best presentation hacks

17 PowerPoint Presentation Tips From Pro Presenters [+ Templates]

Published: April 26, 2024

PowerPoint presentations can be professional, attractive, and really help your audience remember your message.

If you don’t have much experience, that’s okay — I’m going to arm you with PowerPoint design tips from pro presenters, the steps you need to build an engaging deck, and templates to help you nail great slide design.

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Buckle up for a variety of step-by-step explanations as well as tips and tricks to help you start mastering this program. There are additional resources woven in, and you’ll find expert perspectives from other HubSpotters along the way.

Table of Contents

How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

Powerpoint presentation tips.

Microsoft PowerPoint is like a test of basic professional skills, and each PowerPoint is basically a presentation made of multiple slides.

Successful PowerPoints depend on three main factors: your command of PowerPoint's design tools, your attention to presentation processes, and being consistent with your style.

Keep those in mind as we jump into PowerPoint's capabilities.

Getting Started

1. open powerpoint and click ‘new.’.

A page with templates will usually open automatically, but if not, go to the top left pane of your screen and click New . If you’ve already created a presentation, select Open and then double-click the icon to open the existing file.

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Creating PowerPoint Slides

3. insert a slide..

Insert a new slide by clicking on the Home tab and then the New Slide button. Consider what content you want to put on the slide, including heading, text, and imagery.

• Finally, PowerPoint Live is a new tool that enables you to do more seamless presentations during video calls and may be a better overall match for doing presentations remotely. Check out this video:

11. Try Using GIFs.

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15. Embed multimedia.

PowerPoint allows you to either link to video/audio files externally or to embed the media directly in your presentation. For PCs, two great reasons for embedding are:

• Embedding allows you to play media directly in your presentation. It will look much more professional than switching between windows.
• Embedding also means that the file stays within the PowerPoint presentation, so it should play normally without extra work (except on a Mac).

If you use PowerPoint for Mac it gets a bit complicated, but it can be done:

• Always bring the video and/or audio file with you in the same folder as the PowerPoint presentation.
• Only insert video or audio files once the presentation and the containing folder have been saved on a portable drive in their permanent folder.
• If the presentation will be played on a Windows computer, then Mac users need to make sure their multimedia files are in WMV format.
• Consider using the same operating system for designing and presenting, no matter what.

16. Bring your own hardware.

Between operating systems, PowerPoint is still a bit jumpy. Even between differing PPT versions, things can change. The easiest fix? Just bring along your own laptop when you're presenting.

The next easiest fix is to upload your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides as a backup option — just make sure there is a good internet connection and a browser available where you plan to present.

Google Slides is a cloud-based presentation software that will show up the same way on all operating systems.

To import your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides:

• Navigate to slides.google.com . Make sure you’re signed in to a Google account (preferably your own).
• Under Start a new presentation , click the empty box with a plus sign. This will open up a blank presentation.
• Go to File , then Import slides .
• A dialog box will come up. Tap Upload.
• Click Select a file from your device .
• Select your presentation and click Open .
• Select the slides you’d like to import. If you want to import all of them, click All in the upper right-hand corner of the dialog box.
• Click Import slides.

When I tested this out, Google Slides imported everything perfectly, including a shape whose points I had manipulated. This is a good backup option to have if you’ll be presenting across different operating systems.

17. Use Presenter View.

In most presentation situations, there will be both a presenter’s screen and the main projected display for your presentation.

PowerPoint has a great tool called Presenter View, which can be found in the Slide Show tab of PowerPoint. Included in the Presenter View is an area for notes, a timer/clock, and a presentation display.

For many presenters, this tool can help unify their spoken presentation and their visual aid. You never want to make the PowerPoint seem like a stack of notes that you’re reading off of.

Use the Presenter View option to help create a more natural presentation.

Pro Tip: At the start of the presentation, you should also hit CTRL + H to make the cursor disappear. Hitting the “A” key will bring it back if you need it.

Your Next Great PowerPoint Presentation Starts Here

Now that you have these style, design, and presentation tips under your belt, you should feel confident to create your PowerPoint presentation.

But if you can explore other resources to make sure your content hits the mark. After all, you need a strong presentation to land your point and make an impression.

With several templates to choose from — both in PowerPoint and available for free download — you can swiftly be on your way to creating presentations that wow your audiences.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Microsoft Office

10 minute read

Top 12 PowerPoint Tips and Hacks for Flawless Presentations

Saikat Basu

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We’ve all seen our fair share of bad PowerPoint presentations . We can all agree that for a PowerPoint presentation to impress, it needs time and attention to detail.

So how can you ramp up your PowerPoint productivity in the shortest time possible?

That’s where we come in. For starters, follow our proven PowerPoint tips and tricks for business presentations , which are sure to make an impact.

Step up your PowerPoint game

Download our print-ready shortcut cheatsheet for PowerPoint.

1. Keep it simple

Keep your slides simple. It’s the visual backdrop to what you are going to say.

The most recommended PowerPoint tip for your productivity is called simplicity . You may be tempted by the graphical razzmatazz of beautiful images, background, and charts. At the end of the day, PowerPoint is a background visual aid for your talk. It is not the talk.

PowerPoint has lots of bells and whistles. But you don’t have to use them all. For instance, your content may not need the much-maligned bullet points - you can just use one key point per slide instead.

That’s why…

2. Reduce the text

Less is more when it is about the text on your slides.

The average reading speed on a screen is around 100 - 150 words per minute. Too much information on the slide is a distraction and an inattentive audience will lose the message you are trying to convey.

Don’t give them too much to read. Use high-quality pictures and eye-catching graphics instead.

To make information digestible, expert slide designers recommend you write one key idea per slide that is summarized by a clear headline.

Tip: Exploit white space. Create more space between your text, paragraphs, and graphics on your slide.

3. Plan your content first

Think about the message you want to convey and use it to write an outline.

As PowerPoint is such a visual medium, it is easy to get sidetracked with the visuals. So it’s important to chalk out what you want to say and in what order even before you open PowerPoint.

Your slides will come together quickly with the help of PowerPoint design options and you can even choose the right templates if you know your stuff inside out. 

Tip: Use brainstorming tools like mind maps, flowcharts, and even storyboards to sketch your content flow.

4. Use PowerPoint Designer for ideas

PowerPoint makes an intelligent guess by looking at the words on your slide and suggests high-quality artwork to complement it. You can pick one of the creative layouts or go back to your own design.

Tip: PowerPoint Designer can also turn lists, processes, or timelines into beautiful graphics too.

5. Use PowerPoint templates

Start with a template to break through any creative blocks.

PowerPoint templates are meant to be the starter plugs when inspiration deserts you or you are design-challenged. PowerPoint ships with a set of readymade templates and there are more available online. Pick one to begin.

Tip: Manpreet Kaur, the head of Corporate Communications at Mercer also suggests you use templates for mining ideas for your own presentation.

Whenever you receive any PowerPoint presentation from any of your clients, business partners, or sellers, make it a point to add them to any folder as a stock for templates for future reference. You can leverage these templates to find inspiration for any icon idea, layout, idea presentation, and number representation on the slides.

6. Edit the Slide Master

To open the Slide Master view, go to the View tab on the Ribbon and select Slide Master .

The first slide on the top is the Slide Master. Any changes to the Slide Master will be applied to all the slides in the presentation.

The Slide Master view also shows all the slide layouts used in PowerPoint. You can also use these Layout Master slides to control the appearance of any group of slides that share a common layout.

Tip: Make changes to the Slide Master before you start filling a presentation with the content.

7. Use PowerPoint Shapes for visuals

PowerPoint Shapes is the most powerful graphical tool in your control.

The multifaceted Shapes feature on the Ribbon gives you infinite ways to use PowerPoint like an illustration program. Look beyond the commonplace rectangle, oval, and rounded rectangle patterns.

Every shape is editable. You can customize any PowerPoint shape and create your own custom designs. They can be formatted with colors, 3-D effects and shadows too.

Tip: Most default shapes are overused. So, you can use your own custom shapes to add interest to a key point or a slide. For instance, you can turn a chevron into a more interesting arrow to illustrate the flow of a process.

8. Choose the right fonts

Choose the right fonts that are modern and pleasing.

It’s well established that fonts have a cognitive impact on how your audience will take in the information.

Sans-serif fonts are preferred for their smooth typefaces. But your typography choices will be influenced by the theme of the content. An artsy presentation can be more liberal with fonts that are decorative.

Also, to create contrast, you can use a technique called font-pairing where two complementary fonts are combined. For instance, use a serif font for titles and pair it with a sans-serif font in the body.

Tip: Want a free font library? Head over to Google Fonts and the collection of 916 free licensed fonts.

9. Use visual metaphors for your data

Visuals help everyone get the context behind data at a faster rate.

Business executives are used to spreadsheets . But that doesn’t mean they will like it in a presentation. Arresting illustrations are far better than bullet points and shoddy SmartArt.

We have talked about shapes and using high-quality photos before. But what if you have to analyze dry data?

Use visual metaphors or analogies to bring out the scale and relationships in the data. Executives can look up numbers, but the right use of an analogy can bring out the context behind it.

For instance, the evolution of man can be used to show the growth of a startup over time.

Tip: When stuck for ideas take inspiration from the best infographics on Slideshare and Pinterest. Infographics are designed to pack a lot of information in a small space.

10. Customize your slides for different audiences

Save yourself a lot of time by reusing your slides for different audiences.

This somewhat lesser-known PowerPoint tip uses a feature called Custom Slideshow to filter what you want your audience to see. Maybe, you want to hide some sensitive information for a lower level of executives while revealing it to those higher up. You do not have to create different slideshows for these two groups.

Create a custom show in five steps.

• On the Ribbon, go to Slide Show > Custom Slide Show , and then select Custom Shows .
• Click the New button in the Custom Shows dialog box. 
• In the Define Custom Show box , choose the slides that you want to include in the custom show, and then hit Add .
• You can change the order of the slides with the arrow keys.
• Type a name in the slideshow name box, and then click OK .

  Tip: You can also create hyperlinked custom shows that you can jump to from your primary PowerPoint show.

11. Rehearse Your Presentation

Prepare your presentation according to the time allotted.

No PowerPoint tip is useful if you cannot fit the number of slides and the time you take to present them in the schedule. PowerPoint helps you rehearse your presentation before you do it. With the Rehearse Timing feature, you can tweak your delivery according to the time on hand.

A helpful Microsoft Support video walks you through the process.

Tip: Use the timer to check if you're spending too much or too little time on one particular slide. Maybe, explaining the data in a better way can shorten the time.

12. Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible

Go to File > Info > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility

Sharon Rosenblatt, Director of Communications at Accessibility Partners stresses the importance of making presentations more inclusive.

Always use the accessibility checker, and not just if your slideshow is being shared with someone you know has a disability, but you never know where files get sent to.

PowerPoint is all about visuals so it’s more important to finetune the little things that can help make the message easily understood by people who have accessibility challenges.

Tip: Microsoft details the best practices for making all PowerPoint presentations accessible .

The bottom line: Get to the point fast

When you are presenting to busy people, you have to cut the clutter but not lose the message. A successful presentation is about brevity and speed.

A business presentation is also a decision-making tool. So make sure you are presenting the information your audience wants to know. And nothing more.

Yes, they do take some work. But with the help of these PowerPoint tips and tricks, you can start and finish any presentation without losing your sleep.

Want more PowerPoint tips? Then check out these other PowerPoint features that will level up your presentations. Or try taking GoSkills top-rated PowerPoint certification course .

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Saikat is a writer with over 20 years of experience writing and editing technology tutorials for brands such as MakeUseOf, Online-tech-tips.com, Lifewire, Lifehacker, and GuidingTech. His expertise is in topics such as apps, software, artificial intelligence, productivity, and operating systems like Windows and iOS. He hunts for the latest tricks in Microsoft Office and web apps. He has spent more than a decade in marketing and has a background in web development. He doesn't want to get off the learning curve, so a camera and a harmonica claim an equal share of his free time. Find him on LInkedin here.

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• Presentations

30 PowerPoint Presentation Tips to Make Good PPT Slides in 2024 (+ 6 Expert Tips)

• Bahasa Indonesia

Here are 30 quick PowerPoint presentation tips to help you improve your presentations. 

Plus, get PowerPoint tips on changing your slide design to make your content shine. We've even called on six presentation experts for their best tips.

How to Make a Good PowerPoint Presentation (Watch & Learn)

This screencast is a speed round of my very favorite PowerPoint tricks. It's a great resource to learn how to make a presentable PowerPoint. I'll walk you through ten of my favorite PowerPoint tips and tricks to create a better presentation.

Keep reading for an illustrated version of these good PPT tips (and more) that you can use to improve your PowerPoint presentations. You'll see 30 of our favorite PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks, including techniques to update slide master PowerPoint 2024 designs.

Jump to content in this section:

• How Do You Give a Memorable PPT Presentation?
• Practice Makes Perfect
• Adapt Your Presentation to the Audience
• Use a Custom Font
• Use Contrast
• Avoid Too Many Animations
• Use the Rule of Three
• Use a Custom PPT Theme Design
• Make Use of Charts and Graphs
• Use the Built-in Slide Layouts
• Align Text Consistently
• Make Your Exports User-Friendly
• Try a Different Color Scheme
• Edit Slide Masters for Consistency
• Use the Alignment Feature
• Use Stock Assets
• Reduce Your Content
• Rethink Your Slide Order
• Use PowerPoint Animations
• Invite Collaborators
• Add Supporting Video Clips
• Use Infographic Templates
• Use Impactful Closing Techniques
• Include Data in the Appendix
• Alternate Between Solid Color and White Slides
• Present Information With Maps
• Keep the Design Best Practices in Mind
• Set a Time Limit
• Test Your Content Everywhere

30 Tips: How to Make Good PowerPoint Presentation Designs Fast in 2024

A few tried and true tips can help you speed up your PowerPoint presentation design. Check out 30 of my favorite PowerPoint tips to do just that. Each of these give you PowerPoint slideshow help to create good PowerPoint slides:

1. How Do You Give a Memorable PPT Presentation?

If you're learning the top PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks, you're probably asking yourself: how do I give a presentation that won't be forgotten?

We all want to be remembered. The best PowerPoint slideshow help to make a mark on the audience. There are tried-and-true ways to do just that, and expert Neil Tomlinson shares expertise on being remembered:

Get your main point into the presentation as early as possible (this avoids any risk of audience fatigue or attention span waning), then substantiate your point with facts, figures etc and then reiterate your point at the end in a ‘Summary’.

2. Practice Makes Perfect

Also, don’t forget to practice your presentation. Go through your slide deck a few times to make sure you know it like the back of your hand when the big day arrives. Doing so helps you feel more confident. It'll reduce any anxiety and nervousness you might feel as the presentation day approaches.

What's the best way to rehears for a good PowerPoint? Here's one of the top PowerPoint presentation tips from expert presenter Sandra Zimmer :

Once slides are ready, practice one slide at a time aloud until you feel like you know it and like the flow of speech. Be willing to change anything that does not feel in flow. At the end of learning all your slides, practice the whole talk.

If you want even more great PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks, check out the following post:

3. Adapt Your Presentation to the Audience

Let's say that you're a seasoned presenter with a pretty standard set of presentation topics. Maybe you're an expert in your field, and you're asked to give a PPT presentation frequently on similar topics.

That's the value of being an expert. You might have a standard spiel that you give your audiences, and your content won't totally change from one presentation to another. That's why it helps to make only slight tweaks to adapt your presentation to each audience.

Leading presentation expert Suzannah Baum offered up this advice:

Different audiences will have different needs and different challenges, which requires me to re-sequence the slides, or create new ones. I tend to do a lot of research on my audiences – via surveys, interviews, and conversations with the hiring manager – to help me better understand what information would be most relevant to them.

How do you adapt to your audience? Here are a few more tips:

• Learn about them. If you're asked to speak, talk to the curator of the presentation to learn more about the audience and their background.
• Ask about them! With contact details, send out a survey or a response link to ask for feedback and preparation info. Ask leading questions like "what do you want to learn?"
• Consider the environment.  If you're presenting via Zoom, your style will differ from presenting in person. The key is to acknowledge the difference and adapt to your environment.

Learn everything you can about your audience. Learning how to make a presentable PowerPoint is all about thinking of the recipient, not the presenter!

4. Use a Custom Font

A PowerPoint presentation tip that'll make your slideshow more interesting and more engaging is to use a custom font.

Fonts set the tone for your presentation. So, when you use a premium font, you’re opting for a high-quality font while also adding a personal or creative touch. 

When choosing a font, remember that you want everyone to read your text easily. 

5. Use Contrast

One PowerPoint trick is to use contrast to make some of your text stand out or make it easier to read.

If you’re putting text over an image on our PowerPoint slide, you may need to use a white box with black text in it to make your text easier to read. You can also use contrasting colors to highlight important text.

6. Avoid Too Many Animations

Another PowerPoint tip is to avoid having too many animations or transitions.

When you've got too many animations, it can be distracting to the audience. It’s not only distracting, but it's unprofessional.

It’s best to stick to one or two animations throughout your presentation. Also, if you've got any animations in your presentation, make sure to test them to see if they work before presenting.

7. Add Audio

Include audio on a slide on PowerPoint to increase audience engagement. Audio can be anything from fun sound effects to interview clips. You can even add an audio clip of your voice.

Audio gives you a break from speaking while also engaging the audience. Envato Elements has hundreds of premium audio clips if you want to add some.

8. Use the Rule of Three

One PowerPoint tip and trick is to follow the rules of PowerPoint.

One of those rules is the rule of three. It's where you start by dividing your presentation into thirds. Everything should come in thirds, so if you use bullet points, you should only have three. If you use icons, you should only have three.

When things come in threes, it's easier to remember them. For more information, read this informative article:

9. Use a Custom PPT Theme Design

Above all, consistently use custom PowerPoint themes. Microsoft has built-in themes that you can use for free, sure. But the premium themes that are on Envato Elements   are a major step-up from PowerPoint's built-in themes. 

When you subscribe to Envato Elements, you'll have access to unlimited downloads of all the PowerPoint themes. Right now, Envato Elements has almost 4,000 PowerPoint themes and that number is always growing. You'll learn tips for a good PowerPoint presentation by using the best templates.

10. Make Use of Charts and Graphs

Illustrate your data with the use of charts and graphs. Not only will you be able to make your presentation more visually appealing, but you'll also help your audience remember the information better.

Many PowerPoint templates already include chart and graph elements. Easily customize them to make your data and stats more interesting and easier to understand.

Want to learn more about how to use data? Turn to expert Adrienne J ohnston , a presentation professional:

When it comes to visualizing data in presentations, we have to remember that our audience does not need all the fine details of the data - they need the main takeaway and we need to make sure that's evident to them when looking at the slide.

11. Use the Built-in Slide Layouts

Inside of PowerPoint themes, you'll find layouts , which are custom slide designs.

Most themes include a selection of content layouts that you can use as a starting point for your own slide designs. You can leverage slide master PowerPoint 2024 designs with the help of layouts.

Layouts are like a starting point for your PowerPoint presentation slides. They contain combinations of placeholders for text boxes, images, and more.

Instead of clicking and drawing individual objects onto the slide, use one of these layouts to start your slide off. It's one of the top PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks to save time.

12. Align Text Consistently

When you're working with text on your slide, it helps to ensure that it aligns consistently. Keeping your text aligned in the same orientation really makes a slide look clean. 

In the example below, I've basically got three text boxes:

• list of bulleted points

Notice that all this text is aligned left. 

Aligning text was the " aha " moment that I learned when I started studying slide design. It's one of those steps that makes a slide look much neater and professional, so keep it in mind when designing.

13. Make Your Exports User-Friendly

No matter how great your PowerPoint presentation slides look, you need to think about how your user will use the presentation file. 

Any of these are likely scenarios if you're regularly sending presentations to other users:

• The viewer may not have PowerPoint installed on their computer.
• The recipient may be using a version of PowerPoint that renders the presentation differently.
• Maybe you don't want the user to be able to make any edits or see your notes in the presentation file.

In this case, my favorite tip is to export the presentation as a PDF. To do that, go to File > Export > Create PDF , and then save your presentation as a PDF.

This is sure to help most of your users see the presentation just the way you intended.

14. Try a Different Color Scheme

Many PowerPoint themes have more than one color scheme that you can apply to your presentation. On the Design  tab, click on the drop-down next to Themes to try out a different color scheme.

Typically, these will restyle your entire presentation. Premium themes that you might get from Envato Elements, for example, may have many versions inside the original presentation zip file.

15. Edit Slide Masters for Consistency

The slide master controls the design for your PowerPoint slide. Instead of making the same change to each slide, apply a change to a slide master. It'll affect all the PowerPoint presentation slides that use the same master.

It's ideal to apply a logo to the slide master itself, for example. This keeps the logo the same size and in the same position on each slide.

To do that, go to View > Slide Master.  On the right side, you're likely to see a variety of slide masters that control designs for many slides. Drop the elements that you want to remain consistent onto one of the slide masters.

16. Use the Alignment Feature

PowerPoint presentation slides look better when the objects on them are in line with one another. There's a certain visual rhythm that occurs when objects line up in the center or along certain boundary lines.

When you start dragging objects on your slide, you'll see guiding lines that pop up. These are very intuitive, and you'll likely notice that they help you line up your objects. You might seem them pop up when you've got a box that's equidistant between two other objects on the slide, for example.

This is one of the best tricks for improving the look of your PowerPoint slide. Spend some time making sure that your key elements line up cohesively.

17. Use Stock Assets

Earlier, I mentioned using Envato Elements to grab PowerPoint themes. But there's more that comes with an Envato Elements subscription for presentations.

That includes a wide variety of stock photos, graphics,  and custom designed fonts  that you can use in your presentation. Instead of reusing the same stock photo or clip art, Envato Elements has everything you need to supplement a presentation. 

Again, Envato Elements is the perfect subscription if you build presentations. It's a one-stop-shop that you can use to fill content.

18. Reduce Your Content

There's nothing that makes an audience tune out faster than being overloaded with slide content. Sometimes we try to make so many points that the audience misses all of them due to information overload.

