The Perfect Presentation...or at least a good one

Preamble: With this post I am not trying to say that I can make the best, or even a perfect presentation. I just wanted my last presentation at university to, you know, look good or lets say standout a little. Therefore, I gathered some tips that I used and want to share them with you now.

So lets get started.

My friend Eric kinda started all this. He send me two presentations which deal with the craft of making GOOD presentations, or lets put it this way: To not suck at PowerPoin and bore your audience to deatht! You will find the presentations below my key learnings.

Besides those presentations I also watched some videos on youtube, which where about Steve Job's presentation techniques and googled around some more, reading some articles about different techniques from other speakers.


After all this input, I summarized all the key elements of a good presentation for myself and now maybe even for you:
____________________________________________________________________________________

1. Have a really good opening slide (high resolution image, contrast, color, etc).

 2. DO NOT USE A PP TEMPLATE. Seriously. Come up with your own color scheme and layout. To check whether a color combo is aesthetic and appealing use www.colorlovers.com. Follow this path to see which color combos people really like: BROWSE > PALETTES > MOST LOVED. At colorlovers you can also see what fashion companies or magazines use!

3. Use really good stunning visuals, such as high resolution pictures and videos. No pixelation. And always remember to design your presentation for the guy in the last row, not for the one in the first (font size etc).

4. There are more fonts than Times New Roman, Arial and Verdana. Check www.dafont.com for some other good ones. I used Delicious in my last presentation.

5. Avoid too much info on one slide. Keep it relevant. And get rid of the university logo on each slide. That is boring.

6. Preparation. You want to sell an experience and not just bore everyone to death. Also try to make it look effortless. Be enthusiastic and passionate. As well, try to engage the audience. Build up your presentation like a movie, with highlights and a climax (e.g."...and I have one more special thing for you..." or "...but the best thing about this is...")

7. Analogies help the audience to connect the dots. Make numbers meaningful such as: "4 million units sold, thats 20.000 a DAY..DANG"

8. Maintain a visual and verbal balance. Make sure the slides complement the speaker without distracting.

9. Extend the presentation beyond the moment, eg. complementary material or put the presentation online.


That's it. I used those tips for my last presentation and got some good feedback. Give it a try. Your presentation just can get better :)

If you have liked the tips I summarized, please leave a comment and let me know! Also if you want to add something or think that all my tips are bullshit.

As promised, here are the two presentations which helped me the most:

STEAL THIS PRESENTATION!

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE.

And also this one here:

You Suck At PowerPoint!

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE.