powerpoint presentation main components

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How to Structure a PowerPoint Presentation

Table of Contents

This is the main part of your presentation, which should keep the promises you made in the introduction. This is where you explain your topic and present all your information. 

Depending on the nature of your presentation, divide it into segments/points. Arrange your points in a logical order and then provide information to support each of them. There are many different ways to organize your key points, for example:

• Number your points according to their priority (1, 2, 3, …)
• Place the points in a time frame (past, present, future)
• Use narration (tell a story from beginning to end)
• Present the points with a problem-solution dynamic (state a problem, describe its impact, offer ways to solve the issue)

A good conclusion summarizes the key points you made or highlights what the audience should have learned. It clarifies the general purpose of your presentation and reinforces the reason for viewing it. Here are the slides you may want to include:

• Summary. List what goals your audience have achieved, what knowledge they got, and how this information can help them in the future.
• Conclusion. Here you can thank your audience for viewing the presentation.

Tips for Structuring a Presentation in PowerPoint

Now that you know which parts a typical presentation should consist of, let’s see how to structure it in PowerPoint. 

1. Combine slides into sections

When working with a large PowerPoint presentation (PPT), you can create sections that can be collapsed and expanded. This will help you keep presentation slides organized and facilitate navigation in editing mode. To do that, follow these steps:

• To shift a section, right-click on its name and use the Move Section Up and Move Section Down options.
• To collapse or expand a certain section, click on the collapse icon to the left of the section name. You can also minimize and maximize all sections at once by right-clicking on the section name and choosing Collapse All or Expand All .

As well, you can access these settings by choosing Slide Sorter under the VIEW tab.

This kind of segmentation is a great way to overview the logical flow of your slides all at once and see if there are any changes required. For example, you may decide to break one slide into two or three, or the other way around.

2. Use the Outline View

One other way to structure a PowerPoint presentation in the editing mode is to use Outline View . You can choose it from the VIEW tab.

This view doesn’t display sections, but it shows the title and main text of each slide, which can give you a quick overview of the presentation contents. Here you can go through the entire text and edit it instantly. You can also work with text (on the left) and slides (on the right) simultaneously, as the latter is shown on the right side of your screen.

Note that, to be displayed in an outline, text needs to be typed in a text placeholder, not a text box . A text placeholder is a box with the words “Click to add text” or “Click to add title”, and it appears when you choose a standard layout.

You can also use Outline View to promote bullet text to titles and the other way around. To do that, right-click on a relevant title or text and select the Promote or Demote options.

Be attentive about demoting a title, as this will delete the original slide and move its title and text to the adjacent slide.

PowerPoint only allows users to promote and demote text, not entire slides. Therefore, there’s no possibility to change the hierarchical order of slides.

3. Create a table of contents

All the aforementioned tips help you organize a presentation when formatting it. However, it’s crucial that your viewers can easily navigate through entire presentation too. One sure way to provide them with this opportunity is to create an interactive and structured table of contents.

Though there’s no native automatic outline in PowerPoint, it can be created manually:

• Press Ctrl+A to select all the names, and Ctrl+C to copy them. 
• Then Press Ctrl+V to paste the copied titles on the desired slide. In case there are too many titles and they don’t fit onto a single page, you can divide the table of contents into two columns or place it on two slides.

You’ll need to repeat this procedure to link all the chapters to corresponding slides. For more information, read this step-by-step guide on how to add a hyperlink in PowerPoint .

Now all the chapters can be accessed from a single table of contents, which is very convenient. However, you will also need to link them back to that unifying page. You can do this by inserting an Action Button on every slide of your presentation in Slide Master mode:

Now there is a single page from which all the other pages can be easily accessed. As well, it’s possible to go back to the table of contents at any time with the intuitive Home button.

Depending on the size of your presentation, the time it takes to create an interactive outline may vary, as you will need to add hyperlinks to every chapter manually. Be aware that if you rename a slide or simply delete it, these changes will not be automatically registered in the table of contents. For example, if you delete a slide, its title will still be displayed in the table of contents, but clicking on it won’t lead the viewer to another point in the presentation.

This is what our sample presentation looks like:

A Better Way to Structure a PowerPoint Presentation

Creating a table of contents manually might be fine for a small presentation, but if you have 122 slides, it would require too much time and energy to do so. That’s why, instead of manually creating a table of contents, we took advantage of iSpring Suite and simply enabled the automatic outline.  

iSpring Suite

Fully-stocked eLearning authoring toolkit for PowerPoint. No training required to start!

Note: iSpring Suite turns slides into HTML5 format, so your audience can view them online, right in their browsers. 

As you can see, the new presentation has a pop-up outline and a navigation panel, which make it possible to move to any slide at any time without leaving the slide show mode. 

How to set up navigation

To create navigation in your presentation, follow these simple steps:

• Get a free trial of iSpring Suite.

• When you’ve configured the Slide Properties settings, click on Save & Close in the upper-left corner.

How to configure an outline

Whereas PowerPoint requires the outline to be designed manually, iSpring Suite has already prepared it for you. At the same time, you don’t have to stick with the standard outline template, as you can easily customize the player’s final look and feel:

We recommend leaving Enable Search marked, as this will allow viewers to search for any content at any time, including the texts on the slides. This is especially useful for large presentations with a lot of text.

If you have previously arranged slides into multiple levels in the Slide Properties, then leave Multilevel outline marked. That way, the outline will display the nesting structure of the presentation, facilitating navigation. You can learn more about the other outline options here .

• When you have finished configuring the player, click on Apply & Close in the upper-left corner.
• Now you can publish your enhanced presentation either to HTML5, to make it easily accessible via browser on any device, or MP4 video format. If you’re going to upload your presentation to an LMS, you can publish it to any eLearning format: SCORM, AICC, Tin Can, or cmi5. 

While a standard PowerPoint slideshow is straightforward and limited, iSpring Suite saves viewers from having to follow a strict slide order. An interactive and searchable outline allows non-linear navigation, where any information can be accessed at any time at a glance.

Also read : → How to Convert PowerPoint to MP4 Video

Also read : →  How To Record Presentations With Audio

Another perk

iSpring Suite comes with Content Library , which provides a great collection of presentation templates and allows you to create professional-looking presentations in a matter of minutes. Each template includes basic course elements: a title slide, a table of contents, chapters, a timeline, and info slides. Organize them in the order you prefer, populate them with your texts and images, and your presentation is ready to go.

We hope this article will help you develop an ideal structure for your PowerPoint presentation and do this quickly and easily. Captivate your audience with a powerful and persuasive presentation!

Do you have any other insights on how to simplify PowerPoint slides design? Please share them in the comment section. We’d like to hear from you. 

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Content creator:

Helen Colman

She enjoys combining in-depth research with expert knowledge of the industry. If you have eLearning insights that you’d like to share, please get in touch .

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Blog > How to structure a good PowerPoint Presentation

How to structure a good PowerPoint Presentation

08.09.21   •  #powerpoint #tips.

When creating presentations, it is particularly important that they are well organized and have a consistent structure.

A logical structure helps the audience to follow you and to remember the core information as best as possible. It is also important for the presenter, as a good presentation structure helps to keep calm, to stay on the topic and to avoid awkward pauses.

But what does such a structure actually look like? Here we show you how to best organize your presentation and what a good structure looks like.

Plan your presentation

Before you start creating your presentation, you should always brainstorm. Think about the topic and write all your ideas down. Then think about the message you want to communicate, what your goal is and what you want your audience to remember at the end.

Think about who your audience is so that you can address them in the best possible way. One possibility is to start your presentation with a few polls to get to know your audience better. Based on the results, you can then adapt your presentation a little. Use the poll function of SlideLizard and have all the answers at a glance. SlideLizard makes it possible to integrate the polls directly into your PowerPoint presentation which helps you to avoid annoying switching between presentation and interaction tool. You can keep an eye on the results while the votes come in and then decide whether you want to share them or not.

• an informative
• an entertaining
• an inspiring
• or a persuasive presentation?

Typical Presentation Structure

The basic structure of a presentation is actually always the same and should consist of:

Introduction

Make sure that the structure of your presentation is not too complicated. The simpler it is, the better the audience can follow.

Personal Introduction

It is best to start your presentation by briefly introducing yourself which helps to build a connection with your audience right away.

Introduce the topic

Then introduce the topic, state the purpose of the presentation and provide a brief outline of the main points you will be addressing.

Mention the length

In the introduction, mention the approximate length of the talk and then also make sure you stick to it.

The introduction should be no longer than two slides and provide a good overview of the topic.

Icebreaker Polls

According to studies, people in the audience only have an average attention span of 10 minutes, which is why it is important to increase their attention right at the beginning and to arouse the audience's interest. You could make a good start with a few icebreaker polls for example. They lighten the mood right at the beginning and you can secure your audience's attention from the start.

For example, you could use SlideLizard to have all the answers at a glance and share them with your audience. In addition, the audience can try out how the polls work and already know how it works if you include more polls in the main part.

Get to know your audience

As mentioned earlier, it is always useful to think about who your audience actually is. Ask them questions at the beginning about how well they already know the topic of your presentation. Use SlideLizard for this so that you have a clear overview about the answers. You can use both single- and multiple-choice questions or also open questions and display their results as a WordCloud in your presentation, for example.

Include a quote

To make the beginning (or the end) of your presentation more exciting, it is always a good idea to include a quote. We have selected some powerful quotes for PowerPoint presentations for you.

Present your topic

The main part of a presentation should explain the topic well, state facts, justify them and give examples. Keep all the promises you made earlier in the introduction.

Length and Structure

The main part should make up about 70% of the presentation and also include a clear structure. Explain your ideas in detail and build them up logically. It should be organized chronologically, by priority or by topic. There should be a smooth transition between the individual issues. However, it is also important to use phrases that make it clear that a new topic is starting. We have listed some useful phrases for presentations here.

Visualize data and statistics and show pictures to underline facts. If you are still looking for good images, we have selected 5 sources of free images for you here.

Focus on the essentials

Focus on what is most important and summarize a bit. You don't have to say everything about a topic because your audience won’t remember everything either. Avoid complicated sentence structure, because if the audience does not understand something, they will not be able to read it again.

Make your presentation interactive

Make your presentation interactive to keep the attention of your audience. Use SlideLizard to include polls in your presentation, where your audience can vote directly from their smartphone and discuss the answers as soon as you received all votes. Here you can also find more tips for increasing audience engagement.

Repeat the main points

The conclusion should contain a summary of the most important key points. Repeat the main points you have made, summarize what the audience should have learned and explain how the new information can help in the future.

Include a Q&A part

Include a Q&A part at the end to make sure you don't leave any questions open. It's a good idea to use tools like SlideLizard for it. Your audience can ask anonymous questions and if there is not enough time, you can give them the answers afterwards. You can read more about the right way to do a question slide in PowerPoint here.

Get Feedback

It is also important to get feedback on your presentation at the end to keep improving. With SlideLizard you can ask your audience for anonymous feedback through star ratings, number ratings or open texts directly after your presentation. You can then export the responses and analyse them later in Excel.

Presentation style

Depending on the type of presentation you give, the structure will always be slightly different. We have selected a few different presentation styles and their structure for you.

Short Presentation

If you are one of many presenters on the day, you will only have a very limited time to present your idea and to convince your audience. It is very important to stand out with your presentation.

So you need to summarize your ideas as briefly as possible and probably should not need more than 3-5 slides.

Problem Solving Presentation

Start your presentation by explaining a problem and giving a short overview of it.

