first slide powerpoint presentation

How to easily make an AWESOME first slide in PowerPoint?

By: Author Shrot Katewa

A good first impression can have a lasting impact. Thus, having a good design for your first slide is important. We’ve seen that people often simply put the title of the presentation as a first slide. I personally dislike this the most. It just shows that the person creating the presentation was simply not interested in it (even though that may not necessarily be true).

Thus, knowing how to create a good first slide is as important if not more as knowing how to create the rest of the presentation. The best part is – you can easily create an awesome first slide for your presentation in minutes in a few quick and easy steps. Obviously, if you have the time at hand, you can easily spend an hour or two making that perfect first slide! In this post, we take a look at how to easily create a first slide with a few examples of actual designs that we have created for our clients.

1. What is the first slide of a PPT presentation called?

The first slide of a presentation is called a “Title slide” or a “Cover slide” . This slide often contains the title of the presentation and hence the name title slide. It is also often referred to as the “Opening slide” of the presentation. The title slide is often the slide that is displayed on the screen before you start your presentation. Thus, it is important to have a title slide that not only looks good but also shares relevant information about your presentation.

2. What content should be included on the first slide of the PPT presentation?

A title slide or the cover slide does not need too much content. The purpose of the title slide is really to give an indication of what the presentation is all about. Thus, an ideal title slide should contain nothing more than –

• Presentation title
• Date of the presentation
• Presenter’s name and designation

It is not necessary to have all the above three pieces of information on a cover slide. Do keep in mind that not all cover slides are the same and what content is displayed on the cover slide can be organisation specific. An organisation may have a preference or a fixed structure for the content that needs to be put on a cover slide. This may vary from the above structure.

3. How to easily design a beautiful first slide in minutes?

As I mentioned earlier, having a good first slide can have a lasting positive impact on your audience. Thus, it is important to create a good design for your first slide. There are several ways you can design the cover slide. Let’s look at some of the easiest ways you can create a beautiful cover slide –

Method 1 – Using PowerPoint’s “Design Ideas” functionality (for beginners)

I must admit, PowerPoint’s “Design Ideas” functionality has great potential. In fact, we at OwlScape were planning on creating a similar plugin for PowerPoint users before Microsoft introduced this feature. This functionality is not just great for beginners, but also at least a must try for intermediate level users too. Designers from OwlScape also at least check out the functionality every once in a while especially when we hit a creative bloq.

It is really easy to work with. In just a couple of clicks and a few minutes, you can make your title slide look completely different –

To do this, all you need to do is put some text on your cover slide and use the “Design Ideas” functionality of PowerPoint. For example, you can write the title and subtitle of your presentation.

Next, click on the “Design” tab on your Menu bar. On the ribbon under the design tab, look for “Design Ideas” feature. It is normally on the far right of the screen on the ribbon. Click on it, and wait for a bit.

In a few seconds, PowerPoint will automatically throw a few ways in which you can design your title slide. You can choose the design you like, and repeat the process to get more results.

If you are unable to see any design ideas or you get an error, you could close the error result by clicking on the close button marked with “X” next to Design Ideas. Then, try clicking in any of the text box on the slide and click on “Design Ideas” again. A few attempts will surely give you some interesting results.

There are a few drawbacks though. These are as follows –

• The results are not consistent . If you happen to delete the slide and try to recreate using the exact same process, the result may be different. This can be both good and bad 🙂
• Editing the design of the suggested slide may not be easy for beginners – when you need to make some changes to the chosen design option, it doesn’t happen directly. You will need to work with the master slides in order to make the design changes. This may seem daunting especially if you are a beginner.
• Sometimes, it just doesn’t work – Even though you may have created a slide using the same content before, sometimes when you try to recreate using the same content, it may simply fail to showcase any ideas. In such an event, we would advise you to click on the text box or an image on your slide and try again by clicking on the Design Ideas option.
• Available for Office 2016 onwards – If you are a PowerPoint user using an older version of Microsoft Office, you may not be able to easily access this functionality. Having the latest PowerPoint version can be of great help!

One thing to note is that the “Design Ideas” option can be used not just for the cover slide, but also for other slides. However, I would advise resisting the temptation of using it for every single slide. 🙂

Method 2 – Using shapes to create an interesting cover slide (for intermediate users)

One other way of having an interesting cover slide is by using the shapes in PowerPoint. Let’s look at the following example –

If you look at the above example carefully, you’ll notice that we’ve only added a shape to the already existing title and the subtitle in the “After” slide. Simply adding a shape, a logo and aligning the text can alter the look of the slide drastically.

There are many ways you can add a shape to the slide. My favourite method is to add a horizontal or a vertical “Trapezoid/ trapezium” (a quadrilateral shape with one pair of parallel sides). A trapezoid shape allows me to have enough space to write the title of the slide and some more content.

To create this shape, you can follow the below steps –

On the menu bar, click on “Insert” and then click on “Shapes”. Under the basic shapes option, select the trapezium shape. Next, create the shape on your slide.

Make sure that the size of the trapezium is good enough to cover about ⅔ parts of the slide. Also ensure that the parallel sides of the trapezium touch the top and bottom part of the slide. Now all you need to do is add the title and subtitle, along with the logo to create your cover slide.

Similarly, you can also use the trapezium vertically. You can also use various types of shapes on your cover slide. The possibilities are literally endless!

Method 3 – Using shapes with images to create an awesome cover slide! (for advanced users)

If you are still not satisfied with your cover slide, there are several other ways you can make it look even more impressive. The easiest way to take it to the next level is to use images in combination with the shapes.

Let’s look at a few examples –

Combination cover slide design example – 1

In the above design, a shape has been created in the background using a freeform tool. Next, two appropriate images have been identified and put in front of the shape. All this has been kept predominantly to the right side of the slide allowing space to write the title, subtitle and the other relevant information on the left.

Combination cover slide design example – 2

In this example, we’ve used one corner of curved rectangle shape to create an interesting design. Two copies of the same shape have been considered. The one below is filled with a colour and tilted at a slight angle. The one above has an image inserted in the shape.

Combination cover slide design example – 3

In the above example, a combination of several shapes and images are used to create a visually pleasing design. Obviously, this may not be something that a beginner can create right of the bat. But the reason we put this design as an example is because barring the design skills (knowing what shape to include and where), creating this slide is not as advanced as you might think. This slide has been created by only using shapes and image elements along with the logo and text. The purpose of using this as an example was to showcase the endless possibilities on how a seemingly complex cover slide can be made by merely using basic shapes and images.

