Does your PowerPoint suck?

Maybe you're nodding your head vehemently. Maybe you're screaming obscenities at me. Maybe you're ready to launch a five-hour tirade on why there should be a death to PowerPoint (true story). But regardless of your position, think of that question for a little bit. Does your PowerPoint (and your PowerPoint game) suck? For most people, PowerPoint is solely about presenting information (maybe with a little bit of flare). Oftentimes, people on a time crunch or very little experience will use the handy PowerPoint themes that Microsoft provides. They will stick images in to do visual show-and-tell. They will also stretch images to get them to be visible. More often than not, these PowerPoint presentations are lackluster in performance and show how much time a person spent on a presentation. There's one word for these types of presentations: rushed. Uh-oh. I guess you're gonna cancel me now, then. Now, I understand that many people have lives and jobs and time-crunches and family and other personal matters. The whole premise of a PowerPoint is showing information. But, if you're making a presentation, at least make it count visually. Here's some tips to better enhance your PowerPoint game:

Tip 1: Don't Bail Out on Themes

Themes are great. They are wonderful. I think that if you are in a time-crunch, themes will save your presentation. However, themes are also easy to recognize, especially when you're in the corporate world. Almost everyone has access to PowerPoint...meaning that there's a great possibility that your PowerPoint may not visually woo an audience, especially if you're presenting to high-level clients. People like visual excitement, not the same recycled theme that another presenter used. If you're unsure of what to do, experiment with shapes and color (if you have time to, that is). Try something new!

Tip 2: Consider Image Hunting + Placement

Sometimes (or most times), when we're on a time-crunch, we find low-quality images and decide to stick it in with rest of the pictures we found -- not caring at all about balance and visual hierarchy. And I get it, sometimes making a PowerPoint is about simply getting the job done; noting fancy, just simply getting work done. However, you should care about your images, as well as the visual balance and hierarchy in your PowerPoint. Why? Because, if you don't pay attention to your image(s), neither will your audience. A low-quality image is also not great to pick just for accessibility reasons, too. Think about how hard it would be to sit in the back and (assuming you have great vision) see a pixel blob. Does anyone want that? No, they wouldn't. When you're picking out images, try to find high-quality images. Now comes the hard part, actually finding high-quality images. This is a tough job to do, and I don't blame anyone who wants to throw in the towel and just put in gold ole' clip art. But, if you have the know-how, you may want to take that towel back. See, if you do a quick Google search for -- I don't know, ducks -- then you will get pictures of ducks. But, while there are a plethora of images of ducks, many of them are unfit for a quality presentation. They could work for a high-school report, sure; but if you were presenting to say, Ducks Unlimited, then you may want to try a little harder. This is where image-hunting begins. To start, try to enter in specific terms (like "high-res", "high-quality") as well as finding the filter for image quality. You want to find the most high-resolution, most applicable picture of a duck. If the resolution isn't in the quadruple-digits, you're not looking hard enough. Also, beware of watermarks.

Tip 3: Don't Bail Out On Clip Art

Again, another image-related tip: don't bail out on clip art. Granted, clip art is a great tool provided by PowerPoint to put quick doodles and whatnot into your presentation. However, that being said, don't fill every single slide with clip art. It's just not appealing and it's in my book cheating. Clip art is generic and cheaply drawn. If you're designing a presentation for kids, fine. But if you're designing a company presentation, the last thing they need to see is a cheaply-drawn rubber ducky. If you're going to have an illustration in your PowerPoint, draw it yourself.

Tip 4: Up Your Font Game

How boring would it be to have Times New Roman on every slide? You might get your point across, but the signal might be dropped (because your audience is sleeping!). Why is that, you might ask? Well, it's because your font game is weak! See, people like a change of pace, especially in looking at fonts. When you design a PowerPoint, don't just stick with the default font; try something new! Generic fonts (Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, Jokerman, etc.) are bland to use throughout your PowerPoint. Try different fonts or, better yet, experiment with color/gradient fills in your text!

Tip 5: Don't Overdo It

Okay, Trevor. I've added images, different fonts, tons of charts, and different shapes. You happy? No, not quite. Just like there's too bland, there's also too much. Sometimes, there is too many font variations or even too many images. It might end up becoming visual diarrhea. The trick here is to not overdo a presentation. When you have so much color in a presentation, the focus of your presentation becomes lost. Try to use up to two font variations in your PowerPoint and avoid using too much color. Consider visual balance and harmony with design. Try not to fall into the pitfalls of over-animating a presentation, and consider using animations/sound/video clips sparingly.

Tip 6: Be a Presenter

Finally, try to be a presenter. What I mean by this is...don't let the PowerPoint do the talking. Remember that you are presenting, not the PowerPoint. If you are the shy type, take a chance. Put yourself out there and keep your cool. Keep an outline of your presentation on hand or, better yet, rehearse. But, whatever you do, don't let the PowerPoint speak for you; you must speak for the PowerPoint.

So, in conclusion, if you abide by these tips, you will have a PowerPoint worth presenting. And do not use the clicker sound effect!