Then go into the problem a little more, providing both intellectual and emotional arguments for the seriousness of the problem. You should spend about the first 25% of your presentation on the problem.

After that, you should spend about 50% of your presentation proposing a solution and explaining it in detail.

In the last 25%, describe what benefits this solution will bring to your audience and ask them to take a simple but relevant action that relates to the problem being discussed.

Tell a Story

A great way to build an emotional connection with the audience is to structure a presentation like a story.

In the introduction, introduce a character who has to deal with a conflict. In the main part, tell how he tries to solve his problem but fails again and again. In the end, he manages to find a solution and wins.

Stories have the power to win customers, align colleagues and motivate employees. They’re the most compelling platform we have for managing imaginations. - Nancy Duarte / HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

Make a demonstration

Use the demonstration structure to show how a product works. First talk about a need or a problem that has to be solved.

Then explain how the product will help solve the problem and try to convince your audience of the need for your product.

Spend the end clarifying where and when the product can be purchased.

Chronological structure

When you have something historical to tell, it is always good to use a chronological structure. You always have to ask yourself what happens next.

To make it more interesting and exciting, it is a good idea to start by telling the end of something and after that you explain how you got there. This way you make the audience curious and you can gain their attention faster.

Nancy Duarte TED Talk

Nancy Duarte is a speaker and presentation design expert. She gives speeches all over the world, trying to improve the power of public presentations.

In her famous TED Talk "The Secret Structure of Great Talks" she dissects famous speeches such as Steve Jobs' iPhone launch speech and Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. In doing so, she found out that each presentation is made up of 4 parts:

• What could be
• A moment to remember
• Promise of “New Bliss”

Related articles

About the author.

Helena Reitinger

Helena supports the SlideLizard team in marketing and design. She loves to express her creativity in texts and graphics.

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The big SlideLizard presentation glossary

A podcast is an audio or video contribution that can be listened to or viewed via the Internet. Podcasts can be used for information on specific topics but also for entertainment.

Slide Master

To create your own Template in PowerPoint it is best to use the Slide Master. After updating the Slide Master with your design, all slides (fonts, colours, images, …) adapt to those of the Slide Master.

Slide Layouts

PowerPoint has different types of Slide Layouts. Depending on which type of presentation you make, you will use more or less different slide layouts. Some Slide Types are: title slides, section heading slides, picture with caption slides, blank slides.

Eulogy Speech

A eulogy speech is given at a funeral. It is given by familiy members or friends of the deceased. The aim is to say goodbye and pay tribute to the person who has passed away.

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What Are the Parts of Microsoft PowerPoint? (A Comprehensive Guide)

Are you looking to learn more about Microsoft PowerPoint and how to use it effectively? Look no further! This comprehensive guide will walk you through the different components of Microsoft PowerPoint, from the Home Tab to the View Tab.

We’ll cover everything you need to know to become a PowerPoint expert.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents

Short Answer

Microsoft PowerPoint includes a variety of features and tools that you can use to create presentations.

The main parts of Microsoft PowerPoint include the Themes, Slides, Transitions, Animations, and Shapes & Objects.

The Themes section allows you to choose a background design for your presentation.

The Slides section lets you create individual slides with text, images, and other elements.

The Transitions section lets you choose how to move between slides.

The Animations section lets you add effects to elements on a slide.

Finally, the Shapes & Objects section lets you add shapes, lines, and other objects to a slide.

Overview of Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular presentation software used to create slideshows for various purposes.

It is part of the Microsoft Office Suite, and it is a powerful and user-friendly tool for creating professional-looking presentations.

With PowerPoint, users can easily create and edit presentations, add effects, and collaborate with others.

PowerPoint is composed of several parts, including the Home tab, the Insert tab, the Design tab, the Animations tab, the Review tab, and the View tab.

Each of these tabs provides a different set of features and functions that enable users to customize their presentations.

The Home tab includes basic formatting and editing functions, such as bold, italic, underline and font size.

It also provides access to font color, text alignment, and bulleted and numbered lists.

Additionally, the Home tab provides options for cutting, copying, and pasting text, as well as the ability to insert images, shapes, and other elements.

The Insert tab allows users to insert tables, charts, and other media into their presentations.

It also includes options for inserting pictures, clip art, and other media.

The Design tab allows for customization of themes, templates, and slide layouts.

It also includes options for inserting backgrounds, borders, and other design elements.

The Animations tab enables users to add slide transitions and animation effects.

This tab includes options for adding sound and video, as well as creating custom animations.

The Review tab includes spellcheck and translation features, and the View tab provides access to slide show and presentation options.

Overall, Microsoft PowerPoint is a powerful and user-friendly tool for creating professional-looking presentations.

With its wide range of features and options, users can easily create engaging and visually appealing presentations.

The Home tab in Microsoft PowerPoint is the main hub for basic text formatting and editing functions.

It contains all the common text formatting tools you need to create and edit your slides, such as font size, text alignment, font color, and more.

Additionally, the Home tab has a collection of clip art and shapes to help you spruce up your presentation.

The Home tab also includes a powerful search function, so you can quickly find what you need without having to scroll through menus or search through multiple tabs.

Finally, the Home tab also contains several helpful tools such as the Undo and Redo buttons, so you can easily make changes to your presentation without having to start over.

With the Home tab, you can quickly and easily customize your slides to make them stand out from the rest.

The Insert tab in Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the most powerful and useful features of this popular presentation software.

It allows users to insert media, shapes, and other elements into their presentations.

In the Insert tab, users can add images, videos, audio files, shapes, charts, graphs, text boxes, tables, SmartArt, and more.

This tab also allows for the insertion of hyperlinks, comments, headers and footers, and even equations.

This makes it easy to create engaging and visually appealing presentations that will capture the attention of your audience.

With the Insert tab, you can easily customize your slides and make them look professional and attractive.

Furthermore, this tab allows users to collaborate with others by adding comments, editing the slides, and sharing the presentation with others.

The Insert tab is an indispensable part of Microsoft PowerPoint, allowing users to create stunning slideshows quickly and easily.

The Design tab of Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the most important parts of the software.

It is the place where you can customize your presentation with different themes, templates, and slide layouts.

This tab allows you to personalize your presentation to make it stand out and create a professional look.

The Design tab also includes several options for adding effects to your slides, such as backgrounds, fonts, and colors.

You can also add shapes, icons, clip art, and other graphics to your slides.

With a few clicks, you can easily change the look of your presentation and make it more attractive.

Another great feature of the Design tab is the ability to create custom templates.

You can save your custom template and use it in future presentations, which can save you time and make it easy to maintain a consistent look and feel across all of your slides.

The Design tab is an essential part of the Microsoft PowerPoint software and is essential for creating professional-looking presentations.

With its easy-to-use features, it allows you to personalize your slides and make them stand out.

By taking advantage of the Design tab, you can create a presentation that is sure to impress your audience.

Animations Tab

The Animations tab in Microsoft PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful and user-friendly tool for creating stunning presentations.

It allows users to add animation effects and transitions to their slides, creating a dynamic and engaging presentation.

With the Animations tab, users can add simple animations such as fades and wipes, or more complex animations such as Spin and Zoom.

Additionally, users can control the timing of their animations, customize the animation speed, and even create custom animation paths.

By using the Animations tab, users can easily add life and movement to their presentations, making them more engaging and memorable.

The Review tab of Microsoft PowerPoint is a powerful tool for streamlining the presentation process.

It includes a variety of features that make it easy to check for accuracy, format consistency, and other issues that can make a presentation less effective.

With the Review tab, users can access spellcheck and translation options; collaborate with others in real time; and quickly track changes and compare versions of their presentations.

The spellcheck feature is a great way to quickly spot any spelling and grammar errors in your presentation.

It can be used to check for errors in multiple languages, making it a great tool for international audiences.

Additionally, the translation feature helps to ensure that your presentation is understandable to all audiences, as it can be used to translate text into over 60 languages.

The Review tab also includes a range of collaboration features, allowing you to work with others on your presentation in real time.

You can share your presentation with other users and let them edit and comment on it, or you can work together in the same document.

This is a great way to make sure that all members of a team have access to the same information and can make changes quickly and easily.

Finally, the Review tab includes a feature to track changes and compare versions of a presentation.

This is a great way to keep track of edits made to a presentation over time, as well as to compare different versions of the same presentation.

This can help to ensure that all revisions are captured and that changes are made consistently throughout the presentation.

Overall, the Review tab of Microsoft PowerPoint is a great way to streamline the presentation process and ensure accuracy and consistency.

With its powerful features, users can easily check for errors, collaborate with others, and keep track of changes to their presentations.

The View tab in Microsoft PowerPoint is the place to access all the options related to the way you view your presentation.

This includes common elements such as the current view of your presentation (Normal, Outline, Slide Sorter), as well as the ability to hide, show, or rearrange slides.

You can also adjust the zoom level, add guides to aid in layout and positioning, or manage the slides in your presentation.

The View tab also provides access to the Slide Show view, which allows you to preview your presentation and set up the timing and transitions for your slides.

You can also create a custom slide show, which allows you to show only certain slides or to exclude others.

You can also turn on the Presenter View, which allows you to see the next slide in the presentation as well as any notes you have included.

Finally, the View tab also allows you to access the Notes Page view, which gives you a detailed representation of each slide in your presentation and any notes you have added.

This view can be useful for preparing and printing your presentation for distribution.

The View tab is an important part of Microsoft PowerPoint and provides users with the tools to customize the way they view their presentation.

With the right combination of options, users can create a presentation that looks professional and polished.

Final Thoughts

Microsoft PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful and user-friendly tool for creating professional-looking presentations.

By understanding the various parts of PowerPoint, such as the Home, Insert, Design, Animations, Review, and View tabs, you can take advantage of all of its features and create presentations that will impress your colleagues and clients.

So now that you have a better understanding of Microsoft PowerPoint, why not try creating a presentation of your own?

James Wilson

James Wilson has extensive knowledge in the information technology industry.His second love, besides dealing with computers, is smart home technology. He is continually updating information to better comprehend this problem and has a deep understanding of the apartment’s support system.

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How to structure a PowerPoint presentation: A detailed guide

 · Create Courses

How do you structure a PowerPoint presentation?

Introduction , the body , the conclusion , powerpoint presentation examples , graphy, the all-in-one course creation platform.

In this blog, you’ll understand the step-by-step guide on how you can structure a PowerPoint presentation effectively.

You might be a great presenter but suck at creating a structured presentation. The idea of outlining, selecting the right templates, and adding transitions is way out of your league. 

However, creating a structured presentation is as important as the narration.  

When information is presented logically, the retention rate automatically goes up. It becomes easier for a viewer to understand the meaning behind the words and create a flow of information. 

Monetize your skills and extertise GOT YOUR CONTENT READY? GRAPHY IS ALL YOU NEED TO GET STARTED!

A report published by Standard Business says that people retain 40% more information when presented structurally. 

So, here we are to help you understand how you should structure your PowerPoint presentation to make it likable and easy to digest. 

Table of Contents

You can follow this standard structure while creating your PowerPoint presentations. A good presentation is always one that has a good storyline and narration. Let’s dive into detail on how to create a solid PowerPoint structure.

An introduction is the most crucial part of a presentation. It sets the tone for your audience and makes them comfortable. Before you start with your presentation, make sure to

• Introduce yourself
• Explain the purpose of this presentation
• And, what outcomes can your audience expect at the end of it? 

This doesn’t have to be super-detailed, but it should build a connection with the person. You can include storytelling to gather attention and further move on to introducing the topic. 