4. How to find images for the first slide of your presentation?

Whether you are using a combination of images and shapes or simply using an image on your title slide, it is important to identify a good image that resembles the topic of your presentation. Consider the following example –

If you’ve been following along, I’m sure you would have noticed by now that the above title slide has been created using a combination of images and shapes. Again, the design can be easily created using shapes and image elements. However, part of the reason that makes this slide look good and relevant to the presentation is the choice of image. Since the presentation is for a corporate organisation, choosing an image that resembles a corporate environment would be relevant.

Take a moment to scroll up and notice the other cover slide examples that I shared above.

The cover slide example 1 was designed for a presentation on education. Thus, choosing an image that represents education effectively communicates to the audience that the presentation is something to do with education even without the word “education” in the title or the subtitle or anywhere on the slide (Don’t resist, go ahead and have a look at the slide again! 🙂 )

Likewise, example 3 uses a mobile device in the title slide giving an indication that the product being talked about in the presentation is likely going to be an app.

Thus, choosing an appropriate image is important as it subtly communicates the message to the audience.

Finding the images for your presentation can take some time. You can use Google to see a few references on what type of images can be used. Avoid the temptation of using Google images directly on your presentation as this can violate copyright laws. We wrote a detailed post on where to find and how to use images for your presentation (link – https://owlscape.in/can-i-use-google-images-for-my-presentation/ ). Be sure to check it out!

I’m sure by now you’ve noticed a few different ways you can create a good title slide for your presentation. I hope this post helps you to think out of the box while creating the title slide of your next presentation. I also hope that going forward you will surely give enough focus on creating an impressive first slide even if you only have a few minutes.

If you’re struggling while creating your next title slide or your presentation, simply drop us an email on [email protected]

Home Blog Presentation Ideas How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test

How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test

Knowing how to start a presentation is crucial: if you fail to capture the audience’s attention right off the bat, your entire presentation will flop. Few listeners will stick with you to the end and retain what you have told.

That is mildly unpleasant when you are doing an in-house presentation in front of your colleagues. But it can become utterly embarrassing when you present in front of larger audiences (e.g., at a conference) or worse – delivering a sales presentation to prospective customers.

Here is how most of us begin a presentation: give an awkward greeting, thank everyone for coming, clear our throats, tap the mic, and humbly start to mumble about our subject. The problem with such an opening performance? It effectively kills and buries even the best messages.

Table of Contents

• The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction
• Open a Presentation with a Hook
• Begin with a Captivating Visual
• Ask a “What if…” Question
• Use the Word “Imagine”
• Leverage The Curiosity Gap
• The Power of Silence
• Facts as Weapons of Communication
• Fact vs. Myths
• The Power of Music
• Physical Activity
• Acknowledging a Person

How to Start a PowerPoint Presentation The Right Way

Let’s say you have all of your presentation slides polished up (in case you don’t, check our quick & effective PowerPoint presentation design tips first). Your presentation has a clear storyline and agenda. Main ideas are broken into bite-sized statements for your slides and complemented with visuals. All you have left is to figure out how you begin presenting.

The best way is to appeal to and invoke certain emotions in your audience – curiosity, surprise, fear, or good old amusements. Also, it is recommended to present your main idea in the first 30 seconds of the presentation. And here’s how it’s done.

1. The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction

When you don’t feel like reinventing the wheel, use a classic trick from the book – start with a quick personal introduction. Don’t want to sound as boring as everyone else with your humble “Hi, I’m John, the head of the Customer Support Department”? Great, because we are all about promoting effective presentation techniques (hint: using a dull welcome slide isn’t one of them).

Here’s how to introduce yourself in a presentation the right way.

a. Use a link-back memory formula

To ace a presentation, you need to connect with your audience. The best way to do so is by throwing in a simple story showing who you are, where you came from, and why your words matter.

The human brain loves a good story, and we are more inclined to listen and retain the information told this way. Besides, when we can relate to the narrator (or story hero), we create an emotional bond with them, and, again – become more receptive, and less skeptical of the information that is about to be delivered.

So here are your presentation introduction lines:

My name is Joanne, and I’m the Head of Marketing at company XYZ. Five years ago I was working as a waitress, earning $10/hour and collecting rejection letters from editors. About ten letters every week landed to my mailbox. You see, I love words, but decent publisher thought mine were good enough. Except for the restaurant owner. I was very good at up-selling and recommending dishes to the customers. My boss even bumped my salary to $15/hour as a token of appreciation for my skill. And this made me realize: I should ditch creative writing and focus on copywriting instead. After loads of trial and error back in the day, I learned how to write persuasive copy. I was no longer getting rejection letters. I was receiving thousands of emails saying that someone just bought another product from our company. My sales copy pages generated over $1,500,000 in revenue over last year. And I want to teach you how to do the same”

b. Test the Stereotype Formula

This one’s simple and effective as well. Introduce yourself by sharing an obvious stereotype about your profession. This cue will help you connect with your audience better, make them chuckle a bit, and set a lighter mood for the speech to follow.

Here’s how you can frame your intro:

“My name is ___, and I am a lead software engineer at our platform [Your Job Title]. And yes, I’m that nerdy type who never liked presenting in front of large groups of people. I would rather stay in my den and write code all day long. [Stereotype]. But hey, since I have mustered enough courage…let’s talk today about the new product features my team is about to release….”

After sharing a quick, self-deprecating line, you transition back to your topic, reinforcing the audience’s attention . Both of these formulas help you set the “mood” for your further presentation, so try using them interchangeably on different occasions.

2. Open a Presentation with a Hook

Wow your audience straight off the bat by sharing something they would not expect to hear. This may be one of the popular first-time presentation tips but don’t rush to discard it.

Because here’s the thing: psychologically , we are more inclined to pay attention whenever presented with an unexpected cue. When we know what will happen next – someone flips the switch, and lights turn on – we don’t really pay much attention to that action.

But when we don’t know what to expect next – e.g., someone flips the switch and a bell starts ringing – we are likely to pay more attention to what will happen next. The same goes for words: everyone loves stories with unpredictable twists. So begin your presentation with a PowerPoint introduction slide or a line that no one expects to hear.

Here are a few hook examples you can swipe:

a. Open with a provocative statement

It creates an instant jolt and makes the audience intrigued to hear what you are about to say next – pedal back, continue with the provocation, or do something else that they will not expect.

“You will live seven and a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.”

That’s how Jane McGonigal opens one of her TED talks . Shocking and intriguing, right?

b. Ask a rhetorical, thought-provoking question

Seasoned presenters know that one good practice is to ask a question at the beginning of a presentation to increase audience engagement. Rhetorical questions have a great persuasive effect – instead of answering aloud, your audience will silently start musing over it during your presentation. They aroused curiosity and motivated the audience to remain attentive, as they did want to learn your answer to this question.

