If you’re in business, you already understand how important optics are to the long-term success of your company. After all, even though the age-old adage is “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” in today’s fast-paced society where customers are consuming more information and media than ever, it’s hard not to make snap judgments based on appearances. As such, the way that you brand your company—from its commercials and social media campaigns to its website and email marketing efforts—plays a critical role in how your business is perceived by its customers.
Of course, appearances matter internally as well as externally. This means that if you’re giving a presentation to a client as part of a sales pitch, are running a training seminar for new employees during onboarding, or are presenting your annual report to investors or your board, it’s important to put the best foot forward. Business presentations can’t just look good; they also have to be effective. As such, it’s important to brush up on a few different tips and tricks to help you create impactful business presentations from time to time. Read on to learn more about how to develop an effective business presentation.
Use a presentation platform that you’re familiar with.
One of the first tips to follow if you want to make a great business presentation is to use a platform that you’ve got experience using. Many times, people may want to make a flashy presentation that they’ve seen a peer use, only to realize that they aren’t familiar with the platform. In order to make a great presentation, you need to make sure that you’re using your time to prepare wisely. That means using Powerpoint, Google Slides, or Keynote, whichever is most familiar to you. Don’t be embarrassed about whether or not your Powerpoint presentation has the animations that other colleagues have used or not—just focus on the content and you’ll do great.
Don’t be afraid to hire professional designers.
While the aesthetics of your Powerpoint presentation are important, it’s not a great idea to spend all of your time and energy playing around with the right icons, formatting, and fonts. Yes, it’s important that your title slide and all other slides are readable, but if you spend more time picking fonts than you do preparing your presentation, you’re going to be in trouble.
A simple way to avoid spending an unnecessary amount of time on the aesthetics of your presentation is to hire professional designers to create custom Powerpoint templates. With the right Powerpoint designer, you can be confident that you’re using more consistent and professional templates than you could create on your own. Best of all, professional designers can create custom templates for individual presentations or a company-standard template that reinforces your brand and cohesiveness among different teams.
Practice your presentation before you present.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s crucial that you practice your presentation a few times before you share it in front of a live audience. A great way to do this is to get a few team members together a day or two before you present to run through the master slide together. This allows you to make adjustments by asking for feedback and ensures that you don’t just spend your presentation reading off of the slides themselves. Especially if you’re going to be distributing a hardcopy of the slides to the audience you’re presenting to beforehand, make sure that you have anecdotes and other details to share that go beyond the slides or it’s easy to bore your audience. With preparation and the right custom templates, you’re bound to make a great impression!