Here are some slides that you must include in your introduction:

• The title: Introduce the topic of the presentation and add a brief description 
• Challenges/ objectives: Explain the goals or challenges you will target in the presentation. For example, I’ll “compare,” “evaluate,” and “analyze” this topic. 
• Outcome: Your audience must know the results they can expect at the end of the presentation. For instance, at the end of this presentation, I hope to provide you with a….
• Table of Content: You can include a table of contents for your audience to know the topic of discussion in the presentation. 

In the introduction, you can also tell the length of the talk or whether you want audience participation. Clarifying such small things can make presentations smoother and less awkward. 

This is the part where you take your introduction forward and briefly discuss the key topics. You must organize these points to transition smoothly from one topic to another. The body of your presentation needs to be spot-on for your audience to understand the information given. 

Here are some tips to consider when creating the body of your presentation:

• The length and structure of your slides are crucial to the body of your presentation. You can use the 5-5-5 and 10-20-30 rules to structure a PowerPoint presentation. 

What is the 555 rule in PowerPoint?

The 555 rule says, to use at least

• 5 words on a single line.
• 5 lines of text on every slide
• 5 slides that use the mentioned rules in a row

The purpose of this 555 rule is to create a flow in presenting your information. This rule helps if you have to make a big presentation that requires heavy content and various slides. It will help you structure a presentation well and not overwhelm your audience with the information. 

What is the 10 20 30 rule in PowerPoint?

The 10 / 20 / 30 rule in PowerPoint is fairly simple. It says that no PowerPoint presentation should have over 10 slides, be longer than 20 minutes, and have fonts smaller than 30 points. 

Each of the rules helps the presenter form a balance between design and explanation. This helps to structure a PowerPoint presentation and create easy-to-digest slides. 

• Use images more than words. The human brain processes visual stimuli 60 times faster than text. So, instead of writing lengthy paraphs, add photos or videos. If you think a concept is explainable through a photo, use it. 
• Your presentation should be short and crisp. You don’t have to write everything about the topic in your slides. Include a few short-crisp sentences and use narration to explain the topic in depth. 
• Try to organize your topics well. List points in order of numbers or alphabets put them in a time frame, or use transition words like next, then, and another for easy understanding. No matter how well you explain concepts, if your presentation lacks the translation to move from one topic to another, then it might not work. 

In your conclusion, you can summarise the main points you have made and do a recap of what your audience has learned. Lastly, mention how this new information meets your objective for the presentation. 

In conclusion, you must state your sources of information, like books, articles, or interviews with people. 

Include a Q&A part to ask questions. This way, there isn’t any open-ended conversation, and your audience is clear about the points you made. If you cannot answer any question because of a lack of time, note it down to provide the solution through mail or phone. 

End your presentation by thanking your audience for their precious time and asking for their feedback.

See how simple it is to structure a PowerPoint presentation. Now, look at a few examples of PowerPoint structures for your reference. 

Powerpoint presentations are mostly referred to as bland and boring, but that’s not the case. If you structure it well, your presentations will become more like a learning opportunity than an endurance test. Here are some PowerPoint presentation examples you can refer to:

• Teacher education 

Look at this slide deck , created for teachers on how to use Google Slides. It’s not overloading with information nor holding it back; it’s simply perfect. Most of the slides are image-oriented with practical examples to help the audience understand the basics of creating presentations in Google Slides. 

• Zuroa sales deck 

To see how storytelling works in presentation, refer to Zuroa’s sales desk . These slides are a perfect example of how you can make your audience relate to your issues. Including metrics and messages from well-known CEOs makes the slides authoritative. 

• Trackmaven research deck 

Creating a data-heavy presentation is quite tricky. Your audience can quickly accelerate from engaging to boring. Trackmaven excellently presents its report on the best time to post on social media. The presentation has more graphs than numbers or text. If you are looking for a reference for creating such data extensive topic, then, indeed, check this out. 

• Officevibe collaboration examples 

This slide deck increases awareness of the problem faced because of a disengaged team. The presentation has bright colors and unique designs that draw attention. Plus, it’s filled with relevant data to ensure the authority and seriousness of the issue. 

They are excellent examples of how you can structure a PowerPoint presentation. If you notice, none of them are text-heavy. Instead, they have used visuals or videos to convey most of their information. Thus, the information presented is easy to digest and keeps the audience hooked until the end. 

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• 7 steps to building a compelling PowerPoint presentation
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7 min read — by Amos Wong

How many times have you sat through a PowerPoint presentation that raised more questions than it answered? For instance, just look at the image shown above. Or how often have you seen slides so packed with information that you can’t even read them before the presenter has moved onto the next slide? If you have been in such situations, this blog is for you.

Avoiding these problems isn’t as simple as it seems when you’re creating a presentation from scratch and have a lot of information to present. The trick is to break it down into manageable pieces, starting with the broad overview and then circling in on the details. To help you do it, this article examines a 7-step process for building a compelling PowerPoint presentation, including how to structure it, lay out slides and create charts that support your message.

Learn more about how to build a better slide deck with our free eBook on PowerPoint best practices

1. Determine your presentation type

The first step in building your PowerPoint presentation is determining which type of presentation you’re giving. This helps clarify your overarching goal, while also influencing how you structure your slides.

Presentations typically fall under one or more of the following categories representing a continuum from light to heavy content:

• Key message presentations: This type of presentation is usually lighter in content and tells a persuasive story, such as a TED talk or pitch deck.
• Recurring reports: Recurring reports include more repetitive presentations like monthly reports or slide decks for team meetings. They often include more detail to document results, trends or activities.
• Insights and research outcomes: Presentations such as survey data or market trend reports distill information from large datasets into high-level conclusions.
• Documentation: This type of presentation provides detailed summaries of findings, typically with many charts and limited commentary depending on the audience.

2. Build your story

Your next step is to ask what message or story you want the audience to walk away with. With your top-level message in hand, you can then begin to structure your slide deck around it.

This is the essence of the Pyramid Principle , a strategy for creating effective business communications ubiquitous in the consulting world. With the Pyramid Principle, you lead with your most important idea, followed by supporting ideas and facts. If your conclusion is that Acme Company should enter a new market, say it up front. Then go through each supporting argument in order of relative strength.

An important corollary to the above is the MECE Principle , which stands for mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.

Compared with presenting a laundry list of ideas, MECE is a way to group them in a way that covers all relevant points without overlap. Using MECE to organize and group your ideas ensures a logically sound argument, while making the information easier for your audience to absorb.

3. Write your action titles

Once you have a defined structure for your PowerPoint presentation, you can get down to creating your slides. One of the most important things to remember as you do this is that each slide should present exactly one idea summarized in a single action title. All information presented on the slide must support the action title, including any charts. It is also important to avoid including any visual or textual elements that may convey or imply a different or conflicting message apart from the one in the action title.

One common strategy is to first write action titles for each slide to ensure they tell a complete story on their own. From there, you can go back to each slide and add details such as bullet points and charts.

4. Use a clean layout and formatting

When creating slides, it is crucial to avoid overcrowding them with excessive information or elements that can create visual confusion. One way to approach this is to visualize your slide as a table, laying out elements in columns and rows. Commonly used slide layouts consist of either two to three or four quadrants, depending on the nature of the content and the desired visual representation. You’ll also want to consider:

• The rule of thirds: Placing elements at one-third or two-thirds from the edge of the slide, and particularly where these gridlines intersect, is a universal rule for building a visually appealing slide.
• White space: Resist the temptation to pack too much into your slides. Leaving sufficient white space is essential for readability and helping the audience take in each slide’s main point.
• Presentation type: Key message presentations will have less content on each slide, compared with documentation presentations that include more detail.
• Fonts: Use the same font color and size for titles and body text throughout your slide deck, ideally in a sans serif font like Arial. Titles should be 20 to 24 point size, with body text 12 to 18 point based on the amount of content on the slides.

5. Organize your bullet points

A long list of bullet points is confusing and hard for audiences to digest. Instead, stick to three or five bullets, with a maximum of seven. Again, avoid packing in too much information, and all text should support the action title.

To improve clarity, write bullet points using parallel structure. In other words, if one bullet is a sentence, all of them should be in sentence form. The same goes for using sentence fragments or individual words. Each bullet should start with the same part of speech (e.g., noun, verb, adjective).

6. Choose the right chart

All chart data should be relevant to the slide’s action title. Say It with charts by Gene Zelazny offers a useful approach to choosing your chart in three steps:

• Identify which aspect of the data your chart will highlight
• Determine what you’re comparing, whether it’s components, change over time or correlation
• Select your chart according to the comparison you’re trying to make

7. Format your chart

Once you create a basic chart, you’ll want to format and annotate it in a way that conveys your message without confusion. This means:

• Including a chart title that summarizes the data and aligns with the slide’s action title
• Labeling both the x-axis and the y-axis with measurement units
• Using color sparingly to highlight the chart’s conclusion, for example using muted tones with one key vertical bar highlighted in a bolder color
• Adding trendlines to charts that can visually indicate patterns or trends in the data, for example, CAGRs
• Displaying legends to help viewers understand the meaning of different colors, symbols, or patterns used in the chart

A PowerPoint add-in like think-cell can help you create better slide decks and charts faster. Dynamic charts, process flows, annotations and text boxes all help organize complex information into visually sophisticated presentations, so you can spend less time struggling with formatting and more time on building a compelling story.

Building a PowerPoint presentation from scratch can seem like a tall order. By breaking it down into manageable steps, however, you can streamline the process while ensuring your audience leaves with a clear understanding of your message.

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PowerPoint 2016  - Getting Started with PowerPoint

Powerpoint 2016  -, getting started with powerpoint, powerpoint 2016 getting started with powerpoint.

PowerPoint 2016: Getting Started with PowerPoint

Lesson 1: getting started with powerpoint, introduction.

PowerPoint is a presentation program that allows you to create dynamic slide presentations. These presentations can include animation, narration, images, videos, and much more. In this lesson, you'll learn your way around the PowerPoint environment, including the Ribbon , Quick Access Toolbar , and Backstage view .

Watch the video below to learn more about getting started with PowerPoint.

Getting to know PowerPoint

PowerPoint 2016 is similar to PowerPoint 2013 and PowerPoint 2010. If you've previously used these versions, PowerPoint 2016 should feel familiar. But if you are new to PowerPoint or have more experience with older versions, you should first take some time to become familiar with the PowerPoint 2016 interface .

The PowerPoint interface

When you open PowerPoint for the first time, the Start Screen will appear. From here, you'll be able to create a new presentation , choose a template , and access your recently edited presentations . From the Start Screen , locate and select Blank Presentation to access the PowerPoint interface.

Click the buttons in the interactive below to become familiar with the PowerPoint interface.

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar lets you access common commands no matter which tab is selected. You can customize the commands depending on your preference.

The Ribbon contains all of the commands you will need to perform common tasks in PowerPoint. It has multiple tabs , each with several groups of commands.

The Tell me box works like a search bar to help you quickly find tools or commands you want to use.

Microsoft Account

From here, you can access your Microsoft account information, view your profile , and switch accounts .

The Ruler is located at the top and to the left of your current slide. It makes it easy to align text and objects on your slide.

Here, you can view and edit the selected slide.

Slide Navigation Pane

The slide navigation pane allows you to view and organize the slides in your presentation.

Slide Number Indicator

Here, you can quickly see the total number of slides in your presentation , as well as which slide you are viewing.