To reinforce your message throughout the presentation, you can further use the Rhetorical Triangle Concept – a rhetorical approach to building a persuasive argument based on Aristotle’s teachings.

c. Use a bold number, factor stat

A clean slide with some mind-boggling stat makes an undeniably strong impact. Here are a few opening statement examples you can use along with your slide:

• Shock them: “We are effectively wasting over $1.2 billion per year on producing clothes no one will ever purchase”
• Create empathy: “Are you among the 20% of people with undiagnosed ADHD?”
• Call to arms: “58% of marketing budgets are wasted due to poor landing page design. Let’s change this!”
• Spark curiosity: “Did you know that companies who invested in speech recognition have seen a 13% increase in ROI within just 3 years?”

3. Begin with a Captivating Visual

Compelling visuals are the ABC of presentation design – use them strategically to make an interesting statement at the beginning and throughout your presentation. Your first presentation slide can be text-free. Communicate your idea with a visual instead – a photo, a chart, an infographic, or another graphics asset.

Visuals are a powerful medium for communication as our brain needs just 13 milliseconds to render what our eyes see, whereas text comprehension requires more cognitive effort.

Relevant images add additional aesthetic appeal to your deck, bolster the audience’s imagination, and make your key message instantly more memorable.

Here’s an intro slide example. You want to make a strong presentation introduction to global pollution.  Use the following slide to reinforce the statement you share:

“Seven of nine snow samples taken on land in Antarctica found chemicals known as PFAs, which are used in industrial products and can harm wildlife”

Source: Reuters

4. Ask a “What if…” Question

The “what if” combo carries massive power. It gives your audience a sense of what will happen if they choose to listen to you and follow your advice.  Here are a few presentations with starting sentences + slides to illustrate this option:

Alternatively, you can work your way to this point using different questions:

• Ask the audience about their “Why.” Why are they attending this event, or why do they find this topic relevant?
• Use “How” as your question hook if you plan to introduce a potential solution to a problem.
• If your presentation has a persuasion factor associated, use “When” as a question to trigger the interest of the audience on, for example, when they are planning to take action regarding the topic being presented (if we talk about an inspirational presentation).

5. Use the Word “Imagine”

“Imagine,” “Picture This,” and “Think of” are better word choices for when you plan to begin your presentation with a quick story.

Our brain loves interacting with stories. In fact, a captivating story makes us more collaborative. Scientists have discovered that stories with tension during narrative make us:

• Pay more attention,
• Share emotions with the characters and even mimic the feelings and behaviors of those characters afterward.

That’s why good action movies often feel empowering and make us want to change the world too. By incorporating a good, persuasive story with a relatable hero, you can also create that “bond” with your audience and make them more perceptive to your pitch – donate money to support the cause; explore the solution you are offering, and so on.

6. Leverage The Curiosity Gap

The curiosity gap is another psychological trick frequently used by marketers to solicit more clicks, reads, and other interactions from the audience. In essence, it’s the trick you see behind all those clickbait, Buzzfeed-style headlines:

Not everyone is a fan of such titles. But the truth is – they do the trick and instantly capture attention. The curiosity gap sparks our desire to dig deeper into the matter. We are explicitly told that we don’t know something important, and now we crave to change that. Curiosity is an incredibly strong driving force for action – think Eve, think Pandora’s Box.

So consider incorporating these attention grabbers for your presentation speech to shock the audience. You can open with one, or strategically weave them in the middle of your presentation when you feel like your audience is getting tired and may lose their focus.

Here’s how you can use the curiosity gap during your presentation:

• Start telling a story, pause in the middle, and delay the conclusion of it.
• Withhold the key information (e.g., the best solution to the problem you have described) for a bit – but not for too long, as this can reduce the initial curiosity.
• Introduce an idea or concept and link it with an unexpected outcome or subject – this is the best opening for a presentation tip.

7. The Power of Silence

What would you do if you attended a presentation in which the speaker remains silent for 30 seconds after the presentation starts? Just the presenter, standing in front of the audience, in absolute silence.

Most likely, your mind starts racing with thoughts, expecting something of vital importance to be disclosed. The surprise factor with this effect is for us to acknowledge things we tend to take for granted.

It is a powerful resource to introduce a product or to start an inspirational presentation if followed by a fact.

8. Facts as Weapons of Communication

In some niches, using statistics as the icebreaker is the best method to retain the audience’s interest.

Say your presentation is about climate change. Why not introduce a not-so-common fact, such as the amount of wool that can be produced out of oceanic plastic waste per month? And since you have to base your introduction on facts, research manufacturers that work with Oceanic fabrics from recycled plastic bottles .

Using facts helps to build a better narrative, and also gives leverage to your presentation as you are speaking not just from emotional elements but from actually recorded data backed up by research.

9. Fact vs. Myths

Related to our previous point, we make quite an interesting speech if we contrast a fact vs. a myth in a non-conventional way: using a myth to question a well-accepted fact, then introducing a new point of view or theory, backed on sufficient research, that proves the fact wrong. This technique, when used in niches related to academia, can significantly increase the audience’s interest, and it will highlight your presentation as innovative.

Another approach is to debunk a myth using a fact. This contrast immediately piques interest because it promises to overturn commonly held beliefs, and people naturally find it compelling when their existing knowledge is put to the test. An example of this is when a nutritionist wishes to speak about how to lose weight via diet, and debunks the myth that all carbohydrates are “bad”.

10. The Power of Music

Think about a presentation that discusses the benefits of using alternative therapies to treat anxiety, reducing the need to rely on benzodiazepines. Rather than going technical and introducing facts, the presenter can play a soothing tune and invite the audience to follow an exercise that teaches how to practice breathing meditation . Perhaps, in less than 2 minutes, the presenter can accomplish the goal of exposing the advantages of this practice with a live case study fueled by the proper ambiance (due to the music played in the beginning).

11. Physical Activity

Let’s picture ourselves in an in-company presentation about workspace wellness. For this company, the sedentary lifestyle their employees engage in is a worrying factor, so they brought a personal trainer to coach the employees on a basic flexibility routine they can practice in 5 minutes after a couple of hours of desk time.

“Before we dive in, let’s all stand up for a moment.” This simple instruction breaks the ice and creates a moment of shared experience among the attendees. You could then lead them through a brief stretching routine, saying something like, “Let’s reach up high, and stretch out those muscles that get so tight sitting at our desks all day.” With this action, you’re not just talking about workplace wellness, you’re giving them a direct, personal experience of it.

This approach has several advantages. Firstly, it infuses energy into the room and increases the oxygen flow to the brain, potentially boosting the audience’s concentration and retention. Secondly, it sets a precedent that your presentation is not going to be a standard lecture, but rather an interactive experience. This can raise the level of anticipation for what’s to come, and make the presentation a topic for future conversation between coworkers.