Less is truly more. When you cut the weaker points of your presentation, the audience's attention will follow your key points accordingly.

It seems like cheating, but one of the best steps that you can take for your slide is to simply reduce the number of items that are on it. Convert some of your typed points to things you'll speak verbally.

19. Rethink Your Slide Order

Sometimes, I find that my presentations are out of order. I might spend too much time explaining my decision before I get to the conclusion.

In these cases, I like to use Slide Sorter View  to re-sequence the slides in my presentation. To access this view, go to View > Slide Sorter  on PowerPoint's ribbon.

From Slide Sorter view, you've got a top-down view of all the slides in your presentation deck. It sometimes becomes obvious that the slides can be reordered into a better sequence from this view.

20. Use PowerPoint Animations 

One of my favorite PowerPoint presentation tips is to complement your major points with a bit of animation. Using animation can bring a key point onto your slide with style!

Check out ten of the best PowerPoint tips for how to use animation from expert Sven Lenaerts below:

21. Invite Collaborators

Building a presentation often benefits from a second set of eyes. That's why it helps so much to invite a collaborator to work with you side-by-side in Microsoft PowerPoint.

Pushing your presentation up to OneDrive and inviting collaborators is easy. Thanks to the cloud-based approach, more than one user can edit a slide deck in real time. Learn how to do that in the tutorial below:

22. Add Supporting Video Clips

Building impactful presentations is all about adding other perspectives and angles to the content. One of my favorite ways to do that is to add a video clip. Maybe that's a production that you built on your own or found on sites like YouTube.

Either way, learn how to add and auto play a video clip in the quick tip below:

23. Use Infographic Templates

More presentations than ever will feature visuals that tell stories with data. But it's easy for an audience become overwhelmed with data. 

That's where infographics come into play. Learn to use them in PowerPoint in the tutorial below:

24. Use Impactful Closing Techniques

I've sat through many presentations in my life. I can only remember a few that really stick out, thanks to techniques that highlighted key points. You need PowerPoint tips and tricks that help leave your audience with an impact.

To do just that, make sure you use some of the techniques highlighted in the article below:

To do that, just drag and drop the thumbnails into the order you want. When you return to Normal view, the PowerPoint presentation slides will be in the resequenced order you set here.

25. Include Data in the Appendix

Many PowerPoint presentations include data in the form of charts and graphs. That means that you'll condense specifics into a few easy-to-follow charts.

But what if your audience wants more of the backing details? Maybe they want to validate and review the detail for themselves. In that case, a   set of  appendix slides  with extra data is sure to help.

Appendix slides are included at the end of a presentation deck for backup purposes. You might not present them, but your audience is certain to appreciate that you included them. That helps your presentation continue to be useful even after you leave the room.

Here's a great tip from: pro presenter  Graeme Thomas of Johnny F Designs:

If (my clients) are sending the deck straight to clients however, I would then put all the information on the slides but will often use more slides so that they aren't too cluttered. In cases where there is a lot of content, like financial statements, I would use  appendix slides.

Including an appendix helps your audience understand data  without  overwhelming them with that data. Follow these tips so that you get the best of both worlds.

26. Alternate Between Solid Color and White Slides

Alternating between solid color and slides with a white background can produce an interesting visual effect and engage your audience. You can use the solid-colored slides to signify a new section in your presentation.

Not to mention, solid-colored slides are the perfect way to re-enforce your brand colors and build your brand recognition.

27. Present Information With Maps

If you’re trying to make a case for a global expansion or need to report on how other branches are performing, consider using a map to help your audience visualize the data.

There's no shortage of quality PowerPoint templates with maps built in so be sure to take advantage of them.

28. Keep the Design Best Practices in Mind

The design of your presentation matters just as much as the content of your presentation. That’s why you need to devote an equal amount of time to making sure the design of your presentation is on point as you do to the actual content.

Familiarize yourself with best design practices and keep them in mind as you go about customizing your template.

29. Set a Time Limit

How many slides is the right number for you? Well, it all depends on the time limit you set for your presentation.

Believe it or not, setting a time limit is helpful to create good PowerPoint slides. If you want to learn how to make a presentable PowerPoint, it's a must to lock in the time limit and ensure that your slides support that timeframe. 

Expert presenter Stephanie Ottavan offers one of our top tips for a good PowerPoint presentation based on time limits:

A presenter is usually limited to a specific time frame and you want to adhere to that as closely as you can. If you have animations and transitions in your deck, these take added time so make sure to rehearse in “show mode” of PowerPoint or Keynote and time yourself.

Believe it or not, setting a time frame is one of the most important part of creating a PPT presentation. It helps you influence how many good PowerPoint slides you should design.

30. Test Your Content Everywhere

PowerPoint in 2024 could take place anywhere. Maybe you present, online, in-person, or beam it to mobile devices. It's important to remember that the content will appear differently on each device.

PowerPoint Online is a different medium than many other apps. Make sure that your presentation design appears the same by testing it with the help of this tutorial. It shows you how your PPT presentation appears even in a browser:

Discover Great Premium PowerPoint Templates With Google Slides (For 2024)

Creating a great presentation starts with a great template. And a great PowerPoint slide design use the best presentation practices, for example:

• Use high-quality photos and graphics to help tell the story.
• Keep text to a minimum.
• Stick to one idea per slide.

Designing a great template doesn’t mean you've got to start from scratch, though. Take a look at some of the best PowerPoint templates we've got on Envato Elements.

1. Neo PowerPoint Template

The Neo PowerPoint template features a modern and bold design and includes five color variations to get you started. Along with this, you'll also get 10 master slides and 30 individual slides for all your presentation needs.

2. Vexana PowerPoint Template

The Vexana template is a great choice for brands that need a touch of elegance. This template works with PowerPoint and Google Slides and comes with a grand total of 150 slides. It also has five color variations and includes infographic elements and photo placeholders.

3. Sprint PowerPoint Template

The Sprint PowerPoint template features a professional and modern design. The template is easy to customize. You'll find 20 masters in the standard 4:3 size, allowing you to choose the best layout for your information.

4. Travelicious PowerPoint Template

For any presentation that deals with the topic of travel, check out the Travelicious template. This template is compatible with both PowerPoint and Google Slides. It includes three premade color variations as well as 30 unique slides.

 As you can see from the examples above, there's no shortage of beautiful and professional PowerPoint slide designs on Envato Elements . What’s more, Envato Elements allows you to download as many PowerPoint templates as you want. Plus, get thousands of other design assets such as fonts, photos, and icons—all for one low monthly price.

Want to see even more great PowerPoint template examples? Be sure to check out our related roundup:

Need Help? Grab Our Making Great Presentations eBook (Free)

We've got the perfect complement to this tutorial. You can find more information in our eBook on making great presentations . Download this PDF eBook now for FREE with your subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter. 

It'll help you master the presentation process from initial creative ideas through to writing, design, and delivering with impact.

PowerPoint Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Now that you’ve read about PowerPoint tips and tricks, if you want to learn more about PowerPoint, here are some FAQs:

1. What Is a Placeholder?

Placeholders in your slide on PowerPoint help you easily add text or images to your slide without changing your design.

In a template, sometimes the placeholders have prompts such as “Click to insert a picture” or “Click to add text.” These prompts let you know what kind of placeholder it is. To learn more about placeholders, read this article: 

2. How Can I Automatically Play a Video?

A PowerPoint tip is to insert an automatically played video in your presentation. When you've got a video that'll play automatically, it saves you the trouble of starting your video manually.

Videos can illustrate topics or specific points. They're also a great way to keep your audience engaged. If you want to learn how to play a video automatically, read this tutorial:

3. How Can I Add a Map to my Slide?

Another PowerPoint trick is to add a map to your slide. If you're discussing a specific location, then a map can help your audience visualize the location you're presenting. To learn how to add a map to your PowerPoint slide, read this tutorial:

4. How Do I Add a GIF to My Presentation?

Adding a GIF to your slide on PowerPoint is one way you can grab your audience's attention. To add a GIF to your slide, you’ll need to download a GIF.

Once you download it, upload it into PowerPoint and use it on your slide. For more information about how to add a GIF to your slide on PowerPoint, read this article:

5. Can I Recover My Unsaved Presentation?

Another PowerPoint trick is to learn how to recover unsaved PowerPoint files so that you can be prepared in case of an emergency. If you want to learn more, read this tutorial:

Learn More About How to Make Presentable PowerPoints

These quick PowerPoint Presentation tips are some of my favorite ways to rapidly improve a presentation. Keeping them in mind while you build a presentation can help you build a deck that you'll be confident about presenting.

Check out these tutorials to keep learning more about PowerPoint. These tutorials will give you more ideas for fixing up your PowerPoint presentation slides efficiently:

Find More Templates

Didn't see a template you like? Here are some more:

Use These PPT Presentation Tips on Your Next Presentation

Now that you've studied some of our best PowerPoint tips, it's time to put them to use. Download one of our top-notch PowerPoint themes from Envato Elements to get started. These PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks give you confidence to make you a skilled presenter.

Editorial Note : This post was first published in February of 2019. Our staff updates this post regularly — adding new, exciting PowerPoint tips and templates (with special help from Brenda Barron , Andrew Childress and Sarah Joy ).

PowerPoint Tips, Tricks, and Hacks from 29 Experts

Bryan Jones

• eLearning Development , Posts , PowerPoint

PowerPoint is an extremely powerful tool when used correctly.

But when you’re new to it, it can feel like it’s just blank screens and bullet points.

It can take years (or decades) to fully master it.

But I decided to save you some time…

I asked the world’s leading PowerPoint experts the following question:

What’s your single best PowerPoint tip, trick, or hack?

Below you’ll see responses from some amazing PowerPoint gurus, including: top authors, speakers, instructors, bloggers, and even a handful of PowerPoint MVPs and Microsoft employees!

Enjoy the full tutorials by scrolling below or jump to these sections:

Summary | Presentation Approach |  Design | Shortcuts |  Delivery |  Setup | Beyond Presentations

PowerPoint Presentation Approach Tips

1. Use the Tell ‘n Show method: a headline with a single point and media to support it

To get your audience to understand and remember what you say, use the Tell ‘n’ Show(SM) method. Use the slide title to tell your point–what you want them to remember. For example, write “3rd quarter sales rose 5% over last year” instead of just “3rd quarter sales.” Then use the rest of the slide to show your point with an image, animation, graph, or diagram. Research has shown the students who see slides done like this do better on tests and similarly, your audience will “get” your point more quickly and easily. They’ll be more engaged, too.

Ellen Finkelstein  is the President & Owner of Ellen Finkelstein, Inc. She is one of only 12 Microsoft designated PowerPoint MVPs in the United States and is the author of one of the most popular PowerPoint blogs on the web.

2. Don’t open PPT until you have a clear message

Don’t launch PowerPoint until you have a clear message. Many people launch PowerPoint, think what they want to present, add slides, then think again, and add slides again. To compare with an analogy, they are on a fun journey, driving their car, stopping wherever they want, and then driving to wherever they fancy. It’s good to have an amazing journey–but a journey without a destination will get you nowhere. Continuing this analogy, a “clear message” is the destination where you want to go, and you want to take your audience along with you. So make sure you have a message before you begin creating your slides.

Geetesh Bajaj is the Owner of Indezine.com . He is a PowerPoint MVP and the author of the Indezine blog, one of the most visited PowerPoint and presentation websites.

3. Start with the end-scenario in mind

As a designer, I recommend you think more about the end scenario than the beginning. Practical considerations – is this a printout, email attachment, onscreen presentation, interactive discussion tool or combination of those? Where will it be seen – in a stadium, boardroom, café, at their desk? Then consider the conceptual considerations – who is your audience and what do they currently think about your topic? What would you like to change in that thinking? Based on what you know about them, how can you change that thinking? Write those things down, then build your presentation with that at the forefront.

Tom Howell is the Agency Director at Synapsis Creative. He was recently designated a PowerPoint MVP by Microsoft. His presentation blog  is a must-read for anyone looking to improve their presentation design.

4. Tease the audience by revealing info in parts

Do you struggle to hold your participant’s attention – especially when your training topic is dull and boring? There’s a secret technique I use that works like a charm every time. It is… “Tease your audience by revealing your information in parts” Let me give you an example… Want to present a Framework? Present just the skeletal structure first. Explain the context. Then reveal the first step. Explain. Then reveal the next step and so on. Your audience can’t take their eyes off, till you finish your explanation. Why does this work so well? Studies have shown that as humans – we experience ‘tension’ when we leave things incomplete. We feel subconsciously compelled to pay attention to the task till we see it finished. It’s called the ‘Zeigarnik effect’. Try it in your next presentation. All you need is to apply a simple custom animation to your visuals – to reveal information in stages.

Ramgopal is the Director and Co-Owner of PrezoTraining . He also runs a popular YouTube Channel focusing on PowerPoint .

5. Don’t open PowerPoint first. Instead, sketch on a notepad

The first step on PowerPoint is…don’t open PowerPoint. Sketch out your presentation on a notepad (regular or digital) and plan out the whole thing. Then rewrite, numbering and ordering your thoughts. That’s your slide order.

Doug Thomas  is a Video and Webinar Creator at Microsoft. He has created and appeared in over 250 videos at office.com.

PowerPoint Design Tips

6. Use transparent overlays on images for text contrast

My favorite trick to do in PowerPoint is to create transparent overlays over slides, videos, photographs in PowerPoint! First, you create a rectangle to cover up the slide > Then you set it to a solid color or a gradient > You right click, set the transparency of each color to around 20% or any value you like depending on the project > and there you have it! You can dim photos, create duo-tone overlays, darken, brighten, add exposure, add a vignette or do pretty much anything regarding colors with this type of object! Best part is – you can freely copy it between slides or even separate PowerPoints! Awesome to know about and use 🙂

Andrzej Pach is an Online Instructor for Udemy  & Skillshare. He also hosts one of the most popular YouTube channels  to focus on PowerPoint with over 2 million views and 19,000 subscribers.

7. Go big with visuals. Bleed photos and videos to the edge

Go big with your visuals. My top tip to presentation designers of all levels is a simple, elegant, and often overlooked technique: bleed your inserted photographs and videos all the way to the edges. Insert your image. Scale (don’t stretch!) and crop appropriately. If next is necessary, set it in a semi-transparent shape with sufficient contrast against the text color. Think about some of the best presentations you’ve ever seen. Think also about your favorite movies and TV shows. Their images take up all available screen space. Yours can too.

Tony Ramos is the Director of the Presentation Guild  and the Owner of TonyRamos.com. He was the first blogger on the internet to cover PowerPoint topics. Tony is an expert designer and producer of PowerPoint presentations and proposal graphics.

8. Create quick native PPT icons using your subtract and combine tools

Create quick native PPT icons using your subtract and combine tools.

Bethany Auck is the Founder and Creative Director of SlideRabbit . As a presentation and communication specialist, she helps clients build high quality presentations, from basic slide design to complex animations and infographics.

9. Structure clean layouts by using a grid system on slide masters

Keep your layouts clean and well-structured by implementing a grid system with guides on the pasteboard of your master slide.

Stephy Lewis is a Senior Designer for Aerotek and a Director of the Presentation Guild . She is a top visual designer of presentations and websites.

10. Find a beautiful, fresh font pair. One for headers and one for body

When I create PowerPoint tutorials on YouTube I am always thinking about techniques that would be really simple to implement and yet would have the biggest positive impact. So if you have 2 minutes to transform your presentation from good to awesome, I would suggest looking at your fonts. Find a beautiful, fresh looking font pair (one font for the headers and one for the body) and you can instantly change how your presentation feels and looks like. I am planning to do a video soon on this topic, so please visit my YouTube channel in the near future, if you are interested in awesome font pairs for your ppt 🙂 Good luck everyone!

One Skill (aka Kasparas Tolkusinas) is the CEO of One Skill PowerPoint Tutorials. He hosts one of the most popular PowerPoint YouTube channels , with over one million views and 14,000+ subscribers.

11. Create an arrow with broken SmartArt

I have an easy favorite that I often use. You know the arrow type that looks like a Nike Swoosh logo? The ones that start at a point then become thicker as they softly curve up or down? I have an easy hack that uses broken SmartArt to create such an arrow. Of course, if you have the newest version of PowerPoint (2016/Office 365), you can insert this arrow style as an icon, but it’s not easily editable (other than to recolor). Do this instead: 1) Insert > SmartArt > Process > Upward Arrow (or Descending Process) | 2) Ungroup | 3) Ungroup again | 4) Delete all extra shapes and text boxes, leaving only the arrow. You’re left with an adjustable arrow that allows you to use the yellow handles to change the swoosh width and arrow head size. Rotate, Flip Vertical, Flip Horizontal, or resize to further customize.

Sandra Johnson is the Owner and Chief Presentation Officer at Presentation Wiz  and is Vice President of the Presentation Guild. She has also been designated only 1 of 12 Microsoft PowerPoint MVPs in the United States.

PowerPoint Shortcuts, Tricks, and Hacks

12. Power-crop photos with SmartArt

The favorite hack is Power Cropping a bunch of photos in seconds. (1) In PowerPoint select a bunch of odd sized (or shaped) photos (2) Navigate to the Picture Tools Format Tab (3) Open up the Picture Layout drop down (4) Select a SmartArt layout (Bending Picture Semi-Transparent Text is my favorite) (5) CTRL+SHIFT+G to ungroup the graphic twice. It’s a great little PowerPoint hack that not a lot of people know about.

Taylor Croonquist is the Co-Founder of NutsAndBoltsSpeedTraining.com . He is the guru of time-saving PowerPoint tips. If you want to be blown away by how fast someone can whip a PPT into shape, check out his blog or videos.

13. Use Ctrl + arrow keys to nudge objects on the screen

Here’s a quick and easy one I share in my PowerPoint for eLearning 101 classes: Want to move something just a smidge using the arrow keys? You may notice that it’s hard to get to juuuuust the right spot using the arrow keys. Try holding down the [Control] key with the arrow keys and watch as your slide objects move by just a pixel at a time.

AJ Walther  is the Chief Creative Officer at IconLogic. She is also the instructor for several PowerPoint courses: PowerPoint for eLearning 101  and 201 , and the author of 2 PowerPoint books.

14. Use SmartArt to break bullet points into text boxes

Use SmartArt as a tool to eliminate bullet points and “chunk” your information out visually. Select your text box of bullet points and either right-click or choose from the Home tab “Convert to SmartArt.” Select a SmartArt graphic that contains horizontal boxes. Select the newly created SmartArt containing your text, right-click and ungroup it twice, giving you text in rectangles. Now, delete any extraneous SmartArt items (i.e. arrows) and format the boxes however you like. Voila, you have magically turned a page of bullet points into visual chunks—much easier to read!

Nolan Haims is the Principal of Nolan Haims Creative. He leads a team of visual design professionals dedicated to all types of visual communication. Nolan blogs at Present Your Story  and hosts the popular Presentation Podcast.

15. Create “smoky letters” with PPT’s new Morph transition

Magic Smoky Letters! I recently went on a crazy experimentation spree (channeling my inner mad scientist!) with the Morph transition and discovered this bizarre but very cool “smoky letters” trick. Let’s say, for instance, that you want the word TEXT to come out as smoke from a chimney (or fireplace, tailpipe, cigar, teapot, magic lamp, etc.).  You first put a picture of the chimney on your slide.  Next, you create smoke “seeds” by inserting a rectangle and editing one of the points (Format – Shape – Edit Points) – then making 4 copies of this rectangle (one for each letter in TEXT).  Make these “seeds” tiny and transparent, then place on top of the chimney (where you want the smoke to come out). Next, duplicate the slide and on this new slide, delete the “seeds” on the chimney.  Then, vectorize the word TEXT (by writing it in a text box, putting it on top of a colored rectangle, selecting both objects and going to Merge Shapes – Fragment and deleting the stuff around TEXT). Finally, add a Morph transition to the second slide, and you’re done! Simply view in presentation mode and prepare for your jaw to drop… check out this trick with more details and examples here .

Lia (aka “P-Spice”) is a management consultant with a passion for making presentations more innovative and “spicy.” She hosts a popular YouTube channel on PowerPoint with over 4 million views and 36,000+ subscribers focused on creative animation and design tricks. She is also the author of the Spicy Presentations blog .

16. Convert text to an image if the custom font might not be installed.

One of my favorite frustration-busters involves a work-around when I know my client won’t have a custom font installed. For example, if the slide would benefit from a gorgeous script as an accent element, I will turn that piece of text into an image. I do this by selecting the font as an object, copying it and then pasting it as a picture (either right click to paste or use the paste button in the Home menu). Now I know the “text” will display as designed on any computer.

Lori Chollar is the Co-Founder of TLC Creative Services, Inc .

PowerPoint Presentation Delivery Tips

17. Use the notes panel for detailed printed notes

I’m a College Professor and use PowerPoint for Lecture notes. Many students want detailed lecture notes, but get bored quickly reading mountains of text on a slide. So I use the “Notes Pages” panel for detail while keeping the slides simple – I urge students to read the notes which may contain more information than given in a lecture. If printing out the slides, it is essential to use “Notes Pages” print layout option.

Dr Eugene O’Loughlin  is a Lecturer in Computing at the National College of Ireland. He also hosts one of the most popular YouTube channels that covers PowerPoint topics and has over 12 million views and 26k+ subscribers.

18. Leverage “Presenter View” and “sections” when there are multiple presenters

Increase the power of Presenter View with PowerPoint Sections. Sections are used to organize slides within a presentation by grouping slides and giving each group a name. In addition, Presenter View leverages these Sections that can be seen in Presenter View’s Grid Layout. When running a presentation with multiple presenters, or an awards show with multiple award categories, I add lots of PowerPoint sections. The ability to minimize live-show stress and find the correct section to jump to is amazing!

Troy Chollar is the Co-Founder of TLC Creative Services, Inc. He is also a Microsoft designated PowerPoint MVP, PowerPoint blogger , and host the popular Presentation Podcast.