Click Notes to add notes to your current slide. Often called speaker notes , they can help you deliver or prepare for your presentation.

Reviewers can leave comments on any slide. Click Comments to view comments for the current slide.

Slide View Options

There are four ways to view a presentation. Simply click a command to select the desired view.

Zoom Control

Click and drag the slider to use the zoom control . The number to the right of the slider reflects the zoom percentage .

Vertical and Horizontal Scroll Bars

The scroll bars allow you to scroll up and down or side to side. To do this, click and drag the vertical or horizontal scroll bar .

Working with the PowerPoint environment

The Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar are where you will find the commands to perform common tasks in PowerPoint. Backstage view gives you various options for saving, opening a file, printing, and sharing your document.

PowerPoint uses a tabbed Ribbon system instead of traditional menus. The Ribbon contains multiple tabs , each with several groups of commands . For example, the Font group on the Home tab contains commands for formatting text in your document.

Some groups also have a small arrow in the bottom-right corner that you can click for even more options.

Showing and hiding the Ribbon

The Ribbon is designed to respond to your current task, but you can choose to minimize it if you find that it takes up too much screen space. Click the Ribbon Display Options arrow in the upper-right corner of the Ribbon to display the drop-down menu.

• Auto-hide Ribbon: Auto-hide displays your workbook in full-screen mode and completely hides the Ribbon. To show the Ribbon , click the Expand Ribbon command at the top of screen.
• Show Tabs: This option hides all command groups when they're not in use, but tabs will remain visible. To show the Ribbon , simply click a tab.
• Show Tabs and Commands: This option maximizes the Ribbon. All of the tabs and commands will be visible. This option is selected by default when you open PowerPoint for the first time.

Using the Tell me feature

If you're having trouble finding command you want, the Tell Me feature can help. It works just like a regular search bar: Type what you're looking for, and a list of options will appear. You can then use the command directly from the menu without having to find it on the Ribbon.

The Quick Access Toolbar

Located just above the Ribbon, the Quick Access Toolbar lets you access common commands no matter which tab is selected. By default, it includes the Save , Undo , Redo , and Start From Beginning commands. You can add other commands depending on your preference.

To add commands to the Quick Access Toolbar:

The Ruler, guides, and gridlines

PowerPoint includes several tools to help organize and arrange content on your slides, including the Ruler , guides , and gridlines . These tools make it easier to align objects on your slides. Simply click the check boxes in the Show group on the View tab to show and hide these tools.

Zoom and other view options

PowerPoint has a variety of viewing options that change how your presentation is displayed. You can choose to view your presentation in Normal view, Slide Sorter view, Reading view, or Slide Show view. You can also zoom in and out to make your presentation easier to read.

Switching slide views

Switching between different slide views is easy. Just locate and select the desired slide view command in the bottom-right corner of the PowerPoint window.

To learn more about slide views, see our Managing Slides lesson.

Zooming in and out

To zoom in or out, click and drag the zoom control slider in the bottom-right corner of the PowerPoint window. You can also select the + or - commands to zoom in or out by smaller increments. The number next to the slider displays the current zoom percentage , also called the zoom level .

Backstage view

Backstage view gives you various options for saving, opening, printing, and sharing your presentations. To access Backstage view, click the File tab on the Ribbon .

Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about using Backstage view.

Back to PowerPoint

You can use the arrow to close Backstage view and return to PowerPoint.

The Info pane will appear whenever you access Backstage view. It contains information about the current presentation.

From here, you can create a new blank presentation or choose from a large selection of templates .

From here, you can open recent presentations , as well as presentations saved to your OneDrive or on your computer .

Save and Save As

Use Save and Save As to save your presentation to your computer or to your OneDrive .

From the Print pane, you can change the print settings and print your presentation. You can also see a preview of your presentation.

From here, you can invite people to view and collaborate on your presentation. You can also share your presentation by emailing it as an attachment.

You can choose to export your workbook in another format, such as PDF/XPS or PowerPoint 97-2003 .

Click here to close the current presentation.

From the Account pane, you can access your Microsoft accoun t information, modify your theme and background , and sign out of your account.

Here, you can change various PowerPoint options , settings , and language preferences.

You can review our lesson on Understanding OneDrive to learn more about using OneDrive.

• Open PowerPoint 2016 , and create a blank presentation .
• Change the Ribbon Display Options to Show Tabs .
• Click the drop-down arrow next to the Quick Access Toolbar and add New , Quick Print , and Spelling.
• In the Tell me bar , type Shape and press Enter .
• Choose a shape from the menu, and double-click somewhere on your slide.
• Show the Ruler if it is not already visible.
• Zoom the presentation to 120%.

Change the Ribbon Display Options back to Show Tabs and Commands .

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Create a presentation

Create a presentation in PowerPoint

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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Get To Know the PowerPoint Interface

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• Lesson resources Resources
• Quick reference Reference

About this lesson

Get familiar with the different areas that make up the PowerPoint Interface. This includes the ribbon structure, groups, commands, dialog launchers, scroll bars and the status bar. This lesson is also designed to familiarize you with important PowerPoint terminology.

Exercise files

Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ PowerPoint presentations from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.

Quick reference

In this lesson we will familiarize ourselves with the layout and functionality of the PowerPoint Interface. 

When to use

The PowerPoint interface includes the Title Bar, the Ribbon, the Quick Access Toolbar, the Slides Pane, the Slide Window and the Status Bar. It's important to understand each element of the interface as it's the main window we will be working with when creating presentations in PowerPoint. 

Instructions

The title bar.

The Title Bar runs horizontally across the top of the PowerPoint window. It displays the name of the file, the search box, your account information and buttons to minimise and maximise the PowerPoint window. We can also close down the application by clicking on the cross in the top-right hand corner. 

The Ribbon is where all the action happens. Introduced in PowerPoint 2007, the horizontal ribbon is where we find our commands. The Ribbons consists of several tabs. Each tab is split into several groups. Each group contains commands organised by similar type and we use these commands to execute specific actions. 

Commands that are greyed out are not currently active. 

The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)

The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) is a customizable toolbar that sits in the the top left-hand corner of the PowerPoint window. It contains a set of commands that are independent to the ribbon. We can customize the QAT and add commands that we use frequently for easy one-click access.

The Slides Pane

The Slides Pane is displayed on the left-hand side of the PowerPoint Interface. It shows a thumbnail view of all slides in the presentation. We can use the Slides Pane to navigate through the deck and organize slides. 

The Slide Window

The active slide is displayed in the main Slide Window and it's where we go to edit our slides. 

The Status Bar

The status bar is a customizable area that runs horizontally across the bottom of the PowerPoint window. It displays useful messages and information about the view such as slide number, language, magnification and the current theme template used.

To customize the status bar and choose which information to display, right-click in a blank area of the status bar and place a tick next to the relevent menu item. 

Hints & tips

• To give the Slide Window more room, we can collapse up the Slides Pane by dragging the divider line to the left. 
• The QAT can be displayed above or below the ribbon. 
• Not all tabs are displayed by default on the ribbon. You can turn tabs off and on through PowerPoint Options. 
• 00:04 So now we've seen how the start screen works,
• 00:06 it's time to dive into the PowerPoint interface.
• 00:09 Because really, this your main work space, and it's where you're going to spend
• 00:13 most of your time when you're working on your slides.
• 00:16 So let's make sure that we fully understand each part of the interface,
• 00:20 how it works, and why it's useful.
• 00:22 So starting right at the top of this screen,
• 00:26 you can see we have an orange bar, and this is your title bar.
• 00:30 It will contain the title of whatever PowerPoint presentation you have open at
• 00:35 the time.
• 00:35 So currently, I don't have anything open, which is why it just says PowerPoint.
• 00:40 It also contains a search bar to help you search for different commands and
• 00:45 also access help.
• 00:46 And on the left-hand side, we have something called the Quick Access toolbar.
• 00:51 Now I'm going to go into the Quick Access toolbar in a lot more detail in another
• 00:55 lesson.
• 00:56 But for the time being,
• 00:57 just understand that this Quick Access toolbar is customizable.
• 01:01 And it allows you to access commands that you use frequently quickly.
• 01:06 And then over on the right-hand side of that title bar,
• 01:09 it shows the account that you're logged in as.
• 01:12 And we also have some options there to minimize the screen,
• 01:15 maximize the screen, and close down PowerPoint.
• 01:18 Just underneath there, we have the ribbon.
• 01:21 And this is really where all of the action happens in PowerPoint.
• 01:24 Now, the ribbon structure was introduced in PowerPoint 2007,
• 01:29 so quite a few years ago now.
• 01:31 And I will say, it took people a little while to get used to it,
• 01:35 because previously, you would access your commands using menu drop-downs.
• 01:40 In 2007, we switched to the ribbon, which now runs horizontally across the screen.
• 01:44 And the ribbon contains different tabs.
• 01:46 So you can see that currently, I'm clicked on the Home tab.
• 01:50 We also have an Insert tab, Draw, Design, Transitions, so on, and so forth.
• 01:56 And on each of these tabs, we have a number of different groups, and
• 02:00 within those groups, we have our commands.
• 02:04 The first group is called Clipboard, the second group called Slides, and
• 02:08 we have Font, Paragraph, Drawing, Editing, Voice, and Designer.
• 02:12 And within each of those groups, we have different commands,
• 02:16 that we can click on to execute an action.
• 02:18 And what you might notice is, at the moment, all of my commands are grayed out.
• 02:23 And that's because I don't have a document open right now.
• 02:26 So I can't actually utilize any of these commands until I have something to
• 02:30 work with.
• 02:31 So let's do that first, let's open up a document.
• 02:34 And as soon as I do, you should see a lot of these commands now become active.
• 02:39 So I'm going to jump up to File, and I'm just going to open a blank presentation.
• 02:44 And there we go, we now have a few more elements appear on the screen.
• 02:47 And if you look at my Home ribbon, you can see that more commands are now active.
• 02:53 Now, the ones that are still inactive,
• 02:55 that just means that they're not currently useful to me at this moment in time.
• 02:59 So for some of these, it requires me to click on something within my presentation
• 03:04 in order for those buttons to become active.
• 03:07 And you can see, if I click on that first text box,
• 03:10 all of my font commands are now active.
• 03:12 So just be aware of that, they'll change depending on what you're doing.
• 03:16 Now that I have something open, you'll see on the left-hand side,
• 03:20 I have the thumbnail pane, and this is going to show me my slides.
• 03:24 So as I start to add more slides, I can see those slides build.
• 03:28 And I can use these to switch between my different slides and work on them.
• 03:32 And if you don't like this pane or you want to minimize it,
• 03:36 you can hover over the divider and just drag in to minimize that down.
• 03:40 Which gives you a little bit more real estate on the screen
• 03:44 where you can design your slides.
• 03:46 Now I in general tend to have this open all of the time.
• 03:49 All the way over on the right-hand side, we have the Design Ideas pane.
• 03:54 I'm going to talk about this a little more later on.
• 03:57 But what you'll find is that when you create a new document, whether it's
• 04:01 a blank one or from a template, or even if you insert a picture, this Design Ideas
• 04:07 pane is going to pop up if you have it enabled within your PowerPoint options.
• 04:11 And it's there just to help you give you somewhere to start when it comes to
• 04:15 designing your slides.
• 04:17 Now for the time being, I'm going to close this design pane down by clicking on
• 04:21 the cross in the top right-hand corner.
• 04:23 And then finally, running all the way across the bottom of our screen,
• 04:27 we have our status bar.
• 04:29 And the status bar shows us useful information as we're working
• 04:32 in PowerPoint.
• 04:33 So on the left-hand side, you can see that mine says Slide 1 of 1.
• 04:37 It's telling me that my language is English United States.
• 04:41 And then over on the right-hand side, I have some options for
• 04:45 switching between different PowerPoint views, and also a zoom slider.
• 04:50 Now, this terminology might not mean a great deal to you at the moment.
• 04:53 But trust me, we're going to get into all of this and
• 04:56 what these things do as we go through this course.
• 04:59 One thing I will say is that you can customize this status bar so
• 05:03 that it shows information that's useful to you.
• 05:07 So if I right-click my mouse on the status bar, you'll see I get a little
• 05:11 menu pop-up, and certain items in this menu have ticks next to them.
• 05:16 So that means they are enabled, and it means that that information is going to
• 05:20 display on my status bar when I start working.
• 05:23 So for example, at the bottom of this list,
• 05:25 you can see I have zoom slider, zoom, and zoom to fit ticked.
• 05:29 And if you look over on the right-hand side of the status bar,
• 05:32 I have those icons sitting there.
• 05:34 And we're going to dip in and out and customize this status bar as we go.
• 05:38 For the time being, I'm fairly happy with what I have toggled on just there.
• 05:42 So the final thing I'm going to do here before we leave this lesson and
• 05:45 move on to the next one is, I'm going to save this PowerPoint presentation.
• 05:48 Because currently, it just has the default name of Presentation 1.
• 05:53 So let's jump up to File and into the backstage area, let's select Save As.
• 05:59 I'm going to browse for a folder to save this file into, and
• 06:04 I'm just going to name this My First Presentation.
• 06:08 I'm saving it as a regular PowerPoint file,
• 06:11 the file extension is .pptx, and click on Save.
• 06:15 And now if you take a look in the title bar at the top,
• 06:18 it's reflecting its new name.
• 06:20 So that's a very quick whistlestop tour of the PowerPoint interface.
• 06:24 Please join me in the next lesson where we're going to talk more about
• 06:27 the Quick Access toolbar.
• 06:28 And I'm going to show you how you can increase your efficiency by
• 06:31 adding commands that you use frequently.