12. Acknowledging a Person

How many times have you heard the phrase: “Before we begin, I’d like to dedicate a few words to …” . The speaker could be referring to a mentor figure, a prominent person in the local community, or a group of people who performed charity work or obtained a prize for their hard work and dedication. Whichever is the reason behind this, acknowledgment is a powerful force to use as a method of starting a presentation. It builds a connection with the audience, it speaks about your values and who you admire, and it can transmit what the conversation is going to be about based on who the acknowledged person is.

Closing Thoughts

Now you know how to start your presentation – you have the opening lines, you have the slides to use, and you can browse even more attractive PowerPoint presentation slides and templates on our website. Also, we recommend you visit our article on how to make a PowerPoint Presentation to get familiarized with the best tactics for professional presentation design and delivery, or if you need to save time preparing your presentation, we highly recommend you check our AI Presentation Maker to pair these concepts with cutting-edge slide design powered by AI.

Like this article? Please share

Curiosity Gap, Opening, Public Speaking, Rhetorical Triangle, Speech, What If Filed under Presentation Ideas

Related Articles

Filed under Presentation Ideas • September 5th, 2023

Persuasive Speech: Actionable Writing Tips and Sample Topics

Business professionals, students, and others can all benefit from learning the principles of persuasive speech. After all, the art of persuasion can be applied to any area of life where getting people to agree with you is important. In this article, we get into the basics of persuasive speaking, persuasive speech writing, and lastly persuasive speech topics.

Filed under Presentation Ideas • August 5th, 2023

How Parkinson’s Law Can Make Your Presentations Better

  Sometimes even the best presenters procrastinate their work until the very last moment. And then, suddenly, they get a flow of ideas to complete their slide deck and present like they have been preparing for it for ages. However, doing so has drawbacks, as even professional presenters cannot always elude the side effects of […]

Filed under Presentation Ideas • April 29th, 2022

How to Become Great in Public Speaking: Presenting Best Practices

Public Speaking takes a lot of practice and grit, however, it also requires a method that can help you through your presentation. Explore more about this subject in this blog post.

5 Responses to “How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test”

I love to follow the ideas, it’s good for a freshman

Leave a Reply

10 Strong Opening Slides to Start A Presentation (With Examples!)

Hrideep barot.

• Presentation

It is weird how now that we all live on our laptops and depend on them for entertainment and livelihood, things that shock us aren’t that many. This is a big itchy spot when it comes to engaging audiences and having a killer opening.

Lets focus on getting that perfect first slide in your presentation to help you kick off on the right foot.

How to open presentations

Opening presentations is an extremely daunting task. The worry of putting your best foot forward but at the same time not coming across as arrogant and the whole issue with fanning your armpits just before you step on the stage.

Yeah, I know. I relate, I think most of us do. We have braved those sweat patches and we have conquered.

It is time to up our opening game and while I will be getting to the ways we can do that, you can also check out this video for a quick idea.

What should be the first slide of a presentation?

Your first slide, needs to be impactful, with minimal content. An extremely difficult balance to maintain, but! Not impossible.

Your first slide, traditionally, is your name, the topic you are going to speak on and maybe on or two other details with MAYBE an image or some other graphics.

Gone are the days when we open speeches or presentations the traditional way, nothing wrong with it, but doing something “not normal” often helps us get people’s attention and that is the easiest way to get your points across and have them received positively.

Let’s check out a few ways you can open slides for a strong opening!

Strong Opening Slide Ideas

We’ve got our thinking cap on, let’s get cracking!

There are so many ways we can have a strong opening, even when you think presentations limit you.

Think of it this way, because people know you’re going to presenting something, they are going to give you full control of a projector. A big ass screen for all to see. If that isn’t filled with potential, I don’t know what is.

Well, with great power comes great responsibility, so let’s check out a few ways we can have killer opening slides , while of course being responsible… ish.

Idea 1: Introduction

There is no better way to get the audience to remember you than putting a giant photo of yourself on the screen and going, this is me, – an extremely edited version of me, but still, me. 🙂

Buddy. No. That was an attempt at being the funny – clever person. Clearly it didn’t work.

Don’t get me wrong, talking about yourself is good, important even to some extent, but that is it you see, it isn’t the fact that you’re talking about yourself that is the problem but what are you talking about that is.

The usual go to is to list out your biodata for the audience to read on the screen, while you speak the exact same thing off of the presentation. This is where we go wrong, no one wants to know about all your seven Ph.Ds. Bruce. (get the reference please)

Be proud of your qualifications, you earned them, but know when and where which qualification might be useful.

For example, you are a certified chartered accountant and have written plays that were on Broadway. In a screenwriting workshop / panel / seminar, as great as getting your chartered accountancy is, your experience as a writer holds way more value and is what will help you get the audience’s attention.

Let’s create an opening slide with the above example.

I used these polaroid photo ideas because for a play on Broadway, we’d love to see pictures! You can use tasteful pictures and even stock photos to help your audience get the right idea of your background.

Of course, I used these random paper elements to give it a more “writer” feel and also because this is my aesthetic, but you need to remember that this is your presentation and no cookie cutter mould will work. Even templates are meant to be edited to suit your needs.

Idea 2: Quiz

Is this to make your audience feel dumb? As much as that chaotic evil side of you may want to. Never do that. Respect their experiences as much as you would want them to respect yours.

Starting off with a quiz is a great way to warm up the crowd and get them involved in your presentation. Give them something to think about and it honestly doesn’t matter if they get it right or wrong, what matters is that they are trying to answer and interact!

Quizzes are a great ice breaker and also a great tool to get the audience going, you can also try to have a one off question or a series of questions.

Lets take the slide as an example, it could be for a presentation on a film industry and the question could be, guess the film from these three pictures, or they could be three different questions.

Remember as an opening slide, it should neither be text nor image heavy, just the right amount.

You could even create a game out of those quizzes and have checked off your list and even use these as a starting off point and come back to the topics (which could be your answers) while using this quiz as a reference point. The possibilities are endless!

Idea 3: Stimulation of Imagination

It always great to know what your audience is thinking, or in the least get them thinking!

You see, once they start thinking, they begin forming an opinion about the topic, which gets them invested and since you are the person addressing the topic, they will begin comparing their point of view / opinion with what they are saying.

There will always be different perspectives, what matters here is that they are invested enough to pay attention to you.

A really easy way to help them get started with forming an opinion is, asking them to take a minute to think about something.

For example: Think about a dancing monkey.

Can some of you describe the monkey you imagined, in the comment section? Was it wearing tap shoes and a top hat? Was it wearing a marching band uniform? Did it have your best friend’s face on it? Mine did!

Each of you had your own Dancing Monkey, and if thinking about it for a few seconds made it your own, imagine the attachment you can build by just spending a few minutes or even the duration of a presentation on it!

