CREATE A PRESENTATION DECK

What is a presentation?

A presentation slide deck (or presentation deck) is simply a collection of presentation slides put together to tell a story, share information, describe an innovative idea, describe a story, showcase your tinkering project or innovation, pitch your business idea, etc. A presentation deck (or slide deck) can be created using a variety of tools such as Microsoft Power Point, Google Slides, etc.

It’s essential to have a well-structured presentation slide deck that tells a good story. The story has to flow from one slide to the next in order to be effective. So, it is important to follow a set of guidelines or tips to create a good presentation deck.

Here are some tips and guidelines for creating impressive and effective presentation slide decks that have a positive impact on its audience:

1. Keep the deck simple and straightforward

2. Use a landscape layout for the presentation.

3. Keep the background of the presentation deck - preferably white in color.

4. Have a title slide at the beginning and a thank-you slide at the end of the presentation deck.

5. Have an agenda slide that will introduce the topics you will be covering in the presentation. This will help set the expectations of your audience upfront.

6. Convey the presentation in the form of a story as far as possible.

7. Let your story flow from one slide to the next without disconnects, or abrupt change in flow.

8. Let each slide convey one core point. Do not combine multiple things in one slide.

9. Have bullet points to convey key aspects of the core point in the slide. Do not write lengthy sentences or paragraphs.

10. Let the title of each slide convey the key message of the slide.

11. Don't introduce a new topic abruptly. Have a sub-title if you need to segregate one section of the slide deck from another.

12. Use pictures and photos extensively. A picture is worth a thousand words.

13. Use fonts of different colors and sizes, but don't over do it. Do not make the slides gaudy with too many colors.

14. Don't clutter the slides with a lot of information. Have a lot of white-space in every slide.

15. Use videos to tell a short story where appropriate

16. Add slide numbers so that your audience can know how much progress has been made, and how many slides remain.

How can I prepare my own presentation?

You can use Microsoft Powerpoint or Google Slides to create an impressive presentation slide deck. While Microsoft Powerpoint is a desktop based tool that requires a paid software license and needs to be installed on your computer, Google Slides is an online tool that is free to use. It can be accessed from: Here. Google Slides is a presentation tool included as part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service. The service also includes Google Docs and Google Sheets, a word processor and spreadsheet respectively.