If creating a good Microsoft PowerPoint presentation is the bane of your professional life, you’d do well by following the following tips in how to produce a presentation that not only looks professional, but also engaging for the audience.

The rules of thumbs for making a superb presentation is to make sure

• You can grab your audience’s attention; instead of boring them out of their minds and

• Create a presentation that can convey your messages clearly.

You have to learn how to use the space on each slide effectively, so don’t try to put all information on one slide just because it fits. If you want to use graphics, such as a diagram or chart, make sure that it serves a purpose and one that can enhance the message you are trying to come across. Ultimately, you want to grab and hold your audience’s attention from the get go without overcrowding the slides with so many information.

Grab the attention of your audience

Here’s how you can make your presentation unique and unlike any other PowerPoint presentations out there.

• Use a personalised theme

Also known as design templates, theme is a coordinated collection of fonts, graphic effects, and colours that you can apply to your slides with a single click. You can also use the same personalised theme on all your Microsoft Office documents, which will be good for branding.

There are many built-in themes that you can use and personalise. You can easily change the colours, effects and fonts to make it more you, which you can then save as a new theme.

• Use video and audio

If you want to convey your messages in a more effective manner, consider using video and audio in your presentation. It is also a good way to engage your audience more. You can insert a recorded narration or embed a video in your slide to keep the overall look of the presentation clean.

• Use graphics to emphasise messages

Likewise, the use of graphics can convey your messages clearer, instead of just filling the presentation with mindless bulleted texts. You can create graphics and charts easily using the built-in feature of PowerPoint, as part of the Microsoft Office package. Just click on the chart icon to create a chart for your PowerPoint presentation.

• Use transition effects and animations

The key in using transition effects and animations effectively is to not overdo it. Only use effects to emphasise important points and make sure your choice of effect is consistent throughout the whole presentation.

Convey your information clearly

It is essential to keep the slides on your presentation consistent and professional. Here’s how you can achieve it.

• Create an outline of your presentation

Before you create your slides, it is recommended to take the time to create an outline of the presentation. This is a great way to help you create an effective presentation. When you are in Normal view of your PowerPoint screen, in the Slides pane to your left, just click the Outline tab and create your outline there.

• Use slide masters to maintain the same look of the presentation

To create a professional-looking presentation, the slide master is your trusted friend. Formatting and layout that you create on the slide master will be automatically updated throughout the whole slide layouts in your presentation. Let’s say you put the company’s logo on the slide master, all your slides will then have the company’s logo as well.

• Use notes pages and handouts to help deliver an impeccable presentation

It is easy to get tongue-tied in front of a presentation, even when you already prepare some narration in your mind. You can avoid this situation by writing on the Notes pane, which appears below the slide. This is also useful if you want to put more explanation without overcrowding your slides.