For example, you’re taking a presentation on perspectives or psychology. You can display this image and ask them what they think of it. Some may think about freedom, some loneliness and some people’s thoughts may be so profound that we could’ve never thought of it!

Idea 4: Video

This could work just as marvellous as sharing an image and opening a short discussion on its interpretations. You could even start with a video and use it as a segue into your presentation.

For example this video could be used as a great example for a marketing strategy by the brand and could be a great way to get the audience interested given the emotional quotient and relatable sibling content.

Idea 5: Image

Using an image might not necessarily mean that you can only invite the audience to imagine and think on their own. You can use an image to start your presentation and help get your point across.

You see that how the image is the hero of the slide? There is text, definitely, but much smaller, it looks as a complementary to the image instead of the other way around.

In this slide for example, assume poverty is the topic, a very telling image of poverty could help get the conversation started and make the audience more receptive of the topic.

An image in a way helps them “put a face” to the issue and that makes is easier for you to hold their attention and keep it.

Idea 6: Quote

It is well known and understood how impactful the right quote at the right time can be.

Lets focus on some things that people can often get wrong when using quotes.

Firstly, using long quotes, this is a no no when it comes to presentations because, then the audience will be in a rush to read the whole quote and if your point is made before then, well, we won’t get the desired effect will we?

Another thing to keep in mind is to not have a quote just to use it as a quote, pretty cryptic, honestly it is simple, if you are giving a presentation on a person and using their quote or you are using a random quote, make sure to have something to add to it.

It could be something simple. For example when talking about a person’s life:

“When this person said this, they were on their death bed, but they had lead a vivacious life until then to say the least, let’s start at the very beginning…”

Notice how despite there being a background picture, a text box, a bird in the corner, and all that, the text is what is the hero of the slide. You could even add a picture of the person whom you are quoting if it seems relevant.

Remember to always give credit where it is due. It never hurts.

Idea 7: Story

Who doesn’t love a good story? Storytelling is a major part of public speaking where animation, emotion and gestures and tones play a huge role in delivering your point.

With presentations, you need to remember to not just select any story, you need find / write a story that connects well to your topic, for example, if we are speaking about technology, a story about Alice and her looking glass don’t really give you much room to work in a segue.

Storytelling is a whole other conversation, check out this article to learn more about public speaking and how storytelling factors into it: Public Speech Into Story: 3 Steps To Telling A Captivating Story

Here the pictures are the heroes, and while words are important, make them complementary to what you are speaking.

Starting off with a joke is also a very popular trick and I think why should it be this or that, why should it be a joke or a story, why can’t it be a humorous story?

Now don’t go fretting about because it doesn’t have to be fictional, it could even be an anecdote from your experiences or maybe one comic strip you found online.

When it comes to humorous speeches, it can be quite intimidating, but here is an article I think will help you wade through these waters: A Guide To Using Humour In Your Speech

Idea 8: Examples

This is a great way to introduce your topic to a crowd that doesn’t know your topic well. Create examples or situations to help your audience gain a smooth entry into your presentation.

It is like math, it is fun when you understand, and that means you care and give attention to it.

You can also use case studies or make your examples into stories to make it more subtle and seamless.

Here is where a traditional topic, sentence and image layout of an opening slide is best suggested. You can build this in any direction and still be able to relate to your slide.

Idea 9: Hard Facts

Facing facts instances that are always either pleasantly welcomed or hard to swallow. Hitting the audience with hard facts works really well, especially if what you are going to talk about is a difficult or sensitive issue.

An astonishing fact is bound to catch people’s attention and you can always use it to your advantage!

According to Femme International, over the last 20 years, the sanitary pad sector has bloomed and advanced; they have taken over the industry and 85% of menstruating women in the country use napkins. As society progressed and the taboo on periods were lifted from many regions, a new problem came up. One which is really harmful. We all know that the blood that comes out during our periods is harmful and full of bacteria. Now include this bacteria filled blood with a pad which takes 500-800 years to decompose. That’s right, 500-800 years of a used sanitary napkin breeding bacteria in rivers, drains, soil and the sea. A menstruating woman uses 15-20 pads for one cycle. Which sums up to 7,200-9,600 pads over an average period of 40 years. This is just for one woman. According to UNICEF roughly 26% of the world’s population are menstruating women. This means that 2.28 BILLION women are going to use over 9,000 pads EACH during their menstruating years.

Always try to not keep your introductory slides text heavy, but when starting with facts, try to highlight them, notice how the topic and the image are not very prominent but play their part in bringing together the entire slide while the first thing you read is the fact, underlined and set in the middle.

Try to play around with the layouts, figure out what suits your needs the best.

Idea 10: Controversial Statements

Who doesn’t love controversies?

Even if we know something is clickbait, it still catches our eye. Even if we know something to not be possible, when someone says it – with conviction, our ears do perk up.

It doesn’t have to be something extraordinary, just not ordinary enough that it catches people’s attention and in the end, you can always use it to connect your conclusion to your introduction.

Here is a great TEDTalk that would help you understand what I am talking about.

If you plan to use this method, it is easier to dive into your slides after you’ve made the statement and start elaborating on it instead of right at the beginning, it could start with your topic or some proof or where ever your presentation takes you!

Final Thoughts

A presentation carries as much personality as its maker, if you want the right impact you need to use the templates, infographics and tools available to you to the fullest, but remember, there is a thing called “too much” as well.

The easiest way to kill it with your presentations is to keep it neat, in your aesthetic and to the point. Make it engaging, make it colourful, make it black and white. It would work perfectly if it bounces off your personality on stage.

Enroll in our transformative 1:1 Coaching Program

Schedule a call with our expert communication coach to know if this program would be the right fit for you

7 Keys to Emcee Like a Pro: Unlock Your Hosting Potential

8 Ways to Rise Above the Noise to Communicate Better

How to Negotiate: The Art of Getting What You Want

• [email protected]
• +91 98203 57888

Get our latest tips and tricks in your inbox always

Copyright © 2023 Frantically Speaking All rights reserved

Kindly drop your contact details so that we can arrange call back

Select Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria AmericanSamoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Rwanda Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tajikistan Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Wallis and Futuna Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe land Islands Antarctica Bolivia, Plurinational State of Brunei Darussalam Cocos (Keeling) Islands Congo, The Democratic Republic of the Cote d'Ivoire Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Guernsey Holy See (Vatican City State) Hong Kong Iran, Islamic Republic of Isle of Man Jersey Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Lao People's Democratic Republic Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Mozambique Palestinian Territory, Occupied Pitcairn Réunion Russia Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan Da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sao Tome and Principe Somalia Svalbard and Jan Mayen Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tanzania, United Republic of Timor-Leste Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S.

