How to create impactful presentations

Presentations are a huge part of business and marketing development. It's required at a business pitch, conference, webinar and at client interviews as well. Presentations can make or break you. As important as they are, people still take them for granted. To come out of that black hole, we've listed a bunch of points to help you create impactful presentations.

Dedicate time to develop great content

The core of your presentation design is your content. The content of your presentation is what the audience will take home. Which is why you must invest as much as time possible writing, researching and brainstorming to create an impactful presentation.

Always start with a basic outline

It's never a good idea to throw everything on PowerPoint and then start from scratch. Slides aren't the basis of your presentation, they only support it. It's always a good idea to first have an outline of all your main points on paper and organize it sequentially before putting them on slides. This way you'll get a hang of your presentations, it's flow and what has to stay and what has to go.

The three-act structure

This is a method that will keep your audience engaged in your Powerpoint presentation.

●     Act 1 should have the setup and the introduction of your attention. This bit is crucial to get your audience to listen further and keep paying attention.

●     Act 2 is the bit where you retain their attention and interest. This is the part where you can really show what you're about, by detailing problems and then selling the benefits.

●     Act 3 is all about recap. Here you resolve their problem completely and leave them with a call-to-action. There should be a key takeaway in this part. It's also a good idea to end the presentation with questions.

One point per slide

What's the point of a presenter if your audience will have to read lengthy paragraphs off the slides. You should be coherent and concise with each slide. One main point should be listed and your words should drive that point home. All that said, you must always use brevity in your words as well. Don't elaborate too much.

Stay away from bullets

This point couldn't be emphasized enough. Bullet points form a basis for all old school Powerpoint presentations Design. When you do this, you get your audience to shift their attention to what's written instead of focusing on you. Your audience needs to listen to what you have to say, not read your slides. Bullets can be used on your notes but steer away from using them in your slides.