setting yourself up for failure.

Once you clearly define your project goals, you can get stakeholders to buy into them.

Now the question is, how do you set goals for your project and achieve them? One way to do that is by using the SMART goal setting method.

Setting SMART Project Goals

SMART is an acronym that stands for S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R elevant and T ime-Bound.

SMART goals are a staple for planning and executing successful projects. It takes a deeper look into the finer details your audience care about, such as:

Project plan and schedule,
Project timelines,
Milestones,
Potential roadblocks and more

For example, let's say your project aims to improve customer experience on web and mobile devices. Notice this example describes the end goal. But it doesn’t specify how you’ll work to enhance customer experience.

Here’s how using SMART goals provides direction for your planned project.

When setting your goals, be clear and specific about what you want to achieve in the end.

A specific goal could be: “We want to build a responsive website and mobile app for our company to improve customer experience. This project will require inputs from our product design, software and marketing department”.

Measurable

During your presentation, you'd have to answer questions like:

What metrics will you use to determine if you meet the goal?
How will you know you’re on the right track?

Having metrics in place will help you evaluate your project. Plus, you’d be able to monitor progress and optimize your project to achieve better results.

It doesn’t matter if you’re planning a short-term or long-term project. Ensure you set metrics and milestones that count towards your goal.

From our earlier example, a measurable goal could be to have:

Over 100,000 mobile app downloads on Google Playstore and Apple App Store.
A 20% bounce rate on your website and a 15% conversion rate on mobile and web.

Attainable

One of the most critical questions you want to ask during goal-setting is, “Can we achieve our set goal?” Do we have the resources to accomplish the goal within the available time frame?

If the answer is no, then you’d have to consider what it would take to achieve those goals. This may require adjusting your goals or the resources needed to achieve your goal.

Although it’s okay to be ambitious, you should also be realistic. For example, getting 200,000 app downloads in one week could be overly ambitious if you’ve just launched your app. However, if you set out to achieve that goal in three months, that could make your project practicable.

Transform technical, complex information into easy-to-understand reports

Create detailed diagrams of workflows , systems and processes to see how they interset
Easily create and share resources for your team , from login credentials to security best practices
Get more visual with your communication to ensure intricate information is resonating and sinking in

Your project goals need to align with your broader business goals. Are your goals relevant to the growth and success of the company? Are they worth allocating resources for?

For instance, if your company is B2B and doesn’t plan to expand to the B2C market, launching an e-commerce website would be an irrelevant goal.

Time-Bound

Regardless of your project type and size, you should set time frames. Setting target dates for deliverables creates a sense of urgency and motivates you to hit your goals.

From our example above, a time-bound goal could be “We aim to achieve 100,000 mobile app downloads and a 15% conversion rate by the end of the fiscal year. Our company will launch the mobile app by Q3 with a robust marketing campaign that will run through the end of next fiscal year.”

Setting SMART goals doesn’t have to be a challenging task. Use the template below to set project goals that position your business for success.

A SMART goals worksheet template available to customize with Visme.

Communicate Project Goals to Your Team Members

After you've set your goals, your team will play a key role in helping you achieve them. So you ensure they understand these things:

Why the project goals are in place
What it's supposed to deliver for your business and customers
How their role, team and department contributes to the success of the project

Unless you’re clear on this, the project can derail and move in all sorts of unwanted directions.

Rather than slam the goals you’ve set on your team, make it a collaborative effort. Spend time talking to your team and stakeholders about the project goals.

Don't limit your communication to people within your department. You can reach out to people in other departments like sales, operations, finance, etc., to see how well your goals align with theirs.

A timeline presentation slide available in Visme.

To give your team a better understanding, you can communicate your project goals in a variety of ways, including:

Visuals (videos, images, charts, infographics, etc.)
Verbal presentation
Documentations

By doing that, you’re sure to get their valuable feedback, buy-in and commitment to the project. Plus, getting your team on board with your project plan will up your chances of successful execution.

A project status presentation template available in Visme.

2 Lay Out Your Project Plan

Once you’ve set your goals, the next big step is to outline how you'll achieve them. An excellent place to start is by organizing your project into an actionable plan and steps for execution.

You might wonder why this step is important for creating a successful project presentation.

Whether you’re planning a small or big project, writing a detailed plan, structure and layout puts everything into perspective. It eliminates vagueness and helps your audience grasp the project roadmap without missing the points.

Your project plan should contain the technical and non-technical project details. Therefore, you want to give yourself an edge by using a project presentation template that clearly explains all the activities and steps.

Not only that, your presentation structure should be simple and easy to follow.

Depending on the project type, your plan could include key details such as:

The goals and objectives you've outlined earlier
Your project scope, methodology and framework
Project milestones, deliverable and acceptance criteria
Project schedule and timelines
Resources and budget estimates, etc.

A project management presentation template available to customize in Visme.

There's no hard and fast rule for laying out your project plan. However, if you want to create a memorable plan that will keep your audience engaged, you could break it down into three parts, including:

Introduction

Conclusion and key takeaways

Your introduction should provide a brief overview of what you’re going to talk about and why it’s relevant to your audience. You could start by writing down the project name and the executive summary.

Think of your executive summary as an abridged version of the project plan.

If your audience read only your executive summary, would they have all the information they need about your project? If the answer is yes, your executive summary has served its purpose.

The length of your executive summary will depend on what you intend to cover in your project plan. However, we recommend keeping your executive summary one or two pages long.

You can include key information such as:

Objectives of the project
Key points of the project plan
Results, conclusions and project recommendations

Keep in mind that not everyone will have the time to dive into the details of your project plan.

Having a snapshot of your project brings clarity to key stakeholders and collaborators. It also enables people who aren't actively involved in the project to understand it at a glance.

Ready to create your own presentation in minutes?

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The body of your project plan is where you have the full project details and everything relevant to its success.

Here you can break your project into deliverables, tasks, milestones and schedules (start and end dates).

Ensure you precisely define the resources you need to complete the project, including finances, team, time, technology, physical resources and more.

This is the part where you sum up your project plan with key takeaways. Your conclusion should include what you expect from your audience, including key action points and next steps.

Writing your intro, body and conclusion may sound like a lot of information. But instead of writing multiple pages of text, incorporating visuals can make your project presentations more effective.

By using images, videos, infographics and charts , you can capture all the vital information and help your audience understand your message better.

Visme presentation templates are effective for visualizing different sections of your project plan. They are professionally designed and easy for anyone to craft high-quality project plans that keep their team on track.

Use the project plan templates below to kickstart your project planning process.

A project plan template available in Visme.

3 Outline the Problem and Solution

You've just spent time crafting your project action plan. Now it’s time to communicate your project plan and goals with your audience.

Project presentations are a lot like sales pitches. Whether you’re presenting your project plan to clients or creating a pitch deck for investors, your job is to keep your audience hooked right from the start till the end.

One of the most potent ways of grabbing your audience's attention is by highlighting their pain points.

It’s not enough to have beautiful slides that showcase your amazing product features and project activities.

Make sure you set up your project presentation to:

Outline your audience pain points
Emphasize how your project, product or service works to address their pain points
Explain how they’ll benefit from using your product or investing in your project

In a nutshell, your audience should have a clear insight into how your project makes their life better. When they’re clear on this, they’ll most likely listen to the solutions you bring to the table and take the desired action.

Don’t make sweeping assumptions about your audience.

If you’re looking to get them on board, dedicate a slide to discuss their problems and solutions. Make them understand how your project benefits them.

A goals presentation slide available in Visme.

Not sure what your audience's pain points are? Go ahead and do these things:

Run a persona survey or interview existing customers. This will help you build a data-driven user persona that you can use for all types of business and marketing decisions.
Talk to your customer support and success team. They have close relationships with your customers, so they know their challenges and what they want. If they don’t know these things, do them a favor and create a customer success program .
Interact with your community, ask for feedback and involvement. The more you engage with your consumers, the more you understand their challenges, work toward solving and get them invested in your brand.
Keeping an eye on relevant social media trends, Twitter hashtags, Facebook trends
Join relevant online forums like Quora, Reddit, Stack Exchange, etc.

RELATED: How to Write an Effective Presentation Outline

4 Keep Your Presentation Slides Short

When creating project presentations, prioritize quality over quantity. Be sure to keep your slides short and simple. When you do this, your audience will be glad you value their time.

Remember, this isn’t the time to slam your audience with lengthy and irrelevant jargon. Instead, keep your slides on topics and hit the main points without the boring and unnecessary details.

Here’s why you need to keep your presentation brief:

Concise presentation slides are not only powerful, but they are also memorable.
Studies have shown that during project or business presentations, attention levels drop sharply after 30 minutes . By creating lengthy presentations, you risk losing your audience's attention halfway.
Nobody wants to sit and watch you flip tons of slides for hours. With shorter slides, you can capture your audience's attention and get them to focus on the message.
Most people might have limited time or have short attention spans. So they’d want to quickly digest information and move on to the next best thing.

How do you keep your project presentations short?

If your slide doesn’t add value to your presentation, it shouldn’t earn a spot on your deck.
Supercharge your slide deck with captivating visuals that capture more information
Adopt proven methods for preparing your slide

For example, the 10/20/30 rule by Guy Kawasaki is one of the most popular methods used by experts. The rule recommends using ten slides for 20 minutes presentations (about two minutes per slide). It also specifies using a font size of at least 30 for text.

This will enable your audience to digest the messages on your screen while you’re talking.

A business model presentation slide available in Visme.

Keep in mind that this isn’t an iron-clad rule for presentation. There are other rules such as Pecha Kucha method , Takahashi method, Lessig method, etc. You can adapt any of these rules to suit your project presentation needs.

5 Use Less Text and More Visuals

Another great way to keep your slides brief yet interesting is using less text and more visuals.

Remember, your slide should aid your verbal presentation and not replace it. So you want to avoid crowding too much information on one slide.

Cluttering your presentation with too much text could:

Overwhelm your audiences and bore them
Shift your audience's attention to the text, making your presentation less effective.

Instead, use one slide to present each idea. Marketing guru Seth Godin recommends no more than six words per slide .

People retain more information when it’s presented in bite-size chunks and visuals. This applies to B2B, B2C audiences, project managers and corporate executives.

About 59% of business executives say they’d rather watch a video about a topic than read about it. Hence the need to supercharge your project presentation with compelling visuals that capture and bring your audience’s attention right where you want it.

Steve Jobs’ MacWorld Keynote presentation in 2007 is an excellent example of how to enhance your presentation with compelling visuals.

During the presentation, Steve Jobs used live and interactive visuals to show how the iPhone 1 works.

Read on to learn more tips on creating engaging presentations that will wow your audience.

With Visme's presentation maker , you can make stunning project presentations with a rich blend of text and compelling visuals. Hook your audience and inspire action with stellar project presentation templates like the one below.

A budget presentation slide available in Visme.

6 Use Quality Visuals, Diagrams and Presentation Aids

Visuals are important for making successful project presentations. Beyond grabbing the audience’s attention and keeping them engaged, viewers recall 95% of a message when presented in visual form. But when shared via text, they retain only about 10%.

There are many types of visual aids you can use in your presentations, including:

Graphs and charts
Heat and choropleth maps
Scatter plots
Screenshots and more

Using images and videos will up your chances of getting audience engagements and positive responses to your call-to-action (CTA).

Gantt charts , whiteboard drawings and mind maps are ideal for visualizing early-stage project designs. You can use charts, diagrams, maps and trees to present the project architecture for technology-related projects.

A Gantt chart template available in Visme.

If you’re working on product development projects, consider adding sketches, flowcharts , models and prototypes to your slide.

Pie charts are excellent for showing percentages. Vertical bar charts indicate changes over time, while horizontal bar charts help you compare quantities.

Infographics are perfect for visualizing data and explaining complex information like market trends.

Here’s the interesting part. Visme has the tools you need for every job. The software allows you to add different visuals, infographics, charts and graphs to your deck and customize them to suit your needs.

You can change design, text and background colors, add or remove legends, animate charts, etc.

You can also use maps to represent geographic information. Or, use progress bars, thermometers, radials and widgets to visualize stats and figures as shown in the template below.

A pie chart template available to customize in Visme.

When adding visuals to your slide, don’t go overboard. Stick to a minimum of two images per slide. In addition, make sure your visuals are relevant to your project presentation.

While designing your presentation slides , always stick to high-quality visuals. Blurry or low-resolution images or videos can be a major turn-off for viewers.

With high-quality visuals, your presentations will be crisp and clear, even on large screens.

The slide below is an excellent example of how to power your presentations with compelling visuals.

A team presentation slide available in Visme.

7 Pay Attention to Design

Want to create impressive presentations that pop? If the answer is yes, you need to pay attention to your design details. Your design can make or break your project presentation.

Whether you are an experienced designer or a novice, design tools like Visme give you an edge. You can create compelling presentation designs for your business in a few minutes.

The beautiful thing is that you don’t have to break the bank to make stunning project presentations. You'll find beautiful ready-made templates and millions of stunning royalty-free images for your slides.

Here are tips you should consider while designing your slides.

Use the Right Color Combination

If you want to make your presentations appealing, use color moderately.

We get it; everyone loves color. But using too many colors can make your presentations look chaotic and unpleasant.

Your color choice can influence how your audience grasps and responds to your presentation. A general rule of thumb is to pick colors that evoke positive emotions in your audience.

For example, warm colors like yellow, orange and red convey feelings of excitement and positivity. On the other hand, cool colors (blue, green and violet) reflect an aura of calmness.

When combining colors, aim for a balanced color scheme. For example, if your slide or image background is dark, your text and design elements should have bright colors. This contrast will make your project presentation legible and visually appealing.

You can learn about color psychology and how to use it in your next presentation design by watching the video below.

Use Clear and Consistent Typography

Optimizing your typography can make a difference in how people perceive your message. So you want to make sure your slide looks organized, professional and sends the right message.

Here’s how you can make this happen:

Use fonts that embody the spirit of your brand
Keep your text styles consistent throughout your presentation. We recommend you stick to a maximum of three fonts.
Avoid fancy fonts and tiny text that strain the reader's eyes. Rather use fonts like Arial, Time News Roman, Calibri and other legible fonts suited for small and large screens.
Use a font size of at least 30 for the body text and 36 for titles.

In addition, remember to present your text using the color scheme we mentioned earlier. This will keep your text visible over your background.

Take a look at this slide from one of our presentation templates. Notice how the design, fonts and color combination blends in to make the visuals pop.

An app presentation template available to customize in Visme.

8 Start With a Presentation Template

Whether you’re a newbie or pro, creating project presentations that pack a punch can be time-consuming.

Let’s say you’ve got a deadline looming. You’d have to deal with writing your project outline, preparing your slide notes, designing your slides, sourcing and incorporating visuals and more.

Handling these things from scratch could slow you down or make your presentations untidy.

Using presentation templates could save you from all the stress. They help you make professional-looking project presentations fast and easy.

Since the slides are pre-designed, you’ll find a place to insert every possible piece of content you need. Be it a progress bar, chart, graph, table, video or image, the design is right there.

All you need to do is type your content, input data or insert the image. And boom, your presentation is ready to go.

In addition, using presentation templates offers brand consistency in terms of font, style, layout, colors and overall design. You can customize and share templates with your project team to keep your presentations uniform.

The title and main body slide, image and chart layout and fonts are set in the template. Therefore formatting your slide becomes a breeze—no more messy or cluttered project presentations.

Visme has a wide selection of templates designed to make your presentations shine. You’ll find millions of pixel-perfect graphics, icons, design elements and professionally designed templates for any purpose, industry and project type.

Regardless of your skill level, you can customize your templates like the one below. Just add your content and your project presentations will be ready in a few minutes.

A modern presentation theme available in Visme.

9 Present Your Project Like a Pro

If you follow all the tips we shared above, you’ve probably got the perfect project presentation on paper. Great stuff, but your job isn’t done yet.

Your delivery is the final piece of the puzzle, and you’ve got to make it count.

Here’s the thing. Your presentation could flop if the delivery isn’t convincing. Hence the need to plan your delivery and drive your message across with passion and enthusiasm.

Here's how to deliver project presentations that leave an impact.

Practice Makes Perfect

Did you know that Steve Jobs used to spend two days prepping for presentations? Yes, you read that right.

Practice is one of the key steps to nailing your delivery.

You can practice by reading out loud in your quiet space. While you’re at it, make audio and video recordings and watch them repeatedly.

Ask your friends and colleagues to serve as a test audience and give feedback on your presentation.

This run-through will help ensure your presentation captures the main points within the allotted time. It will also help you maintain the correct body posture during your project presentation.

Make time to check if the equipment is working and get familiar with the settings and operations. This is especially important if you plan to use video or audio in your slides.

Start With a Strong Opening

Your audiences could have short attention spans, so make those first moments count. With solid openings, you can hook your audience and set the mood for a successful presentation.

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech at Stanford is an excellent example of having a solid opening. With over 4 million views on YouTube, it’s one of the most memorable and watched speeches in history.

Notice how he hooks the audience with powerful anecdotes about his life, beginning from dropping out of college. And then, he goes on to share the lessons he learned in his early days at Apple, losing his job in 1985 and reflections on death.

Here’s how to make an excellent opening speech that grabs the audience’s attention and convinces them you’re worth listening to:

Ask a question
Tell a compelling story
Share mind-blowing facts and statistics
Show captivating video and visuals that spark curiosity
Open your presentation with humor

Be sure to tailor your opening hook to your audience. To make this effective, it’d help to know about your audiences, including their likes, dislikes, cultural and ethical dispositions, etc.

If you want to learn more about making captivating presentation openings and more, read our guide on starting a presentation .

While presenting your project, focus on your audience’s needs. By doing this, you’ll build an emotional connection and drive action.

However, don’t go overboard. Be genuine and focus on getting the points across to them. This way, you’ll gain their trust and build excitement about your project.

Keep in mind that everything may not go as planned. It’s best to have backup materials and be flexible enough to make necessary adjustments. Preparing for unexpected events will give you more control over them.

End Your Presentation on a High Note

After you've delivered a fantastic presentation, make sure you wrap it up in a memorable way. Doing this will leave a lasting impression and nudge your audiences to take action.

One way to end your project presentation is to use a powerful call to action.

You can also tell memorable stories, summarize the main points and highlight compelling figures about the project.

For example you can mention some really intriguing figures like:

Expected growth rate, return on investment and profit margin
Potential company valuation in the next five to ten years.
Projected earnings and market position etc.

The goal is to hype your audiences and stimulate them to take action.

You can check out our other article to learn more about ending your presentation on a great note.

Get To Work: Create Powerful Project Presentations With Visme

Creating a successful project presentation starts with setting your goals and having a clear plan to achieve them. It also requires crafting compelling content, paying attention to design and excellent delivery.

If you’re going to close those deals, you need a solid pitch deck to explain your project details and why it will succeed. We recommend using an intuitive project presentation software like Visme .

Visme is the perfect design tool for creating stunning and engaging project presentations . With Visme, you’ll have access to a wide range of features and tools to help bring your project ideas to life.

The tool has hundreds of presentation templates, design elements, font styles, built-in stock images and videos, data visualization tools and more to make your project presentation a hit. You can download your design in different formats and share it across multiple social media channels.

Now you have all the tips and tools for nailing your next project presentations. Go ahead and make it memorable with Visme's project presentation software.

Create beautiful presentations faster with Visme.

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About the Author

Unenabasi is a content expert with many years of experience in digital marketing, business development, and strategy. He loves to help brands tell stories that drive engagement, growth, and competitive advantage. He’s adept at creating compelling content on lifestyle, marketing, business, e-commerce, and technology. When he’s not taking the content world by storm, Unenabasi enjoys playing or watching soccer.

More From Forbes

15 presentation tips for captivating your audience and commanding the room.

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Person speaking in front of audience

Public speaking can be a daunting task, especially when addressing a large audience. Whether you're giving a presentation in the boardroom or delivering a keynote speech at a conference, holding your audience's attention and maintaining command of the room is paramount. The ability to captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression not only enhances your message's impact but also builds your reputation as a confident and effective speaker.

Here, Forbes Coaches Council members share invaluable tips and strategies to help you conquer your fear of public speaking and ensure that your next presentation or speech is a resounding success.

1. Be Confident

Be grounded and confident to be yourself and then tell great stories. Use your voice and the stage to bring the stories alive. Your audience will connect to the emotion of the story but make sure that it is relevant for your audience and related to the topic. - Cath Daley , Cath Daley Ltd

2. Find A Way To Actively Engage The Audience

Be prepared with ways to get your audience engaged and keep their focus. Whether that's relating to your audience, telling a joke or asking questions, actively driving engagement will make for a more effective presentation or speech. - Luke Feldmeier , Online Leadership Training - Career and Leadership Accelerator for Engineers

3. Create An Emotional Connection

Creating an emotional connection with the audience and involving them in your session fosters active participation, and ensures your audience stays engaged throughout. This also serves to enhance your presence and to create memories that stay with them long after your presentation ends. - Kristin Andree , Andree Group

4. Put Your Unique Take Front And Center

Do you have something unexpected to say about your topic? Something that goes against the mainstream opinion in your industry or is maybe even slightly provocative? If so, putting your unique take front and center in the title and the beginning of your talk and explaining or resolving it later keeps your audience engaged and interested. - Micha Goebig , Go Big Coaching & Communications, LLC

5. Remember That The Audience Doesn't Know Your Planned Speech

No one wants to see you fail as a speaker. Remember that the focus shouldn't be on whether or not you can recall verbatim every word of your planned speech. The focus should be on how to connect to your audience with a few key points using a combination of storytelling and facts. - Sheri Nasim , Center for Executive Excellence

6. Adapt Your Language To The Audience

Talk about something they are interested in or include elements that will keep them interested. Start by asking why your topic matters to each and every one of them. Use language adapted to the audience. Keep the key messages to two or three maximum. Show them what you think and why you care about the topic. - Isabelle Claus Teixeira , Business and Human Development Consulting Pte Ltd

7. Try To Incorporate An Element Of Surprise

Engagement is the key to keeping the audience's attention. Invite participation, tell stories, walk around, have visuals, include humor, raise your voice and ask questions. Think of a comedian who points at someone in the audience: "Hey, you with the red shirt?" Everyone pays attention. What element of surprise can you present? - Susan Jordan, MBA, MSODL, PCC , Sphereshift Coaching and Consulting

8. Know Your Audience

Doing research ahead of time to ensure you're providing the subject matter in a personalized manner will keep their attention. The topic will dictate the necessary vibe. Based on that, providing opportunities for the group to engage, such as shouting out a word, raising a hand, etc., will also help maintain their interest. - Lindsay Miller , Reverie Organizational Development Specialists

9. Use The Problem-Agitation-Solution Approach

Don't just give a presentation — share a story. It must be a story-audience fit though. Use the P.A.S. — problem-agitation-solution — approach. Start with introducing a problem, follow by agitating the problem via telling a relevant anecdote and conclude by offering a solution by giving an audience a clear, direct way to avoid the pain and learn the lesson. - Alla Adam , Alla Adam Coaching

10. Tell The Audience What They Need To Hear

Instead of trying to figure out what to say, figure out what the audience wants and needs to hear. This shift in perspective allows you to tailor your speech in a way that keeps audiences actively engaged because it's good content that they want to hear. - Robin Pou , The Confident Leader

11. Go All In

To command your audience's attention you have to get into the spirit of what you're teaching and go all in without second-guessing yourself. People want to be led, but they'll be unwilling to follow someone who isn't confident in what they are communicating. - Arash Vossoughi , Voss Coaching Co.

12. Use A Compelling Opening

Start your speech/presentation with a compelling opening that grabs the audience's attention. This could be a surprising fact, a relevant story or a thought-provoking question. This initial engagement can help you establish a strong connection with the audience and set the stage for a captivating presentation. - Moza-Bella Tram , Moza-Bella LLC

Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?

13. Be Authentic

Connect deeply with your essence and purpose. Radiate authenticity. When you're centered in genuine passion and truth others feel it, creating an unspoken bond. It's not about performing; it's about being present and real and offering value from the heart. That's magnetic. - Anna Yusim, MD , Yusim Psychiatry, Consulting & Executive Coaching

14. Let Your Audience Talk

There is nothing worse than stealing everyone's craving for autonomy and speaking the whole time. The person who does the talking does the learning. So, give some autonomy to the audience. Let them talk. Even if it's thinking time and talking to themselves, or to their neighbor or table group. This gains trust and they will lean into what you have to say even more. - Alex Draper , DX Learning Solutions

15. Leverage Non-Verbal Cues

My top tip is to engage your audience through storytelling. A compelling narrative captures attention, evokes emotion and makes complex ideas more relatable. Additionally, use body language and eye contact effectively. These non-verbal cues can significantly enhance your connection with the audience. - Peter Boolkah , The Transition Guy

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Blog Data Visualization 120+ Presentation Ideas, Topics & Example

120+ Presentation Ideas, Topics & Example

Written by: Ryan McCready May 08, 2023

Best Presentation Ideas, Design Tips & Examples

Did you know that 46% of people can’t sit through a presentation without losing focus?

That’s why I wanted to learn how to make a presentation that will captivate an audience. After looking at hundreds of different authors, topics and designs, I’ve assembled over 100 presentation ideas and tips on how to design a compelling presentation for:

Social media
Online courses
Pitch decks
Lead generation

In this blog, you’ll find 120+ presentation ideas, design tips and examples to help you create an awesome presentations slide deck for your next presentation.

To start off, here’s a video on the 10 essential presentation design tips to make sure that your presentations don’t fall under the YAWN category.

1. Use a minimalist presentation theme

CREATE THIS PRESENTATION TEMPLATE

The best designs can also be some of the simplest you see. In the Airbnb pitch deck below, they use a minimalist color scheme and font selection.

A minimalist design is sleek, organized and places the most important thing in focus: your information. There are no distracting stock images, icons, or content. Everything on this unique presentation feels like it belongs and works together perfectly.

Learn how to customize this template:

2. Use a consistent design motif throughout your presentation

Here’s a go-to tip to for a cohesive presentation design: use a design motif. The motif could be a recurring shape (like circles, lines or arrows) or symbol (like a leaf for “growth” or a mountain for “goals”). For more ideas, check out our guide to common symbols and meanings used in design .

For example, this presentation template uses circles as a design motif. The same circle icon is used in three different colors to add a bubbly touch to the design. The team photos are also incorporated using circle frames:

3. Use an eye-catching presentation background image

Photography Creative Presentation Ideas copy

Like with any type of design work, you should want to catch the eye of your audience. In a presentation, this should be done from the beginning with a compelling background image or a color gradient.

In this presentation template, the creators were able to do just that with a landscape photo. When a presentation like this is seen on social media, during a webinar or in person, your audience will definitely listen up.

4. Visualize your points with icons

Storytelling Business Presentation Ideas

Icons are the perfect visuals to include in presentations. They’re compact and can convey a concept to your audience at a glance. You can even combine multiple icons to create custom illustrations for your slides.

Use the Icon Search in Venngage to find illustrated and flat icons:

5. Use a black & white color scheme for a corporate presentation design

In the presentation below there are only two colors used: black and white. Now, you might be worried that only using two colors is boring, but it all comes down to balance.

Minimalist White Business Presentation Ideas

Playing off the ideas of classic minimalism, the designer made this presentation look sleek and professional. And now your content can be the main attraction of your presentation as well!

6. Repurpose your slide deck into an infographic

OfficeVibe Creative Illustrated Presentation Ideas

Different types of presentations serve different purposes and sometimes it helps to work smarter, not harder when you are creating a unique presentation. In fact, the spacing, layout, and style used in this presentation makes it easy to repurpose the same images into an infographic.

OfficeVibe Creative Marketing Presentation Ideas

This allows you to create two unique pieces of content from one idea! Which is exactly what Officevibe did .

Join Venngage’s CEO, Eugene Woo, to learn how you can design impactful infographics that will help maintain trust, increase productivity and inspire action in your team.

7. Break your genre mold for a fun presentation idea

SEMRush Content Marketing Presentation Ideas

When I first clicked on this creative presentation from SEMrush, I was not expecting to be transported into a comic book. I’m glad I clicked because it may be the most unique slide deck I have ever seen. Going this extreme with your presentation ideas may seem a bit risky, but to be able to break the mold in this age of cookie-cutter presentations is worth it.

To leave a lasting impression on your audience, consider transforming your slides into an interactive presentation. Here are 15 interactive presentation ideas to enhance interactivity and engagement.

8. Make your presentation cover slide count

As I was scrolling through all of the presentations, this one made me stop in my tracks. It could be that I have a life-long love of Star Wars, or it could be that their presentation cover slide was designed to do just that: grab your attention. That’s why you should not stick with a boring, text-only title slide. Don’t be afraid to use icons and illustrations to make a statement.

9. Alternate slide layouts to keep your presentation engaging

Keeping your audience engaged throughout an entire presentation is hard, even if you have been working on your presentation skills . No one wants to look at slides that look exactly the same for an hour. But on the other hand, you can’t create a unique masterpiece for each slide.

Creative Real Estate Marketing Presentation Ideas

That’s why I’m very impressed with what the designers did in the presentation example above. They use a consistent visual theme on each slide, but alternate between vertical and horizontal orientations.

The swapping of orientations will show people that the presentation is progressing nicely. It can help you make a strong, almost physical, distinction between ideas, sections or topics.

10. Make your audience laugh, or at least chuckle

Modern Company Branding Presentation Ideas

Sometimes you need to not take your business presentations too seriously. Not sure what I mean? Go check out slide number 10 on this slide deck below.

If you did not actually laugh out loud, then I don’t know what to tell you. Small illustrated embellishments can be very powerful because they evoke an emotional response and to gain your audience’s trust.

Did you know 70% of employees think that giving a good presentation is an essential workplace skill? Check out the top qualities of awesome presentations and learn all about how to make a good presentation to help you nail that captivating delivery.

11. Supplement your presentation with printed materials

Printed takeaways (such as brochures and business cards ) give audience members a chance to take home the most important elements of your presentation in a format they can easily access without using a computer. Make sure you brand these materials in a way that’s visually consistent with your slide deck, with the same color scheme, icons, and other iconic features; otherwise, your recipients will just end up scratching their heads.

If you’re giving people multiple materials, try packaging them all into one convenient presentation folder. There are over 100 styles with a wide range of custom options, so feel free to get creative and make your folder stand out. Sometimes a unique die cut or an unusual stock is all you need to make something truly memorable. Here are some brochure templates to get you started.

12. Only use one chart or graphic per slide

Having too much information on a slide is the easiest way to lose the focus of your audience. This is especially common when people are using graphs, charts or tables .

In this creative slide deck, the author made sure to only include one focal point per slide, and I applaud them for it. I know this may sound like a simple presentation tip, but I have seen many people lose their audience because the slides are too complex.

13. Keep your employee engagement presentations light

Sometimes you need to get away from stuffy, professional presentation ideas to capture your audience’s attention. In this case, Officevibe used some very colorful and playful illustrations to stand out from the crowd.

I mean, who could not love the plant with a face on slide number 9? And if you want to see some more icons and illustrations like this, be sure to check out our article on how to tell a story with icons.

14. Feature a map when talking about locations

Purple Startup Pitch Deck Presentation Ideas

Including a map in your creative presentations is a fantastic idea! Not only do they make an interesting focal point for your slide layout, they also make location-based information easier to understand.

This cool presentation example by our pro designers at Venngage uses maps to visualize information. This map both dominates the screen, and also displays all the locations being covered.

15. Use a font that is large and in charge

Bold Content Marketing Presentation Ideas

If you are presenting to a small group or a packed stadium, make sure your audience can see your text! Use a large and in charge font that can be read from even the nosebleed seats.

Honestly, you really never know where your unique presentation will be seen. It could be seen in a conference room or conference hall, and everything in between. Be ready to present almost anywhere with a bold and easy to read font.

16. Use pop culture references to build a fun presentation

Using a meme or pop culture reference is another way that you can jive with your audience. It can be used to quickly get a point across without saying a word or create a moment that you can connect with the room. For example in this presentation, they used Napoleon Dynamite to give the audience feelings of nostalgia.

17. Use more than one font weight on your presentation cover slide

Just like you would never use one font on an infographic, you should never use just one font on your presentation (for more tips, read our guide on how to choose fonts ). In this presentation example from HubSpot, they use a bunch of different font weights to add emphasis to key words and ideas.

As you can see, they use a bold font on the presentation cover to bring attention to Steve Jobs name. This makes it easy for the audience to know what your presentation is going to be about from the beginning as well.

18. Use a color theme for each idea

Color is another extremely powerful nonverbal tool that you can use to guide your audience. By using a different color for each section of your creative presentation, Dell is able to clearly indicate when they are switching points or ideas. Going from green to orange, and even red almost effortlessly.

This is a great way to design a list, guide, or a how-to presentation as well. And each color can be assigned to a different step or number with ease.

Need help picking the perfect color palette? Start here !

19. Use illustrations instead of pictures

An easy way to keep your design consistent throughout your unique presentation is to use illustrations like in this slide deck by Domo.

They used illustrations instead of pictures to show off their subject on slide numbers 4-10 and it looks fantastic. This will ensure that the audience focuses on the content, instead of just the photo they could have used.

It also helps that illustrations are a top design trend for 2020 .

20. Use contrasting colors to compare two perspectives or sides of an argument

Contrasting colors can be used to quickly show each side of topic or an argument. For example in this presentation, they use this trick to show the difference between their company and the competition.

Simple Product Comparison Presentation Ideas

They use color very effectively in this example to show their company is better, in a nonverbal way. With a lighter color and illustrated icons, the company is able to position them as the better choice. All without saying a word.

Now if they would have used similar colors, or a single color the effect wouldn’t have been as strong or noticeable.

21. Include your own personal interests

Innovative Business Tech Presentation Ideas

This example is one of the most interesting and cool presentations I have seen in awhile, so I suggest checking out the entire thing. The creator inserts a bunch of his personal interests into the slide to make his presentation about education fun and relatable. And they even use a Super Mario Bros inspired presentation cover, so you know it has to be fantastic!

22. Try to stick to groups of three

How many major ideas should be present on your presentation aid? Never break your presentation layout down into anything more than thirds. This means there should be at most three columns, three icons, three ideas and so on. A great example of this idea starts on slide number 9 in this slide deck and continues throughout the rest of the presentation.

Here is a great three columned slide template to get started with.

23. Add a timeline to help visualize ideas

One of the best ways to visualize a complex process or historical event is to use a timeline presentation. A list of all the steps or events is just not going to cut it in a professional setting. You need to find an engaging way to visualize the information.

Take the presentation example above, where they outline the rise and fall of Athens in a visually stimulating way.

24. Label your graphs & charts

Creative Data Visualization Presentation Ideas

If the people at Pollen VC had not added those annotations to the graphs on slide number 5, I would have definitely not known what to make of that graph.

But when you combine the visuals on a graph with descriptive text, the graph is able to paint a picture for your audience. So make your graphs easy to understand by annotating them (this is a chart design best practice ).

Create a free graph right here, right now!

25. White font over pictures just works

There is a reason that you see so many quotes or sayings in a white font that are then overlaid on an image. That it is because it just works in so many situations and the text is very easy to read on any image.

If you do not believe me, look at the slide deck example above where they use a white font with a few different fonts and about 100 images. Plus the presentation template is chocked full of other tips on how to create a winning slideshow.

26. Color code your points across the whole presentation

Creative Tech Startup Presentation Ideas

Here is another example of a presentation that uses color to keep their points organized. In this case, they use 10 different pastel colors to match the 10 different tips for employee engagement.

Illustrated Tech Business Presentation Ideas

Check out our guide for how to pick the best colors for your visuals .

27. Use a simple flow chart to break down a process

If you’re a fan of the movie Step Brothers , you may have heard of Prestige Worldwide before. In this fun presentation example they are back to sell you on their business model and growth plans.

This time, the presentation will be effective because it actually talks about what the business does.

Colorful Marketing Event Presentation Ideas

Instead of making a music video, they use a helpful flowchart template to explain their business model. I would recommend following their lead and creating a dynamic flow chart to visually break down any process. Try making your own flowchart with Venngage.

28. Make your slide deck mobile friendly

Globoforce Red Human Resources Presentation Ideas

As more people move to mobile as their main device each year, making your presentations mobile-friendly is becoming increasingly important. This means that the text is large and there aren’t too many small details, so everything can scale down. Just like in this presentation example from the creators at Globoforce.

29. Don’t be afraid to include too many examples

With Company Product Development Presentation Ideas

If you are presenting a complex idea to a group, especially a large audience, I would recommend having a ton of good examples. Now, I would try not to overdo it, but having too many it is better than having too few.

In this creative presentation, the people at With Company spend about 20 slides just giving great examples of prototyping. It doesn’t feel too repetitive because they all are useful and informative examples.

30. Use consistent visual styles for an elegant presentation design

Black Professional Business Presentation Ideas

I have already written extensively about using icons in all of your design projects . I haven’t talked as much about matching icons to your presentation template.

Modern Business Marketing Presentation Ideas copy

But that’s just as important, especially if you want to create a professional presentation for your audience.

As you can see in the example above, the designer used minimalist icons that fit the slide designs. All of the other graphics, charts and visual elements fit together nicely as well.

Plus the icons don’t distract from the content, which could ruin a stellar presentation.

31. Use a consistent presentation layout

Bannersnack Graphic Design Presentation Ideas

In this example from Bannersnack, they use a consistent layout on each of their slides to help with the flow by using the same margins and text layout.

Bannersnack Modern Design Presentation Ideas

It’s a solid presentation example because they help the user know where to look immediately. It may seem like they are playing it safe, but anything that can speed up the time it takes for a user to read the content of the slides, the better.

32. Use loud colors as much as possible

Colorful Creative Tech Presentation Ideas

This is one of my favorite presentations because of the highlighter yellow they chose to use as their main color. It is actually very similar to one that I saw presented live a few years ago and I have used this same approach in a few presentations ideas of my own.

33. Pull your design motif from your content

Creative Education Workshop Presentation Ideas

If you are talking about an interesting topic, why not use the topic as the main design motif in your creative slide deck? For example, in this presentation about sketchbooks, the creator uses a sketchy, handwritten motif. It is something simple that helps the audience connect with the topic. Plus, it allows you to include a ton of great examples.

34. Utilize a call & answer cadence

Simple White Marketing Presentation Ideas

In this SlideShare about how to create a presentation, Peter Zvirinsky uses a two-step process to present a point. First, he presents the header presentation tip in a speech bubble. Then he shows a supporting point in a responding speech bubble. This gives the presentation a conversational flow.

35. Repurpose ebook content into a creative presentation

This slide deck was adapted perfectly from a Seth Godin ebook into the presentation example you see above. In the slide deck, they take a piece of content that would usually take a while to read and cut it down to a few minutes. Just remember to include only the most important ideas, and try to present them in a fresh way.

36. Add a timed outline to your presentation

Simple Blue Monthly Business Presentation Ideas

We have already covered how important it is to have a table of contents in your slides but this takes it a bit further. On the second slide of the presentation below, the creator added how long each of the slides should take.

White Minimalist Business Presentation Ideas

This is great because it helps your audience know the pace the presentation will take and will help keep them engaged. It also will help them identify the most important and in-depth parts of the presentation from the beginning.

37. Use a “next steps” slide to direct your audience

One of the worst things you can do as a presenter is to leave your audience without any idea of what to do next. A presentation should never just end because you ran out of slides.

Blue Creative Gradient Presentation Ideas

Instead, use a conclusion or “next steps” slide like in the example above to finish your presentation. Sum up some of your main points, tell your audience where they can get more information, and push them to take action.

38. Go a bit crazy with the design

Velocity Partners Simple White Presentation Ideas

Sometimes you need to throw convention to the wind to create something unforgettable. This presentation from Velocity Partners does just that, and I think it is one of my favorite ones from this entire roundup.

Velocity Partners Simple Tech Presentation Ideas

They use unconventional typography, quirky icons, and unusual presentation layout to make each slide surprising.

39. Make your slide deck easy to share

Simple Content Marketing Presentation Ideas

If you are looking to get a lot of eyes on your presentation I would make sure people will want to share it on social media. How do you do that? By presenting new and interesting value. This means your content needs to answer a common question and your design needs to be clutter-free. For example, look at this very social media-friendly. The slides are simple and answer questions directly.

40. Use shapes to integrate your photos into the slides

Want to include a bunch of images in your presentation? I say do it!

Now most of the time you would add a raw image directly to your slide. However, if you want to present images in a professional way I would recommend using an image frame .

Like in the example above, you can use these frame to create a collage of images almost instantly. Or provide a similar visual theme to all of your slides.

Overall, I believe it’s a great way to add a new visual component to your presentation.

41. Hijack someone’s influence in your marketing slides

Creative Social Media Presentation Ideas

If you are stuck in the brainstorming phase of your presentation, focusing on a brand or influencer is a great place to start. It could be a case study, a collection of ideas or just some quotes from the influencer. But what makes it effective is that the audience knows the influencer and trusts them. And you are able to hijack their awareness or influence.

42. Put y our logo on every slide

Moz Business Marketing Presentation Ideas

Whether you have a brand as powerful as Moz, or you are just getting started, you should always have your logo on each slide. You really never know where a presentation is going to end up–or what parts of it will! In this presentation template, Moz does a good job of including their branding and such to get others interested in Moz Local. Don’t have a logo yet? Our logo design tips will help you create a logo that’s iconic and will stand the test of time.

43. Lead your audience to it

In this example, the creator uses something very similar to the call and answer approach I mentioned above, but with a little twist. Instead of just throwing all the info up at once, they use three slides to build to a particular point and include a subtle call to action in the third slide.

44. Make visuals the focal point of your presentation slides

If you haven’t noticed, illustrated icons are having a revival in 2020 and beyond. This is likely because minimalist icons dominated the design world for the past decade. And now people want something new.

Brands also like using illustrated icons because they are seen as genuine and fun.

And because they are so eye-catching you can use them as focal points in your presentation slides. Just like they did in the creative presentation example above.

Picking the perfect icon is tough, learn how you can use infographic icons like a pro.

45. Use a quirky presentation theme

Animation Ninja Funny Tech Presentation Ideas

In this slide deck, the authors show you how to become an Animation Ninja…and they use ninja graphics and icons extensively. This caught my eye immediately because of the amount of work that I knew was behind this. It takes a lot of time and effort to line all of the content and graphic up to create a cohesive theme, but the payoff can be massively worth it.

46. Use a consistent background image

Simple Modern Business Presentation Ideas

I am a big fan of the way that Aleyda Solís uses only a single presentation background image throughout her presentation.

By using this tactic the audience is able to focus on what is happening in the foreground. Plus it gives the whole presentation a different feel than all the other ones I have looked at.

47. Summarize your points at the end

Deanta Data Driven Marketing Presentation Ideas

It’s a good idea to summarize your points before you end your presentation , especially if you’ve covered a lot of information. In this presentation example, Deanta summarizes exactly what they do on slide numbers 16-18. They also provide their contact information in case their audience has any more questions. I think that every presentation should use this same approach, especially the ones you are presenting outside of your company.

48. Use a minimalist presentation template

QuickBooks Minimalist Presentation Ideas

This slide deck from QuickBooks uses a minimalist theme to help the audience focus on what is important, the content.

QuickBooks White Simple Presentation Ideas

There were only five colors used in the entire presentation and the graphics were simple line drawings. This made it easy to read and very pleasing to the eyes.

49. Split your slides length-wise

Here is a simple template you can use to separate your headers, or main points, from your body text in a presentation.

Minimalist White Startup Presentation Ideas

Instead of using a solid presentation background, split the slide in half like Sequoia did in their slide deck. They used their brand color for the title portion and a neutral white for the supporting content.

Use this company report template to create a very similar slide right now!

50. Embrace a bold color scheme throughout your presentation

Colorful Modern Creative Presentation Ideas

My favorite part of the creative presentation example above is the use of complementary colors in each slide. As you can see, not one of the slides use the same color scheme but they all feel related connected.

This approach can be used to make your presentation visually unique, without abandoning a cohesive theme or idea.

51. Put text in the top left corner

Simple Orange Business Presentation Ideas

English speakers will instinctively try to read text from a top to bottom, left to right orientation. I would recommend using a left alignment for your text and adding additional things from top to bottom, just like Aaron Irizarry did in this presentation layout.

52. Break up your tables

Intuit Financial Business Presentation Ideas

A plain table with a white background with black or gray lines are difficult to read on a computer screen, so why would you create one for viewing on a large presentation screen? You shouldn’t!

Instead, follow Intuit’s lead and break up the rows with a bit of color. This applies to data visualization in general , but think it is even more important when it comes to presentations.

53. Present connected information in a visually similar way

Yellow Startup Pitch Deck Presentation Ideas

In this startup pitch presentation example, they have a ton of information to get through. But they present their most important slides, the problem and solution, in a visually similar way.

Yellow Creative Startup Presentation Ideas

By using a similar layout on each slide, the audience will be able to quickly make a connection. If you want to present two connected pieces of information, use this tactic.

Yellow Modern Startup Presentation Ideas

From the font to the layout, it’s all basically the same. The main message they’re trying to impart is a lot more impactful to the reader.

If they would have used two wildly different presentation layouts, the message may have been lost.

54. Roundup expert tips into one presentation

If you are looking for useful insights into the topic of your presentation, talk to some influencers in your niche. These are called “expert roundups” in the content marketing world and they are incredibly shareable.

Plus, they are pretty easy to create and have a great shelf life. In the example above, we talked to a gaggle of marketing experts about what makes a SlideShare great.

55. Use bold & brash colors throughout

Gradient SEO Marketing Presentation Ideas

B old colors usually make your presentation template a lot easier to read and remember. Like at this slide deck made by our talented designers, which doesn’t shy away from bright, bold colors.

Want to pick a perfect color palette for your presentation? Read this blog on the do’s and don’ts of infographic color selection .

56. Make your graphs easy to read & interpret

It should not require a Master’s degree in statistics to understand the graphs that someone uses in a presentation. Instead, the axis should be easy to read, the colors should enforce the point, and the data should be clearly plotted.

For example, in this presentation on slide numbers 14 and 25, the graphs nail all of those tips perfectly.

57. Condense your presentation into a memorable line

If you can, try condensing your information into a simple one-liner to help the message stick with your audience. In slide number 36 of this presentation, Mika Aldaba does just that and shows that “Facts + Feelings = Data Storytelling.”

He does this again a few times throughout the presentation with other memorable one-liners.

58. Bring attention to important figures with colorful icons

Blue Investor Pitch Deck Presentation Idea

If you’re including a figure or number on your slides, I’m guessing you want the audience to actually see it.

That’s why I would recommend using an icon or graphic to highlight that figure. Maybe use a color or icon that isn’t used anywhere else in the presentation to make sure it really jumps off the screen.

Colorful Blue Yellow Investor Presentation Idea copy

In the presentation example above, all that’s used is a simple circle to make each figure a focal point. It’s really that easy, but many people leave it out of their presentations.

59. Anchor Your Text With Icons

Studio Ninja Creative Gradient Presentation Ideas

Having your text or content floating out in the white space of your presentation is not a good look.

Instead, you should use anchor icons to give the text something to hold onto and draw the audience’s eye. If you need some examples of good anchor icons, check out slide numbers 4, 7 and 9 in this presentation example.

60. Add semi-opaque lettering as a presentation background

A neat way to keep your slide deck organized is to number your slides or points using semi-opaque lettering in the background.

Stinson Creative Illustrated Presentation Ideas

Then, place your slide content on top of the opaque lettering. This helps your audience know that you are on the same point or idea, plus it just looks really good when done right.

61. Use simple or minimalist borders

Transparent Orange Business Presentation Ideas

An easy way to class up your slides is to put a border around your text. Take this presentation from Venngage that uses a couple of different types of borders to make their slides look professional.

Modern Orange Business Presentation Ideas2 copy

Plus it helps keep all of your content contained on the slide!

62. Feature one idea per slide

Nothing is worse than a confusing, cluttered slide. Instead of trying to pack a bunch of ideas into one slide, focus on one core idea on each slide. If you need to flesh the idea out, just make another slide.

Having trouble condensing your slides? Our presentation design guide can help you summarize your presentations and convey a singular idea with a clear focus.

63. Keep your style consistent with your brand

You might be tempted to switch up the style of your creative presentations each time, but think again. If your brand is known for fun and lighthearted content, like Officevibe, let that be your style throughout all of the presentations you publish under that brand. This will make your slide decks recognizable and will enforce your brand’s message .

64. Use accent fonts to emphasize important numbers

Social Media Business Presentation Ideas

Some people hate pie charts with a passion, but I think they are perfect for presentations. Especially if you want to bring attention to a figure or percentage point .

Colorful Social Media Marketing Presentation Ideas

In this simple example, the pie charts are used to visualize each figure in an interesting way. Plus the pie charts fit the circular and fun theme of the rest of the presentation very well.

65. Use patterned and textured presentation backgrounds

Source

Adding some subtle textures, icons or shapes to the presentation background can help make your slides more interesting. This is especially effective when you are only showing one point per slide, because it makes the slide design less sparse.

DesignMantic Creative Presentation Ideas

You can even switch up the colors on your shapes or textures to match the theme of the slide like DesignMantic did in this presentation.

66. Illustrate complex or confusing concepts with icons

Gluwa Startup Pitch Deck Presentation Ideas

Ideally, you don’t want every slide in your deck to just be text. Instead, switch things up every few slides by using just pictures.

Simple Startup Pitch Deck Presentation Ideas

This slide deck by Gluwa uses icons to create little diagrams to illustrate their presentation ideas. Their slides still communicate concepts to the audience, but in a new way.

67. Overlay stock photos with color

Change Sciences Data Driven Presentation Ideas

One problem many people encounter when creating a presentation or slide decks are finding photos with a consistent style. An easy way to edit photos to make them consistent is to add a transparent color overlay. In this example, Change Sciences uses a blue overlay on all of their photos. Plus, the color you choose can also help convey a particular mood.

68. Use black and white blocks

An easy way to make your text pop, particularly on a photo background, is to use white font on a black blog background (and vise-versa). Check out this slide deck by Abhishek Shah, which uses this trick in an effective way.

Now if you want to become a better leader this year, check out some of our favorite leadership infographics .

69. Use photos with similar filters

Using a bunch of photos with wildly different filters can be jarring in a business presentation. To maintain a consistent flow, use photos with a similar filter and color saturation.

Take a look at this example from HubSpot across slide numbers 1-6 and you can see what I mean.

70. Visualize your points with diagrams

Sometimes the best way to get your point across is to throw some diagrams into the presentation mix. But be sure to make is something that the audience can pick up on in three to five seconds tops.

Purple Data Driven Business Presentation Ideas

For example, Jan Rezab uses a diagram to illustrate what takes up time in our lives on slide numbers 4, 5, 7 and 9!

71. Get experts to share tips

If you want to provide even more value to your audience than you can offer yourself, why not call in some expert reinforcement? See what experts in your field have to say on the topic of your presentation and include their tips and insights. Plus you can hijack their influence and expand your audience fairly quickly.

72. Mimic a popular presentation style

Uber’s pitch deck helped them raise millions of dollars in venture capital eventually leading to the glorious moment when they IPOed this year.

Aside from our sleek design upgrade (hey, we love good design!), this pitch deck template is the exact same one that Uber used to go from Idea to IPO.

And who knows? Maybe you might start the next Uber. But to raise money, you will need to create flawless business pitch decks to impress investors and raise those dollars.

73. Plan your presentation idea ahead of time

I know that minimalist designs are all the rage this year, but there is a big difference between a well-thought-out minimalist design and a lazy design without the finish touches. The same goes for a cluttered design with too many things going on at once.

That’s why it’s worth it to take the time to really plan out your presentation ideas and design concepts. Take this slide deck about storytelling by HighSpark. A quick glance will tell you that they put a lot of thought into designing their slides.

74. Use tables to compare your brand to the competition in sales presentations/pitch decks

There are a lot of ways to visually compare similar things in this day and age. You could use a comparison infographic , or even a venn diagram!

However, when it comes to presentations I think that the simple table is best. Especially if you are comparing more than two things, like in this presentation example.

Green Startup Pitch Deck Presentation Ideas

With a table, you can clearly lay out all the pros and cons of each idea, brand or topic without it being overwhelming to the audience. Plus, virtually everyone knows how to follow a table, so your information will be easy to consume.

See more examples of the best pitch decks .

75. Blend icons & content effortlessly

Usually, icons are used as eye-catching objects detectors or anchors for text in a slideshow. But they can be used for so much more than that!

Social Media Marketing Presentation Ideas

Like in this marketing presentation from Constant Contact they are very large but do not distract from the content.

76. Make your audience want more

This tactic has been used by everyone since the idea of marketing was invented (or close to that). In this presentation example called “100 Growth Hacks, 100 Days” the creator only shows the audience the first 10 days of it and then uses a call to action at the end of the presentation to encourage them to seek out the rest.

Simple Green Marketing Presentations Ideas

The only risk with these kinds of presentation ideas is if your initial content is not great, you can’t expect your audience to seek out more information.

77. Use memes (for real, though)

Moz Content Marketing Presentation Ideas

Usually, memes do not have a place in a serious business setting, so maybe don’t use them for formal presentations. But if you’re covering a lighter topic, or if you’re going for a fun presentation that will connect with your audience, don’t be afraid to throw a meme or two into the mix.

The audience immediately knows what you are trying to say when you use a popular meme in your presentation. For example, on slide number 7, the creator uses a meme to show that it will be hard to create great content

78. Include a slide that introduces your team in pitch decks

Modern Black Business Presentation Ideas

In this presentation example, the creators decided to include their team on a slide. I think it’s a great gesture.

Showing your team can help the audience put a face to your brand and make the whole company feel more genuine. So if there is a team that has helped you get where you are today, give them some recognition!

79. Feature a complementary color palette

Bright Yellow Gary Vaynerchuk Presentation Ideas

Even though I am not a formally trained designer, I still understand that proper color usage is the base of any good design. Although not all of the tenets of color theory work great for presentations, complementary colors are always a great pick.

Creative Gary Vaynerchuk Presentation Ideas

Take a look at the color usage in this business presentation from Gary Vaynerchuk below . The purple and Snapchat yellow, which are complementary colors, look fantastic and the content jumps off the screen.

80. Use a heavy or bold font

The very back of the room should be able to read your content if you are giving a group presentation. To ensure that your entire audience can read the slides I would not only use a large font, but also use a heavy font. If you are confused by what I mean by a heavy font take a look at this unique presentation example by Slides That Rock.

81. Do the math for your audience

If you are going to use a graph in your presentation to compare data you should do the match for your audience. Do not make them do the calculations in their head because you will quickly lose their attention. For example, on slide number 5 the people at Sickweather lay out exactly what figures they want the audience to take from the slide.

82. Use unique colors for different sections

The example below has 145 slides but it does not feel overwhelming or confusing.

That’s because each section has a different corresponding color, which makes it easier to flip through the slide deck and find a particular part.

83. Give your presentation a catchy title that anyone can remember

What I really love about the presentation example above is that it features a catchy tagline on the second slide–“The 3S Framework.” It’s simple but it works!

This motto helps outline the structure of the presentation, and each slide referring back to it. Plus, the tagline will give the audience something to latch onto and remember from the presentation.

84. White backgrounds are not always bad

A lot of people think that plain white background is a boring presentation faux pas. So the first thing they do is add color or image, which is not a bad thing at all.

But I also think that when used correctly, like in this example, plain white backgrounds can lead to beautiful presentations.

85. Split the header text from the body text

This idea is very similar to the one-two punch tactic that I talked about above, but it spreads the content over two slides as opposed to a single slide.

Use this design choice when you have fairly easy to follow presentations, like the one below from Steve Young. I know that this is effective because it allows the audience to focus on the main point before he drives it home with the supporting details.

86. Feature circle image frames

I am a big fan of the design choices that Frank Delmelle uses in this slide deck about content strategy. He uses circles as his main design motif and frames his images in circles as well.

87. Talk directly to your audience

This slideshow tops out at 70 slides but it’s a breeze to flip through. That’s because the creator, Ian Lurie, decided to present it in the form of a conversation instead of a classic slide deck.

While each slide only has one or two sentences, it flows just like a friendly chat. He also includes the necessary pauses, breaks and other conversational tics that helps make it even more convincing.

88. Illustrated icons are key this year

Illustrated Design Guide Presentation Ideas

Icons add a fun and functional element to your designs. In this presentation by Iryna Nezhynska, they use illustrated icons to make a potentially intimidating topic seem manageable.

89. Highlight key numbers and percentages

Surprising percentages have the ability to excite and shock an audience. To make the percentages on your slides even more impactful, present them in a different color or font than the rest of the text.

In the presentation example above, Contently uses that exact tactic to bring more attention to key numbers.

90. Use a gradient as your presentation background

Modern Gradient Business Presentation Ideas

Just like bold color schemes, gradients are a current social media graphic design trend . They may feel retro to some, but I believe they will be around well into the future.

Gradients are perfect for presentation backgrounds because they are so versatile and eye-catching. I mean, you can literally create a gradient with any colors you can think of! And they look a lot more interesting than a simple flat background.

So embrace the future and use a gradient in your next presentation!

91. Track the steps in a process

10 Tips Human Resources Presentation Ideas

In this example, the creators from O.C. Tanner add a very interesting feature to their slides, starting on slide number 6. If you take a look at this business presentation template, you will see that they number the steps in a process and track which step they’re on at the bottom of the slides.

92. Use mind blowing font pairings

Visual Communications Presentation Ideas

The creator of this slide deck uses at least 10 different types of fonts. And it looks fantastic because they know that one font choice is boring. But this does not mean that you should use a bunch of random fonts–pick font pairs that play well together and keep your font choices for different types of information consistent throughout the presentation.

93. Make your ideas as obvious as possible

Your audience shouldn’t be guessing at what you mean. That is why I think that this presentation example from In a Rocket is so powerful because they make the information easy to digest.

White Simple Education Presentation Ideas

Learning to code can be challenging, but they break the information down with simple diagrams and clear examples. Heck, I have not touched CSS in a few years and I could still follow what they were instructing.

94. Use images that will actually scale

A large mistake that you can make in your slide deck is using low-quality images. They may look great on your computer, but as soon as the slides are put up on a screen, the low quality will show. In this example by ThoughtWorks, all of their presentation background images look great and will scale well to a bigger screen. And that is even after the image compression that LinkedIn most likely does!

95. Take risks with your presentation layout

I honestly was blown away the first time I saw this presentation because it capitalized on such a risky design idea. The creators from Weekdone literally turned their presentation into an 8-Bit video game. A nd if you are looking for something that will stick with your audience, I would take a few creative cues from them!

96. Seriously, you better use memes

In this day and age memes are mainstream, so why wouldn’t you use them in a creative presentation? These do not have to be the coolest meme that all the hip kids are sharing, they can be some of the classics. Like the one that Dana DiTomaso uses on slide 16 to emphasize that it’s a trap!

97. Follow a clear design rhythm

Ultra Minimalist Marketing Presentation Ideas

I really like how this presentation introduced each new point in three or four steps, using the same design. It gave the presentation a rhythm that flowed almost like a song!

White Minimalist Marketing Presentation Ideas

I would recommend using this approach if you have to introduce multiple points per slide.

98. Use LOTS of icons

Creative Project Management Presentation Ideas

If you have made it this far in the list you have already probably seen how effective icons are in presentations. They are the perfect way to support your ideas and make your presentation more pleasing to the eyes.

Illustrated Project Management Presentation Ideas

For example, take a look at all the icons SlideShop uses in this presentation. Almost every slide has at least one icon and a few have more than ten!

99. Give each slide its own spark

I know this goes against earlier points I had about creating a cohesive theme in your presentation layout, but everyone knows that rules are made to be broken (if you can do it better)!

Illustrated Creative HR Presentation Ideas

In this slide deck, the team at Officevibe literally created different designs for all 27 of their slides. And to top it off, each of the designs fit the quotes they used extremely well.

100. Use LARGE header cards

Growth Hack Marketing Presentation Ideas

An easy way to stick to that “one piece of content on each slide rule” is to use header cards. They are basically the header that you would normally use in a blog post or article, but it gets is own slide before the content. Here is an example of that idea in the real world in this presentation from Brian Downard.