22 Ways to Open a Presentation

Getting your first presentation slide right can be a tricky task. It sets the tone of your whole presentation, and can make or break you in terms of confidence.

Always alter your presentation openings, depending on your audience. Remember that what might work for you in a boardroom would likely turn a room of millennials into a bored room . But don’t worry. Our advice isn’t to start telling jokes at any available opportunity. Instead, we’ve collated the many various ways you can start a speech, to inspire you to choose a presentation slide that’s right for you, and your audience.

22. Welcome!

Use a welcoming presentation slide when people have come specifically to see you present.

Don’t use this if you’re presenting in the middle of other presentations, or when the audience have already seen something to do with your product or service that day.

21. Use a Physical Object

Bring an object along to your presentation that you think could be useful in your presentation, and start with explaining what it is, and why it is significant.

It could be a red ball, which you promise to toss at people who look like they’re going to fall asleep, or a product which you’re trying to sell. Either way, having an object in your opening is an unusual way of starting a presentation, and can get you some important points when presenting.

Use this if you’re presenting to a lively young audience instead of an opening presentation slide.

20. What If…

A good TED talk tactic. Use an imaginary scenario to get the audience to pay attention, and tickle their own abstract ideas about your subject.

Use this presentation slide if you have a hypothetical focus of your presentation, and you’re looking for input from the audience.

19. Show of Hands

Ask the audience their opinion on something.

Often, this can break the ice between you and the audience, and get you feeling a little more comfortable before you start with your first presentation slide.

18.  A Wise Man Once Said… (Or indeed woman!)

Use a famous quote as a point of reference.

This can be a good way to start a presentation if you think the audience need some context before your presentation, and can be an easy way in if you’re about to explain something complicated.

17. A Prelude.

Instead of starting off your presentation with an  about me  or  history slide,  try and tell the audience who you are, and what you’re about before you make the presentation.

One short story about what makes you a real person, and why they should listen to you speak can make a big difference in your confidence, and in the audiences’ faith in you.

16. Dramatic Pause…

You don’t need to use a presentation slide to kick off your speech.

Instead, start your presentation with 10 seconds of silence, and a blank powerpoint slide to heighten the audience anticipation.

15. Add some Glitz

Quote a movie or a song in your first presentation slide to build rapport with your audience.

As long as it’s something that most of the audience will know, you’ll have them listening intently right from the get go!

This is especially important to consider when presenting to millenials.

14. A Number.

Open your speech with a statistical presentation slide.

A number can start your presentation right by giving your audience something tangible to understand.

If your presentation includes an interesting statistic, or you have an interesting point inside your presentation, show it off right at the start to keep your audience curious about how you arrived at that fact.

13.  Make a Bold Claim

Controversial or elaborate hypotheses are often approached in presentations in an apologetic way, with a build up to the claim.

This is mostly due to nervous presenters to whom the idea of seeming silly at the start of a presentation puts them off using this as a tactic. Don’t be one of them!

12. Thank you

Another effective presentation slide opener is to thank the audience for being there.

Make them feel part of the presentation, and appreciated to get the best reaction from them later in your presentation.

11. Ask a Question

Start by asking your audience a difficult question about the topic to get a feel for the room.

Don’t ask them for a show of hands, but instead just ask them to think about it.

10. State their Problem

If you’re pitching to investors, focus on their problem. Try and relate your product or service to how their lives would be improved on your first presentation slide.

If they’re not the right audience, try and relate it their son, their daughter or their mother. Make it personal.

9. Grab their Attention

Do you have a shocking piece of information you’re going to present? Maybe you have an impressive statistic, or fact which you discovered or achieved.

Lead with something bold and colorful to grab their attention from the start.

8. Make Fun of Yourself

Be humble and approachable right from your first slide if you want to make a fantastic impression.

By showing the audience that you can make fun of yourself, and that you’re honest, you will knock down a little of the fourth wall between you and the people in front of you.

7. Use Curiosity

Using curiosity as a way to grab your audience’s attention is a good way to make you feel some power if you get nervous in presentations. Try something along the lines of: “I have the most exciting job in the world. No really, I do. Everyone I meet says “Wow, how do have the energy to do such a thing every day” , as i shrug, and take the compliment. Can you guess what i do? That’s right. I’m an accountant. ”

6. Look Back

Refer to the past in your first presentation slide, and make a comparison of what humans thought the future would look like related to your presentation topic.

This can be a great way of getting the audience to feel like they already knew something about a difficult subject. It can also help to build  connection between you and your audience by relating to a common belief.

5. Look Forward

Open your presentation by referring to the future, and what you hope to achieve with your research, data, or pitch.

This is an impressive first presentation slide if you are trying to convince your audience to believe in something, whether that be a product, or a cause.

4. Use a Foreign Proverb

Using an english proverb might be a bit old hat in this day and age. Unless of course you’re going with the ‘dad joke’ ideal to millenials, in which case, press on!

Instead, use a proverb from a different language. There are some  real gems  out there, and can impress your audience that you’ve gone to the research trouble.

3.  Refer to Current Events

If, on the day you’re due to present you read about an interesting current events story, or news article which links to your presentation, use it as your opening!

Discussing a current events article will show the audience your intellect and also get them understanding you from the get go.

2. Refer to a Historical Event

If you’re presenting something really fantastic, comparing your presentation to something significant in the past can be a good way of building some hype.

Of course, if you’re building something which isn’t that revolutionary, try adapting this opening into a humorous comparison instead, and build some rapport with your audience.

1. Tell a Story

The best way to start a powerpoint presentation is to start is with a story.

A thoughtful story along with a link to your presentation will get you off on the right foot

Get awesome presentation content in your inbox every week

It only takes a click to unsubscribe.

2018 © SlideCamp

First Slide of Presentation (Templates That Pull People In)

Templates for the first slide of the presentation - made for modern professionals. Grab & hold attention with slides beyond the same-old first page of ppt .

Create story from scratch

Accesibility

Mobile ready, browser tested.

Choose template by:

Browse other presentation categories

Presentations

Presentation slides

Sales decks

Pitch decks

Proposal decks

Slide decks

Whitepapers

What should be the first slide of a presentation?

The first page of ppt should act like the cover of a book. It should give the would-be reader or audience a clear idea of what’s inside.

A PowerPoint first slide is commonly called a title slide or a cover slide, and it should include 3 main elements: (1) a title detailing the topic of the presentation, (2) An image that visually supports the title by adding more clarity to the topic, and (3) the reading time required to consume the presentation.

What is the best ppt first-page design?

The best first-page design for a ppt presentation or other more modern presentations is a mix of text and visuals that work together to provide the audience with a clear sense that the presentation is relevant, interesting, and worth reading. The best design choice is using a video with a short title text and tagline. A video will be effective in grabbing attention and a well-crafted title will make clear what the benefit of reading the presentation will be.