19. Use “triggers” to create interactive presentations

Create interactive presentations with triggers to start animations through hot spots on a slide. You can reveal specific parts of a diagram, make something change color by clicking it, or give people multiple choice questions and have the correct answer pop-up. It takes seconds to do and works brilliantly, particularly with visual slides. Right click on any animation, choose Timing, then Triggers in the pop-up window, and choose which object you click to start (trigger) the animation. You can have multiple triggers on one slide and multiple animations triggered by the same object. It makes really compelling and effective presentations.

Richard Goring is the Director at BrightCarbon. He creates compelling and persuasive presentations using visuals and diagrams. Richard also blogs at the Bright Carbon blog and has a post on this trigger technique  mentioned above.

20. Use a formatted “Notes” page for presentation handouts.

I open the most eyes when I discuss how to use the Notes page to create handouts that are contained within the same PPTX file as the slides. Most people have never spent even a second in the Notes master so they never knew you could globally reformat the Notes pages to allow them to better accommodate the creation of handout pages.

Rick Altman is the Director of R. Altman and Associates and the Conference Host of The Presentation Summit . If you looking to create PowerPoints that don’t suck, he literally wrote the book on it.

PowerPoint software and hardware setup tips

21. add “align” to your quick access toolbar.

Tired of eyeballing that slide to see if all the objects are all even or in the same grid? That is why my favorite tip is to make Align one of your favorites on your QAT. Imagine a slide that might introduce three speakers’ headshots and captions but they are not aligned or equidistant from each other. Let’s fix it. Select all three objects – click on the first object, then press and hold CTRL when you click on the others.  You can also use SHIFT and your mouse to draw a box over what you want to align – I call it a “Lasso”. To arrange the three headshots, click on the Format Tab in the Picture tools, you will see an option to align objects. You can choose to center objects horizontally, vertically or to a box of text. You do the same when working with shapes, text boxes, SmartArt graphics, and WordArt by selecting Format in the Drawing Tools. The result:  your objects snap to the grid and the smart guide lines that appear on your slide will help confirm it.

Sharyn Fitzpatrick is the Editor of PresentationXpert  and the Chief Marketing, Communications, and Webinar Guru at Marcom Gurus. She also lives in my home town (Los Altos), is a raving Penn State fan, and a former competitive swimmer!

22. Customize your “quick access” toolbar with frequently used buttons

I don’t have a ton of keyboard shortcuts in PowerPoint, but I do customize my toolbar. When I do that (right-click on the toolbar at the very top of the window), I can add any button I want, especially the alignment buttons, which makes life a lot easier when you’re working with different slide objects such as text, images, and graphs. In Excel, my favorite keyboard shortcut is CTRL+1 (CMD+1 on Macs), which will bring you to the Format menu. And it works for everything–cells, line charts, bar charts, axis labels, gridlines, whatever you need.

Jonathan Schwabish is the Founder at PolicyViz.com  and a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute. He is well known in the presentation community for his presentation book Better Presentations and his expertise in data visualization.

23. Name screen elements on the “Selection Pane” for easy design layering and more

The Selection Pane is one of PowerPoint’s best kept secrets. By default, it’s hidden in the “Select” menu on the “Home” tab. I add it to my Quick Access Toolbar and keep the Selection Pane open anytime I’m working in PowerPoint. Once open, you can name all the objects on the screen. This really helps when you’re trying to change the layering order of the objects, add animations, and more. You can also hide objects by clicking the “eye” icon next to each object. That’s really helpful for revealing objects beneath that layer. Without the selection pane, both layering and animations are next to impossible.

Bryan Jones is the Founder and President of eLearningArt. He runs a stock photo and template site to help people build better presentations and graphics. He also blogs frequently about eLearning, PowerPoint, and presentations .

24. In a dark working environment, change the default interface for more contrast

When I’m working in a dark environment (at night in my office, backstage at a conference, etc.), I find it extremely helpful to change PowerPoint’s interface from the bright white and orange to black or at least dark grey. To do this, click File, then Account, then select Black or Dark Grey from the Office Theme dropdown. Note that _these_ Office Themes control your interface elements such as the Ribbon and the workspace; they aren’t the same Office Themes that you may think of when we talk about PowerPoint templates and themes. (Thanks for naming everything the same, Microsoft!)

Echo Swinford is a PowerPoint Corporate Presentation and Template Expert at Echosvoice . She is designated as 1 of only 12 Microsoft PowerPoint MVPs in the United States. Echo also authored a book on building PowerPoint templates and is the President of the Presentation Guild .

25. Get a good external mouse. One with a scroll wheel can zoom in and out

A comfortable external mouse is a must-have for quick toolbar navigation and graphics editing. Make your work even speedier by choosing a mouse with a scroll wheel. In PowerPoint, hold the Ctrl/Command key and scroll forward or backward to change the Zoom level. Go from big picture to the smallest details in an instant.

Julie Terberg  is a Presentation Expert, Visual Communicator at Terberg design. She is a designated Microsoft PowerPoint MVP, author of a book on creating PowerPoint templates, and is the Art Director for the Presentation Guild.

Think beyond PowerPoint presentations

26. think of ppt as a tool beyond liner presentations.

Strangely enough, my best tip/hack is to start seeing PowerPoint as a tool that can do much more than linear presentations. Here are a few examples: 1) Produce better visuals & handouts at the same time by moving text to the notes pane, and design your Notes Master so it has your corporate colors and logo 2) Use PowerPoint’s screen capture tool (PPT2010 and up), or screen recording tool (PPT2013 and up) to create quick tutorials without needing other software 3) Get to know the drawing/shape tools to create your custom graphics and save them as images.

Chantal Bossé  is the Owner of CHABOS, Inc. where she helps clients, such as TEDx speakers, maximize their presentation impact. She is also a designated Microsoft PowerPoint MVP.

27. Export to video and PDF to make content portable and reach a wider audience.

Exporting to video and PDF is a quick and easy way to make your content much more portable and mobile-friendly to reach a wider audience. The PDF option allows you to totally rethink your documents and make the switch to interactive “e-books”. The video option gives you a super flexible MP4 video file that you can use virtually anywhere. To see an example of each, visit this tutorial .

Mike Taylor  is a Learning Technologist at Mindset Digital, as well as a former Community Manager at Articulate He is also a frequent speaker and popular blogger.

28. Hyperlink between slides to create a non-linear experience

Hyperlinking: Many who build eLearning with PowerPoint rely too much on the default linear slide 1- slide 2 -next-next-next setup. Learning to hyperlink across slide decks enables you to build interesting interactions like branching simulations and quizzes with scaffolded feedback. It takes patience and thinking through but isn’t technically difficult. Another tip: Figure out how to do the planning/layout the way that works best for you: I like to use Post-It notes I can move around. Others like to draw it out, and still others use the PPT flowcharting tools.

Jane Bozarth  is an E-Learning Coordinator for the State of North Carolina. She is the author of several popular books, including Better Than Bullet Points: Creating Engaging e-Learning with PowerPoint.

29. Build clickable prototypes and hyperlink from any object to other slides

Creating prototypes is tough, right? Difficult software, expensive too. But wait… Do you realize that PowerPoint can be used to build prototypes? One of the coolest and simplest features that you’ll find in PowerPoint is the ability to put hyperlinks on any object on your slide and have it link to other slides. This way you can mock up any kind of e-learning, interactive job aid, software simulation or app you’d like and  get a real feel of how it would work. Just create the screens you need for your prototype, add clickable areas (transparent shapes are great for that!) and voila!

Jeff Kortenbosch  is a Performance Consultant at Bright Alley. He’s a PowerPoint guru and has a series of YouTube videos where he teaches users how to draw in PowerPoint.

29 PowerPoint Tips, Tricks, and Hacks Summarized

• Use the Tell ‘n Show method: a headline with a single point and media to support it | Ellen Finkelstein
• Don’t open PPT until you have a clear message | Geetesh Bajaj
• Start with the end-scenario in mind | Tom Howell
• Tease the audience by revealing info in parts | Ramgopal
• Don’t open PowerPoint first. Instead, sketch on a notepad | Doug Thomas
• Use transparent overlays on images for text contrast | Andrzej Pach
• Go big with visuals. Bleed photos and videos to the edge | Tony Ramos
• Create quick native PPT icons using your subtract and combine tool. | Bethany Auck
• Structure clean layouts by using a grid system on slide master. | Stephy Lewis
• Find a beautiful, fresh font pair. One for headers and one for bod. | One Skill
• Create an arrow with broken SmartArt | Sandra Johnson
• Power-crop photos with SmartArt | Taylor Croonquist
• Use Ctrl + arrow keys to nudge objects on the screen | AJ Walther
• Use SmartArt to break bullet points into text boxes | Nolan Haims
• Create “smoky letters” with PPT’s new Morph transition | Lia (P-Spice)
• Convert text to an image if the custom font might not be installed | Lori Chollar
• Use the notes panel for detailed printed notes | Dr Eugene O’Loughlin
• Leverage “Presenter View” and “sections” when there are multiple presenters | Troy Chollar
• Use “triggers” to create interactive presentations | Richard Goring
• Use a formatted “Notes” page for presentation handout.  | Rick Altman

PowerPoint Software and Hardware Setup Tips

• Add “align” to your Quick Access Toolbar | Sharyn Fitzpatrick
• Customize your “quick access” toolbar with frequently used buttons  | Jon Schwabish
• Name screen elements on the “Selection Pane” for easy design layering and more | Bryan Jones
• In a dark working environment, change the default interface for more contrast | Echo Swinford
• Get a good external mouse. One with a scroll wheel can zoom in and out | Julie Terberg

Think Beyond PowerPoint Presentations

• Think of PPT as a tool beyond liner presentations | Chantal Bossé
• Export to video and PDF to make content portable and reach a wider audience | Mike Taylor
• Hyperlink between slides to create a non-linear experience | Jane Bozarth
• Build clickable prototypes and hyperlink from any object to other slides | Jeff Kortenbosch

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11 Time-Saving PowerPoint Hacks For Creating Quick Presentations

If you’ve ever left a PowerPoint presentation for the last minute, you’ve probably ended up with the surprise that it takes up way more time than expected. We’ve all been there! Going from the default all-white canvas slides to a professional presentation that truly conveys your message and represents your brand takes time and effort. The easiest way to save time creating PowerPoint presentations is to outsource the process . It is, hands down, the most effective way to get the task of doing PowerPoint out of your hands forever. However, there are still a lot of time-saving PowerPoint hacks that do not need any money investment. Here you’ll find 11 easy tips to save time when creating PowerPoint presentations.

And even better, these PowerPoint hacks work even better in unison. At the end of the article, you’ll find a step-by-step guide on how to use these presentation tips in conjunction to save time and make a professional-looking slide pack in less than 3 hours.

The average time spent working on presentations is 4 hours

Working on presentation slides is a common task for pretty much everybody. Whether you’re a student, a manager, or a CEO, PowerPoint offers an incredible array of options for public speaking. Chances are, you’re already investing hours and hours of time and effort into PowerPoint presentations. For those who have to constantly work with it, learning how to save time creating PowerPoint presentations can become a key skill. According to our surveys, the average executive will spend around 4 hours a week working on presentations . This might not sound as much, but it sums up to 141 hours a year -probably at least $7,000 worth !

This means that learning how to save time creating PowerPoint presentations will not only free you time for more important tasks, but it can even save you precious money. Hopefully, these 11 time-saving PowerPoint hacks will help you become more efficient in your presentation creation process!

11 time-saving PowerPoint hacks to optimize your time better

The easiest way to make a PowerPoint presentation that looks both good and doesn’t take much time is to keep it clean and simple. A minimalistic style can be a great approach if you’re trying to save time when working on a PowerPoint presentation.

Luckily, there are a lot of options for improving your presentations’ design while still saving time! You don’t have to spend hours and hours working on PowerPoint presentations if you’re strategic in your approach. The PowerPoint hacks you’ll find in this list are easy to implement whether you’re a newbie or you’ve been working with PowerPoint all your life. And they will help you create a presentation that looks professional without taking hours of your time!

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #1: Plan ahead

One tip for saving time when creating a PowerPoint presentation that many people forget to take into consideration is working on the planning stage . Outlining might feel like a waste of time when you’re trying to get something done as fast as possible. However, it can be an invaluable step that can help you reduce time in the following tasks.

Planning can be something as easy as asking yourself some baseline questions for your presentation. For example, who is my audience, and what previous knowledge of this topic do they have? Or how do I want my brand to be perceived? Thinking about these things beforehand can help you define what you should include in your presentation and what it should look like. It can help you define what sort of data and information you need so you can make sure to collect it all beforehand. It can give you an idea of what sort of slides you should include, like a timeline, or a bar graph.

Even if it’s just a quick brainstorming session, having some previous idea of what you want your presentation to include will make the process of creating and designing your slides much more easier and efficient. Planning ahead will not only help you save time but also improve the quality of your presentation. By doing the extra work of outlining your presentation, you will be able to make sure that all the important points are being delivered and that your message is being conveyed exactly as you want it to be.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #2: Outsource your PowerPoint presentation design

The most effective way to save time when creating a PowerPoint presentation is, hands down, not to do it yourself! This might come as a surprise for you, but outsourcing presentation design has become a very common practice among professionals in all kinds of industries. And no wonder why! It allows you to completely get rid of the annoying task of fiddling around for hours in PowerPoint while still getting an amazing final product.

If you want a truly outstanding presentation that will impress your audience and make them remember you long after the presentation is over, then professional help is probably the best way to go. By outsourcing your PowerPoint design you’ll not only get the ‘wow-factor’ assured, but you’ll also have much more free time for working on your presentation’s content and rehearsing or even other business tasks.

The power of outsourcing presentation design

When talking about being strategic with your time management and your presentation-making process, outsourcing is definitely at the top of the list . Leaving it at the hands of professional PowerPoint designers has been proven to save around 37 minutes per slide . This means that in a small presentation of just 7 slides you would be saving more than 4 hours!

Many people quickly dismiss outsourcing because they think that the price is too restrictive, or simply not worth it. But you would be surprised by the number of offers and options when talking about outsourcing presentation design. You can hire freelance designers , but there are also design agencies that work with worldwide companies and are experts on professional PowerPoint design. 24Slides works with some of the biggest companies worldwide, and offers custom-designed slides starting at only $9 ! You can even adjust the price according to how much detail you want to be put in your slides and how soon you want them to be delivered.

For a little extra pay, outsourcing offers you the possibility to completely forget about working on presentations, freeing up time for more important tasks. Plus, you get a custom-made, professional design that will take your presentation from ‘okay’ to ‘unforgettable’.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #3: Use PowerPoint Templates

If you prefer non-paid options, however, there’s still a lot of PowerPoint tips and hacks you can use to save time when working on your presentations. And one of the most effective ones is definitely to work with templates . Templates are pre-made presentation designs you can fill and edit to fit your own needs. Microsoft Office itself offers a huge library of PowerPoint templates that you can go through to easily upgrade your presentations in pretty much no time.

There are also thousands and thousands of templates you can find online. There are probably PowerPoint template designs for every single topic you can think of. So if you’re looking for a specific business model or theme, it’s definitely worth looking up for some specialized templates that will help you get a great presentation with minimal effort.

On our Templates by 24Slides platform, you’ll find hundreds of professionally designed PowerPoint templates. And the best thing is, these are all completely free of charge ! You can download as many as you like, and even mix-and-match slides to create your perfect presentation.

The downside of using templates is that you’ll still have to invest some time in editing and formatting the slides to fit your presentation. Even if it’s only just adding the text to the template, you should still expect some effort to be needed. And as specialized as a template might be, you’ll never find a slide-pack that fits exactly your every need like a custom PowerPoint presentation would. But it is still a great option when looking for ways on how to save time creating presentations, as you’ll no longer be creating a presentation from scratch.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #4: Convert your documents into PowerPoint slides

Another PowerPoint hack that can save you time when creating a presentation is directly converting your document into a PowerPoint file. For example, you can automatically convert a Word document into PowerPoint slides . You can even use different title sizes to divide your document into slides automatically!

However, it’s important to remember that a PowerPoint slide should never have the same amount of text as a word document. This PowerPoint hack is great to save your time with some tedious copy-and-pasting. But you’re still going to have to edit and alter it to make the most of your PowerPoint presentation. Filling your slides with text blocks is one of the easiest ways to bore and lose engagement with your audience. So when using this tip, be sure to be strategic when working with text!

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #5: Use the Design Ideas Tool

If you don’t find a template to fit your needs, or you want to make your slides from scratch, there are still some quick hacks that can make your PowerPoint design tasks easier. A great option for this is to take advantage of the Design Ideas Tool . This is a new feature for the Microsoft 365 subscription that will truly change how you design PowerPoint slides.

The Design Ideas Tool offers automatically generated design suggestions for your slides. It has great-looking, professional layouts, and it allows you to convert text into images and even graphs. This smart feature is definitely a gold mine when talking about saving time when working on PowerPoint slides. Like many features, it has a learning curve, but it’s fairly easy to use. You can also easily customize the slides after you’re done with what the Design Ideas Tool has to offer. In short, it’s a great starting point for quick PowerPoint slide design!

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #6: Use a unifying customized background

A great hack to make your PowerPoint presentations look better and cleaner with minimum effort is to work in your slides’ background. An all-white default slide background is a telling sign of a last-minute presentation, and it can make you look lazy and not detail-oriented. A good background can completely change the look of your entire presentation. And the best thing is that it’s very easy to do !

A dark background , for example, can give your presentation a very clean and professional look. It can help make the other elements pop-up, and keep your audience engaged. A textured background can take a plain presentation into an interesting one. The most important thing to keep in mind when working with backgrounds in PowerPoint is that it should never get in the way of your slide’s content.

An extra tip for saving time with PowerPoint backgrounds: Use a neutral backdrop that can be used for several slides. Not every single slide needs to have a unique background. You can save a lot of time repeating the same background along with your presentation. Even better, it’ll become a unifying design element, and you can save a more eye-catching, unique background for a title slide, for example.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #7: Work with icons

Icons are great visual elements that can truly upgrade your presentation’s looks. This PowerPoint hack can quickly and easily turn a plain slide into a professional-looking one. Icons are an amazing tool for presentations because they can represent all kinds of concepts and categories in a very small space. Plus, the fact that they are images instead of text will help you declutter your presentation’s slides and make them look cleaner and sharper. Use icons to play with your slides’ layout. You’ll see how easy it is to make a presentation look much better with just a few of them!

The best thing about icons is that they’re easily accessible too. You can find hundreds of free icons online and import them into PowerPoint. You can even create your own icons! When talking about time-saving PowerPoint hacks, however, the best option out there is the Templates by 24Slides platform . You’ll find icon packs for all kinds of business topics that you can download for free and directly copy-and-paste into your own slides.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #8: Stick to a single color palette

One of the most tricky things to take into consideration when working on PowerPoint design is the color palette. It can easily become a very distracting and time-consuming detail. Picking a color scheme will help you easily edit any PowerPoint template you choose to use, or even the slides you create with the Design Ideas tool. It gives you quick access to a determined color palette so it’s easy for you to edit and unify your slides’ design.

Microsoft Office offers some pre-made color palettes you can pick from, but you can also create your own color scheme in PowerPoint! This will not only save you time when working with your slides, but it’ll make sure that all your presentations stay on-brand.

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #9: Make the most of PowerPoint add-ins

Another PowerPoint hack that very few people take advantage of is using PowerPoint add-ins . PowerPoint add-ins are specialized tools that give you extra features beyond what Microsoft Office offers by default. If you’re someone who works with presentation design constantly, PowerPoint add-ins can help you make your work a little bit easier.

You can find amazing free PowerPoint add-ins for very specialized tasks. For example, THOR allows you to copy an image’s position into another slide -great for adding watermarks and logos. Word Cloud , just like its name suggests, helps you create and personalize word clouds for your presentations. Or my personal favorite, PowerPointLabs .This add-in has a lot of amazing PowerPoint hacks that will make your life easier. Its “Positions Labs” automatically organizes images and icons in your slides, making sure they’re the same size and arranged just like you want them to be, so you don’t have to do it manually. It might seem like a small thing, but if you have ever worked with icons and tried to get several of them in a straight line, you surely know how much time it can take!

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #10: Learn to use master slides

Master slides are perfect for “baking” repetitive elements. It can help you add watermarks, logos, and any kind of element that you want to keep throughout your presentation. You can even set information concerning the design, like themes, backgrounds, colors, animation effects, and much more. While it might be tricky to get the hang of this PowerPoint hack at first, it’s definitely worth the effort, as it can help you save tons of time.

Learn more about working with master slides with this Ultimate PowerPoint template guide .

Time-saving PowerPoint hack #11: Reuse your slides

Finally, a must-do for all those who have to constantly work with PowerPoint presentations: Reuse ! Why start a new presentation from scratch every time when you’ve already spent so much time and effort on the last one? This doesn’t mean that all your slides will look the same. You can still edit them and change elements. Reuse a set of slides for another presentation by changing the color themes and icons to fit the new topic. You can even reuse slides within the same presentation. For example, you can reuse a slide layout that can be used to convey different kinds of information.

How to save time when working with a constant presentation demand?

Working with PowerPoint presentations constantly can feel like a tiresome, tedious task. But practice makes perfect. The more you get to work with PowerPoint design, the more likely it is for you to become better and spend less and less time on it. The last two PowerPoint hacks are a must for those who have to constantly create new presentations. Learning how to use master slides will allow you to have a go-to design whenever you need to work on a new presentation. And reusing your slides for a new presentation is definitely a life-saving hack when working on PowerPoint!

If your work demands a high amount of PowerPoint presentations constantly, you might also want to consider getting a dedicated team of designers for it. If it’s a repetitive task that takes time away from you and your team recurrently, then it’s definitely worth it to get some professional backup.

24Slides offers subscription packages that will allow you to tackle anything from 50 to 10,000 slides per month . The best thing about it is you get a dedicated team that will learn everything about your brand and preferred design styles, so the outsourcing process will be more seamless each time. This assures you a constant flow of unique, outstanding slides without any worry . And, you can share your subscription with your colleagues, guaranteeing that everyone’s slides in the team will be sharp and perfectly aligned with your overall brand.

