1. Making Effective Presentations Key Steps to Success

2. First the basics.. Allow for ample time to prepare and practice your presentation. Practice going over the presentation until it is memorized and executed smoothly. Make sure to include a brief introduction about yourself and who you are especially if you are speaking and presenting in front of a group that are not familiar with you. 3. A few important guidelines Keep it simple. This can be done by limiting the amount of information put on each slide along with the amount of time you spend talking about a topic. Staying on topic is a must! Less is more. Use key words rather than long descriptive sentences. 4. Avoid the following Overuse of bullet points and check marks Silly images Transitions such as fade-ins or spinning text Handouts and print outs (wait until after the presentation) Music that is generic or already imbedded into the programSource: Pinola, 2013 5. What you should do Color and Large font can be used to emphasize key points in the presentation Professional graphics can be used to promote key points. 6. The 10/20/30 Rule Limit your presentation to ten slides maximum Limit your speech to 20 minutes Use a minimum 30pt font size (Pinola, 2013) 7. Think outside the box PowerPoint is not the only presentation platform Prezi, Haiku Dek and Reveal.js are viable alternatives to using traditional PowerPoint templates. Videoscribe and GoAnimate offer award winning animated presentation tools that are professional and engaging 8. When in doubt Practice, practice, practice. The more you practice your presentations the better you will become Increasing your presentation skills will help you in your career by demonstrating that you can deliver a precise and professional presentation to an audience. 9. 3 Ps of Powerful Presentations Plan Prepare Practice 10. Conclusion Creating a presentation that delivers the message and engages the audience takes a little time, research, practice and format. Following a few simple guidelines will help make your presentation interesting and professional.