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PowerPoint Slide Elements: Best Practices and Tips

• December 27, 2022
• 13 Comments

The Learning Hour* – Week 11 : PowerPoint Slide Elements

Posted by  Ashish Agarwal

A PowerPoint slide is the fundamental building block of a Presentation. A PowerPoint presentation is simply a collection of different slides arranged in a logical manner to effectively communicate a story.

So then, what are the main components of building a slide?  We look at the 5 most important elements which needs to be there on any slide.

1.  Slide Title

Always start creating a powerpoint slide with the Slide Title. Think of it as the key message or insight that you would like to present on the slide. Ideally , there should be only 1 main message on each slide. The slide title should be crisp and concise to effectively communicate the key message. It should be written in a powerful way such that the audience understands the message without having to read the main content of the slide. The slide title should present the slide synthesis of the main so what from the content on the slide. Remember, not a summary regurgitating the same facts which are on the slide but helping the audience move from facts to the most important so what from that single slide.

2. Charts/Graphs

There are a number of data related PowerPoint charts that is in-built to represent numerical information. Use them extensively to illustrate numbers and quantitative information. You can choose from a number of chart options like Line Chart, Pie Chart, Waterfall chart, Bubble Chart, etc. Be careful to use the right chart for the right data. Using the right charts for financial data helps to enhance the visual communication of the powerpoint slide. 

3. TEXT 

Gone are the days where you would use a PowerPoint slide to put lots of text on it. No one reads those slides anymore. Instead, use TEXT comments sparingly to only indicate the main point. Choose a big font size of at least 24 to ensure your audience can easily read the slides. If you must use bullets, not more than 3-5 bullets on a slide. You can also use Smart-Arts to represent text based information on the slide. Ensure you follow basic presentation tips that will make the reader engaged with reading the information on your slide.

4. Images/Icons

Use Images and Icons to reinforce a point and not just to jazz up the powerpoint slide. Images are a great way to capture the attention and effectively communicate with the audience. There are a number of websites that allow you to download high quality images and icons. So, make the most of them. Sometimes you many need a paid subscription to access these images but there are lots of free websites as well that will allow you stock images for free. 

5. Footnotes/Source:

Be sure to add any important footnotes or source on the slide. Footnotes and source complete a slide with any extra information that the audience should be aware of. If there is a source of information that you would want to call out on a slide, footnotes are the best place to put it. They serve to improve the authenticity of the presentation with the right attribution provided.

So as you can see, the above 5 elements are extremely crucial to make a slide in PowerPoint. These 5 elements are part of any slide and if we do each of them well, the overall slide looks compelling and helps us to convey the right piece of information to the audience.

What else do you use? Put your thoughts in the comments below.

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13 thoughts on “powerpoint slide elements: best practices and tips”.

[…] it much more difficult for you to find specific data once you have it alphabetized. – Use conditional formatting to help highlight certain data – For example, if you track your expenses in Excel, you might […]

[…] Enhanced production value such as superior cinematography, crisp audio-engaging visuals on PowerPoint slides, and polished editing, can elevate the viewer’s experience, making your content more […]

[…] can now add any typeface that you own as an external font so that it can be used anywhere in your PowerPoint slides. Here’s […]

[…] are the most basic elements of a flowchart. These are the square boxes, arrows, circles, and other basic shapes that are used to create […]

[…] font from Times New Roman to something a little more interesting, for example, will make your whole presentation look a lot more […]

[…] example, if you have a PowerPoint slide about your company’s vision, it would be helpful to summarize what your business is trying to […]

[…] is not an easy affair.As a financial analyst, one needs to master the art of tactfully playing with powerpoint slide elements to represent his/her thoughts beautifully through the PowerPoint Presentation. Designing a […]

[…] animations are used to introduce objects onto a PowerPoint slide . To apply Entrance Animation to an object, first select the object. Then click the Animations Tab. […]

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Unit 1 Use a Theme Template and Slide Layouts to Create a Presentation

2 Getting to Know PowerPoint

Topics include:, powerpoint 2010, powerpoint help system, the powerpoint window.

PowerPoint 2010 is a complete presentation graphics program that allows you to produce professional looking presentations.

Slides can be created and displayed as a slide show on your computer, video projector, or on the Internet. Information from a PowerPoint presentation can be printed in a handout form or as transparencies.

PowerPoint allows for data to be entered and edited quickly and efficiently. To make changes to the presentation you can edit a slide rather than recreate the presentation. You can also import information from spreadsheets, databases, and word-processing files.

Open PowerPoint by clicking the Start button on the Windows Taskbar, point to Programs, go to Microsoft Office and then click Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010.

The PowerPoint window contains many elements that are similar to other Microsoft Office programs. These elements include the Office button, Quick Access toolbar, Title bar, Tabs, scroll bars and a Status bar.

Quick access toolbar contains buttons for commonly-used commands.

Title bar indicates the software, the name of the presentation that is open, minimize, maximize, and close buttons.

Tabs contain commands that are pided into related tasks called groups.

Ribbon is the area containing the tabs.

Outline/Slides tab displays the presentation text in the form of an outline. Outline tab is used to organize and develop the content of your presentation. This tab enables you to move slides and text by dragging selected material. Slide tab displays the slides of your presentation as small images. This view allows easy navigation through slides.

Slide pane contains the current slide in your presentation. You can use the vertical scroll bar to view other slides in the presentation.

Notes pane is located below the slide pane and is used to type reference notes. The notes can be printed, then referenced when making the presentation.

View area is located at the right hand bottom of the screen. It contains buttons that allow the ability to switch between PowerPoint views. The first view button allows you to view slides in normal view, the second is called the slide sorter view, the third is called the reader view and the fourth is called the slide show view. This area also contains the zoom feature.

Status bar is located at the bottom of the PowerPoint window, it shows messages and information about the view, such as the slide number and the current theme template used.

Type a topic in the search textbox and click on search. A list of topics that match key words in your topic will display in the Search Results task pane. Click on the topic that interests you.

Presentation Software Copyright © 2013 by bpayne is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Three Essential Components of PowerPoint Design

There are three vital components to effective PowerPoint design: Structure, Economy and Emphasis. Learn how they work together to produce powerful, effective slides resulting in more successful meeting communications with eSlide Design Training.

1. Structure Every slide that leaves our studio leaves with good structure, and the most important aspect of structure is consistency. When slides have consistency (of fonts, colors, and position of content) they can do a better job of building a connection with your audience.  Visually consistent information gives the impression of being part of a single story rather than a series of individual points. And, because your audience doesn’t need to interpret every page individually, they can better focus on your message. At eSlide, before we start building slides we take the time to create a good template.  This makes it easier to achieve visual consistency – even when multiple authors are working on independent sections of slides.

Good structure often results from logical and precise visual alignment. Good alignment helps to create a feeling of order on the page and organize information by grouping relevant items together. This can reduce the visual effort required to understand your information, which means your audience will more easily understand you. One eSlide design tip for ensuring correct alignment is to use PowerPoint guides.

Balance is a close cousin to alignment and refers to how things are arranged on the page. Symmetrical balance means that information is roughly equal on both sides of the page, which helps it look organized and clear. Asymmetrical balance means things are uneven and can add a feeling of direction to a slide to help to focus viewer’s eyes on important information.

2. Economy After Structure the next critical PowerPoint design principle is Economy, which is based on the idea that “less is more”. A large display of data may be appropriate for a printed report but can be overwhelming and ineffective as a slide. For presentations it’s best to edit your information so that what remains can be more effective. Remember, PowerPoint slides are meant to be a visual accompaniment to a presenter’s verbal explanation – so some details can be removed from the slides and saved for the voice-over. If you cannot reduce the amount of content, at least divide it among several slides. It is far easier for an audience to remain attentive when you explain a topic over several slides, rather than talking to a single slide for 15 minutes.

3. Emphasis Once you have created a PowerPoint slide presentation with good Structure and Economy, the final step is Emphasis. This is an important aspect of good PowerPoint design because it helps critical information stand out. Through the intentional use of slide design elements like color, size or even motion, you can help guide your audience’s attention to your key points – which are the things you want them to walk away remembering.

To learn more details about using Structure, Economy, and Emphasis to create an effective PowerPoint slide presentation, watch video (#2) above.

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What are the main components of PowerPoint?

Asked by Karthik 25/12/2023 Last Modified   19 Jan

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Pooja R. Jain

As an experienced tutor specializing in Microsoft Excel Training Coaching and a dedicated member of UrbanPro.com, I am thrilled to guide you through the main components of PowerPoint. These essential elements form the backbone of creating compelling presentations.

Main Components of PowerPoint - A Comprehensive Guide:

• Slides serve as the foundation of your presentation, containing content such as text, images, charts, and more.
• UrbanPro's Microsoft Excel Training Coaching covers in-depth techniques for creating visually appealing and informative slides.

2. Text Boxes:

• Text boxes allow you to input and format text within a slide.
• Microsoft Excel Training Coaching on UrbanPro ensures you master text manipulation for effective communication.

3. Images and Graphics:

• Integrating images and graphics enhances the visual appeal of your presentation.
• UrbanPro's coaching emphasizes the strategic use of visuals in Microsoft Excel to convey information effectively.

4. Charts and Graphs:

• PowerPoint provides tools for creating dynamic charts and graphs to visualize data.
• Explore these features through Microsoft Excel Training Coaching on UrbanPro for impactful data representation.