How to make a presentation in less than 3 hours

Working on a last-minute presentation? Don’t worry! As daunting as it might seem, it’s possible to make a clean-looking presentation with limited time. Of course, how much time you spend working on a presentation depends on the amount of information, the number of slides, and the design effort you want to invest in them. But it is possible to make a good, quick presentation . Especially when using the PowerPoint hacks detailed above! Here I’ll show you how to use these time-saving PowerPoint tips to create a quick minimalistic presentation that still looks good with minimal effort.

Step 1: Planning (25-30 min)

You might be surprised to spend so much time on this first step, but it will help you go through the next ones more easily. Think about what your audience should take away from your presentation. Organize your topic point by point to make sure you’re covering everything you want to convey.

Take time to also think about how you are going to present specific information. If you have chronological information, will you use a timeline? If you have number-based data, will you use a graph or chart? What kind of graph? This will help you define what kind of slides you need when looking for templates. Try to collect beforehand all your information so you’ll not have to go back and forward when you’re working on filling your template.

Step 2: Pick your main template (15-20 min)

There are so many great templates options out there that it’s easy to lose time just browsing through. That’s why it’s extra important to set yourself a limit if you’re short of time. Keep tabs on your options as you go through, and after your time is done, pick one template to use as a base.

This base template doesn’t need to fit your presentation outline perfectly. It’s more about design and style, as you can add things and edit them later. To truly make a presentation in less than 2 hours, preferably pick a neutral base template, as it will be easier to standardize later if you decide to add other slides.

Step 3: Search for complementary slides (20 min)

Now is when your outline and planning will come in handy. Look for specific slides according to your needs. For example, a timeline slide design, an organization chart, title slides, or anything your base template does not have. Again, the more neutral the slides you pick, the easier it’ll be to make them fit later!

Step 4: Fill your slides’ content (20-25 min)

Now that you have all the slides together, it’s time to fill them with your information. You can use the conversion Powerpoint hack if you have all your information in a Word document, for example. Just remember to limit the amount of text on your slides. Your PowerPoint slides are a complement to the speaker, not the other way around! They should have written every single word you’re planning to say.

Step 5: Add icons and visual aids (30 min)

PowerPoint is a visual medium, so take advantage of it! If anything can be replaced by an icon, graph, or image, is probably a good idea to do so. This will make your presentation more visually appealing and will make your information easier to read for the audience too. This step is all about adding icons, changing the template’s images to something that fits your topics, and so on.

Step 6: Standardize your slides’ design (25 min)

Finally, make sure your slides match each other, especially if you’ve added slides from different templates packs. Make sure you’re using the same color scheme throughout your presentation to make it look cleaner. You can also add design elements from your base templates (if it has any) to your added slides to create a feeling of unity. In short, make sure all your slides’ designs match!

Step 7: Rehearse (20 min)

Before a presentation, rehearsal is a must! Even if it’s just going through your slides to check everything is in order, double-checking can make or break your presentation. Some as easy as typing errors can make your presentation look sloppy and last-minute. Go through your outline and make sure that everything you need to add is converted and tweak the final details.

And that’s it! A clean-looking presentation in less than 3 hours. It’s not likely to be a work of art, but a minimalistic PowerPoint presentation can still look professional and sharp. It’s all about practice, and the more time you invest in working with PowerPoint, the easier and better it will become.

Save time by outsourcing: How to get a GREAT presentation in 1 hour!

However, if you do want a work of art that will leave an impression on your audience, and still get a presentation done at record time, then why not let professionals do what they do best? Creating outstanding PowerPoint slide designs takes not only time and effort but also experience. While anyone can make a PowerPoint presentation, there’s no easy and quick way to make a truly unique, eye-catching presentation.

If you’re looking for ways to save time creating presentations, outsourcing is the best possible solution for you. And, you’ll save tons of time! Even if it is a last-minute project, you can get amazing results you wouldn’t be able to get otherwise by entrusting your presentations to professionals. If you want a PowerPoint to wow your audience but you’re a little bit tight on your schedule, outsourcing your presentation design can become a true live-saving investment!

Outsourcing Step #1: Get your content ready (20-25 minutes)

Most PowerPoint outsourcing agencies work exclusively with the design part of the presentation. This means the presentation’s content is all on you. After all, you’ll be the one presenting! If you’re looking to outsource your PowerPoint presentation design, make sure you have your content ready to show how you want it divided into slides. A default all-white presentation is enough. If you have any design references, brand colors, or any other details that you want to be included in your presentation you should also think about them beforehand!

Outsourcing Step #2: Upload your presentation (10-15 minutes)

Now you just need to give your baseline presentation for the designers to work their magic! 24Slides offers an integrated platform where you can upload your presentation, select your design style, slide treatment, due date, complementary services, and any other detail you want to include for your presentation.

After it, you can just rest and relax, as the designers will do all the rest! You can even save time in your presentation by turning it in to be worked overnight. 24Slides’ designers will have ready your custom PowerPoint design by the morning.

Outsourcing Step #3: Give your feedback (15 – 20 minutes)

24Slides is committed to creating the perfect presentation design for you. That’s why you’ll always be able to give feedback and ask for changes if you think something is missing. Customer satisfaction is fundamental for our designers. You’ll always get a draft so you can approve or change anything you think necessary. You won’t be charged until you’re 100% happy with how your presentation looks!

Outsourcing Step #4: Wow your audience with an outstanding presentation!

Finally, you’ll receive the final presentation, perfect and ready for you to make an impression on your audience. And you have had the content ready from step #1, you can even start practicing and rehearsing while your presentation is getting done by our best designers. Outsourcing is an incredibly empowering tool for speakers in all sorts of business. It frees precious time and allows you to make the most of every tool PowerPoint has to offer.

Start saving time and effort in your PowerPoint presentations

Working on your PowerPoint presentations can be a tiresome, time-consuming process. Hopefully, these PowerPoint time-saving hacks will help you make your process a little bit more efficient. Remember that practice makes perfect! The more you try out and learn how to make the most out of these tips, the easier it’ll get. Try not to go for big, complicated designs and focus on getting clean and sharp slides that look professional before working on something more advanced.

Outsourcing presentation design is a great way to not only save time when creating presentations. It’ll also get you the best possible results to impress your audience. Professional PowerPoint designers will make sure that not only your message is perfectly conveyed, but also that your brand is represented and that your slides are as visually engaging as possible. And the best thing is, you can relax and completely forget about PowerPoint presentations forever! We’ve polled thousands of customers, and the overall consensus is that professional presentation design has helped them save an average of 37 minutes per slide . Just imagine how much time you would be able to save in a simple 20-slide presentation!

If saving time and effort when creating PowerPoint presentations sounds good, then you must try 24Slides design services . We work with some of the best companies all around the world by creating amazing PowerPoint slides that bring their message to life. Our designers will transform your presentation into a work of art that will make sure to stay in your audience’s mind long after the presentation is over.

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10 PowerPoint Hacks to Level Up Your Presentations

Are you tired of delivering lackluster presentations that leave your audience bored and disinterested? Do you want to captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression? Look no further! In this blog post, we will reveal 10 PowerPoint hacks that will take your presentations to the next level and make you a master presenter. So let's dive in!

1. Utilize PowerPoint AI to Create Stunning Slides

Gone are the days of spending hours designing slides from scratch. With the power of artificial intelligence, now you can create professional-looking slides in a matter of minutes. PowerPoint AI, also known as a slides generator, is a game-changer for presenters. It uses advanced algorithms to analyze your content and automatically generates visually appealing slides that grab attention.

2. Incorporate Engaging Visuals

We are visual creatures, so it's important to use eye-catching visuals to support your presentation. PowerPoint offers a wide range of options, from stock images to icons and illustrations. Make use of these resources to enhance your message and make it more memorable.

3. Choose the Right Color Scheme

Colors have a psychological impact and can greatly influence how your audience perceives your presentation. Opt for a color scheme that matches the mood and objective of your presentation. Avoid using too many colors, as it can be distracting. Stick to a maximum of three or four primary colors for a harmonious and aesthetically pleasing look.

4. Keep It Simple and Concise

Less is more when it comes to PowerPoint presentations. Avoid overcrowding your slides with excessive text and complicated graphs. Use bullet points and concise phrases to summarize key points. Remember, you are the presenter, not the slide. Focus on delivering your message effectively and let the slides support your content.

5. Use Transitions and Animations Wisely

Transitions and animations can add flair to your presentation, but don't go overboard. Use them sparingly to emphasize key points or create a smooth flow between slides. Too many flashy transitions can be distracting and take away from the content of your presentation.

6. Incorporate Data Visualization

Numbers and statistics can be dry, but with the right data visualization, you can bring them to life. PowerPoint offers a range of charts and graphs that can transform boring data into engaging visuals. Choose the appropriate visual representation for your data to make it more understandable and impactful.

7. Make Use of PowerPoint's Presenter View

Presenter View is a powerful tool that allows you to see your presentation notes, upcoming slides, and a timer while your audience sees only the presentation itself. This feature helps you stay on track, deliver your points confidently, and keep your audience engaged.

8. Practice, Practice, Practice

No matter how well-designed your slides are, if you stumble over your words or lack confidence, your presentation won't be effective. Practice your presentation multiple times before the big day. Focus on your delivery, body language, and timing to ensure a smooth and memorable performance.

9. Engage with Your Audience

A great presenter knows how to connect with their audience. Encourage interaction by asking questions, conducting polls, or even including a short quiz in your presentation. Engaging your audience keeps them interested and actively participating in your presentation.

10. Stay Updated with the Latest PowerPoint Features

PowerPoint is constantly evolving, and new features and updates are regularly released. Stay up-to-date with the latest features and incorporate them into your presentations. Exploring new options will help you stay ahead of the game and keep your presentations fresh and innovative.

In conclusion, these 10 PowerPoint hacks will help you create exceptional presentations that leave a lasting impact on your audience. By utilizing PowerPoint AI, incorporating visuals, keeping it simple and concise, and staying updated with the latest features, you are on your way to becoming a master presenter. So, what are you waiting for? Start implementing these hacks and wow your audience with your next presentation!

Posted on: Nov. 5, 2023, 12:42 p.m.

• Presentation Design
• Report Design & Content Research
• Motion Graphics
• Interactive Design
• Design with AI

10 Essential PowerPoint Hacks to Elevate Your Presentations

PresentationPanda.com is now proudly owned by INK PPT. We're committed to enhancing and expanding the valuable content previously provided by PresentationPanda.com . Our blog will offer deeper insights, comprehensive guides, and innovative strategies to elevate your presentations to new heights. With INK PPT, expect enriched content that will help you create more engaging and effective presentations. We're here to provide you with the tools and knowledge to captivate your audience and deliver outstanding presentations. Stay tuned for expert tips, creative ideas, and practical advice to take your presentations to the next level.

TL;DR: Master PowerPoint with these hacks: use Poll Everywhere for real-time audience engagement, Control + B to black out the screen, and sparing animations to focus attention. Learn key shortcuts like F5 and customize templates to enhance your presentations. Visit our site for more tips!

Let’s begin!

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #1: Use Poll Everywhere To Ask Your Audience Questions and Keep Them Engaged

Poll Everywhere is one of those PowerPoint presentation hacks that once you start using it, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it. It is a great tool to make you feel more like you’re having a conversation with your audience and less like a lecturing parent who is receiving an uninterested “yeah” and nod from their teenager without making any eye contact. You want your audience to come away feeling like they learned something, but a lot of times you want to learn from them too – even if it’s just feedback on how you’re doing.

By using this inexpensive and simple digital tool, you can ask your audience questions and receive the answers in real-time. It’s productive, and it keeps them engaged. Even better, their answers will be displayed instantly in your PowerPoint presentation, bringing you and your audience closer together (but just as friends).

Poll Everywhere is a huge improvement on other systems out there: it’s easier to use, simpler to set up, and very affordable. Instead of hardware, it relies on text messaging (SMS) and the web to collect the replies, and audiences respond with any web-enabled device they have with them. There are some clear advantages to this off-the-shelf mobile and web technology: 1.) No clunky “clicker” devices to pass out, explain how to use, struggle with during the presentation, and then worry about collecting at the end. We all knew there had to be a better way. 2.) No limits to the types of responses you can collect – use multiple choice questions, full-text comments, or questions from the audience. The sky's the limit! 3.) Extremely low learning curve. The audience starts out using a device that’s already most familiar to them: their own phone or laptop.

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #2: Use Control + B to Make The Presentation Screen Black and Draw Attention Back to You

You’re in the middle of your presentation, halfway through a slide. You’re about to make a great point – and your audience is looking as glazed as a Krispy Kreme donut. They’re probably zoning out and just staring at the screen, reading your title over and over again, or admiring the graphic you chose to complement your message. But that’s not what you want!

Instead of aggressively standing in front of the screen and waving your arms, use this nifty little presentation hack: hit “Control” + the “B” key on your keyboard, and suddenly, all your distracted audience will see is a black screen. If the black seems a bit harsh, you can go with a peaceful white-out instead. Hit “Control” + “W” and your audience will be dazzled by a white screen. It’s an easier and gentler way to wake them up and shift their focus back to you (and that important point you’re about to wow them with).

And don’t worry – your screen isn’t blank forever. Whenever you need to move to the next slide, you can hit any key or move the mouse to get your slide back, and proceed as normal.

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #3: Draw On Your Slides In Real Time During Your Presentation with Control + z

One of our favorite PowerPoint presentation hacks is the ability to draw right on the slide. If you want to be able to circle part of your slide to emphasize it (or satisfy your craving to doodle, we don’t judge), you can easily turn your mouse pointer into a pen by hitting “Control” + “P”. Voila, you can scribble all over your slide to your heart’s content. This hack can be especially helpful with webinars where the audience can not reference what part of the slide you are talking about.

If you’d like a demonstration, check out this video for a quick tutorial. Drawing with your mouse sounds easier than it is, and it can be a bit tough to control for things with more detail. It’s great if you want to be able to quickly circle or point to something, but a bit tougher if you want to write something out. If you need more control than a mouse can give you, you can always purchase a drawing pad to use when you make your drawings. Oh you fancy, huh? When sketch time is over, it’s easy to go back to the pointer, too. All you need to do is hit “Control” + “A”, and you can go on to the next slide.

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #4: Use Animations (In Moderation) To Introduce Key Points One-At-A-Time

An effective way to make your PowerPoint slides better is using animations. If you miss the bright, 3D, rotating screen savers of the 1990’s and want to relive your glory days, this presentation hack is for you (sort of). We don’t recommend going as all-out as they did back then (please no shimmering text), but a touch of animation and movement will make your slides look a lot cooler.

It’s easy to do, too. PowerPoint offers just about every permutation of every movement you could ever want. You can use their animations to make interesting slide designs or just to jazz up your presentation. To create them, click on the “Animations” tab in your presentation at the end of the Animations Gallery. Click the down arrow to get “More” animation options and you’ll arrive at the control center for the animation tool – everything you can dream, you can do. You can control everything from the pace of the animation to the degree it turns.

One of the best and most effective ways to use animations is when you have a list of points that you want to introduce one at a time: It will keep your audience engaged and focused on each element individually, instead of looking at the whole thing all at once. It will also give you a better chance to talk about each point before moving on to the next one, knowing your audience is right there with you.

We may have been a little misleading with the 1990’s reference at the beginning – the key word here is MODERATION. If your slide fades in, your title gets typed letter by letter, and then each line does a backflip before landing, you’ve gone way too far. Just use them for a touch of interest and movement. Excessive and unnecessary animation just makes your slides look childish and annoying – don’t give your audience the idea that you’ve teleported in from the 90s.

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #5: Use a Nice Template That Will Help You Stand Out From The Crowd and Look Like an Expert

Don’t be afraid to go against the grain a little to stand out – just like you don’t have to use the standard PowerPoint slide size , you don’t have to stick with stock templates for your presentation. Create something custom to wow your audience and be uniquely you. Here’s how to make a custom template from scratch:

• Open the “Themes” tab
• Click “Edit Master” on the right of the tab
• Click “Slide Master”
• Edit the template to your perfectionist heart’s desire
• Click “Close Master” to apply the template to all the slides in the current presentation

Of course, not everyone has the time or desire to create a custom template. If you don’t have the time, or you just don’t want to, you can purchase a pre-made professional template from several different vendors on the market. Of course, our favorite is GraphicRiver – it may be a little biased, but that’s the only place you can get our magical template, The Influencer, that our team of pandas launched a few months back.

What’s awesome about this template (and other templates on GraphicRiver) is that it gives you a great base to customize from directly in PowerPoint if you still want a bit of creative control. If you have a strong opinion on the teal vs. cerulean debate, change it! Same goes for the font and the images – if you want something different, all it takes is a few clicks of the mouse to swap it out for what you want.

If you have an important presentation to give, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel: By using a professional made template you can focus more on your content (what you are trying to communicate to your audience). GraphicRiver has a huge selection of PowerPoint templates you can use instead of making your own from scratch, which is one of the many reasons we love them. It’s also super easy to customize them by changing the color palette, font style, images, and much more.

Beyond our Influencer template (seen above) here is a list of some of the best ppt templates of 2016.

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #6: Navigate Through Your Presentation Like a Pro Using Key Commands

Moving through your presentation shouldn’t feel like memorizing a launch code – it should be something done so effortlessly that you don’t even have to think about it (much). Skillfully moving through your presentation is one of those things that if it’s done well, the audience doesn’t notice at all.

What the audience will notice is fumbling, awkward pauses, and clear technical issues (and swearing because of said issues, so don’t do that). Instead, avoid all that by practicing a few simple key navigation commands:

• “F5” starts your presentation
• “N” or “The Arrow Key” advances to the next slide
• “P” moves back to the previous slide
• “Enter” + slide number jumps directly to that slide

Knowing these commands will help you feel more at ease with your presentation, avoid getting muddled when fielding questions, and keep your audience’s focus where it belongs: on you and your message.

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #7: Use Hyperlinks to Give Your Presentation “Prezi-like” Functionality

If going through your slides in order seems passé, try a “choose your own adventure” style instead! By getting creative with the hyperlinks, you can get a Prezi-like functionality of jumping around to different parts of your presentation. An easy example of this is creating a table of contents that is interactive. You can use it to skip ahead to wherever you want in your presentation, and then go back to choose your next destination. If you’re looking for a quick tip on how to make an engaging PowerPoint presentation , this is it.

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #8: Fire Up Your Audience by Inserting Engaging Video Clips

Long presentations are necessary sometimes, but they can also be tough to pull off. Suddenly you can feel less like you’re talking to an audience of professional adults in suits, and more like you’re trying to keep the attention of a squirming kindergarten class that can’t wait to go to recess.

A presentation hack for any PowerPoint, but long ones in particular, is to insert a video. It’ll inject some much-needed variety between the slides, and re-ignite your audience’s interest. A video can also be great for a concept that is difficult to explain just through words or visual images, or something you know will resonate with your audience. Thankfully, inserting a video directly into PowerPoint has never been easier.

To embed a video, this is all you have to do:

• Click the “Video” button in the Media section (if you have your slide layout set up to add media, simply click on the film reel icon)
• Click “Video on My PC”
• Select the video you want in your documents

That’s it! Of course, don’t insert Quentin Tarantino’s entire filmography into your presentation – think more like highlight reels! Keep the clips short and sweet. In general, aim for videos that are 30 seconds to a minute long. That length will work well for most purposes, although of course it will vary depending on your audience.

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #9: Turn Your Boring Bullets Into Visual Masterpieces Using Smartart

Hopefully you’ve gotten the memo by now, but if you haven’t, let us fill you in: bullet points suck. That isn’t just an arbitrary judgment – aside from looking outdated by a couple of decades (we all loved the 90’s but some things you just have to let go), it’s difficult to pace the information when it’s laid out in bullet points. A lot of times you can fall into the trap of giving away your punchline before you’ve even started talking.

The problem of giving away the ending can be solved by using our #4 presentation hack on this list: use the animation tools to dole out your bullets one at a time. Unfortunately, that doesn’t solve the style problem. So what should you do?

We understand that sometimes you might not have the expertise to display your information in a super creative way, like an infographic. Sometimes, you just simply might not have the time. If that’s the case, enter our PowerPoint presentation hack: Smart Art.

A clever trick for turning a list of bullets into exciting visuals is the humble SmartArt tool. All you need to do is select your list of bullets and head over to the Convert to SmartArt tool. Clicking on this tool will instantly provide an array of options to give your boring list of bullet points into something more exciting.

As seen in the above image, by using the Convert to SmartArt tool I turned a boring list of bullets into something more visually appealing within seconds. Once you’ve finished testing out the different styles and picked your favorite, you can hit “Control” + “Shift” + “G” to ungroup everything. From there, you can edit the text and colors to make it pop even more. Here’s a video that shows how to do this step-by-step

PowerPoint Presentation Hack #10: Zoom In and Out of Your Slides to Focus on Specific Areas

There may be times when there is a part of a slide that needs more attention. A chart or image are good examples. You may just want to make sure one point is effectively shown. Note: You should really only be making one point per slide. But like everything else, there are times when you can break the rules.

Here is how to zoom in and out of a slide during presentation mode:

• In the Presenter View there is a magnifying glass at the bottom left corner. (Note: You have to hover your mouse over the left hand corner for it to show up on the screen) (See step one in the image above)
• Once you click on that, drag to where you want to zoom in and click again. (See step two in the image above)
• Once you’re done, click the magnifying glass again to zoom back out.

Using the zoom tool allows you to have more control over your presentations and zoom in on specific details when needed!

The internet is full of presentation hacks , some better than others. While a lot of people recommend picturing your audience in their underwear to relax, you may be too busy picturing them fast asleep in the middle of your presentation.

We put together this list of effective PowerPoint tips to help you stop imagining them snoring, and instead look forward to the thundering applause.

Have you used any of these PowerPoint hacks and achieved success, fame, and fortune? Do you have any clever presentation tips that we missed? Let us know!

Q1: How can I make my PowerPoint presentation more engaging?

A1: You can make your PowerPoint presentation more engaging by using tools like Poll Everywhere to interact with your audience, incorporating videos, using animations in moderation, and employing Smart Art to turn bullet points into visual masterpieces.

Q2: What is a good way to keep my audience's attention during a long presentation?