If you want to create an effective presentation, consider reading our guide on how to create an effective presentation .

Create your best presentation to date

Use Storydoc free for 14 days (keep the presentations you make forever!)

The First Slide: What It Needs to Be and What It Has to Do

May 28, 2014 / Blog, Insight, PowerPoint Tips first slide, PowerPoint slide, presentation

If you want to maximize your slide presentation to establish better brand recall, start at the very beginning – the first slide. Naturally, it is the first thing that your audience will see even before you say a word. So design it in a way that stands out from the rest of your slides. It will help your logo and company name make an impression on your audience, and retain your brand in their memory long after your presentation ends.

It will help your logo and company name make an impression on your audience, and retain your brand in their memory long after your presentation ends.

What your First Slide Needs to BE

As you prepare you presentation, it’s important that you develop a first slide that will generate interest in support of everything you are about to say. It should have a visual element that features key aspects of your organization that is consistent with the key concept of your presentation.

It could be a photo or graphic image that stimulates people’s curiosity. As this is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your business, make sure to make the most of it. When people come in the room and see your first slide, they should be compelled to want to be interested in you what you have to say.

However, it doesn’t always have to be flashy to pique the audience’s interests while informing them of your brand. According to business guru Guy Kawasaki, in his famous  10-20-30 rule , your first slide should often be the Title Slide, which contains your company name, address,  your name and position in the company, your email, and work cell number.

Details like these may be straight to the point, but if you’re presenting to a crowd of busy VCs and investors, this is enough visual stimulus to let them in on your brand.

What your First Slide Needs to DO

With the right amount of texts and graphics, your first slide can communicate much more than what it appears to relate to the audience. Your audience should be able to digest the information you are sharing quickly and precisely. They should get an idea about your business even before you start to talk about what you have to offer.

It is important that each slide in your presentation be well-designed and engaging. The first slide, however, is crucial in igniting the spark that will make people want to hear what you have to say and get to know more about your business. Design it right and it can help you set the stage for an awesome and successful presentation.

The Final Word

Ultimately, while the first slide isn’t the entire presentation itself, it’s still an introduction to the rest of your pitch. In the same way that you need to make a good first impression through your physical appearance and speech, you’ll need a deck to match.

Start your pitch right with a winning opening slide. Impress people from the get-go. Don’t let any opportunity pass.

“ The Only 10 Slides You Need in Your Pitch .”  Guy Kawasaki.  Accessed May 28, 2014.

Popular Posts

Save your deck: methods to recover an unsaved powerpoint file.

Twitter: Lessons from Social Media

Oscar Speech Sounds A Lot Like…..

Olympians Can Teach Presenters a Thing or Two

Overcoming a Public Speaking Disaster: A Lesson from Michael Bay

The Similarities Between Presentations and Advertisments : Super Bowl Edition

How to Start a Presentation: Engage your Audience from the First Slide to the Last

I’ve been there: your presentation is due soon . 

Probably your boss is awaiting an update on an important project. Maybe your client is eager for your update. You might even need to sell something to someone through a presentation. 

Today I want to layout your game plan. It’s my winning strategy. My playbook . 

It has been my reliable go-to plan each time I get faced with a new presentation. And today, I will guide you step by step. 

These are not easy times. Our presentations used to happen in person; now, they are remote. We used to shake hands with our audiences; sometimes now we don’t see them at all. 

Today you can’t just create presentations. You need to plan for a production . Our medium is not only slides anymore but video calls. And to create excellent video content, you need to put up a show . 

I am Matteo , by the way, and I have a thing for presentations . This led me to study the art of storytelling . I studied this complex topic to make it easy for you.

Now it is time for me to share all this knowledge with you! Here you will learn the basics on how to create and deliver a presentation , or more accurately your show. 

This article is organized into three sections :

1. The First Slide & How to Start your Presentation

The beginning of a presentation is critical because it is in this fraction of time that your audience will decide whether you are worth the time or not . 

So it is imperative to make an excellent first impression and capture their attention. A few tricks and tips can help you do that. In the following paragraphs, I will show the wisdom I collected over time !

Crafting the Perfect First Slide 

How to start a presentation ? That’s the central question when it comes to presentations. It’s challenging to create a first slide to get your audience’s attention and convey your presentation’s message. I want to show you how to make the best out of it and use it to deliver your message effectively.

You have lived this scenario a thousand times : you enter a conference or meeting room, unsure if it’s the right one, glance at the screen to see if the slide that is being projected aligns with the topic of the presentation that you are expecting. Based on that, you take a seat.

Or maybe you’ve been on the internet a few times and have seen the first slide of presentations being used as a “ preview image ” on social media, inviting you to click and see the whole presentation.

You may even know (and love) Slideshare , the most popular slide hosting site on the web: here, the first slide is used to invite you to click, like, and download a presentation deck.

You have spent time waiting for a presentation to start looking at a first slide, wondering if the presenter would be any good, wondering who they were and what to expect.

From the cases that I just outlined, it’s easy to understand that the first slide has many jobs, functions, and purposes . First of all, it needs to convey clearly the message of your presentation. It can do that – in the traditional template – with a Title and Subtitle. At least this is how PowerPoint displays a “title slide”. But those are not fields that you must fill in.

There are more critical objectives that a first slide can help you accomplish: depending on the setting, you should have your name or your Twitter (Linkedin or Instagram) handle in the first slide. In some environments, it would be better to have both.

Sometimes it helps to display a 3-word bio . Often you also represent a company, so your logo also belongs somewhere on this first slide.

Some people even feature the location and the date of the presentation. Is this information really useful or just filler?

It’s easy to have an overcrowded first slide that fails miserably at conveying any useful message while trying to accomplish all the objectives.

My solution is to focus on one objective first . The most important one is usually the title of the talk. It’s great if your title goes well with an image . Image and title are then the core element of your first slide.

Once you have a powerful title with a powerful visual you can think about the output format of your slides . When I’m presenting at a conference I always display my Twitter handle and a website as part of the first slide .

If your output format is paper or a slide sharing platform, you can have a super clean title slide with just a title and visual and devote a second slide to you, your contacts, and your bio.

If you are presenting in a more formal environment, you may want to skip the social contacts and focus on your name and bio a bit more. But we will talk about this more accurately in the next chapter.

The important thing is that your core message comes across clearly.

Not Only the First Slide: Start your Presentation by Telling your Audience Who you Are

Your presentation is just starting. How do you start your presentation? What is the first thing you need to do? Should you focus immediately on your topic and start providing your audience your wisdom?

Hold your horses. Before you let your knowledge shine, you have an essential job to do. You need to convince your audience that you’re worthy of their time and attention. 