5. Transitions and Animations:

• Transitions control the movement between slides, while animations add dynamic elements to individual elements on a slide.
• UrbanPro's coaching ensures you understand and apply these features for engaging presentations.

6. Speaker Notes:

• Speaker notes provide additional information or cues for the presenter and are not visible to the audience.
• Learn effective use of speaker notes in your presentations with Microsoft Excel Training Coaching on UrbanPro.

7. Slide Master:

• The Slide Master allows for consistent formatting across all slides.
• UrbanPro's coaching ensures you grasp the Slide Master functionality for a polished presentation.

8. Audio and Video Integration:

• PowerPoint enables the embedding of audio and video files for multimedia-rich presentations.
• Explore these capabilities through Microsoft Excel Training Coaching on UrbanPro for dynamic content inclusion.

Benefits of UrbanPro for Microsoft Excel Training Coaching:

1. Expert Tutors:

• UrbanPro connects learners with experienced tutors specializing in Microsoft Excel Training Coaching, ensuring thorough guidance on PowerPoint components.

2. Tailored Coaching:

• Receive personalized coaching to delve into specific PowerPoint components, optimizing your presentation skills.

3. Online Coaching Convenience:

• Explore the flexibility of online coaching for Microsoft Excel Training, covering PowerPoint components in a virtual learning environment.

4. Trusted Learning Platform:

• UrbanPro verifies the credentials of tutors, providing a secure environment for skill enhancement.

Conclusion: Understanding the main components of PowerPoint is key to creating impactful presentations. With Microsoft Excel Training Coaching on UrbanPro, you gain comprehensive insights into each element, ensuring your proficiency in crafting engaging and effective slideshows. Elevate your PowerPoint skills with UrbanPro and make your presentations truly stand out!

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13 Things to Include in Your Next PowerPoint Presentation

Table of Contents

When putting together a presentation or deck for a big meeting, including a visual component is key. Creating and sharing a PowerPoint presentation can help you drive home key concepts with the support of text, images, graphs and tables and other multimedia elements. Having a tangible and concrete slide deck can also anchor you while also keeping your audience engaged, which can help increase your confidence as a presenter, especially if you aren’t the most extroverted person in the room.

Of course, developing an effective PowerPoint requires plenty of consideration, from determining the structure and design to navigating the technical aspects. To help, here are 13 things to include in your next PowerPoint as well as key dos and don’ts to ensure your presentation goes off without a hitch.

>> Learn More: 5 Types of Presentations Every CEO Needs to Have

What to include in your PowerPoint presentation

A strong PowerPoint presentation should include the following components.

1. Who you are

When presenting to an unfamiliar audience — for example, if you’re speaking at an academic conference or giving a pitch to investors — it’s crucial to introduce yourself. Establish credibility and trust by briefly discussing your line of work, past accomplishments or related projects you have worked on.

2. Your logo

While you may have included your logo in your introduction, you can also put it on each slide of the presentation. This helps your brand “stick” and can be particularly effective when speaking about or on behalf of your company. [Read more about creating a small business marketing plan .]

3. An agenda

Next, write an agenda slide. Not only does this set expectations for your audience and maintain the flow of the presentation, but it can also keep you on track in both drafting and presenting your information.

4. A clear roadmap

In addition to establishing an agenda early on, you can also break down that agenda further with a clear roadmap for your presentation, which is especially helpful for longer PowerPoints with multiple sections. Don’t be afraid to return to the roadmap as needed to allow your audience to follow along better.

5. Information not on your slides

Your PowerPoint slide deck is designed to supplement and enhance your oral presentation, not replace it. Ensure your verbally-presented information adds value by including information that is not on your slides. Keep written text to a minimum, focusing on key words and main ideas. You can expand on these concepts in greater detail as you present.

6. Engaging visuals

The primary benefit of a PowerPoint is the ability to add visuals. In addition to any text on-slide and your verbal presentation content, enhance your message with engaging visual elements, such as graphs and infographics. Relying less on text helps ensure the focus remains on you, the presenter, while also illustrating your key takeaways effectively.

7. Updated data

There’s nothing wrong with reusing or repurposing a slide deck you’ve already created — as long as you keep everything current. If your PowerPoint includes statistics, industry trends , information on your business or other data, check every number and update as necessary before presenting.

8. The answer to ‘so what?’

Even if you include the most compelling and clear information in your presentation, it won’t make an impact if your audience doesn’t understand the bigger picture. Aim to answer the unspoken question of “so what?” by clarifying why the message is important and why it is relevant to your listeners.

9. Key takeaways

Your key takeaways are arguably the most important part of your presentation. Highlight these main points at the end of your PowerPoint ― or, for longer presentations, at the end of each section ― to help your audience remember them. Generating your key takeaways in the outlining stage can also help you structure your slide content.

10. Backup slides

Because a presentation is designed to be clear and concise, you may not always have the time or opportunity to go in-depth on certain topics or audience questions. Having backup slides with additional information can encourage further audience understanding — without letting the presentation veer off-track or run over time.

11. An objection slide

Depending on your presentation topic, your audience may have objections. Get ahead of these objections by dedicating a section to it in your PowerPoint. Give people the opportunity to raise any concerns and address known or anticipated issues directly.

12. A call-to-action slide

Consider what you want your audience to do after listening to your presentation. Are there specific actions to take, ideas to consider or a person to contact? Lay this out for your audience in a call-to-action slide.

13. Contact information

Display your contact information on the last slide to encourage your audience to reach out to you. They will likely appreciate the opportunity to reach out to you should they wish to discuss further and you may also make a valuable connection in the process. [Read more about how to improve customer service for e-commerce sites .]

Dos and don’ts of PowerPoint presentations

If you’re planning to use PowerPoint as a business tool, here are some key dos and don’ts to keep in mind:

• Do use speaker notes to your advantage: While your slides should be relatively clutter-free and light on text, you can include speaker notes at the bottom of the page that are only visible to you, the presenter. Use this section to include any facts, examples or questions you want to highlight in the presentation.
• Do keep your slide backgrounds subtle and consistent: Selecting a background or color scheme that’s too bold or busy can make your presentation hard on the eyes. Ensures sufficient visual contrast between the background and text colors so you and your audience can see it clearly. Microsoft has developed several built-in themes with this visual contrast in mind, though you can also create your own template if you have an eye for design.
• Do have a backup plan: Technology can fail us at the most inopportune times. Should the PowerPoint or your computer have issues, you’ll want to have a backup of your presentation on a memory stick, a CD or on the cloud. In the worst-case scenario, the tech won’t work and you won’t have any visuals to present. If that happens, take a deep breath, then deliver your presentation with a focus on the message. [Related article: Top 10 Cloud Storage Services for Business ]
• Don’t read your PowerPoint word for word: When presenting, your goal is to engage your audience and maintain their attention throughout. Reciting information verbatim from your slides can limit your connection with your audience and hurt your ability to “read the room.” Use the PowerPoint to guide and illustrate as needed but let you and your verbal presentation be the focus.
• Don’t go overboard on transitions and effects: It can be tempting to add slide transitions and sound effects for some visual excitement. However, these special effects rarely enhance your message and can be distracting or even come off as “gimmicky.” Additionally, PowerPoints with effects tend to run more slowly than those without, particularly if you’re presenting on a different computer than the one used to create the slide deck.
• Don’t include too many slides or too much information: People should not spend the entirety of your presentation reading, nor should there be so much information that they become overwhelmed and tune out altogether. Limit the number of slides in your presentation, as well as the amount of text on any given slide. Use your oral presentation to expand on key points and engage with your audience.

Scott Gerber contributed to this article.

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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.

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.

Other common presentation structures

The above was a description of a basic presentation, here are some more specific presentation layouts:

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.

PowerPoint Tips Blog

Helping you with presenting, PowerPoint, and speaking

3 Components of an Effective Presentation

December 6, 2000 by Ellen Finkelstein 8 Comments

An effective presentation must get three components right:

Each of these components has to be on the mark and they all have to work together, as well.

When writing your content , decide on two or three main points and make sure that everything else that you write leads to those points. Make your content logical, simple, and clear. Figure out what your audience needs and wants to know and tailor your content for the audience.

Regarding design , your number one concern is legibility. Don’t put too much text on a slide and keep it large enough to read easily. The text color should contrast highly with the background color. Then, make sure that your design complements your content. Your background and images shouldn’t detract from the content. Images should work to clarify text. The layout and size of text should bring important points to the fore.

Don’t forget a winning delivery . Engaging your audience with eye contact and your overall energy is important. Know your main points and emphasize them with your voice and the amount of time you spend on them. Two’s a party; three’s a crowd, they say. If you just read your slides, you’re putting PowerPoint between you and the audience and they’ll resent it. Instead, use the slides only as support for your presentation.

In many cases, a presentation is a collaborative effort and different people write the content, design the presentation, and deliver it. In this case, all parties involved need to communicate with each other. For example, the writer needs to tell the designer and the deliverer which points are most important, so they can emphasize those points properly. Using these guidelines, you’ll be well on the way to an effective presentation.

Learn easy principles and techniques that designers use. “Slide Design for Non-Designers” shows you, step-by-step, how to easily get the results you want. Plus bonus theme, template,   sample slides, and 5 short video tutorials to make implementing the principles easy.Updated for PowerPoint 2016/365. Learn more at http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/pptblog/slide-design-for-non-designers/

Related posts:

• How to design more effective slides with the Tell ‘n’ Show(SM) method
• Create effective graphs/charts
• Slide design rules for effective presentations
• What makes a successful sales presentation?

8 Leave a Reply

I beleive my presentation has to much text and irrevolent information. I will delete it and start over.

I used this site to finish my powerpoint softwear class project got an A! thanks agine!

Glad to hear that!

Beautifully written! I aced my class because of the tips I received from this blog. Wow! You made life better for me. 🙂

Sincerely, Rusti Gayle

I THOUGHT THE INFORMATION WAS VERY USEFUL ON GIVING PRESENTATION.IT ALMOST COMPARES TO WRITING ESSAY WITH THE THREE COMPONENTS INTRODUCTION,BODY,CONCLUSION.WHEN THE TIME COMES FOR ME TO GIVE A PRE SENTATION I WILL REMEMBER THE POWER POINTS IN THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE.

Hi, Interesting article, I would like to add to “An effective presentation must get three components right…” that a presentation has to have an introduction, main and conclusion. What do you think? See: http://www.quickslide-powerpoint.com/en/blog/golden-thread-how-well-structured-presentation-helps-you-hold-your-audience Tobias

[…] PowerPoint Tips: 3 Components of an Effective Presentation – An effective presentation must get three components right: Content; Design; Delivery; Each of these components has to be on the mark and they all have to work … […]

was very helpful

Different Parts of Powerpoint Window And Its Functions

This tutorial will provide a complete guide to the different parts of the PowerPoint window and its functions .

If you like these types of tutorials, we also have identifying different parts of a Microsoft Word window and different parts of an Excel window with its functions.

Since PowerPoint is a powerful tool for presentations. Apparently, it’s essential to know all its different parts and functions.

Now, let’s get started…

What is a PPT?

PPT stands for PowerPoint , which is a presentation software developed by Microsoft and used for creating dynamic slide presentations. It is widely used for creating slideshows for business and educational purposes.

The software is part of the Microsoft Office suite and allows users to add text, images, shapes, charts, and other elements to create visually appealing and engaging presentations.

Identifying Different Parts of Powerpoint Window

Understanding and identifying parts of the PowerPoint window will allow you to effectively navigate and use the software to create professional presentations.