A2: To keep your audience's attention during a long presentation, try inserting engaging video clips, using animation to introduce key points one at a time, and employing tools like Poll Everywhere to involve your audience interactively.

Q3: How do I use animations effectively in PowerPoint?

A3: Use animations in moderation to introduce key points one at a time. This keeps your audience focused on each element individually and helps maintain their interest without overwhelming them with excessive movement.

Q4: What are some easy navigation commands for PowerPoint presentations?

A4: Some easy navigation commands include “F5” to start your presentation, “N” or “The Arrow Key” to advance to the next slide, “P” to move back to the previous slide, and “Enter” + slide number to jump directly to that slide.

Q5: How can I use hyperlinks creatively in my PowerPoint presentation?

A5: You can use hyperlinks to create a table of contents that allows you to jump to different parts of your presentation, giving it a Prezi-like functionality and making your presentation more interactive and engaging.

Looking for more effective tips and tricks to improve your presentations? Be sure to check out our other articles and resources for more insights on creating engaging and impactful PowerPoint presentations. Don't forget to share this blog with your friends and colleagues who could benefit from these PowerPoint hacks. Visit our website for more expert advice and professional templates to elevate your presentation game!

Here are a few more blogs that could be right up your alley:

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About the author.

Aayush Jain - Crafting Stories from the Heart

As a passionate explorer, I see crafting the perfect story as embarking on a refreshing Himalayan journey. Every narrative is an adventure, a voyage of imagination, meticulously molded into captivating presentations. I'm here to guide you, ensuring your story becomes an unforgettable odyssey, with each creation as a vibrant landscape ready to captivate eager audiences.

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15 Simple PowerPoint PPT Animation Tips, Effects, & Tricks for 2023 (+Video)

Learn how to working with animations in PowerPoint. Our 15 PowerPoint animation tips and tricks will help you take your presentations to the next level.

When you start working with animations in PowerPoint, it’s easy to go too far. You can quickly over-animate your slides. This can make your presentations distracting and disruptive to your audience.

When used properly, PowerPoint animations are a great tool. The trick is to use them with care. When you do, you can add PowerPoint animation effects that help your slides look their very best.

That’s why we’ll share our top PowerPoint animation tips and tricks. You’ll learn to control your transitions and enhance your presentation with powerful effects. We’ll explore many approaches to help you succeed.

Need Help? Download Our eBook on Making Great Presentations (Free)

We also have a useful complement to this tutorial. Quickly grab it before you read on. Download our FREE eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations , which will help you write, design, and deliver the perfect presentation.

Watch and Learn: Animation in PowerPoint for Beginners in 2023 (Video)

Do you want to add the best PowerPoint animations to your next presentation? Watch this quick screencast for some powerful PPT animation tips, effects, and tricks.

Why Use PowerPoint Animations?

First, let’s understand why we would use animations in a PowerPoint presentation. There are two common reasons:

• Animations help you control the pace of the delivery of your presentation.
• They can enhance the appearance and interest of your slides.

In other words, think of PowerPoint slide animation as a way to control your slides. They help you keep things moving at the pace of your choice. And they make your slides more interesting.

PowerPoint animations control what your audience sees – and when they see it.

Now, before you can actually use animations, it helps to have a solid presentation ready to work from. To help you with that, there are many quality presentation templates made to save you tim e.

Getting Started With PowerPoint Animations

Let’s introduce the different types of animations in PowerPoint. In essence, there are two key kinds of animation PowerPoint effects:

• Transitions

Transitions are a type of PPT animation between slides. You can view the Transitions menu to view all possible transition effects you can use. These are ideal when you want to have a noticeable shift between two slides.

Animations are PPT animations on your slide . You can view your options in the Animations pane. These are often used as action effects while you’re presenting your slide. For example, an animation can be used to highlight a particular element on your slide.

Discover how and when to add animation to PowerPoint. Without further ado, let’s dive into these helpful PowerPoint animation tips and tricks.

For our tutorial, we’ll work with a premium Envato Elements template. It’s the Karbon — PowerPoint Presentation Template , and you can download it here. Inside, you’ll enjoy dozens of sleek modern slide layouts.

Note : The tips in this section were written using Windows 11 and Office 365. If you’ve got a different operating system or a different version of PowerPoint, your steps may be slightly different.

15 Easy PowerPoint PPT Animation Tips, Effects, & Tricks for Beginners in 2023

Let’s cover 15 of the best animation in PowerPoint templates. These PowerPoint slide animation techniques are a shortcut to mastery.

Before we dive in, it helps to know: PowerPoint animations are controlled with the Animation Pane.

1. Animation 101: Master Your Context

The key lesson in effective animations is to understand when to use animation. An easy-to-remember guideline is the 80/20-rule. What 20% of your content in your presentation is the most important? That’s the content that might be worthwhile for you to add animation to.

For example, announcing a new product line may be the most exciting part of your presentation. In this context, it makes sense to highlight this by adding a Build In animation for example.

PowerPoint helps you by labeling their animations in different strength categories. These include subtle, moderate, and exciting.

These animation strengths can help you use the right animation in the right context. For example, highlight your key content like noting an increase in operating margins.

In summary: Define what is your most important content in the presentation. When you choose an animation, make sure its strength matches the importance of each key point.

2. Animation 101: Control Your Timing and Duration

Once you’ve mastered where to add animation, next up is to understand when to animate.

As described in the beginning of the tutorial, you can use transitions and animations. I’d recommend that you only choose one of either per slide that you’d like to add some animation to. Combining both often becomes a visual overload for your audience.

Here again, the context of the slide matters. If you’d like to surprise the audience with the whole slide, a transition could be ideal. If you’d only like to have a few elements appear at a time, using animations makes more sense.

The duration of your animation matters as well and has a big impact on how your animation is experienced.

Have you watched a presentation with slow transitions between each slide? At first, these impressive visual effects might be interesting. But eventually, they become a source of frustration as you see them over and over. It’s tedious.

Tip: The general rule is to have faster animations. I typically choose a timing of 0.5 seconds. That’s slow enough to be noticeable, but fast enough to keep things moving.

3. Animation 101: The Basics Work

Even when working to make your animations subtle and effective, it can still be easy to overdo it. This is because PowerPoint has many types of animations. The choice can feel overwhelming.

There’s a simple rule that helps make your presentation feel less heavy. Here it is: use the same animations throughout your presentation.

It’s tempting to add many different transitional animations for the sake of variety. But in fact, the variety can distract from what you’re trying to communicate. It diminishes your message.

Below are the types of animations which I use the most:

• Appear . To simply make an object appear in your presentation.
• Fade . Probably my most used animation that feels a little slicker than Appear.
• Zoom . A good way to quickly add emphasis on an element in your slide.

Now that you’ve seen the basic concepts of animation, let’s dive into a few real-world examples of PowerPoint animations. We’ll explore how animations can enhance your presentation.

4. Reorder Animations to Change Object Sequencing

As you work, you’ll likely find yourself adding many animations in PowerPoint effects. And chances are, you may want to change up their order after you’re done. Easy! The Animation Pane lets you manage and reorder animations. After adding animations to your slide, click on the Animations tab. Then, select the Animation Pane.

In the Animation Pane , you can view all the animations on your slide in a clear, concise list format. To reorder the animations, simply click and drag them up or down the list to your new desired location. In moments, PowerPoint transforms your animation sequence.

This is very useful when you’re trying to adjust the timing of your animations. You can also use it to create more complex animation sequences.

What the pane really does is give you full control over your animation performance. You can mix up the pace and flow of each slide, just by changing where a given slide animation effect is placed.

5. Enhance Your Message With Simple Animations

Animations in PowerPoint help you call attention to changes and items of note on your slide. Consider the example of PowerPoint animations below. Notice how the result in Q3 was much higher. Imagine that a year ago, that quarter was actually the worst quarter.

This is something you could mention verbally while giving the presentation. In this case, you would highlight the result of Q3’s improvement in a single year.

This is an example of an interesting bit of information that can be emphasized with animation. Here’s the plan:

Step 1. Add an Underline

In PowerPoint, you can do this by selecting “Q3: 6% increase” and adding the following emphasis effect: Underline . Underline is a simple yet subtle way to add emphasis to text.

Step 2. Reset the Timing

Open the Animation Pane. Select the animation you’ve just added. In the Timing options, make sure that it starts On Click. This way, you can run over the facts and figures while presenting your slide and then have the animation be displayed on the moment you want it. For example:

• First, run over the results of 2023, quarter by quarter.
• Then click and start the underlining of Q3.
• Finally, you tell the story how Q3 used to be a losing quarter instead of your strongest quarter to date.

Now you understand how pacing animations can be a much better delivery. Animation is PowerPoint is superior versus just dumping all content at once.

6. Use Transitions Between Your Sections

A PowerPoint presentation, like a story, has a beginning, middle, and ending. To mark those points during your presentation, you could use an animation in the form of a Transition.

As an example of PowerPoint animation scenarios, you’d like to jump to your conclusion slide. To grab everyone’s attention again, we’ll use a transition animation to pack a bit more punch.

On the Transitions menu in PowerPoint, there are many cool options to choose from:

But how do you decide which transition to use? It’s a good idea to think about the content of the slide that you’re transitioning to. For example, if you’re presenting a solution to problems you’ve presented, the Fracture animation is a strong metaphor.

A final tip for using a transition animation is to look into the Dynamic Content category. These are animations that use your current slides as a basis and animate between that.

For example, the animation will do something with the elements on the slide. Think of them as “smart” PowerPoint animations that adapt to your own content! This is ideal if you’d like to do something more subtle.

7. Build Step-by-Step Animations into Your Slides

If you’d like to make an explanatory slide, that often means that there are multiple elements of information that you’d like to present. The easiest way to do this is to reveal a numbered (or bullet) list:

Instead of displaying all five steps at the same time, we’ll display each step one by one. Imagine you’re giving a cooking class. Showing one step at a time helps your audience to keep their focus on the next action and not run ahead.

Step 1. Apply the Fade Animation

Open the Animation Pane . Select the first step and let’s pick Fade as our entrance effect. Next, select the second step and also pick Fade again. Repeat this process for the remaining steps.

Tip : Be careful to select each step individually, instead of all the steps at once. Otherwise, they’ll appear all at the same time.

Step 2. Set the Timing

Now open the Animation Pane . You can see the five animations you’ve just added. When you click on the animation, you can open the Timing tab once again.

Now, in the context of cooking, instead of having it start on click, you might want to start the animation After Previous and choose a Delay.

You’re basically building a timer in this sense. Imagine that in the class, everybody has five minutes to grate the zucchini. Select the third animation (sauté zucchini). Choose the After Previous timing and pick a delay of 300 seconds .

This is what will happen:

• Grate Zucchini will appear.
• 5 minutes (300 seconds) will pass.
• The delayed animation kicks in and sauté zucchini will appear.

This is an example of PowerPoint animations that build up with the pace of your presentation.

8. Review Animations for Consistency

When you’re finished adding animations for PowerPoint, your work isn’t quite finished. You should always review your presentation to be sure each animation works the way you intend it to. There’s nothing worse than being caught off-guard in front of an audience. Yet, it’s easy to put an animation PowerPoint effect in the wrong place.

The best way to review your animations is to go through the presentation after you’re done. Play it in Slide Show view, and only pay attention to your animations.

Ask yourself these questions:

• How does the pacing feel?
• Are there sections in your presentation where there’s too much animation? Too little?
• How does the timing feel?

Reviewing your presentation as a whole is a final, yet essential check step. It helps you ensure that your PowerPoint animation effects are working exactly right. And it lets you make any edits you need to before an audience encounters issues.

9. Use Animations to Present Your Data Dynamically

By now, it should be easy to make a whole chart appear using an animation. But the true capacity of using animations with data is to pace how the chart is presented. We can do this by choosing the build order of our animation.

Step 1. Add an Animation to a Chart

Click on the chart you would like to animate. Next, add an animation. Again, your best bet here is to use simple animations in PowerPoint that won’t distract.

Step 2. Change the Animation Effects

Click on the Effect Options drop-down. This menu lets you control the order of the animation and what data appears. You have access to the following options:

• As One Object
• By Category
• By Element in Series
• By Element in Category

This offers unique flexibility in how to present data displayed in the chart. For example, would you like to display one piece of data for several years, or all pieces of data per year? It’s possible with the above animation options.

10. Pitch a New Product With Controlled Animation

One of the more exciting ways to use animations is to pitch a new product. This lets you grab your audience’s attention! Animation offers the opportunity to present a product in an aesthetically pleasing way.

The best way to pitch a new product is to work in a ‘ less is more ‘ fashion. Apple is good at this for example, when you see their presentations. Usually, a simple entrance animation works perfectly.

To make your animation a little bit more dramatic, play around with the timing. Instead of using the traditional 0.5 seconds, go for 1 or even 2 seconds.

This has a large impact on how the animation is seen. This is because slower animations are less commonly used in presentations. It’s a cool way to add some drama with animation in PowerPoint.

11. Replicate Effects Easily With the Animation Painter

The Animation Painter is a powerful feature in PowerPoint that saves you lots of time. What it does is allow you to copy and duplicate animations from one object to another.

To use the Animation Painter , start by selecting the object with the animation you want to copy. Then, go to the Animations tab and click on the Animation Painter button. The cursor changes to a paintbrush icon.

Next, click on the object that you want to apply the animation to. When you do, the animation instantly applies to the new object.

Using the Animation Painter helps you create consistent and engaging animations. It’s very useful when you have many objects that need the same animation effects.

Remember : your goal is to preserve a steady, constant look and feel. The Animation Painter saves you time and ensures each animation matches others.

12. Use a Transition to Declutter and Simplify

If you’ve got a busy layout, it often helps to use some exit animations to clean up your slide. This lets you grab the attention of the audience once again if a simple slide follows.

You can remove individual elements on the slide by using exit animations. Another method is to use a strong Transition between slides.

Morph is an interesting transition to use. It compares the elements between both slides. Then, it figures out the ideal way to transition. Sometimes it works, but it’s more of a smooth transition rather than a strong exit animation.

Here, an animation such as Curtains , Crush or Honeycomb would be more suitable. Try to use this only once or twice in a presentation, as these animations tend to be visually heavy.

13. Grab Attention With Formatting Text Animations

You can use the formatting text animations to emphasize text in your presentation. You have a variety of options for highlighting text, such as:

• Brush Color
• Bold Reveal

Bold Flash is an excellent way of highlighting a line of text in a busy slide, for example.

With PowerPoint slide animation, it’s easy to call attention to a piece of text. Audiences always appreciate clarity and focus on your message. Slide animation helps you stay on track.

14. Work With Pre-Animated Premium Presentation Designs

PowerPoint animation effects help bring content to life. But they can also be quite time-consuming to work with. That’s especially true if you’re building slide designs (and animating them) from scratch.

Here’s a top way to save time and present in style: use pre-built templates. Envato Elements has thousands of animated options available to you.

When you choose an animated template, you don’t have to work with animation PowerPoint tools. Instead, you’ll find animations already in place on your slides. Simply drop in your own content, and you’re all set.

It’s worth noting that using an animated template doesn’t mean giving up creative control. You can use built-in animation in PowerPoint features to make changes and adjustments.

It’s really the best of both worlds. You’ll save time, while still being able to work with animations in PowerPoint however you want.

15. Adjust Animation Triggers to Control the Flow of Slides

The Trigger menu in PowerPoint is a tool that helps you control how animations work on your slides. It lets you choose what causes an animation to start, such as a mouse click or a specific timing delay. You’ll find this on the Animations tab, in the Advanced Animation group.

For example, imagine you’ve got a picture on a slide that you want to animate when a viewer clicks it. Select the picture, then click on the Trigger drop-down. Open the On Click Of field and check out your options. These all ensure that the animation only starts when the picture is clicked.

You can also use the Trigger menu to craft more complex animations. For instance, you can have one object move across the screen when the viewer clicks on another object. With Trigger settings, you’ll gain control over when animations start and how they look.

Inspiration: Working With the Best Animated PowerPoint Templates (Video)

It’s important to use animations the right way in your presentation. In this video, learn how to use pro templates to add powerful animated slide designs to PowerPoint quickly. Also, see some premium animated PowerPoint templates in action.

You can find more great animated PowerPoint templates on Envato Elements.

The Top Source for PowerPoint Slide Animation Templates (With Unlimited Use)

Envato Elements is the ultimate source for stunning PowerPoint slide animation templates. These designs help you craft your own animations for PowerPoint – fast. For a flat monthly rate, you’ll unlock access to thousands of custom options. In moments, they let you build out animation PowerPoint slides of your own.

Plus, Elements includes countless other digital assets. As a member, you’ll enjoy access to fonts, music, stock photos, and much more. All these resources pair perfectly with animation in PowerPoint templates.

Sure, you can find pre-built PowerPoint slide animation templates online. But they simply cannot compare with the features and quality you’ll see with Envato Elements designs. With an Elements template, you’ll benefit from:

• Sleek modern layouts. Slide designs are made by creative experts. They’re meant to bring your content to the forefront.
• Pre-animated designs. As we explored above, you’ll benefit from animations already built in. This saves the work of manually creating animations for PowerPoint.
• Drag-and-drop placeholders. It’s incredibly easy to illustrate slides. Simply drag and drop content right into place, thanks to content placeholders.

As you can see, Envato Elements is the best value for creatives in 2023. Join today and find your favorite animation PowerPoint templates!

Learn More About Animations in PowerPoint

There’s so much to learn when it comes to PowerPoint slide animation techniques. Fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone. We’ve got more great guides for PowerPoint animation effects and more.

At Envato Tuts+, we’ve got many handy tutorials that feature slide animation and other handy tips in PPT. You can find the full collection in our How to Use PowerPoint (Ultimate Tutorial Guide) . It brings all our great PowerPoint tutorials together in one place.

Make Great Presentations (Free eBook Download)

We’ve got the perfect complement to this tutorial, which walks you through the complete presentation process. The right animations for PowerPoint help your presentation stand out, but there’s a whole lot more to master. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully.

Download our eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It’s available for free with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter.

Build Stunning PowerPoint Animation Effects Now!

As you see, it’s not difficult to use animations in PowerPoint. The key takeaways are to think about the context and timing of your animations. Less is usually more when it comes to animation.

Searching for the top PowerPoint animation templates to get started? Browse the vast Envato Elements library and join today. If you need a great place to start, explore our collection of Microsoft PowerPoint Templates (Ultimate Guide to the Best PPT) . It’s a great way to get started – fast!

What are you waiting for? Find a template and start building amazing PowerPoint animation effects of your own!

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15 Powerpoint Hacks That Will Help You Save Hours And Wow Audiences

• Presentation design /
• Visual communication

Creating a great presentation takes a lot of work if you want to impress your audience and convince them that PowerPoint is still a very useful tool. But as much as you invest in your presentation, be it in the content or the design, you could still benefit from a few pro tips that can save you some time and effort.

We’ve rounded up 15 PowerPoint hacks to help you design your presentation faster and more efficiently, but also to make the delivery easier and more outstanding.

PowerPoint Hack #1: Embed your fonts

Fonts are an essential part of your presentation design. Many experiments have shown how different fonts can make a message more or less trustworthy and appealing to your audience.

Also, if you need to share a deck with someone who doesn’t have all the typefaces you used, it’s going to be a problem.

To avoid this, click File > Options, go to the Save menu, and check “Embed fonts in the file.” Another alternative is to always save and send a pdf version of your presentation.

PowerPoint Hack #2: Convert any document to a presentation

Did you know that you can use an existing Microsoft Word document to create a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation? To set up the slides in a presentation, PowerPoint uses the heading styles in your Word document. For example, each paragraph formatted with the Heading 1 style will become the title of a new slide, each Heading 2 will become the first level of text, and so on.

Create a presentation from an existing document by clicking Home > Slides > Slides from outline.

Or you can do it directly from Microsoft Word. Open the document you want to use to create a PowerPoint presentation; on the File menu, point to Send To, and then click Microsoft PowerPoint. If you can’t see this option in your Word, all you need to do is add it manually to your Quick Access Toolbar from File >  Options.

PowerPoint Hack #3: Select separate bodies of text and other objects

Here’s a helpful tip about text selection. If you hold down Ctrl while highlighting text, you can select two completely separate sections at the same time.

You can use this to edit text quickly, to underline or bold certain terms or phrases, or to change the color of a series of non-sequential words.

This hack applies to selecting other objects as well such as geometric shapes or images.

PowerPoint Hack #4: Align images and objects to ensure symmetry

Organizing your content neatly will help convey your ideas more effectively. According to the American scientist Alan Lightman, human brains strive to see things symmetrically.

“The reason must be partly psychological,” he says. “Symmetry represents order, and we crave order in this strange universe we find ourselves in… [It] helps us make sense of the world around us”.  Via

Going slide by slide to ensure everything is aligned can be a real nightmare. To align all images on a slide, select all of the objects you want by clicking on one of them, then hold Shift and select the rest. In the menu click Arrange > Align or Distribute > chose the type of alignment you want. You can also choose Align Left, Align Right or Center. For horizontal alignments, you can also choose Align Top, Middle, or Bottom.

If your objects aren’t evenly spaced from each other, choose Draw > Align or Distribute > Distribute Vertically or Horizontally. To make sure you have a good overview of your content and how it’s organized, select the Grid/ Gridlines/ Guides option in the View menu.

PowerPoint Hack #5: Adding audio to your slides

This is perhaps my favorite hack. I feel like after I learned how to do this I became much more creative in my presentations. To add audio to your presentation, click the Insert tab > Audio > Audio online > Browse your computer for the file/ Audio on my PC > Play in background so that PowerPoint knows to play the audio in the background of the presentation. Or you can play the sound only when you click at that particular slide.

You can use music or white noise like waves or forest sounds, to create an enjoyable ambiance or mark a special idea (you can also use it to break into dance if you’re feeling dramatic).

This only works when you’re in presentation mode, not in editing mode. To get back to your presentation, use the same letter you used before.

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PowerPoint Hack #6: Use the Fade animation as a quick fix

If you didn’t have enough time to create an intro and outro animation for each slide, Fade will be your plan B. Changing each transition to a fade helps the presentation run much more smoothly. It only takes seconds to do and it makes every slide appear more considered.