101. Ask your audience questions

I think one of the most common elements I saw in all the slide decks was that they asked the audience questions. You can use questions to engage with your audience and get them thinking a bit harder about the topic. The Site By Norex team did an exceptional job of this when they explored what the topic of what makes up a brand.

Need some more info about creating a memorable brand? Check out some of the best branding stats for 2020 and beyond!

102. Introduce yourself and your brand

I would say that a majority of presentations that I looked at in this list just jumped right into the content without an introduction to the author or brand in the actual slide deck.

This introduction is very important because it establishes your credentials from the beginning, especially if someone is just reading the slide deck. In this example from Losant, they do just that by spending the first few slides telling the audience who they are.

103. Mix up your mediums

Finally, this slide deck effectively marries two very distinct content forms together: digital images and hand-drawn illustrations. In this example, Freshdesk uses the timeless classic of a comic strip, Calvin & Hobbes, in something so modern to inform the audience in a fun way.

104. Show off your credentials

Just like with any piece of content, people are more likely to believe what you are saying if they know what your company does. That is why I really like when people insert their qualifications right into the presentation slides. Just like Andreas von der Heydt, from Amazon, did at the beginning of this presentation about thinking big.

105. Highlight key data points

If you are presenting a chart or graph on a dry topic, I would recommend using a single color to highlight the most important data point. For example, the investment firm a16z uses orange to highlight the data points they want their audience to focus on in each of their charts.

Check out some examples of how to highlight your key information in bar charts .

106. Show your audience where to find more information

A lot of people end their presentations by literally just running out of slides, and that is the wrong way to do it. Instead, CBInsights consistently pushes their readers towards another piece of content at the end. This is also where you can insert a call to action!

107. Tell your origin story

Source

This idea is kinda similar to showing off your company qualifications at the beginning of your presentation. But with this approach, you are trying to make an emotional connection with your audience instead of just showing off accolades.

And Rand from Moz does this extremely well in the presentation example above.

108. Use one focused visual

This presentation uses a central visual of a structure, with each slide moving down the levels of the structure. This is incredibly powerful because the entire presentation is about sinking your company, and the visual they designed mirrors that idea perfectly. Using one focus visual also makes your slide deck design cohesive.

109. Don’t take presentation design too seriously

Sometimes we get caught up trying to make the perfect presentation and it ends up making us crazy!

But in this presentation example, Jesse Desjardins uses a mix of wit and hilarious retro images to create a memorable and light-hearted presentation.

110. Use size to your advantage

Blue Startup Pitch Deck Presentation Ideas

I am a big fan of using bubble charts and other charts that use size to compare two pieces of data. That is why I like this pitch deck from the ShearShare team that utilizes a size-based chart on slide number 9. The chart is used to illustrate the massive growth potential in their industry.

111. Split section headers from the main content with different background colors

In this presentation, Seth Familian uses alternating colors in a very interesting way. For each of the title slides, he uses a black color background, but for the content slides he uses a white background.

This helped the readers follow along and comprehend what was on the page even faster. And when you are presenting to hundreds of different types of people, this can make or break your presentation.

112. Have a conversation with your audience

Take a conversational tone in your presentation is a great way to encourage your audience to participate.

In this slide deck example, we presented a simple storyline and use questions to engage with the audience throughout. And it helped create a flow throughout the presentation template that is easy to follow.

113. Include your branding throughout your presentation ideas

Another thing that people seem to forget when they are working on a presentation is to include their business’s branding. You honestly never know where your work is going to be shared, so it is important to make sure people know it’s yours. HubSpot does an outstanding job of this on all their presentations, as you can see in the bottom left corner of each slide.

Plus you have spent a ton of time creating your brand guidelines , might as well use them.

114. Include multiple slides to build to your main point

Try using multiple slides to build to your main point. This helps you walk through the components of one overarching point while also building suspense. In this slide deck, the creator uses 6 slides to build up to one main point, adding a new illustration to the diagram on each slide.

115. Split the difference

Use either the left or right side of the slide to hold your text and the opposite to display an image. If you are using a photo or graphic as the main background in your slides, this is a great way to keep things organized.

116. There are millions of fonts out there…use them

Hey, I love simple fonts just as much as the next guy, but sometimes you need to step up your font game to stand out. For example, WebVisions uses a very gritty, probably custom font in their unique presentation that fits the topic extremely well. Take a look!

117. Build your presentation content around icons

Try using icons as the focal points of your presentation layout. This example from Omer Hameed uses icons to draw the audience’s eyes right to the middle of the presentation, where the main points and headers are located.

118. Mix up font style to emphasize important points

If you would like to draw some extra attention to a certain word or idea, switch up the font to one that is bolder. For example, in this oldie but goodie presentation from HubSpot they use a heavy sans-serif font to highlight ideas, as opposed to the serif font for the other text.

119. Add personal touches to your presentation

Simple Creative Design Presentation Ideas

If you want to create a truly unique presentation, add personal touches. In the slide numbers 6-13 from this presentation, the creator adds something to their design that no one else could ever have: they use original drawings they did themselves.

120. Harness the power of your own brand colors

Modern White Digital Marketing Presentation Ideas

Sometimes people forget that they already have a battle-tested color palette that they can use in their brand colors . I try to incorporate one of our brand colors in most of my designs and it makes so much easier to choose colors.

In this simple presentation example, Spitfire Creative used a palette that had both of their brand colors throughout the slideshow.

121. Used dark-colored blocks to highlight words

Bold Yellow Marketing Presentation Ideas

I have seen this trick used in a lot of presentations and it works well. Highlight certain words or phrases by laying them overtop a colored rectangle. Take slide number 7 in this presentation example as a great guide. Use it to bring attention to a saying or idea you really want your audience to remember.

122. Show the audience your mug

This presentation example comes from the same presentation as a previous one, but it was too good not to share. Throughout the slides, you will see Rand from Moz pop up to add a human element to the design. Using an image of your team or yourself can put the audience at ease and make it easier to connect with the presenter.

123. Include a helpful table of contents

I only saw this presentation idea used a few times throughout my research, but I believe it should be used a lot more. A table of contents will help the audience know what to expect and keep their focus throughout. Especially if you are creating a presentation that is a bit longer than normal.

124. Do not post just screenshots, do more

Screenshots of a program or app are very common in any blog post, but I think you can do a little better when it comes to presentations.

So instead of just posting a boring screenshot, add a little more to the slide by using illustrations and product shots. If you are not sure what I am talking about, just check out how great the screenshots look at slide numbers 7 and 8 in this presentation.

125. Highlight keywords using BOLD color

Here’s another slide deck that uses different colors and blocks to highlight keywords. If you are going to use text-heavy slides, then make sure the key points are easy to pick out. Take this slide deck: starting in slide number 4, they highlight exactly what they want you to take away from the text on each slide!

Enough presentation ideas for you?

You made it! I applaud you for making it through all those presentations. Hopefully, now you have a few nifty presentation ideas ready for when you need them.

The next step is to create a presentation that will captivate a meeting room, an amphitheater, and even the world (hey, it doesn’t hurt to dream big).

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Jenkins Law Library Presentation - The Basics of Environmental Law for the Solo Attorney

Founded in 1802 in a small room in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Law Library Company of the City of Philadelphia was formed by a group of lawyers who set out to provide legal information for the growing law community in the City. Philadelphia's law library holds the prestigious position as America's first and oldest law library. Through several moves and name changes, the library adapted to changing times and the needs of its members. In 1967, its name was changed to The Theodore F. Jenkins Memorial Law Library Company, now known as the Jenkins Law Library. The law library is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit corporation.

This presentation by GT Shareholder and American College of Environmental Lawyers member David G. Mandelbaum, is ideal for those who represent a small business, local municipality, landowner, or real estate buyer or seller. In this one-hour CLE webinar you will learn the essentials of state and federal environmental law and be introduced to some of the more common environmental issues that non-environmental lawyers encounter in their practices: environmental due diligence and defenses under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, commonly known as Superfund), basics of "Act 2" -- the Pennsylvania voluntary "brownfield" cleanup program, regulation of wetlands, construction stormwater, environmental justice, and how to get help when you need it.

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Upcoming US Law Webinars – July 2024

June 20, 2024

Posted by: Taylor Gulatsi

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In July, our Orientation to Law Library Collections webinar will feature a special appearance by the staff of the Oklahoma State Law Library as part of our state law libraries outreach project. The purpose of the state law libraries outreach project is to strengthen the ties between the Law Library of Congress and state law libraries by sharing information about our collections, products, and services with one another and with the public. Presenting from the Oklahoma State Law Library will be Douglas Amos, state law librarian; and Christine Chen, Administrative Librarian. The Oklahoma State Law Library presenters note that,

“established in 1890, the Oklahoma Territorial Library served as a law and legislative reference library for state officials and employees. Over the years, additional collections and areas of responsibility were added to the state library, so that law and legislative reference services were no longer its singular focus. For most of its existence, the state capitol was the home for the law library/law collection. A remodel of the state capitol in 2016 forced the closure of the law library/law collection. Currently, the law and legislative print collection is exclusively focused on Oklahoma law. Access to federal and out of state legal resources is provided electronically. Our primary directive is providing research and reference services to state government employees and officials and legal reference assistance to the general public.”

In addition to this webinar, we will conduct one of our legal research orientation webinars, which will focus on federal legislative history.

Orientation to Legal Research Webinar: Federal Legislative History

Date : Thursday, July 11, 2024, 1:00 p.m. EDT – 2:00 p.m. EDT

Content : This webinar will discuss how to find debates, hearings, reports, and other documents that may reflect a bill’s legislative intent as it moves through Congress. The presentation will focus largely on how to find these documents through online government resources, including Congress.gov , govinfo.gov , and Law.gov , and quickly touch on subscription databases that can be accessed at one’s local public law or academic library.

Instructor : Jason Zarin . Jason is a legal reference specialist at the Law Library. Jason has a B.A. in economics from Tufts University , an M.A. in economics from UCLA , a J.D. from the University of Southern California , an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University , and a Master of Science in information systems from the University of Texas at Austin .