The Microsoft PowerPoint window has several key components. Hence, take a look at the labeled parts of the PowerPoint window below as we tackle the definitions and functions as we go along.

The Ribbon is the primary interface for accessing tools and commands in PowerPoint. It consists of the following components.

• Tabs − They are located at the top section below the title bar and contain groups of related commands. Specifically, it includes File, Home, Insert, Design, Transitions, Animation, Slide Show, Review, View, and Help menus.
• Groups − Groups are the combination of organized related commands. Each group name appears below the group section.
• Commands − They are the predefined instructions of the executable program. It exists in the form of Icons in the ribbon, for instance, a group of Slides that contains New Slide, Layout, Reset, Section , etc.

Quick Access Toolbar

This Quick Access Toolbar is a customizable toolbar that provides quick access to frequently used commands.

This File menu bar performs file related operations such as creating a new presentation, opening an existing file, save, save as, printing the file, and so on.

The header or title bar of the presentation is located at the top of the window. It presents the name of the active presentation.

This is the main area of the PowerPoint window where slides are displayed and edited.

The Slide thumbnail pane is a column on the left corner of the PowerPoint window that displays small images of the slides in the presentation. You can use the thumbnail pane to quickly navigate to different slides in the presentation.

Slide Views Buttons

They are the four view buttons on the left of Zoom control contain a series of icons. It allows you to change the PowerPoint views. 

• Normal view − This is the presentation’s normal view, with the slide sheet on the right and slide thumbnails on the left. This view allows you to select and rearrange the working slides.
• Slide Sorter view − It shows all of the slides in a tabular format. Only the slides can be arranged in this view. 
• Reading View −This window will allow you to carefully read the slide. You cannot, however, make any changes.
• Slide Show View − This displays all of the slides, as well as any animations and sounds you’ve added to the presentation.

This is a section below the slide area where you can add notes to accompany each slide. The notes are not visible during the presentation, but they can be printed as a speaker’s guide.

This is the status bar at the bottom of the screen of the PowerPoint window that displays information about the current slide, such as the page number and slide status.

Parts of PowerPoint Presentation

A Microsoft PowerPoint presentation typically has several key components, including:

• Title Slide : This is the first slide in the presentation and usually includes the presentation title, the name of the presenter, and the date.
• Introduction Slides : These slides provide an overview of the presentation topic, including its purpose, main points, and structure.
• Body Slides : These slides contain the main content of the presentation and can include text, images, charts, tables, graphs, and other visual elements.
• Transition Slides : These slides are used to connect different sections of the presentation and help to maintain a flow between different parts of the presentation.
• Conclusion Slides : These slides summarize the key points of the presentation, provide closing remarks, and can include a call to action.
• End Slides : These slides can include a final thank you message, contact information, or other closing elements.
• Layout Slides : These slides serve as templates for different types of content and can be customized to match the overall look and feel of the presentation.

In addition to these core components, PowerPoint also includes a range of formatting and design tools , such as themes , custom layouts , and multimedia elements , which can be used to enhance the visual appeal of the presentation.

In conclusion, the different parts of the PowerPoint window and their functions are essential in creating effective and engaging presentations. From the PowerPoint interface to working with slides, text, images, and media, there is a lot to learn about using PowerPoint.

However, with a little bit of practice and a comprehensive understanding of its different parts and functions, you’ll be creating professional-quality presentations in no time!

Thank you for reading. And for more educational articles feel free to visit our website.

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What is PowerPoint: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

What is PowerPoint? This blog provides the essence of PowerPoint, a versatile presentation software by Microsoft. Discover its features, uses, and the art of crafting compelling slideshows. Whether you're a student, professional, or simply curious, explore the power of PowerPoint and learn how to create impactful presentations effortlessly.

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According to Glassdoor , a PowerPoint designer's average salary in the UK is about £37,811 annually. In this blog, you will learn What is PowerPoint, its key features, its benefits, and how to use it, as well as learn some tips for creating effective presentations.   

Table of contents       

1)  What is PowerPoint?  

2)  Understanding the PowerPoint Interface  

3)  Key Features of PowerPoint 

4)  How to use PowerPoint to create a presentation? 

5)  Benefits of PowerPoint  

6)  Tips for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations 

7)  Conclusion      

What is PowerPoint?   

PowerPoint is a versatile and popular presentation software developed by Microsoft (MS). It is a part of the Microsoft Office Suite and offers various features and tools to create visually appealing and engaging presentations. MS PowerPoint allows users to combine text, graphics, multimedia elements, and animations to convey information effectively .   

Evolution of PowerPoint   

Understanding the PowerPoint Interface   

The PowerPoint interface provides a user-friendly environment for creating and editing presentations. Familiarising yourself with its essential components will help you navigate the software efficiently. Here's a breakdown of the MS PowerPoint interface:   

1)  Ribbon : The Ribbon is located at the top of the MS PowerPoint window and consists of multiple tabs, such as Home, Insert, Design, Transitions, and more.    

2) Slides pane : The Slides pane is on the left side of the PowerPoint window. It displays thumbnail images of your presentation slides, allowing you to navigate and rearrange them easily. You can add, delete, duplicate, or hide slides from this pane.   

3)   Notes pane : The Notes pane is located below the Slides pane. It provides space for adding speaker notes or additional information related to each slide.    

4)  Slide area : The Slide area occupies the central part of the PowerPoint window. It displays the selected slide, where you can add and arrange content such as text, images, charts, and multimedia elements .    

5)  Task panes : Task panes are additional panels on the PowerPoint window's right side. They offer various functionalities such as formatting options, slide layouts, animations, etc. Task panes can be opened or closed based on your specific needs.   

Understanding the MS PowerPoint interface will help you navigate the software effectively and make the most of its features. Whether you are creating slides, adding content, or applying formatting, having a good grasp of the interface ensures a smooth and productive experience .  

Key Features of PowerPoint  

When it comes to creating captivating and professional presentations, MS PowerPoint stands out as versatile and feature-rich software. Its array of tools and functionalities enables users to bring their imagination and ideas to life. Moreover, it also helps engage their audience effectively .    

1) Slide Templates : PowerPoint provides a collection of pre-designed templates that make it easy to create visually appealing slides.   

2)  Slide Master : The Slide Master feature allows users to define the overall layout, font styles, and colour scheme for the entire presentation .   

3)  Animations and transitions : PowerPoint offers various animation effects and slide transitions to add visual interest and captivate the audience .   

4)  Multimedia integration : Users can embed images, videos, and audio files directly into their presentations, enhancing the overall impact .   

5)   Collaboration tools : MS PowerPoint allows multiple users to work on a presentation simultaneously, making it ideal for team projects and remote collaboration .   

6) Presenter View : The Presenter View feature gives presenters access to speaker notes, a timer, and a preview of upcoming slides, enabling a seamless presentation experience .   

These features collectively contribute to PowerPoint's versatility and make it a powerful tool for developing engaging and impactful presentations.  

How to use PowerPoint to create a presentation?   

Creating a presentation in PowerPoint is a straightforward process. Whether it's simple animations or explainer videos learning H ow to use PowerPoint is an extremely valuable skill. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to create a presentation:   

1)  Launch PowerPoint and choose a template or start with a blank slide. 

2)  Add slides by clicking "New Slide" or using the shortcut key (Ctrl + M). 

3) Customise slide content by entering text and inserting visuals.  

4)  Rearrange slides for a logical flow by dragging them in the slide navigation pane.  

5)  Apply slide transitions for visual effects in the "Transitions" tab.  

6)  Add animations to objects in the "Animations" tab.  

7)  Preview your presentation by clicking "Slide Show".   

8)  Save your presentation and choose a format (.pptx or .pdf).  

9)  Share your presentation via email, cloud storage, or collaboration tools.   

By following these steps, you can create a well-structured and visually appealing presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint. Remember to keep your content concise, use engaging visuals, and practice your presentation skills to deliver an impactful presentation .   

Benefits of PowerPoint   

1) Visual appeal : Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to create visually appealing presentations with its wide range of design tools and features. You can use templates, themes, and customisable layouts to make your slides visually engaging and professional .   

2)  Easy to use : PowerPoint has a user-friendly interface, making it accessible to users of all levels. The intuitive tools and straightforward navigation make it easy to create, edit, and deliver presentations efficiently .   

3)   Flexibility : PowerPoint provides flexibility in terms of content creation. You can include various types of content, such as text, images, charts, graphs, videos, and audio files, to enhance your message and engage your audience effectively.   

4)   Organisation and structure : PowerPoint offers features to help you organise and structure your content. You can create multiple slides, use slide masters for consistent formatting, and arrange the sequence of slides to create a logical flow .   

5)  Presenter tools : PowerPoint includes built-in presenter tools that aid in delivering presentations smoothly. You can use presenter view to see your notes and upcoming slides while your audience sees only the presentation. Additionally, features like slide transitions and animations add visual interest and help you control the flow of information .   

6)  Collaboration and sharing : PowerPoint allows for easy collaboration and sharing of presentations. Several users can simultaneously work on the same presentation, making it convenient for team projects. You can also share your presentations via email, cloud storage, or online platforms, ensuring easy access for viewers .   

7)   Integration with other tools : PowerPoint can seamlessly integrate with other Microsoft Office applications, such as Word and Excel. You can import data and charts from Excel or copy and paste content between different Office applications, saving time and effort .  

8)   Presenter-audience interaction : PowerPoint provides features that facilitate interaction between the presenter and the audience. You can include interactive elements like hyperlinks, buttons, and quizzes to engage your audience and make your presentations more dynamic.   

9)   Portable and accessible : PowerPoint presentations can be saved in various formats, such as .pptx or .pdf, making them easily accessible on different devices. This portability allows you to deliver presentations on laptops, tablets, or even projectors without compatibility issues .   

10)  Time and effort savings : PowerPoint simplifies the process of creating presentations, saving you time and effort. The pre-designed templates, slide layouts, and formatting options enable you to create professional-looking presentations efficiently .   

Learn how to create customised slide shows in MS PowerPoint with our Microsoft PowerPoint MO300 Training .    

Tips for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations   

1) Simplicity is key : Keep your slides clean and uncluttered. Use concise bullet points and simple visuals to convey your message effectively .   

2)  Visuals matter : Incorporate relevant, high-quality visuals such as images, charts, and diagrams to enhance understanding and engagement .   

3)  Limit text : Avoid overwhelming your audience with excessive text on slides. Use brief phrases or keywords to communicate key points .   

4)  Choose legible fonts : Opt for clear and readable fonts that are easy to read, even from a distance. Maintain consistency in font styles throughout your presentation .   

5)  Consistent design : Maintain a consistent design theme, including colours, fonts, and layout, to create a visually appealing and professional presentation.   

6)  Emphasise important points : Use visual hierarchy techniques, such as font size, colour, and formatting, to draw attention to essential information .   

7)  Use transitions and animations sparingly : Incorporate slide transitions and animations thoughtfully, focusing on enhancing content and transitions without distracting the audience .   

8)  S lide notes for guidance : Utilise the slide notes feature to include additional details, explanations, or reminders for a well-prepared and confident presentation.   

9)  Practice and time yourself : Rehearse your presentation to ensure smooth delivery and stay within the allocated time. Practice helps you refine your content and delivery.   

10)  Engage the audience : Encourage audience participation through interactive elements, questions, or discussions to foster engagement and make your presentation more memorable.   

By implementing these tips, you can create effective MS PowerPoint presentations that capture attention, communicate information clearly, and engage your audience effectively.  