The same goes for elements within the slides. Even if you just have each part of the slide fade in, one by one it helps to carry the narrative you are telling and looks so much better. However, make sure you don’t go overboard with the fade animation because it can drag the presentation and become tiresome for the audience. One fade animation per idea or per section is more than enough most times.

PowerPoint Hack #7: Need to show something specific? Create your own animation

If, on the other hand, you’re a more creative person with more time on your hands, you can create your own animation by creating a unique motion path. Select Add animations > Motion paths > Custom paths and you can draw freeform. When you are done, press the Esc button.

You can also select an existing motion path and edit it using the green and red buttons on the path. The green spot will show the initial state of the animation and the red spot represents the final position.

PowerPoint Hack #8: Reduce the size of your presentation

This is one of the most common issues with presentations – you do an amazing job of creating and designing it and then you have a huge document that you can’t send or transfer. Worry not, we have the solution for this. The first thing you’ll want to do is compress all your images, they are probably the biggest size troublemakers.

Click on an image, then go to Format > Compress Pictures. You can compress that image alone or, if you’ve finished the presentation, deselect Apply only to this picture. If you think you’ll need to re-work or edit the images, you might also want to deselect Delete Cropped areas of pictures. If you’re planning on using the presentation on a projector, click web(150dpi) is the best option, whereas if you’re planning to email it, go for the 96dpi compression when saving it. 

If you don’t need this specifically in a .ppt format, we recommend you save it as a .pdf, which will reduce the size even more. After that, you can use Adobe Professional, Acrobat Pro or online tools like ilovepdf.com and smallpdf.com to reduce the size of the final document.

PowerPoint Hack #9: Create an invisible hyperlink

A marketer’s favorite hack – this will allow you to embed hyperlinks to campaign landing pages and social promotions in web presentations, while still looking flawless.

To create an invisible hyperlink – Insert a geometrical shape, preferably a rectangle, and format it to No fill and No line. Select the shape and click CTRL+K. Paste the link into the address box and click Ok. This is a good solution if you do not want any of the text to appear different, but need to include a link in your slide.

Use this hack to create a nice-looking table of contents or an interactive menu in the beginning of your presentation. Or you can use it to embed links into your product screenshots, redirecting to the product website.

PowerPoint Hack #10: Turn your presentation into a video

Recent statistics show that video content isn’t just effective, it’s desirable. Did you know that Facebook users watch 8 billion videos per day? Why not repurpose your amazing presentation into an engaging video and add a cool soundtrack?

It only takes a couple of seconds. All you have to do is click File > Save and send / Export > Create video. Make sure you choose the right timing for each slide, otherwise you might end up with very slow or very fast-moving slides (we speak from experience).

PowerPoint Hack #11: Get creative and start drawing

When you’re delivering your presentation (in Slide show view), you can circle, underline, draw arrows, or make other marks on the slides to emphasize a point or show connections. I bet you didn’t know that.

Turn your cursor into a pen by click CTRL+P. This allows you to draw any shape, underline or highlight an area on the slide. I don’t recommend using this for writing, since that might be a bit tricky but it’s a great tool for sketching or circling. To make it stop, just click CTRL+A.

PowerPoint Hack #12: Combine geometric shapes

Sometimes you just need a different shape. PowerPoint is not perfect. If that’s the case, choose the shapes you want to combine from the Insert tab and select them. Click Merge shapes and choose the option you want. Here’s how they work:

Union joins the two shapes, becoming one shape that you can use like all other shapes in PowerPoint.Combine is similar to merge, but you get empty space where your shapes were overlapping.Fragment will combine them but give you a separate area to work with within these three compartments.Intersect will remove everything except the intersection of the two shapes, making it similar to the opposite of the combine function.Substract will remove from one shape what was covered by the second.

PowerPoint Hack #13: Get your audience’s attention back

The famous Microsoft “study” showed that the human attention span went from 12 seconds on average in 2000 to just 8.25 seconds in 2015, which is shorter than that of a goldfish.The truth is, most of the time, we don’t pay attention. It’s just how our brain works. If you’ve lost the attention of your audience or if you simply want to step away from the presentation for a moment and have a debate or emphasise an idea, we have the perfect hack.

Turn your screen Black or White for a moment, to get your audience’s full attention back with the simple pressing of the letter B on the keyboard (for black) or W (for white). Try it now (we’ll wait)!

PowerPoint Hack #14: Do a live poll of your audience

There’s this great app called Poll Everywhere that enables you to ask your audience questions and receive the answers in real-time. A great hack for webinars or conferences. The answers will be displayed instantly in your PowerPoint presentation. The app uses text messaging (SMS) to collect the replies, and audiences respond on their phones.

Here’s how it works:

Before the presentation, you create the questions and customize how the chart looks and how your audience can respond.During the presentation, you invite the audience to respond by visiting a webpage or texting. After the presentation you have access to a report.

PowerPoint Hack #15:  Zoom in and out of slides

Another way to attract attention to a specific element on a slide is to zoom in. When you’re in Slide show view, you’ll notice a magnifying glass in the lower left corner of the slide. Click on that, then click on the part of the slide where you want to zoom. Once you’re done, click the magnifying glass again to zoom back out.

Use this hack for data visualizations and charts or to make your presentation more dynamic.

That’s it for our hack list. Hopefully you’ll find them useful when creating your next presentation.

What other hacks to you use? Let me know in the comments below.

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Excellent post. This article is really very interesting and effective. I think its must be helpful for us. Thanks for sharing your informative. Keep it up. Thank you so much again. Technical Azad.

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13 Time-Saving Hacks for Better (and Prettier) PowerPoints

The trick to creating a PowerPoint presentation quickly is no secret at all. Tons of people have figured it out. You probably know one. You might be one. You know – the death by PowerPoint people. Slide after slide of black text on a white background – it may be the fastest way to create a presentation, but it’s also the most mind-numbing to sit through. Most of us aren’t graphic designers and don’t want to spend forever putting together a presentation. But we still want something that looks professional. With that in mind, we put together a list of tips and tricks to help you save time when creating a PowerPoint presentation.

1. Use the Slide Master

Have you ever found yourself going through a presentation one slide at a time to change fonts, or add your logo? You can save yourself enormous amounts of time by using the Slide Master. The Slide Master lets you set universal styles, layouts and background graphics for your entire presentation. Use it to adjust fonts, colors, add logos to every page, or create and edit design themes. To access it, go to the View tab on your ribbon and click the Slide Master button. On the left-hand side of your screen, you’ll see a list of all the slide templates in your presentation. The top thumbnail is your master slide. Underneath that are each of your slide layouts. When you make changes to the master slide, they will automatically transfer to the related layouts. You can also edit each layout individually. So, for example, if you want to add your company logo to the bottom of every slide, just insert it on the master slide, and it will automatically show up across your presentation. Then you can move or change how it appears on individual layouts like your Title layout. The great thing about doing this in the Slide Master is that once you return to normal editing view, the logos will be locked in place so you don’t accidentally move or delete them.

2. Make Bulleted Lists a Breeze

Love them or hate them, bullet points happen in PowerPoint. Frequently. Here are a couple of ways to make bulleted lists easier to both create and understand. Whenever you’re typing a bulleted list, use the Tab key to go down one bullet level. Use Shift + Tab to go back up one level. And if your bullets are just getting messed up an not cooperating, don’t be afraid to select the entire list and toggle the Bullets button off and back on again to reset everything to a top-level bullet. If you have a lot of bullets on one page, consider adding animation so points appear one at a time. This will help your audience focus and avoid getting overwhelmed by too many bullets on the screen. How many is too many? Most people can’t remember more than seven , but in general, the fewer the better.

3. Easily Align Objects

4. Duplicate Objects Instantly

When copy/paste just isn’t fast enough… While holding down the Ctrl key, simply click and drag on the object to instantly duplicate it. You can also hold Ctrl + Shift to duplicate the object and move it in a straight line.

5. Copy Formatting with Shortcuts

Since PowerPoint is so visual, you often have multiple pieces of text or objects that you want to look similar. You may already know that you can use the Format Painter button to copy the look of one object to another. To do this faster, try using shortcuts.

• Select the object that’s formatted the way you want it and press Ctrl + Shift + C .
• Then select the object you want to paste the formatting to and press Ctrl + Shift + V

Voilà! Instant formatting!

6. Format Multiple Pictures at Once

If you have multiple pictures on a slide and you aren’t sure how to arrange them, here’s a quick tip to make them look great in a snap.

• Select multiple pictures by holding down Shift or Ctrl and clicking on each one
• Go to the Format tab under Picture Tools on your ribbon
• Click the Picture Format button and select a SmartArt layout for your pictures

PowerPoint will instantly resize and format your pictures so they are all consistent. Plus, you can easily add text or captions to go along with them.

7. Use SmartArt to Make Bullets More Interesting

Struggling with long pages full of boring bulleted lists? Try making them more visual using SmartArt. Highlight your list of bullet points, and on the Home tab, look for the Convert to SmartArt button. From the drop-down, select the layout you want, or click on More SmartArt Graphics to see the full list of options. SmartArt adds color and visual interest to plain bullets. Some graphics even allow you to insert picture thumbnails next to your bullets.

8. Create Custom Icons with the Merge Shapes tool

Here’s a little-known hack you can use to easily create custom shapes or punch text out from an object. Select multiple shapes or text boxes that you’d like to modify. Go to the Format tab under Drawing Tools . Click the Merge Shapes drop-down button and select from the following options:

• Union – joins multiple shapes into a single shape
• Combine – joins the shapes, but creates empty space wherever they overlapped
• Fragment – breaks the shapes into separate pieces based on where they overlapped
• Intersect – removes everything except the overlapping section of the shapes
• Subtract – removes from the first-selected shape anything covered by other shapes

9. Hide Your Hyperlinks

During a presentation, you may want to link to external sources or media, but you don’t always want bright blue hyperlink text in the middle of your slide. One option is to turn an object into a hyperlink. Simply select any object, go to the Insert tab, and click the Hyperlink button. Then just enter a URL in the Address box and click OK. When you’re in presentation mode, you’ll be able to click on the object to open the link. If you want to hyperlink text, but you don’t want to change the formatting, you can create an invisible box as a hyperlink. On the Insert tab, use the Shapes button to create a rectangle. Select it, and under the Format tab, set the Shape Fill to No Fill and the Shape Outline to No Outline. Then create a hyperlink in the same way as above, and place the invisible box over the text you want to use as a link.

10. Enhance Your Presentation with Fade Transitions

Make your entire presentation feel a little more professional in 5 seconds flat with this hack. In the preview pane on the left-hand side of your screen, select the thumbnails for all of your slides. Go to the Transitions tab, and select the Fade transition. Setting custom intro animations for each slide is time-consuming and often distracting. This understated animation makes transitions smoother and more appealing without going overboard.

11. Embed Your Fonts

12. Simplify Presenting With Shortcuts

Presenting can be nerve-wracking enough without having to worry about navigating your presentation. Make presentation day a breeze with these helpful keyboard shortcuts.

• F5 – Start the presentation from the beginning
• Shift + F5 – Start the presentation from the current slide

While you’re presenting, here are some useful shortcuts to help keep your audience focused:

• B – turn the whole screen black
• W – turn the whole screen white
• Slide # + Enter – move to any slide

Turning the screen black or white are great tricks to get your audience focused back on you if you find their attention wandering. And it’s always great to be able to navigate quickly to other slides, especially during a Q&A session where your audience may reference earlier parts of your presentation.

13. Use Presenter Mode

Try It Yourself!

Ready to put these PowerPoint hacks into practice? We put together a PowerPoint about PowerPoint to remind you of all these tricks and let you try it yourself. Looking for more Microsoft Office hacks? Check out our other articles for time-saving tips: 8 Time-Saving Hacks for Microsoft Outlook 9 Time-Saving Hacks for Microsoft Word 9 Time-Saving Hacks for Microsoft Excel

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Top 10 Hacks for Microsoft PowerPoint

For countless people working in business, education, and entertainment, the most commonly used tool to create a presentation is Microsoft's PowerPoint. It's easy to make something quickly and simply, and it doesn't take long to get comfortable using it.

But if you're looking to really master it, and get the most out of the application, join us as we take a quick look at some of the top 10 shortcuts, tips, and hacks that will help you on your way to becoming a PowerPoint pro.

All the tips and tricks listed are for the latest Windows version of the PowerPoint application – for macOS and web users some of the features might not be present or may look a tad different...

1. Press F5 to quickly go live

To launch a presentation, don't bother trying to click the tiny icon in the bottom right-hand part of the screen, or using the menu (Slide Show > From the beginning...). There's a much simpler way to do this.

Just press F5 on your keyboard!

By using a simple keypress, you'll look like a total pro – especially if you're having to use an old laptop, with no mouse or a wonky trackpad. Some machines, though, will need you to hold the Function key (Fn) before you hit F5.

Some keyboards need you to press or hold the Fn button before hitting F5

If you need to start a presentation at any place in the list of slides, select the one you want to start from and press Shift + F5 . Going live has never been easier.

For macOS, it's Cmd + Shift + Return instead of F5, or Command + Return for the equivalent of Shift + F5.

Of course, there are lots more keyboard shortcuts, one for almost every single operation in PowerPoint. There are way too many to list here. Microsoft has two important sets of shortcuts, though – ones for creating presentations, and those for showing them.

But just as with all Microsoft/Office applications, simply pressing ALT will display the keys you need to press for a certain function or process.

2. Snap elements to a grid using guides, and rulers

For getting all elements in a slide lined up correctly, don't waste time moving everything about the mouse or arrow keys. Instead, enable the Snap to Grid function.

Head to the View menu and tick the boxes for the Ruler , Gridlines , and Guides – you should see lots of lines on your slides which helps with alignment and positioning. But if you then click the small menu icon, just below where you enabled the Guides, a new window will appear.

Here you can enable Snap objects to grid , which means when you now move objects about, they will automatically lock onto the nearest gridline. You can also set a custom number of gridlines per cm – the default is 6 but you change it by using the drop-down menu or changing the gridline spacing (as shown in cm).

The smaller you make this number, the more gridlines you'll get per cm.

If you find that an object, even with snapping enabled, isn't exactly where you want it to be, click on the object and then nudge it about by holding the CTRL button, while you press the arrow keys.

3. Copycat the professional way

We're all familiar with CTRL + C followed by CTRL + V to copy and paste text and objects in a PowerPoint slide. But when it comes to making multiple copies of the same shape to create a symmetrical pattern, there are some extra tricks worth knowing about.

Normally, when you copy and then paste an object, the new one overlaps the original shape. Normally, you'd then go about moving it into the right position, using the mouse or keys. Here's a much better way – click on the shape you want to copy, then hold the CTRL + Shift keys down while you click and hold the mouse button on the shape.

Slide the mouse to the side or up/down, and you'll notice a new copy is automatically made and it is precisely aligned with the previous one! No more trying to nudge shapes about to make them line up.

Even better, once you have done this, just press CTRL + Y to repeat the process – the spacing and alignment gets copied across, making it a piece of cake to create a perfectly symmetrical collection of objects.

4. Breaking smart for better art

There's a good selection of default shapes that you can add to slides but there's also a surprising lack of creative flair about them. If you want to use something better, but don't want to go through the hassle of trying to make your own, then one solution is to break apart SmartArt shapes.

Take the standard block arrows, for example – they are pretty boring to look at and you're very limited in what you can do with them, so let's fix that now.

Go to Insert > SmartArt > Process . Now scroll down the menu and select the Upward Arrow option.

Once you've clicked on that, you'll see a cool-looking arrow.

However, it's surrounded by lots of elements that you may not need.

Right-click on any empty part of the newly inserted shape, go to the Group option in the menu and select Ungroup . Do this a second time and then press CTRL+A , to select everything in the slide – or drag a highlighting box around the arrow, if there are already lots of things in the slide.

Hold down CTRL and click on the arrow to deselect it, and then press Delete to remove all of the unwanted elements.

You've now got a nicely curved arrow that you can resize or recolor to whatever you want. This trick works with many other SmartArt objects, so it's worth exploring them all to see what new shapes you can pull out of them.

5. Merging smart for even more art

Now, if you do fancy making your own shapes, then a useful alternative to just grouping objects together to make a new one, is to use PowerPoint's Merge Shapes tool. Let's say we want to have a square with a hole in the middle. Start by laying down a separate shape and circle, using the normal Insert > Shapes menu.

We could make our desired object by making the circle white in color, placing it over the square, and then grouping the objects together. However, if your slides are going to have lots of complex shapes, then the file size for the whole PowerPoint can balloon in size because grouped objects remain as separate entities.

The advantage of merging is that it all just becomes one object...

The obvious disadvantage is that if you want to correct or amend something, you can't ungroup it and begin again – you'll need to use the Undo function ( CTRL + Z ). Well, you can, but only with one of the merge options.

To merge the shapes you want together, select them by dragging a highlighting box around them (click and hold the left mouse button) or hold down CTRL and click on the individual shapes you need to combine.

There are five ways to merge shapes:

• Union -- add shapes, ignoring any overlapping content
• Combine -- add shapes, removing any overlapping content
• Fragment -- split any overlapping content into new shapes
• Intersect -- create a new shape from the overlapping content, deleting the rest
• Subtract -- use the shape that's in front of the other(s) as a mask, deleting it and any overlapping content

Here we can see what these options do to a circle overlapping a square:

It's important to note that you get different results depending on the front-to-back ordering of the shapes you're merging – if you look at the above image for Subtract, the circle cut the square because it was in front of it.

If the order of the shapes was reversed, the square would cut the circle in half, leaving a semicircle behind. So it's well worth experimenting to get that special shape you're after!

6. Rotating shapes: the key(s) to better turn arounds

There are a couple of ways of rotating shapes in the most recent versions of PowerPoint. Click on the object and you should see a rotating arrow, linked to the shape – click and hold, then move your mouse about to rotate.

Doing this accurately isn't easy though, especially on laptops with poor trackpads. You can enter an exact angle size for the rotation, using the format menu (right-click on shape, Format object, click on the Size & spacing icon), but don't bother with it.

The best way to rotate an object is to use the keyboard – hold ALT and then press the left or right arrow key to spin the shape through 15°, or hold ALT+CTRL and then left or right to shift through angles of just 1°.

With a bit of practice, this method will have you spinning objects quickly and accurately, and it's by far the best method of rotating shapes that are very small.

7. Reap what you sow: Crop and edit images in-app

A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the saying goes, and choosing the right look for any images inserted into a presentation can be a little tricky. Fortunately, PowerPoint comes with some handy tools to manipulate images quickly and easily, ensuring that you don't have to use another application.

And probably the best function is the Crop tool.

Start by inserting an image into a slide ( Insert > Pictures > This device... or drag and drop it). The toolbar containing the Crop tool should be visible, but if it's not click on the image and then on Picture Format .

There are lots of options here, so let's go through them carefully. The first option, just called Crop, will add a set of small thick bars about the image.

Click and hold the left mouse button down, and then drag out a dark area across the image – this darkened region is the part of the image that will be cut away, leaving the non-dark area behind.

However, it won't do anything until you click outside the image.

This means you can go back and adjust the cropping area until you're satisfied. Even if you're not happy after, you can always use Undo to go back to the original image.

Note that the corner bars don't apply a diagonal cut effect – this just allows you to create a section of the picture, that's rectangular in shape. To do something fancier, then you'll need to use another cropping function.

The next two cropping options ( Crop to Shape and Aspect Ratio ) will cut the picture up, either by using a standard shape as a mask or by using a predefined height-to-width ratio.

Crop to Shape is especially useful for creating versions of pictures that have more of a creative impact, than just using the original image. Not all shapes make for a useful crop, but ones like the curved corner rectangle or the block arrows can easily give your presentation the visual kick that you're after.

The final two options ( Fit and Fill ) should be used after you've used Crop to Shape – when you select either of these, a new set of black bars will appear around the image.

Crop to Shape and Fill have been used here

Fill will make the picture take up the whole shape, but you might lose some parts of the image in the process. Fit will try to make the picture fill the shape while keeping the image's aspect ratio intact.

You can create your own cropping mask by drawing out a range of shapes and then grouping them altogether ( CTRL+A to select them all, CTRL+G to group them). Copy the picture you want to crop ( CTRL+C ) and then right-click on your new mask and select Format Shape .

Then, in the Fill section of the formatting options, click on Picture or texture fill , and then click the Clipboard button. This will then paste your copied image into your mask shape.

As with all these tools, take some time to experiment and practice with the various options and cropping choices. The original image is never actually lost in any way, so you can always undo your edits and try again.

8. Select overlapping or hidden sneaky shapes

If you have a slide with lots of objects scattered about, it can be tricky highlighting the one you want to move or edit – especially if it's hidden behind a stack of other shapes. Fortunately, PowerPoint has a simple system that lets you quickly select an object, even if you can't see it.

Take an example where there are three shapes present: a square, a circle, and a triangle. The square is bigger than the other two and it's in front of them, so they're completely hidden.

So let's say we want to change the circle. Click, hold, and drag a highlight box around the objects you want to manage. Then, in the Home toolbar, go to Select (or consecutively press ALT , H , S , L ). Now click on Selection Pane .

Here we can see our three objects, listed in their front-to-back order. Clicking on any of the list entries automatically selects that object, allowing you to then move it about, change its color, or delete it altogether.

Clicking on the small eye icon will disable the object from view. The padlock icon will lock the shape in position and prevent you from changing its size, although you can still change its color. Now you'll be able to chop and change even the most complex of slides!

9. Virtually present with nifty narration

PowerPoint presentations are often required to be used in conjunction with giving a talk or lecture, but you don't have to be physically present to do this. With the right equipment and a few clicks here and there, you can add your virtual presence to any slideshow. To do this, you'll need a good mic connected to your PC and a quiet room, with no echo.

Start by creating all of the slides and content you need first, then for each slide, add an audio recording ( Insert > Audio recording ). A speaker icon will appear on the slide and a small window will pop open.

Give each recording a unique name, even if it's just "audio slide 1", and then click the small red circle to start recording. Once you've finished, click the small square next to it.

