Making Yourself Memorable: Create A Stunning Powerpoint Presentation
If you want to stand out from the crowd and grow your career, you need to make yourself memorable. While it’s important for everyone to learn presentation skills, these days presentations that make an impact command more attention from the audience. For your next presentation, present with style and break through the clutter.
How, you may ask? Well, there are a number of ways to be memorable – both in your presentation as well as in your career. You could be an expert at what you do, have a remarkable personality, or have a combination of both – all important factors for getting ahead in the business world.
For those times where you are presenting for business purposes and not to charm someone out of their money (if so just go with charming personality), I’ve narrowed it down to six steps that will help get you from average to memorable in 60 seconds or less.
1. Include an Opening Image/Video – The attention span for most people decreases drastically after about 10 minutes. Don’t believe me? Next time you are in a presentation, look around and count how many people have their eyes closed. Make the opening of your presentation count. Start with an image that captures your audience’s attention. If possible, get them engaged not just visually but also emotionally. For example, if you are speaking to a group of nurses, include a video showing a patient’s reaction to the positive care they received after a surgery.
2. Use Contrasting Font Styles/Colors – It can be difficult to read PowerPoint slides with text in all one font color and one font type throughout the entire slide like: black Times New Roman bold italicized underlined…you get the point. It’s not easy on the eyes and becomes boring fast. Break up the text to draw attention to certain areas. If you want to explain a process, include a title above the process in one color and bold/italic/underlined and then continue with the rest of your text using another color and style.
3. Use Bolded Text – A lot of people skip over small details when they skim through a presentation but will read something in bold. Use this tactic strategically to get their attention. If you are explaining how something works, use this tip to draw their attention because they will want to know more about it if it is bolded.
4. Use Highlighting – Highlighting is a great way to highlight important sections of the slide so people will remember them. The “Highlighting” option on your PowerPoint tool bar allows you to “highlight” text. If you want to highlight something, click the arrow in the top right corner that looks like a pencil. And then you can use a yellow highlighter or your choice of color on the color palette.
5. Use Animated Text – Another way to draw attention is with animated text. You can use this option in PowerPoint to add a little animation to your text. There are several options, such as:
• Twirls – The text twirls around the slide.
• Fade – The text fades in and out. This is a great option if you want to fade something in or out without having to add additional slides or your own voiceover.
• Fly In – The text flies into the slide from offscreen with a cool animated effect, leading people’s attention where you want it. This one is my favorite because it can be used for headlines and highlights or for transitions between slides where something is flying into view (i.e., a picture).
• Motion Path – This option is also fun to use. It allows you to add an arrow to the text that flies into your slide and then moves along the path you drew on your slide.
6. Test & Edit – Once you’ve finished with your presentation, don’t be afraid to test it with a few different audiences. Take note of what their reactions are, where they seem to be paying attention, and where their eyes are drawn towards. A presentation can often be enhanced greatly by making subtle changes that enhance the experience for viewers. Add pictures of people working together or graphics of machinery in motion during this section so people can visualize what they are learning about.
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Making Yourself Memorable: Create A Stunning Powerpoint Presentation [ARTICLE STARTS]
If you want to stand out from the crowd and grow your career, you need to make yourself memorable. While it’s important for everyone to learn presentation skills, these days presentations that make an impact command more attention from the audience. For your next presentation, present with style and break through the clutter.
How, you may ask? Well, there are a number of ways to be memorable – both in your presentation as well as in your career. You could be an expert at what you do, have a remarkable personality, or have a combination of both – all important factors for getting ahead in the business world. For those times where you are presenting for business purposes and not to charm someone out of their money (if so just go with charming personality), I’ve narrowed it down to six steps that will help get you from average to memorable in 60 seconds or less. 1. Include an Opening Image/Video – The attention span for most people decreases drastically after about 10 minutes. Don’t believe me? Next time you are in a presentation, look around and count how many people have their eyes closed. Make the opening of your presentation count. Start with an image that captures your audience’s attention. If possible, get them engaged not just visually but also emotionally. For example, if you are speaking to a group of nurses, include a video showing a patient’s reaction to the positive care they received after a surgery. 2. Use Contrasting Font Styles/Colors – It can be difficult to read PowerPoint slides with text in all one font color and one font type throughout the entire slide like: black Times New Roman bold italicized underlined…you get the point. It’s not easy on the eyes and becomes boring fast. Break up the text to draw attention to certain areas. If you want to explain a process, include a title above the process in one color and bold/italic/underlined and then continue with the rest of your text using another color and style. 3. Use Bolded Text – A lot of people skip over small details when they skim through a presentation but will read something in bold. Use this tactic strategically to get their attention. If you are explaining how something works, use this tip to draw their attention because they will want to know more about it if it is bolded. 4. Use Highlighting – Highlighting is a great way to highlight important sections of the slide so people will remember them.