Conclusion      

We hope this blog has helped you understand What is PowerPoint and how it can help you. It offers powerful features with a user-friendly interface for creating visually appealing presentations. With its tools for organising information, incorporating text and visuals, and delivering impactful content, PowerPoint is a valuable tool for beginners to communicate their ideas effectively .   

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What are the Main Features of Microsoft PowerPoint?

By: Author Shrot Katewa

There are a lot of presentation programs out there. With all the options available, it can become rather tough to choose which is best for you. That is why the features of any software are so important. It can determine whether or not you use the software. With that being said, what are the features of Microsoft PowerPoint?

The most popular features of Microsoft PowerPoint are as follows: Animations, designs, being able to add images and videos, and also editing those images and videos. With PowerPoint, you can use all the features available to make presentations that really stand out and could help you boost your career or sign a client.

In this article, we are going to not only mention the main features of PowerPoint, but we are also going to share with you some of the most useful features of PowerPoint. Plus, we are going to talk a little bit about each of them.

So, if you have ever wondered what features PowerPoint has or what certain features are meant for and what they do, you have come to the right place. For everything that you need to know, keep reading.

A Quick Note Before We Begin – if you want to make jaw-dropping presentations, I would recommend using one of these Presentation Designs . The best part is – it is only $16.5 a month, but you get to download and use as many presentation designs as you like! I personally use it from time-to-time, and it makes my task of making beautiful presentations really quick and easy!

1. PowerPoint Design Ideas

First on this list and one of my favorite features of PowerPoint is the “ Design Ideas “. It can be found in the “ Design ” tab in PowerPoint. Once you are there you will see two separate sections. One section will be a theme and the other will be a different variant of that theme. These themes are for each slide.

PowerPoint’s Design Ideas automatically and instantly provides you will several design options for a particular slide based on the content that is present on the slide.

Design Ideas can help you save a good amount of time and make your slides look good. It is a great feature for those who perhaps want to improve the design of the slides but are not really great at creating designs.

It doesn’t always give the perfect design option, and sometimes you do need to play around with it a little bit to get a good design. But, most of the time, it doesn’t get the job done.

Design Ideas is a great feature that is unique to Microsoft PowerPoint and something that most other presentation programs do not have. But, other unique features presented in this article give a great advantage when using PowerPoint !

2. Animations

Microsoft PowerPoint animations allow you to emphasize certain points of your current slide. There are primarily 3 categories of animations in PowerPoint. You can select any object in your slide and animate it with these animations:

• Entrance Animation
• Emphasis Animation
• Exit Animations

Each animation category provides you with a huge list of additional options to choose from.

As the name suggests, entrance animation is a type of animation that will make a shape, text or any other element appear on a slide. Likewise, an exit animation can be applied when you want a certain element to disappear from the slide.

Note – If you are on the fence but interested in getting PowerPoint, check out this limited-time deal to get Office 365 1-year subscription for the lowest price on Amazon!

Emphasis animation can be used when you want to highlight or bring the attention of the audience members to a particular element on the slide.

Once you choose and apply the animations, you also get other options. You can select how long you want animations to last, when you want them to start, and when you want them to end. Microsoft was not shy when they gave us the number of features that they did regarding animations.

3. Slide Transitions

I have seen a lot of people confuse slide transitions with animations and vice versa. It is important to remember that they are completely different things.

Also Read – Difference Between Animations and Slide Transitions in PowerPoint!

While animation gives you the ability to animate elements within your slide, transitions give you the ability to change how slides change from one to another. This can have a significant impact on a slide’s first impressions.

Some of the most notable transitions are:

Other options include the ability to set the speed of your transition, change the dynamic of the transition, and much more. Again, Microsoft has added a lot of customizability over the last few years when it comes to transitions.

When using transitions, you can alter the entire feel of a presentation without changing its theme. I recommend taking your time and making sure that each transition doesn’t feel forced but feels natural to the presentation.

Sometimes an image can say a thousand words. With that in mind, it is easy to understand why adding images to your presentation can help you say more than you could while using words. Well, at least this is true in some cases.

If your presentation feels slightly boring, don’t be afraid to throw in an image every now and then. To be honest, most presentations require images anyway. Not only are they necessary, in some cases, they can also spice up your presentation.

When it comes to adding images, there are two main ways of doing this. You could either add an image via your PC or you can embed an image from somewhere else on the internet. Whatever best suits you, PowerPoint has you covered.

5. Merge Shapes

Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to merge shapes. This is because they understand that they might not always have the exact shape that you are looking for.

So, hopefully, merging shapes can help give you a uniform shape. I say “uniform” because if you cannot find a shape that you want to use, you could draw one. The problem is, this might not be the best option because freehand drawing can be difficult.

If merging shapes is still not giving you what you want, there is another option that you can use. These are known as “smart-art”. It can help you transform your presentation into something phenomenal.

Another great way of spicing up a presentation is to add videos to certain slides. As we discussed with images, a video can say a lot without having to use words. In fact, there are so many applications for using videos in your presentation. I guess the only limit would be your imagination.

Videos can be easily added from the storage on your PC. This might make the size of your presentation quite large. So, you might want to double-check the size of the video before inserting it into your presentation.

Again, this is one of my favorite features of PowerPoint. You can easily add videos to your presentation from Youtube. We are trying to keep each section brief so I can’t go into too much detail about the importance of being able to add videos from YouTube. However, there are a lot of reasons.

So, if you don’t have the video on your PC and you cannot find it on YouTube but you know where it is on another website, all you need to do is get the embed code for that video. This can often be done just by right-clicking on the video, copying the embed code, and then you can embed it into your presentation.

With the ability to add icons to your presentations, it just gives you some freedom to add a personal touch to the presentation. It is important to note that some versions do not come with the icons feature. However, if you have Office 365 you should always have the icons option.

If you do not have the option to use icons, you could technically use shapes and with some clever aligning skills, they could be turned into icons or at least used as such. You could also use icons found on the web. They would need to be saved to your PC as an image and then again, with some clever aligning skills, nobody would know the difference.

8. PowerPoint Notes for Presentation

When you are giving a presentation it is often difficult to constantly remember what you have to say. This is true even though you have the slide right in front of you. That is where the notes feature comes in. They can help you remember what to say for each slide which is a great way to stay on topic.

Your presentation can be set up in a way that the notes do not appear on the presentation but they still appear on your PC or Mac. Remember, most of the time the people who are viewing the presentation cannot see this. Otherwise, you can also hide your notes

The notes feature is not just there for you to remember what to say and a lot of people tend to overlook this. If you are working in a team, then using notes can help other employees or other people who are working on the presentation understand what’s happening on each slide.

9. Morph Transition

We have already talked about transitions earlier in the article. However, “Morph Transition” is by far one of the best ways to you make your slides give a great first impression. In fact, this creates a lasting impression as well!

By using Morph Transition, you can make actually make elements move between slides – a feature that gives a video-like feel to your PowerPoint slides!

It is important to remember that the slides where Morph Transition is used, need to have at least one element that has something in common between both the slides.

I shall soon be making a video to help you understand how the Morph Transition works in PowerPoint and how you can leverage this feature to take your PowerPoint presentations up a notch! (I will update it here once the video is created).

This is one of the most used features of PowerPoint. It is also one of the best features in terms of what you can do with it. Using charts in your presentations can help you illustrate data in an easy-to-understand way for your audience.

You can also link charts to external data sources. Most notably, you can link to excel sheets. The chart’s functionality in PowerPoint is so versatile you can even get your chart to be updated automatically in PowerPoint when the data gets edited in excel.

It is actually a rather simple process. All you have to do is link a chart to an external data set. This can be done from within PowerPoint so it is pretty much hassle-free.

11. Removing Background from Images

When you upload an image to your presentation, what if that image needs to be edited? What is the first thing that you would normally think you would do? You would probably go to an image editing program such as Photoshop, right?

With Microsoft PowerPoint, there is no need for that in most cases. Well, at least if you want to remove a background from your image , you could just use PowerPoint.

All you have to do is click on the drawing format ribbon and select “remove background”. It then works almost the exact same way as all other photo editing software. You will draw around the piece you want to keep or the piece you want to get rid of.

12. Video Editing (Basic)

Again, what if you upload a video to your PowerPoint presentation but you don’t want to show the whole video. maybe you just want to show some parts or cut some pieces out. What is the first thing you would do? Open up a video editing software right? Well, with PowerPoint you might not have to.

While PowerPoint is not the next Adobe premier, it does allow you to trim the video, cut portions of a video out, and finally add sound. It is a basic video editor.

Being able to use PowerPoint as a quick video editor adds to the convenience of PowerPoint. It also adds to your overall productivity because you don’t have to open and close program after program to get everything done.

13. Export PowerPoint as Video

Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to export entire presentations as videos. I know that you might be thinking why would this even be useful. Well, I alone can think of so many reasons why you would want to use this feature.

Not all presentations are designed to be given by a speaker. Actually, the main reason for a PowerPoint presentation is to get a point across to somebody. This could be your employer, colleague, client, or even the classroom.

If you don’t want to send somebody a presentation that they could edit or see the notes for and you just want them to watch it, this feature is for you. Why not export it as a video and give whoever you send the video to the ability to watch it at their own time, pause it at their own time, and take notes.

14. Add Audio Narration to your PowerPoint Presentation

This feature kind of feeds off of the previous one. You are not always going to be there to give a presentation as a speaker but you still want to iterate a lot of the points made in your slides. So, why not add audio narration to your presentation?

Doing this will allow you to send the presentation as a video to somebody and have the narration over it. So, technically, you would still be the speaker if it is you narrating the presentation.

This feature is Great for teachers who just want to give the classroom information in the most efficient way possible. In fact, with online learning becoming more relevant than ever in 2020, this feature has picked up in popularity.

This feature is also great for presentations that are designed to be given as instructional videos.

15. Adding Comments to Slides

The feature to add comments in PowerPoint is more about the person who reviews a presentation rather than the person who creates it. Some people get comments mixed up with notes but they are two different features that have two different applications.

If you need to review somebody else’s presentation, you can add comments to certain sections or slides of the presentation. This is so that they can understand your criticisms.

Also, if you are the person creating it and you want to add a comment, this can help the person who is reviewing the presentation to fully understand why you did what you did in certain slides.

Final Thoughts

The features mentioned in this article show why PowerPoint is still the leading presentation software. There is so much that you can do and honestly, it all makes every presentation different from the other.

If you take time to learn what each feature does, you could use them to make presentations that have a higher chance of captivating your audience, your classroom or even getting you one step closer to signing a contract with the new clients.

We have covered a lot of the features mentioned in this article. So, I highly recommend taking a little bit of time out of your day to read those articles.

Image Credit for Featured Image

MS-PowerPoint Interface and components

A presentation program (also called a presentation graphics program) is a computer software package used to display information, normally in the form of a slide show. It typically includes three major functions: an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted, a method for inserting and manipulating graphic images and a slide-show system to display the content.

MS-PowerPoint is the complete presentation graphic program, using which one can create extremely satisfying presentations to get the desired results. It allows the creation of presentation which can be a collection of slides, speaker notes, handouts or media clips, providing everything one needs to communicate clearly to others.

Interface of MS-PowerPoint consist of various components as explained in the image as

Moving in a presentation PowerPoint provides several ways to move from slide to slide in a presentation as

• Use the mouse to drag the scroll box.
• Use the mouse to click the Previous slide or Next slide buttons.
• Use the[Page{Up] and [Page{Down] keys on the keyboard

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