It's worth trying this a few times unless your narration for each slide is really long, so click the play button to hear it through. If you're not satisfied with what you've just done, you can just hit the record button to overwrite it.

Once you're happy with the recording, click the OK button, and then immediately click on the speaker icon, followed by the Playback option in the main toolbar.

For automatic narration, there are a few things to ensure you have set right.

First of all, change the Start mode to Automatically , then make sure all of these options are unticked – Play across all slides , Loop until stopped , and Rewind after playing . Finally, tick the Hide During Show option.

In this same section, you can trim the audio, so if you have too much silence at the beginning or end of the recording, you select when the narration will start and finish.

All of these settings will ensure that the narration automatically starts with each slide transition, as well as hide the speaker icon from view. By having the audio run by itself, the slides will also progress without any input being required.

10. No laser pointer? No problem!

This last tip is simple, but an absolute boon if you've forgotten your laser pointer for a presentation or its batteries have gone flat. Start your PowerPoint slideshow (don't forget tip #1!) and you'll notice that as soon as you move your mouse or touch the trackpad, a cursor will appear on the screen.

Press and hold down the CTRL button, then click and hold the left mouse button, and it will turn into a perfect laser dot!

It's not the greatest of things, of course, and it can get fiddly having to manage both the keyboard and mouse/trackpad at the same time, but it's a handy alternative to a pointer.

Like so many office applications, there are many little additions that can make your life simpler or help you out when stuck. If you're a regular user of PowerPoint and have some great suggestions, feel free to share them in the comments section below.

You may also want to check out our Top 10 Hacks for Microsoft Word and Top 10 Hacks for Microsoft Excel .

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10 Unbelievable PowerPoint Annotation Hacks

Sara Wanasek

PowerPoint annotation offers a treasure trove of features that, when fully utilized, can transform your presentations from ordinary to extraordinary. The capacity to annotate on PowerPoint empowers you to craft presentations that leave a lasting impact and captivate your audience.

With the tools of pens, highlighters, shapes, and text boxes, you can add annotations in a manner that suits your preferences, giving you the freedom to enhance your presentation whenever necessary. Below, we delve into 10 valuable methods experts swear by through which PowerPoint annotation can significantly elevate any presentation.

Why Annotate on PowerPoint

• No Need to Switch Between Slides and Whiteboard : Adding annotations directly on your PowerPoint slides is a time-saving approach, eliminating the need to switch between a whiteboard and your presentation.
• Saved Annotations for Easy Retrieval : Furthermore, these annotations are retained within your slides. Thus, regardless of navigating back and forth throughout your presentation, you can consistently reference the same annotations you’ve previously made.
• Limitless Creative Canvases : The incorporation of blank whiteboard slides in your PowerPoint (thanks to ClassPoint !) ensures an endless space for adding notes and marks within your presentation.
• Shareable Annotations and Notes : Oftentimes, students request copies of the slides to take annotated notes alongside your presentation. With these annotations, you can conveniently share the notes you’ve added directly within their presentation . This approach alleviates the pressure on students to record all the information in the moment, providing them with a comprehensive reference.

This is merely the starting point. Continue reading to explore further ways you can leverage annotations within your PowerPoint below!

How to Annotate on PowerPoint

To annotate your PowerPoint slides during your presentation, you can use PowerPoint’s native drawing features , or, for more options and interactivity, try ClassPoint’s presentation tools . 

To access a wide variety of annotation tools during your presentation, download and install ClassPoint for free. Then, sign in from the ClassPoint tab in your PowerPoint ribbon. When you enter slideshow mode, you will see the ClassPoint toolbar with the pens, highlighters, shapes, text boxes, and whiteboard features at the bottom of your screen.

Select the tool you would like to use and begin annotating! The annotations will be saved to your slide, even after you have exited slideshow mode.

Try it now! 👇

10 powerpoint annotation hacks experts rely on, 1. highlight key points for visual impact.

Annotations serve as effective tools to emphasize crucial data, figures, or trends, facilitating the audience’s comprehension of the main takeaways from the presentation. This personalized approach aids in their recall of information at a later time.

You can also use PowerPoint annotation to simplify the explanation of intricate processes or workflows. You can use them to break down steps, illustrate each stage, and guide your audience through even the most complex procedures.

With ClassPoint’s presentation tools , there are diverse methods to highlight key points:

• Utilize different colored pens to underline, circle, or draw arrows.
• Apply various highlighter colors to accentuate specific words or phrases.
• Incorporate shapes to add lines, arrows, circles, or squares over essential information.

2. Annotation Built for Audience Interactivity

Annotation can foster interactivity between the presenter and the audience. With real-time annotation during the presentation, you can ask questions, gather feedback, or make the audience feel more involved in the presentation.

Pro tip : Consider adding a blank whiteboard slide . These can even be customized to align with your presentation’s specific needs. For instance, if you frequently reference a map to discuss global locations, you can create a custom template for easy access, and annotate on the map during your lesson to stimulate discussions.

Ways to make presentations more interactive with ClassPoint’s annotation tools : 

• Engage the audience by inviting them to the board to solve problems or respond to questions using a smartboard.
• Incorporate annotation tools in tandem with games such as word searches, crosswords, drawing activities, and other interactive elements.
• If an error is discovered in the presentation, PowerPoint annotation can be used to correct it, and you can then use a Quick Poll to do a quick check on understanding.

3. Drag and Drop + Annotation = The Flexible Teaching Combo

Worried about unerasable annotations? Consider combining annotations tools with ClassPoint’s Draggable Objects to allow full flexibility during your presentation.

In only a few clicks, you can convert any texts, objects or images in your PowerPoint slides into dragable elements, which can complement your annotations during teaching.

Below are a few ideas on how you can combine the power of draggable elements with annotation during your lesson:

• Interactive Diagrams: Utilize draggable elements to create interactive diagrams and annotate to further explain the concepts.
• Timeline Construction: Employ draggable elements to construct timelines. This could involve arranging historical events in chronological order, and use annotation tools for elaboration.
• Mathematical Concepts: Introduce draggable elements combined with annotation for demonstration of mathematical solutions.
• Language Learning: Utilize draggable elements and annotations for labelling and aranging words in language lessons.

4. Collaborative and Creative Brainstorming

PowerPoint annotation serves as a valuable tool allowing multiple contributors to offer feedback, propose changes, or comment on various elements within the presentation, which makes it perfect for collaborative brainstorming!

Pro Tip : When commencing group projects, it’s beneficial to encourage students to initiate with blank PowerPoint slides or Whiteboard backgrounds , serving as a space for notes during brainstorming sessions. This approach nurtures creativity and facilitates the exchange of ideas. Students can collectively brainstorm, sketch out ideas, and visualize concepts in real time.

Use pens, highlighters, text boxes and shapes to encourage creativitiy and flexibility during the evolving brainstorming process.

5. Enhanced Data Visualization

PowerPoint annotation is an excellent means for presenters to offer added context, explanations, or insights into the displayed content.

In data-centric presentations, annotation tools play a vital role. They enable you to highlight trends, pinpoint specific data points, and visually represent data, making it more approachable and comprehensible for your audience. This is especially beneficial when deciphering intricate statistics or financial data.

Pro Tip : Utilize annotations not only for content within your slides but also for images, videos, and even webpages by using ClassPoint’s Embedded Browser . This allows you to emphasize crucial information, enhancing the overall presentation’s impact and clarity.

6. Interactive Live Feedback and Q&A Sessions

During webinars or live presentations, PowerPoint annotation tools can be used to facilitate instant feedback and Q&A sessions.

Pro Tip : Employ ClassPoint’s interactive quiz questions to conduct swift feedback sessions, quizzes, or Q&A interactions. Afterwards, insert the responses as slides in your presentation to include additional notes, address any overlooked points, and record the feedback received for later review and analysis. This approach enhances the presentation’s comprehensiveness and facilitates a thorough post-session review.

7. Spotlight for Presentation Delight

PowerPoint annotation is not limited to just highlighting and drawing. You can access ClassPoint’s Spotlight feature to effectively focus attention on specific content or elements within your presentation, emphasizing key information or guiding the audience’s focus during your talk.

To access the Spotlight feature, follow these steps:

• Makes sure to have ClassPoint installed and downloaded on your device.
• Click on the Laser tool on the ClassPoint Toolbar during slideshow mode.
• Click the ‘S’ key on your keyboard.
• Use the middle scroll button on your mouse to adjust the size of the Spotlight.
• Move the Spotlight around your slide!

8. Visual Notetaking for Enhanced Retention

Instead of traditional bullet points, PowerPoint annotation enables the creation of visual cues and sketches that assist in visual note-taking. These visual aids, such as drawing diagrams, charts, or arrows to illustrate your points, can complement your verbal explanations.

By incorporating these visual aids, your audience can more effectively remember and recall information, enhancing the impact of your presentations.

Pro Tips for Visual Note-Taking:

• Construct flowcharts while sharing information.
• Develop Venn diagrams for easy segregation of information.
• Incorporate multiple colors throughout the notes.
• Utilize a combination of drawings and words for a more comprehensive visual representation.

9. Shareable Annotated Slides for Archiving and Review

PowerPoint annotation can be saved and shared after the presentation with ClassPoint’s SharePDF feature . The audience can scan a QR code to get a PDF version of the PowerPoint with all annotations and whiteboard slides intact.

They can use this to review at a later date, or you can use this to share information for asynchronous presentations. 

To access the Share PDF feature: 

• In PowerPoint edit mode, click on Share PDF (next to Quiz Summary).
• Choose the slides to be included and whether or not to you wish to include the annotations and whiteboard slides.
• Click “generate PDF”.
• Share it with youra audience! 

10. Up Your Annotation Game with Gamification

PowerPoint annotation offers a platform to gamify your presentations, injecting an element of fun and interactivity into your content. This gamification not only adds entertainment but also amplifies participation and enhances information retention.

Here’s how you can gamify your presentations using PowerPoint annotation:

• Word Games : Utilize PowerPoint annotation to complete missing letters, unscramble words, or highlight keywords in a word search puzzle.
• Drawing Challenges : Engage your audience by using PowerPoint annotation to draw or annotate on slides, challenging them to replicate or complete the drawings.
• Interactive Quizzes, Polls, and Voting : Create quizzes within your presentation and use PowerPoint annotation to visually represent correct responses, making the voting process more engaging.
• Scavenger Hunts : Hide clues or information within your slides, prompting your audience to find them. PowerPoint annotation can serve as hints or markers, guiding participants on their scavenger hunt journey.

Are you prepared to harness PowerPoint annotation as a versatile and powerful tool that can elevate your presentations in multiple ways? PowerPoint annotation allows you to engage your audience, simplify complex ideas, and craft compelling narratives.

So, why hesitate? Begin exploring these incredible features and start adding annotations in PowerPoint with ClassPoint today!

For more ideas to make your PowerPoint slides interactive and engaging, check out this article on expert tips on interactive PowerPoint slides .

About sara wanasek, try classpoint for free.

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8 Google Slides Hacks To Zhush Up Your Next Presentation & Score Extra Points For Effort

Google slides hacks

Whether it’s for a school presentation or you’re pitching an idea to your lao ban , one of the defining factors of an engaging presentation is how you verbally communicate your points. They should be simple, easily understandable, and straightforward. But it’s no secret that your presentation slides are equally as important in getting your audience’s attention. 

Here are some Google Slides hacks to make your presentation much more engaging and interesting – so you can score extra points for that long-awaited promotion.

Table of Contents

1. Create a table of contents that links to other slides

2. crop your images to different shapes easily using slide tools, 3. align elements perfectly with the distribute tool, 4. animate words & images for a keynote-level powerpoint, 5. use shapes to customise your slides, 6. get high-quality icons from the noun project for a profesh look, 7. download aesthetic slide templates from canva, 8. use gifs to get animated slide backgrounds, make a powerful point with these google slides hacks.

Adding a table of contents to your slides helps to give an overview of your presentation. It can also serve as a list of clickable links that jump to the slides you need right off the bat. This is probably one of the only few times when spoilers are acceptable. 

This way, you and others looking through your presentation can jump to the relevant sections right away without having to scroll tirelessly. This will also come in handy when referring to a slide during Q&A sections.

To do this, list out the points you want to link to. Then, highlight each point and click “insert link”. At the bottom of the pop-out menu is another button that will lead you to a list of all the slides in the presentation. Pick the slide you’d like to link from there.

Tip: You can add an image or icon in the bottom-right corner of all your slides that link to the first slide, which leads you right back to the table of contents

Instead of just slapping on your images, add some uniqueness to your slides by cropping them into different shapes like circles and hearts. Select the image, click on the drop-down arrow beside the crop button, and pick your desired shape.

Rounded cropping will make your slides look more aesthetic. You can also add drop shadows and reflection effects to images to give more dimension. Though subtle, it does make a difference. You can find them in “format options” after clicking on your desired image.

If you’ve been dragging your text boxes and images around until they align, this tip will be a life – saver. Select the elements you want aligned, right-click, and then select the desired alignment. You can align them to the left, right, or centre. 

This simplifies the process and makes your slides look much cleaner. 

Add some personality to your slides with a cute cat popping up from the bottom of the slide or a rocket zooming in from the right. You don’t have to pick up any animation software for this hack – everything can be done on Google Slides. Make your words and images move, appear, and disappear during your presentation. 

Simply select the desired element, press “ animate” and a sidebar will appear. From there, choose to have your element start moving once the slide comes on or on your click. 

For a seamless animation that plays one after another without pause, select “after previous” instead of “on click” under each of the animation commands. Hit “play” at the bottom to check how your animation sequence plays out.

Shape how you want your slides to look by customising them with shapes of your choice. You can pick different colours to outline and fill your shapes. For a super minimalistic aesthetic, make your background a light neutral colour with muted-coloured shapes.

Aside from that, you can use the scribble feature to add scribbles and doodles of your own. You don’t have to make sure it’s perfect, as Google Slides will clean up your doodles for you. So let your inner Bob Ross jump out.

Add visuals to support your pointers with icons. You can outsource them from sites such as Flaticon and The Noun Project . The latter has over 5 million icons in black and white for a more professional look. With its wide variety of assets, you’ll get more complex and specific icons such as a wheelchair-bound person watering plants and a man bowing on the ground to his boss.

For a more vibrant and iconic presentation, try IconScout ’s 3D icons. This is especially helpful when you want to stand out in school presentations.

And if you need some good stock images, look no further than Unsplash and Pixabay . Pixabay has free downloads without the need to credit them, for faster and stress-free image-sourcing.

Trick your lecturer and classmates into thinking you’re a graphic design pro . Slide on over to Canva and you’ll find a ton of ready-made templates. From minimalist earthy tones to simple professional slide decks, you’ll find something that fits any aesthetic.

To import your chosen Canva slide template to Google Slides, select “share”, followed by “more” – then, find the Google Drive icon. You can even link your Google Drive to your Canva account for a seamless transfer. Once shared to the Drive, all you have to do is open the template in Google Slides and get to editing it to your heart’s content.

Do take note though, that some fonts don’t get transferred over to Google Slides – you can instead choose to put your slides together on Canva to keep the beautiful fonts intact. Once done, save it as .png, then paste each slide in its corresponding order on Google Slides.

Besides Canva, you can find more free yet beautiful slide templates on Slides Carnival , SlidesGo , and Graphic Panda . SlidesGo and Slides Carnival templates come with the fonts intact so you can import and use them with ease.

Change out the colours on the slide template if you like a design but want it in a different colour. Simply click “background” and change the colour. You can also select individual elements and change their colour to match.

Just like how you awe at live wallpapers, wow your audience with moving backgrounds. You can do this by inserting gifs as the background of your slides – but perhaps lay off The Office and other internet memes for this one. Whether it’s a cartoon traffic scene or a natural landscape, you can slap it onto the slide, select “order”, then “send to back”.

You can get gifs from sites such as Giphy . Simply save it then drag and drop it onto your desired slide. If you don’t want the gif to steal the show, toggle and lower its transparency under “format options”. 

Besides backgrounds, you can also get moving icons to add dynamics to your slides. For stock gifs and animations, try Videoplasty . You get interesting icons ranging from hand-washing to a dizzy zombie woman. They have both free and paid content with packs of specific characters. 

Whether for school presentations or a work proposal, we’re often finding presentation tips to score points. And many of us often use Google Slides for its ease of sharing and collaborating with team members. 

Besides the public speaking part of it, slides are equally as important in drawing attention. So pick up some of these Google Slides hacks and apply them to your next presentation.

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Presentation Hackathon Part 1: 5 Incredibly Simple Hacks to Create Stunning Slides

Anuj Malhotra

This article is first in the series of “ Presentation Hackathon ” where we share incredibly simple and quick hacks that any presenter can use to create the most professional slides without any professional designer’s help.

What is a good design? Smart, elegant, easy to the eye, beautiful, trending, and many more adjectives can be added to describe a good design. While the “looks” of the slide constitute an important aspect of a good design, how it “functions” to achieve its purpose is even more crucial. Pretty slide won’t do you much good if it overpowers the message. A good design should look good and work good too.

Keeping this in mind, we are rolling out the “ Presentation Hackathon ” series. What you would be getting isn’t just tips to decorate your slides but also design them well so that your message stands out, is noticed and remembered by the audience.

This article gives you 5 quick design hacks to turn a slide full of text into a super sleek, professional one.  Let’s say you have a slide like the one below:

The slide is plain boring. It lacks any personality whatsoever. The white neutral background with so much text makes reading about the organization a time-consuming chore. Time to do some magic! Well, not really. We will be applying only 5 incredibly simple fixes to give this slide a stunning makeover. Take out your PowerPoint slides full of text and work with us, step by step, hack by hack, to transform the look and feel of your presentation:

Hack 1: Change the background color

White background does not inspire; especially when it comes to presentations. Instead, choose a dynamic fill color or your brand color as the background fill. This hack requires no design skill and hardly takes 5 seconds to implement. Take a blank slide and follow these steps:

• Right click on the slide and click Format Background .
• Select Solid Fill and choose the color you wish to use.

If you love a background used in an image elsewhere, copy-paste that image on your blank slide. Choose the Eyedropper tool and duplicate the same background color on your slide. Like we did for this slide:

Hack 2: Insert a shape and give it picture fill

The second step is to add a visual element to your slide. It need not necessarily cover the complete slide; it should however be big enough to be seen and spark visual interest. Dump the conventional square format of a regular image for a circle instead. It will blend into the slide and not appear as a separate element. Follow the steps below to have a picture fill within a shape:

• Click the Insert tab
• Under Shapes , choose the oval shape
• Press shift and drag to have a symmetrical circle
• Right click on the circle and click Format Shape
• Give the circle a white outline and select Picture Fill
• Locate the file on your computer and insert the same

To move the picture within the circle, follow these steps:

• Click the Format tab
• Under Crop drop down, click Fill
• Move the image in the crop rectangle as per your requirements

Your slide will now have a visual element that looks impressive and classic:

Hack 3: Vary Font Sizes & Fonts Themselves

Add drama to your text by varying the font size and using combinations of two or more fonts. But first split your sentence into two or three parts. Make the most important words on your slide large and bold. Choose a different font for the selected keyword. In our slide, ‘HR Consultancy’ is the keyword since it defines the organization. Make it capitalized, increase its font size and give it a different color as well as font type so that it stands out.

For further effect, enclose the statement within boundaries by drawing a line above the sentence and below it. This heightens the importance of the text. Draw a line by following these steps:

• Go to the Insert tab and Shapes drop-down to select a line.
• Draw a straight line, right click and choose Format Shape to customize its color, width and style.

Hack 4: Turn bullet points into columns of text (Aligned Columns)

Bullet points instantly turn off the audience. Take each bullet point and put it in three separate columns, separated by a dotted line. This will help divide chunks of text into neat columns that will be easy to the eye. To ensure that all are aligned properly, follow these steps:

• Select all text boxes
• Go the Arrange group
• Under the Align drop-down, click Distribute Vertically .

All text boxes will be aligned properly giving a polished look to the slide.

Hack 5: Use Icons to break monotony of text

Icons are small visual representations of ideas and objects that are not only eye-catchy but also universally understood. Icons reinforce the text, bring visual relief and are complete in themselves. For our slide, we can choose an icon for each of the services offered by the HR consultancy firm and make the slide look more classy and lively. You can download beautiful PowerPoint Icons (vector as well as image icons) from our website and use it for your presentation. You can browse and download PowerPoint icons for free from our Free PowerPoint Templates section. It’s better to use fully vector icons since these can be edited, enlarged and customized without having effect on resolution. Here’s how the final slide looks when we are done with the last presentation hack:

Remember the slide we started with? See the difference a few tweaks can do to your slide:

None of the five hacks we mentioned require a great deal of time investment on your part. In less than 10 minutes, you can turn a boring-to-death slide into a killer one and win the envy of your competitors and approval of your clients. You will also have achieved a good design that looks good and works good.

Short on time to revamp your presentation? You can hire services of a professional PowerPoint presentation design company like ours so that each slide of yours oozes professionalism and sophistication!

Stay tuned for the next in the series of Presentation Hackathon. Let’s rid the world of ugly presentations, one slide at a time!

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Advanced PowerPoint Presentation Tips and Hacks

Many have a love-hate relationship with Microsoft’s PowerPoint. While super flexible, the tool can also be manual, tedious, and all-consuming, especially for the uninitiated. Authored by a former management consultant and finance expert, this article will help every user—from the beginner to the advanced operator—smooth out some of their points of friction and become an expert-level user of the application.

By Melissa Lin

Melissa has worked in ECM, tech startups, and management consulting, advising Fortune 500 companies across multiple sectors.