Orientation to Law Library Collections Webinar

Date : Thursday, July 25, 2024, 1:00 p.m. EDT – 2:00 p.m. EDT

Content : This webinar is designed for patrons who are familiar with legal research, and would instead prefer an introduction to the collections and services specific to the Law Library of Congress. Some of the resources attendees will learn about include the Law Library’s research guides , digital collections , and the Guide to Law Online , among others. This Orientation to Law Library Collections webinar will feature a special appearance by Douglas Amos, Oklahoma State Law Librarian; and Christine Chen, Administrative Librarian, as part of the state law libraries outreach project.

Instructor : Anna Price. Anna is a legal reference librarian at the Law Library. Anna holds a B.S. in communications from Ithaca College , a J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law , and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Washington iSchool .

To learn about other upcoming classes on domestic and foreign law topics, visit the Legal Research Institute .

Subscribe to In Custodia Legis – it’s free! – to receive interesting posts drawn from the Law Library of Congress’s vast collections and our staff’s expertise in U.S., foreign, and international law.

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Special presentations, live performances slated for this weekend at the Trails Center

Event coordinator, event dates, event description.

CASPER, Wyo. – Visit the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center Aug. 17 and 18 for an exciting weekend featuring insightful presentations by special guests and live hoop dancing performances.

Mapping Power onto the Land: The Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie Treaties of 1868

At 1 p.m. on Saturday, local historian Tom Rea will present “Mapping Power onto the Land: The Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie Treaties of 1868.” Rea will discuss the historical roots and long-term consequences of both treaties.

In 1868 - the same year the transcontinental railroad was built across Wyoming - the U.S. government signed a series of crucial treaties with Native American tribes. The Fort Bridger Treaty with the Eastern Shoshone Tribe would soon locate them on the Wind River, a place where they had long thought of as a homeland. On the other hand, the Fort Laramie Treaty with the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and several other tribes would raise as many questions as it settled in Indian-White relations.

The Pony Express Trail: A String of Stations

At 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 18, National Pony Express Association members will highlight the history of the Pony Express and re-enact a handoff of the mochila, the iconic leather pouch which secured the mail. The program will take place outside on the Trails Center grounds near the Pony Express cabin. The event is expected to last 30-45 minutes.

Twenty years after the first emigrants travelled the pioneer trails across the continent, the Pony Express thundered along much of the same route. While the Pony Express provided a relatively quick mail service from Missouri to California, this sensational but expensive enterprise was soon replaced by the Transcontinental Telegraph.

Dakota Hoop Dancing

Starting at 3 p.m. on Sunday, two-time world champion hoop dancer Jasmine Pickner-Bell will perform and share her story of life and dance.

As an enrolled Crow Creek Dakota Sioux Tribe member, Pickner-Bell has performed since a young age. At five years old, she was given one hoop – a circle representing her inner-self – by her father, renowned hoop dancer Dallas Chief Eagle. Pickner-Bell has since travelled and performed around the world, coaxed U.S. First Ladies to try the dance, and even met another world champion, Muhammed Ali. Today, when the Riverton resident recalls the decades and miles she’s spanned during her career, she thinks back to her first hoop.

Event Schedule

Wednesday, August 14 at 12 p.m. – Meet and Greet with author Janelle Molony
Saturday, August 17 at 11 a.m. – Gold Rush! (Junior Ranger Program)
Saturday, August 17 at 1 p.m. – The Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie Treaties of 1868, featuring local historian Tom Rea.
Sunday, August 18 at 1 p.m. – The Pony Express Trail: A String of Stations, featuring the National Pony Express Association.
Sunday, August 18 at 3 p.m. – Dakota Hoop Dancing, featuring world champion Jasmine Pickner-Bell.

To stay up to date on summer programs at the Trails Center, follow BLM Wyoming on Facebook or X, or visit the BLM’s Trails Center website at https://www.blm.gov/learn/interpretive-centers/national-historic-trails-interpretive-center .

For questions, call the Trails Center at 307-261-7780.

The Trails Center is open 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. MST. 1501 N. Poplar St., Casper, WY 82601 Admission is Free

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.

Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Dopamine and reward prediction

3 Key points
5 Learning features
6 Conclusion
8 References
9 External links

. Explore the topic, then brainstorm a structure.

The Overview should start with an engaging which illustrates the problem and engages reader interest. Ideally, also include an image (e.g., see Figure 1). Present the scenario in a . The feature box colour can be changed.

This template provides tips for the topic development exercise. Gradually remove these suggestions as the chapter develops. It is OK to retain some of this template content for the topic development exercise. Also consult the book chapter guidelines .

The Overview is typically consists of one to four paragraphs inbetween the scenario and focus questions. Suggested word count aim for the Overview: 180 to 330 words.

Suggestions for this section:

Break the problem (i.e., the sub-title) down into three to five focus questions. Focus questions can also be used as top-level headings.

Ask focus questions. For example:

Aim for three to six main headings inbetween the Overview and Conclusion
avoid having sections with only one sub-heading
provide an introductory paragraph before breaking into sub-sections
Provide at least three bullet-points per headingʔ and sub-heading, including for the Overview and Conclusion
Include key citations
Use figures to illustrate concepts, add interest, and to serve as examples
Figures can show photos, diagrams, graphs, video, audio, etcetera
Embed figures throughout the chapter, including the Overview section
Figures should be captioned (using Figure #. and a caption). Use captions to explain the relevance of the image to the text/
Wikimedia Commons provides a library of embeddable images
Images can also be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons if they are openly licensed
Refer to each figure at least once in the main text (e.g., see Figure 2)

Learning features

Interactive learning features help to bring online book chapters to life and can be embedded throughout the chapter.

Scenarios or case studies describe applied/real-world examples of concepts in action
Case studies can be real or fictional
A case study could be split into multiple boxes throughout a chapter (e.g., to illustrate different theories or stages)
It is often helpful to present case studies using feature boxes .
Important content can be highlighted in a feature box . But don't overuse feature boxes, otherwise they lose their effect.
Scenarios , case studies, or examples
Focus questions
Quiz questions
Take-home messages
Wikipedia (e.g., Sigmund Freud wrote about (e.g., dreams ) or
Related book chapters (e.g., writer's block )
Use to organise and summarise information
As with figures , tables should be captioned
Refer to each table at least once in the main text (e.g., see Table 1)
Example 3 x 3 tables which could be adapted

Table 1. Descriptive Caption Which Explains The Table and its Relevant to the Text - Johari Window Model

	Known to self	Not known to self
	Open area	Blind spot
	Hidden area	Unknown

Using one or two review questions per major section is usually better than a long quiz at the end
Quiz conceptual understanding, rather than trivia
Don't make quizzes too hard
Different types of quiz questions are possible; see Quiz

Example simple quiz questions. Choose your answers and click "Submit":

1 Quizzes are an interactive learning feature:

	True
	False

2 Long quizzes are a good idea:

The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
Suggested word count: 150 to 330 words
It should be possible for someone to only read the Overview and the Conclusion and still get a pretty good idea of the problem and what is known based on psychological science

Provide internal (wiki) links to the most relevant Wikiversity pages (esp. related motivation and emotion book chapters ) and Wikipedia articles . Use these formats:

Light triad (Book chapter, 2021)
Collaborative authoring using wiki (Wikiversity)
Self determination theory (Wikipedia)

Suggestions for this section:

List cited references in APA style (7th ed.) or wiki style .

APA style example:

Suggestions for this section:

. Use "Edit source": {{Hanging indent|1= the full list of references}}

External links

Provide external links to highly relevant resources such as presentations, news articles, and professional sites. Use sentence casing . For example:

Six top tips for writing a great essay (University of Melbourne)
The importance of structure (skillsyouneed.com)

Motivation and emotion/Book/2024
Motivation and emotion/Book/Neurotransmitters/Dopamine
Motivation and emotion/Book/Reward

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Special presentations, live performances slated for this weekend at the
CASPER, Wyo. - Visit the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center Aug. 17 and 18 for an exciting weekend featuring insightful presentations by special guests and live hoop dancing performances. Mapping Power onto the Land: The Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie Treaties of 1868. At 1 p.m. on Saturday, local historian Tom Rea will present "Mapping Power onto the Land: The Fort Bridger and ...
Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Dopamine and reward prediction
Authorship is as per the page's edit history. Multimedia presentation (3 min) Replace the link in the box above once the multimedia presentation has been published. Contents. 1 Overview; ... Provide external links to highly relevant resources such as presentations, news articles, and professional sites. Use sentence casing. For example:

presentation of page

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23 presentation examples that really work (plus templates!)

Create videos that drive action

Video presentation examples

1. Animated characters

2. Conference video

Business PowerPoint presentation examples

3. Design pointers

Google slides examples

5. Teacher education

6. Charity awareness raiser

Prezi presentation examples

7. Red Bull event recap

8. Logitech Spotlight launch

Sales presentation examples

9. Sales enablement video presentation

10. Zuroa sales deck

Pitch presentation examples

11. Uber pitch deck

12. Video pitch template

13. Fyre Festival pitch deck

Business presentation examples

14. Business intro template

15. Business explainer template

16. TrackMaven research deck

17. Wearable tech research report

Team presentation examples

18. Team update template

19. Officevibe collaboration explainer

Recruitment presentation examples

20. Company culture explainer

21. Kaizen culture

Explainer presentation examples

22. Product explainer template

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Take the struggle out of team communication.

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How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation (Step-by-Step)

Table of Contents

Take your PPT skills to the next level

The PowerPoint interface

The Slide Area

The PowerPoint Ribbon

The Slides Pane

Adding Content to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Insert More Slides into Your Presentation

Adding Content to Your Slides

Using Designer to generate more layouts ideas

Change the Overall Design (optional)

A. Picking your PowerPoint slide size

B. Selecting a PowerPoint theme

C. How to change a slide background in PowerPoint

D. How to change your color palette in PowerPoint

E. How to change your fonts in PowerPoint

Adding Animations & Transitions (optional)

A. Adding PowerPoint animations

B. How to preview a PowerPoint animation

C. How to manage your animations in PowerPoint

D. How to add transitions to your PowerPoint presentation

E. How to preview a transition in PowerPoint

Save Your PowerPoint Presentation

How to save your PowerPoint presentation as a template

Printing Your PowerPoint Presentation

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How To Write A Presentation 101 | Step-by-Step Guides with Best Examples | 2024 Reveals

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Key Takeaways

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How To Write A Presentation Script (With Examples)

1/ Understand Your Purpose and Audience

2/ Outline the Structure of Your Presentation