Key Highlights

• Keep Your Presentations Simple: Minimize cluttered, distracting slide-decks that are overly saturated with content; they will lose or confuse your audience more often than not.
• Seek to Communicate One Takeaway per Slide: Streamline your message and its supporting content to one key takeaway per slide. Much more tends to reduce engagement, comprehension, and retention by your audience (think "diminishing economies of content").
• Leverage Illustrations in Place of Text: Prose-heavy presentations tend to induce content fatigue, which again induces a loss of engagement on the part of your audience. Relevant, high-quality images have proven themselves useful in maintaining engagement, especially for longer presentations.
• Understand That Formatting Is King: Clean, simple and consistent formatting, complete with discernible themes, colors, fonts, shapes and sizes perform wonders where creating a polished, professional, and finished product is concerned.
• Customize Your Quick Access Toolbar: The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) is a customizable toolbar that sits above the PowerPoint ribbon, and where one can add frequently used commands. Effective use of the toolbar is a PowerPoint trick that eases friction for power users and saves hours in the long run.
• Use PowerPoint Shortcuts in Place of Your Mouse: Understand the functions that you use most frequently and memorize their keyboard shortcuts. This PowerPoint hack will cut hours of manual work from your PowerPoint experience.
• Create Your Own Go-to Templates: Using the "Slide Master" view in PowerPoint, you can create personal, pre-formatted, and pre-fabricated templates, complete with font choices, font sizes, color schemes, and more, that will minimize your formatting load in the "polishing" phase of your presentation.
• Work alongside you as a thought partner to design, create, and deliver a polished and professional PowerPoint presentation/pitch ahead of your meeting.
• Draft and clean up the content (literary) that will be featured in your slide deck, including your personal speaking points and audience takeaways.
• Create the financials, models, infographics, and outputs that will be featured in your slide deck.
• Assist you with dry-runs, rehearsals, and other preparation assistance ahead of the presentation date, with expert feedback and tips regarding performance.

Love It or Hate It…

Love it or hate it, PowerPoint is ubiquitous when it comes to formal presentations. Perhaps you are pitching a new proposal. Or perhaps you’ve spent weeks number-crunching or conducting intensive research and it’s time to communicate your findings to the relevant stakeholders. Whatever your purpose, PowerPoint is arguably one of the most important components of your success.

When I was a management consultant I lived in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, toggling between the two programs every day. I loved that PowerPoint’s flexibility allowed me to illuminate and transform data into a story—a story of financials, an industry’s growth trajectory, or recommendations for restructuring a business process. However, especially as I was just starting out, this flexibility often proved to be a double-edged sword. It was frustrating how tedious slide design could be, and how long it took to aesthetically perfect a slide. I often found myself choosing between effective slides that took hours to create and a more basic deck that was quick to produce but less effective in communicating the data and the message. It wasn’t until I mastered some essential PowerPoint tips and tricks that I no longer experienced this dilemma.

This article showcases a selection of advanced PowerPoint hacks and presentation tips and tricks that will enable you to use the tool with ease. It will hopefully also prevent you from sacrificing effective messaging in an effort to save time. While many PowerPoint articles provide qualitative advice around effectively delivering a message, this piece focuses on the technical components of how to make an advanced PowerPoint presentation. It utilizes functionalities and commands in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2016 and 365 for PC. Let’s get started.

The Basics of Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations

Though this article is designed for users with more advanced PowerPoint skills, it may be useful to kick off with a refresher of some basic do’s and don’ts for creating effective PowerPoint presentations. Subsequently, we may then delve into some of the nitty-gritty of PowerPoint’s more advanced features. Throughout my career, the following four rules have served me well:

Rule 1 - Keep Your Deck as Simple as Possible: Likely the most important PowerPoint rule, “less is always more” with great presentations. Avoid clutter; minimize flashy, complex slides with distracting clipart in motion; and always focus on delivering a clear and succinct message.

Rule 2 - Keep Each Slide to Just One Key Takeaway: Resist the temptation to throw the kitchen sink at your audience, in general, but especially on a per-slide basis. You will hold your audience’s attention far more easily and leave them with more tangible, digestible takeaways simply by limiting the scope of your content to just one key point per slide.

Rule 3 - Use Simple, High-Quality Graphics Often and in Place of Words: As an addendum to Rule 1, too many words on a page tend to be both tedious and a bore for your audience, often resulting in a loss of focus, or “content fatigue,” during your presentation. GIFs, graphs, charts, and other informative and relevant illustrations tend to be great ways to break up tedium and add dimension to your flow.

Rule 4 - Clean and Simple Formatting Will Take You Far: Clean bullet points, consistent color themes, soft font styles, and legible font sizes all go the distance in leaving a great, professional impression on your audience as you present a polished finished product. Calibri (font), in metallic grey (primary color), punctuated by sky-blues (secondary color) have worked wonders for me over my career. Feel free to adopt them.

Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar

The first step to becoming a PowerPoint expert is building your Quick Access Toolbar. It’s a customizable toolbar sitting above the ribbon, where you can add your favorite and most frequently used commands. Invest five minutes to set it up, and you won’t regret it—it’ll pay dividends each time you use PowerPoint thereafter. Here’s a quick lay of the land before we delve into the logistics:

To customize your toolbar’s functionality and ordering according to your preference, simply click the white downwards-facing arrow above your ribbon. Then click “More Commands” → Choose Commands from “All Commands” → Select and add your favorite commands. If you want to remove any commands, simply select the command and hit “Remove.”

My “must-haves” for the ultimate quick access toolbar (QAT):

Align: The alignment tool is hands-down my favorite tool in PowerPoint. Bypass the futile, manual effort and instead highlight the shapes you want to align, and choose which direction to align them. You can align objects to the middle, right, left, top, and bottom of each other. Keep in mind that the positions of the objects are all relative to each other.

If you want to use this tool outside of your QAT: Highlight your desired objects → Format tab in the ribbon → Click Align → Select your preferred alignment direction → The objects will be aligned.

Distribute: If you have multiple objects or shapes that you want to make equidistant from each other, this tool will be your new best friend. Before distributing objects, it’s best to first align them. Then, to distribute, simply highlight the objects you want to distribute, and select “distribute horizontally” or “distribute vertically.”

If you want to use this tool outside of your QAT: Highlight your desired objects → Format tab in the ribbon → Click Align → Select Distribute Horizontally or Distribute Vertically → The objects will be distributed.

Format painter: Allows you to copy the formatting from one object and apply it to another one. It is essentially copying and pasting , but for formatting and not content.

• One click on format painter: Applies the formatting from the original object to the next object you select/click on.
• Two clicks on format painter: Locks in the format painter. After double-clicking, any object you select will convert to the formatting of the first object. To unlock format painter, click on any white space on the slide (not an object).

If you want to use this tool outside of your QAT: Select the object you want to mimic → Click Format Painter once or twice in the Home tab in the ribbon → Click on the object you want to change → The formatting changes will be applied.

Rotate: As the name implies, this feature enables you to rotate objects, in increments of 90 or 180 degrees. You can rotate a text box, shape, WordArt, or picture. This includes rotations to the right 90 degrees, to the left 90 degrees, vertically, and horizontally.

If you want to use this tool outside of your QAT: Highlight your desired object(s) → Format tab in the ribbon → Click Rotate → Select your preferred rotation option → The objects will be rotated.

Life-changing PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

You might think I’m exaggerating, but once you realize you don’t have to manually perform these actions, you won’t look back. Generally, utilizing PowerPoint does not require memorizing as many hot keys as Excel does , but there are a few that you should be aware of.

Easily change the order and indent level of bulleted text in text boxes:

• Change the order of bulleted text in text boxes: ALT + SHIFT + Up/Down Arrow Key
• Change the indent level of bulleted text in text boxes: ALT + SHIFT + Right/Left Arrow Key

Resize an object while keeping them regular and in proportion:

• Hold SHIFT while you’re resizing an object with your pointer/mouse

Micro-nudges (small nudges for your objects):

• Select the object and hold CTRL + Up/Down/Right/Left Arrow Key to move it

Duplicate your shape or object without copy & paste:

• CTRL + Drag the shape with your pointer/mouse

Ensure that your lines are actually straight:

• For vertical lines: Insert the shape → Right click → Format Shape → Size & Properties → Set “Height” to “0” → Perfectly straight line
• For horizontal lines: Insert the shape → Right click → Format Shape → Size & Properties → Set “Width” to “0” → Perfectly straight line

Transform a number into a footnote superscript:

• Type in the number of the footnote (e.g., 1, 2, 3) → Highlight the number → Hold CTRL + SHIFT + the equal sign (=) → Your number will now be a footnote superscript

Adjust the case of your text by toggling between text cases (lowercase, title case and all caps):

• Highlight the desired words and use the SHIFT + F3 shortcut. Each time you hit F3, the highlighted text will change to all lowercase, all caps, or title-style where only the first letter of a word is capitalized.

PowerPoint Design Tips for Common, Frustrating Situations

If you’ve worked in PowerPoint consistently, you’ve likely encountered the following conundrums. Instead of spending an unnecessary 15-30 minutes Googling the issue for a workaround, here’s how to navigate the situation every time:

How to convert text to SmartArt

Example Situation: I’ve got a list of boring bullets and I need inspiration to make them more polished.

Solution: Leverage the “Convert to SmartArt” tool.

Select the text box with the bullets → Under “Home” in the ribbon, Select “Convert to SmartArt” → Hover over different SmartArt options to see your bullets transformed → Select whichever SmartArt strikes your fancy, and continue to edit from there

How to Resize Multiple Objects/Shapes at Once

Example Situation: I used multiple shapes/images in the slide and I want to change their collective size without messing up the proportions.

First, group all the objects together. To group, highlight all objects and either right click → Group, or highlight and hit ALT + G.

Then, adjust the size with your mouse while holding SHIFT to keep the proportion. This will help you resize and fit multiple objects without distorting the original proportions and shapes.

How to Identify and Match Exact Colors

Example Situation: You need to utilize a specific, custom color but you can’t seem to find it in the color palette.

Solution: The eyedropper tool quickly identifies the exact color you are looking to match, and applies it to the text or object you are trying to change. While format painter can be helpful for applying the exact same formatting (size, coloring, etc.) from one object to another, sometimes you might only be looking to apply the same color. In these cases, the eyedropper tool is very helpful.

A common use case for this tool is for pitch decks. If you are looking to match the theme of the deck to the potential client/partner’s logo, the eyedropper tool can prove invaluable.

• Select the text box you want to change → Click on the coloring format → Select the eyedropper tool → Using the eyedropper tool, hover over the color you want to mimic → When the color’s identification appears, click the color you want

How to Leverage Arrows with Elbow Connectors

Example Situation: I’m trying to draw arrows from one shape to another, but the arrows are crooked and look unprofessional.

Solution: Use the arrows with an elbow connector (90-degree angles). They automatically snap to the center of an object and can be formatted in different colors and sizes. These are especially helpful when building organizational charts.

• Go to the Insert ribbon → Insert a shape → Under the “Lines” category, select the arrows with elbow connectors → Once selected, use the arrow to connect the center of one shape to the center of another shape → Repeat until completion

How to Fit Text into a Shape

Example Situation: I’m typing a text label into a shape, but the text doesn’t fit and breaks the word into two lines.

Solution: There are two ways to go about it:

• Option 1: Right-click the shape → “format the shape” → Change the text margins to “0” from the left, and “0” from the right. Nine times out of ten, this will solve your issue.
• Option 2: Forget about dealing with the original shape. Instead, insert a text box over the original shape (text box should use a transparent background) and type directly into the text box. The text will show up over the shape, but nobody will know it was a manual workaround.

How to Remove the Background of a Picture

Example Situation: I used an image from the web in a slide and I want to change the background image color but can’t figure out how to do it.

Solution: This technique is most effective when used on images with high contrast.

• First, you must remove the original background color of the image. Click on the image you want to change → Select the “Format” tab in the ribbon → Click “Remove Background” → Fix any portions that were not perfectly removed → Click outside the image when you’re ready
• Next, you will want to add in the new background color of the image. As you can see, the perfect execution of this does require a steady hand (that I clearly do not quite have). Still, it’s a helpful trick to have in your back pocket.

How to Convert a Table to Text Boxes

Example Situation: You want to convert a datatable into different formatting on another slide, but you don’t want to manually type the numbers in and risk a mistake.

Solution: Break your table into multiple text boxes and objects, which saves you the trouble of retyping the data and will be easier to manipulate

• Copy the entire table → Paste special (paste as picture enhanced metafile) → Ungroup it → Answer “yes” to the dialog box → Ungroup it again → Answer “yes” again.
• Voila, now your table has been broken into text boxes and shapes. You can now copy and paste the data you need into another slide and re-format as you like.

How to Make a Table’s Rows or Columns the Same Size

Example Situation: You’ve created and filled a table with data, but the size of some rows or columns do not match the others. Your OCD starts to kick in but you can’t figure out how to get them to match perfectly.

Solution: Use the “Distribute Rows” and “Distribute Columns” tools.

• Select the entire data table → “Layout” tab in the Ribbon → Click “Distribute Rows” and “Distribute columns.”

Other PowerPoint Features and Best Practices

Create custom deck templates using Slide Master, which can be found under the “View” tab in the ribbon. Slide Master allows you to quickly modify the slide design in your presentation. You can either customize the slide master, which will affect every slide in the presentation, or you can modify individual slide layouts, which will change any slides using those layouts.

Rely less on your eyesight when moving objects around with the Guides or Gridlines view. First, you should adjust your settings to utilize the “Snap-to-Grid” function. Here’s how to do so: “View” tab → Click on the “Grid Settings” next to the word “Show” → Enable “Snap objects to grid. If you’d like to view the actual guides or gridlines, you can select these options under the “View” tab in the ribbon; they can easily be turned on and off. Please note that you can move guides around, while gridlines are set.

Link a chart from your Excel workbook to your PowerPoint presentation to enable dynamic updating of numbers.

• When your chart is ready in Excel, copy the chart → Toggle to PowerPoint → In the “Home” tab in the ribbon, click “Paste” → Select “Paste Special” → Select “Paste Link” and “Microsoft Excel Chart Object” → Now when you update the numbers in Excel, the chart in PowerPoint will update dynamically. This feature works best when both programs are open in tandem.
• If you close the Excel document and then update the figures in the table, remember to go back to your PowerPoint chart, right-click the chart, and select “Update link” to ensure that the data is refreshed.

On busy slides crowded with data, visually highlight your main takeaway at the bottom. A rectangular box (as shown below) is common.

Remember to include keys with your graphs and charts to help orient your audience.

Slide Templates and Presentation Graphics for Common Concepts

Have you ever felt déjà vu when designing a new PowerPoint deck? It’s probably because we often create new slides to convey similar concepts, even if the content is different—be it a process, progress, or an organizational chart. At the end of the day, it makes sense to reuse a slide structure even if the actual content refreshes. To communicate these common concepts, many of the largest consulting firms repeatedly utilize the following slide components:

Project Schedule: Gantt Chart

Organizational Structure: Organizational chart

Process: Arrows leading into one another

Indicating the degree to which a particular item meets a criterion: Harvey Balls

Final Thoughts

Thus, As I began, so shall I finish. PowerPoint presentations don’t have to be painful. Like most personal and professional skills, practice, consistency, and attention will get you most of the way there. Once you become familiar with the application as a powerful productivity and storytelling tool, gain comfort with its nuances and logic/flow, and, dare I say, begin to leverage this article as a how-to companion, you might actually find yourself beginning to enjoy building PowerPoint presentations as you transition toward mastering them.

In the interim, if you are interested in reviewing some top consulting presentations that put a lot of my content into practice, feel free to browse 30 McKinsey presentations and a mix of Mckinsey, Boston Consulting Group and The Parthenon Group decks .

With that, happy building!

Understanding the basics

How do i customize the quick access toolbar in powerpoint.

• Click the white downward-facing arrow above your ribbon; 2. Click “More Commands”; 3. Choose Commands from “All Commands”; 4. Select and add your favorite commands; 5. If you want to remove any commands, simply select the command and hit “Remove.”

What makes for an effective PowerPoint presentation?

Adhere to the following: (1) Err toward simplicity, in message and illustration; (2) Limit the use of prose (bullets are more succinct); (3) Use high-quality illustrations in place of text; (4) Use video or audio; and (5) Be sure you have a clear objective, point, and/or use-case for the end output.

How do I link an Excel chart to PowerPoint?

• Copy your Excel chart; 2. In PowerPoint’s “Home” tab, click “Paste”; 3. Select “Paste Special”; 4. Select “Paste Link” and “Microsoft Excel Chart Object” → The numbers are dynamic; 5. If you close Excel and then update the raw data, right click the PowerPoint chart, and select “Update link” to refresh the data.
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52 Insanely Easy Presentation Hacks

Everything you need to create a truly outstanding and memorable presentation..

This post contains tools and techniques that can transform a ho-hum presentation into one that will wow your audience.

• Adapt to your audience's beliefs. Human beings fit facts into their beliefs rather than form their beliefs based on facts. You won't change their beliefs, so don't try.
• Assume your audience can read. If a slide is self-explanatory, pause and let them read it. If a slide requires comment, do so. Never read a slide aloud.
• Avoid cliches like the plague. Seriously, cliches make both you and your ideas seem canned and unimaginative.
• Be yourself. When you pose as someone you're not, your audience will sense the insincerity and assume you're lying.
• Begin with a "heart-stopper." Capture your audience's attention by making the first slide after the intro spotlight a surprising fact.
• Believe your own message. If you don't believe in what you're saying, you can bet your last dollar that nobody else will believe it either.
• Bring some refreshments. If you're presenting to fewer than a dozen people, a box of donuts can make even a dull presentation more palatable.
• Build in some breaks. Give your audience time to digest what you've said by periodically segueing to a cartoon, video clip, or raise-your-hand poll.
• Check the setup beforehand.  Never assume that the projector or the webinar software will behave. Always try out the setup before your presentation starts.
• Coin acronyms sparingly.  If you must use a complex term frequently, it's OK to shorten it into an acronym, but don't turn your presentation into alphabet soup.
• Customize your slides. There is no such thing as a "one size fits all" presentation. Every audience is unique, so change your slides to match their needs.
• Don't introduce yourself. Have somebody else at the meeting explain who you are and why you're presenting.
• Eliminate the cheesy animations. For example, using bullet points that "fly" into place makes you look foolish while distracting from your message.
• Embrace social media. Rather than asking people to stash their phones, ask them to tweet their thoughts. Display the tweets on the screen.
• Enlarge your letters. Your slides should be readable from the back of the room. Aren't sure they're big enough? Walk to the back of the room and see for yourself.
• Eradicate vague generalities. Facts that are quantifiable, verifiable, memorable, and dramatic enhance your credibility . Fuzzy concepts imply fuzzy thinking.
• Expunge generation-specific pop culture references. Most millennials won't get a Seinfeld reference; ditto Baby Boomers with, say, Adventure Time .
• Face forward. Your audience does not want to see the top of your head or, worse, your backside . Don't look down at your notes or turn to see the screen.
• Follow the 20/20 rule. Cut your presentation to 20 minutes or less and rehearse your presentation 20 times or more.
• Forget all that biz-blab. Buzzwords make you sound pompous, unoriginal, and, well, like a corporate weasel.
• Go for the gut.  Powerful presentations create strong emotions ; dull presentations are abstract and intellectual.
• Highlight segments of complex graphics. If a graphic communicates two ideas, create two "break out" slides that highlight each respective point.
• Hone your message. Cut out irrelevant details and include only what you absolutely must say to get your message across.
• Identify the next step. Presentations exist in order to help people make decisions. At the end of your presentation, identify and ask for that decision.
• Keep it simple, stupid. The more complicated your presentation, the more quickly they'll forget it. Making it simple helps make it memorable.
• Know why you're presenting. When creating a presentation, don't think about what you want to say. Think about what decision you want the audience to make.
• Lose the verbal tics. Don't use "like," "uhhh," "you know," or "OK?" when you're thinking of what to say. Just leave a gap; it makes you seem thoughtful .
• Make no apology.   Never apologize for circumstances outside your control. Apologies make you sounds like a victim. Keep it upbeat.
• Mingle beforehand. Arrive well before your presentation to meet audience members and gauge their interests. Tune your presentation to match.
• Minimize your own opinions. Make your case using meaningful, emotion-laden facts rather than just spouting your take on the issue.
• Neutralize inevitable objections. When you know an objection will surface (like "it's too expensive"), answer the objection in the body of your presentation.
• Never tell a joke. Jokes are hokey; even professional comedians no longer tell them. Instead, make observations that reveal the humorous side of real life.
• No slide barrages. If you're nearing the end of your allotted time, don't try to cram 25 slides into the last five minutes.
• Only backtrack when you must. Clicking back to a slide makes you seem disorganized. Only do it for must-answer-now questions.
• Pace yourself. Rule of thumb: the number of slides should match the number of minutes in the presentation.
• Prepare your own questions. Have a question or two ready so that the Q&A at the end doesn't lapse into an uncomfortable silence .
• Present when people aren't distracted. If possible, avoid presenting at the end of workday, just before lunch, or the day before a holiday.
• Put "Relax, Breathe & Slow Down" at the top of your notes. These reminders will keep you centered and in control of both yourself and the room.
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Presentations should never be improvisations. Prepare yourself mentally by rehearsing your talk.
• Relevance, relevance, relevance.  Only present issues and ideas that are meaningful to your audience. If nobody cares, why are you presenting?
• Remain within your allotted time. Continuing to talk after your presentation is supposed to end makes you seem disrespectful and arrogant.
• Remove all stock photography. Photos showing models "working" in an ideal office are visual noise. Better no visual at all than something posed and corny.
• Respect your audience's intelligence.  Even if you're the world's top expert on your subject matter, don't be snarky about your audience's relative ignorance.
• Select a simple slide design. This keeps the focus on your presentation rather than on the visual background.
• Simplify your fonts. A simple, unornamented font (like Arial) makes a slide much easier to read.
• Slow down! If your presentation is running long, skip over slides rather than going "motor mouth" to cram everything in.
• Speak to individuals. Rather than talk to the whole room, pick successive audience members and address your remarks to each.
• Step away from the podium. If you remain behind the podium, your presentation will seem like a lecture.
• Stop turning statements into questions. That weird little uptick at the end of a statement makes you sound indecisive. Save it for chitchats.
• Take them on a journey. Bring the audience from where they are today to where they're in the emotional state to make a decision.
• Talk TO them, not AT them. Keep your tone conversational rather than formal . Think "dinner party" rather than "lecture hall."
• Tell a story or series of stories . Rather than outlining elements of your subject matter, provide a sequence of events explaining why it's meaningful.

A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta

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