How would you then capture this attention ? My top tip is to start from yourself . Start by showing your humanity. How? By revealing something as simple as your name . 

Even if most everyone knows you in the call or the room, there might be someone who still doesn’t know your name. Even if someone introduced you by name, it doesn’t hurt to repeat it so that everyone will know who you are and how to address you later on for questions. 

Right after telling your name, give your audience some helpful hints about yourself. I am not talking about reciting a full bio, about hearing about your academic accomplishments and essential role. To understand who you are, I need to place you on a map . 

In my case, I would say “My name is Matteo, I teach people how to craft amazing stories.” I know this phrase doesn’t capture the essence of Matteo. But it’s sufficient for my audience to understand roughly what I am about. 

My tip for you: keep your bio between 5 and 20 words . Remember: you’re not on stage to gloat or recite your curriculum. You’re there to convince your audience that you’re worth listening to. 

By telling your name and revealing your bio you will make yourself more relatable for your audience. The closer they feel to you, they will be more inclined to listen to you and to follow your advice.

How to Start Your Presentation with Energy: Share your Motivation for Presenting with your Audience

So you made a few things clear: who you are, your bio. Now your audience feels like they know you. And that’s exactly what you wanted to achieve. 

The second thing you need to do before starting your actual presentation is to share your motivation for presenting . Why? In order to convince them to listen to what you will say.  

But how do you do that? And what do I mean exactly by “motivation”? It is the reason why you chose to make a presentation about that particular topic. 

Let’s analyze this accurately: you chose to study a topic and now you want to share what you have learned with the public. 

Now ask yourself “ why ”:

• why are you interested in that topic? Do you have a new perspective on the matter? Do you have a particular relationship with it? What is new and interesting about your presentation? Have you invested a lot in the topic?
• why do you want to share that particular knowledge with the public? This is simple: you want to help others. You want to help others answer a question, find a new key to an old problem, reach a new perspective. Maybe you have studied the topic in advance so that I don’t need to.

If you show them why you’re interested in the topic of the presentation, they will automatically be more eager to listen to you. Your motivation will therefore be contagious .

I could say something like: “I will talk about presentations because I care about helping people speak up and get heard”. This is a good example of contagious motivation because the audience will think: “oh, you can help me get heard? How? I am interested!

Tell them that you want to help them and what you want to help them with. If they see a point , a final destination , they will want to know more. 

So my tip is: show your passion and care for the topic, because they are contagious. If you care, your audience will care as well. This way they will be eager to listen to you.

Did you ever have trouble following a presentation because you didn’t know how much it would last ? Yeah I know, I have been there too. But you don’t want that to happen to your presentation, right?

This issue occurs because the audience doesn’t feel in control of what is going on .

In order to avoid this, you have to be honest with them. Thus, the best thing you could do is sign a metaphorical agreement with them by revealing the structure and timing of your presentation.

I could say something like: “During this talk I will tell you three stories that will last five minutes each.”

With these few lines, I just made clear a few things: how much the presentation will last and what its structure is like .

By giving this mental map to your public, in every moment of the presentation they will know exactly at which point your presentation is and how much longer it will last.

This knowledge will make them feel in control of what is going on and able to focus more confidently on the topic.

Start your Presentation by Giving your Audience a Sample of the Outcome

Now the third thing to do before starting your actual presentation is giving your audience a reason to listen to you .

I mean, they showed up, and that’s great! The reason to attend the presentations was strong enough and this means that you have already done a terrific job.

But do they have a valid reason to listen to you? I mean, are they eager to find out what you will say?

You want them excited by what they will learn with you and focused on your every word. 

How do you do that? Simple: you have to give them what they want: that is, what they will gain out of this experience. 

As we will say better later, every presentation is about giving something valuable to your audience, a prize that we will call: “transformation”.

Your audience wants to know in advance what the reward is, to be sure that you are worth listening to. 

So that is what you have to do: show them in advance the outcome of your presentation. 

If they take a bite of the transformation they will experience by listening to you, they will want to have more and automatically pay more attention. Because they want to fully experience the transformation you gave them a bite of.

But be careful, you have to show, not tell . Practically speaking, this means giving a little bit of the advantage of the transformation, not talking about that advantage.

2. The Goals of a Presentation

You managed to start your presentation effectively. But it’s not over yet. Now you have to go through with it ! Planning out your presentation stresses you out? I have a few tips about this as well . The best way to plan your presentation is to know exactly what you want to achieve. And I can tell you that every good presentation has two objectives : bringing change and managing conflict. 

Read on to learn more about these concepts.

Presentations Always have One Goal: Change

As stated earlier in the article, the first and most important objective of a presentation is changing, transforming something. 

Transforming mostly the point of view of the audience and therefore giving them a gift . The gift of a new perspective, of a new concept in their mind, of seeing something unusually close.  

You may think, I don’t want to transform anybody, I just want to make my presentation, outline a topic!

But As Seth Godin (international bestselling author) effectively states : “ no change, no point ”. According to him the “real” presentation is only the one with the purpose of change . If there is no change, the presentation is not worth doing. It is just entertainment or a waste of time.

To better understand this concept try and think about this: if there isn’t anything special about your presentation, anything new or personal you want to say, why should your audience listen to you?

It needs to be the seed to a change. This change doesn’t have to be something big, but your presentation needs to be transformative : you may be shifting the point of view about a certain topic, introduce them to a new topic, or change the way they look at a problem.

As you plan everything out, pay attention to that. 

I find Seth Godin’s advice in this regard really helpful: before starting to work on your presentation, ask yourself: who will be changed by this and what kind of change am I looking for? 

Having these concepts very clear in your mind will help you plan out your presentation effectively . And If you don’t find any change, try and rethink your presentation. Why are you doing it?

You want to present in order to transform your audience. Otherwise you may need to prepare a memo or some other kind of document. 

So, try to focus on this concept to figure out the transformation you want to achieve.

Then, build up your presentation on top of your transformative moment. This way, you will be certain that your presentation is worth listening to.

Change is just around the corner.

Managing the Audience’s Reaction to your Presentation

You are finally delivering your presentation and your want your whole audience to like it .

It’s natural to desire that. But it is not what you are looking for ! It’s literally impossible to please everyone. Why?

Simple: your audience is made of individuals and every one reacts in their own unique way at every step of the presentation. 

Instead, try and give something to everyone. What does this mean? You can’t make a presentation that pleases everyone in every single part of your presentation. That presentation doesn’t exist.

All you can do is divide your audience into categories, please each category in a given part of your speech , and then pass on to another category. What do I mean by “category”? 

In every presentation, there are members of the audience whose attitude follows a certain pattern . 

A few examples: there are the “ Confused ”. In their opinion, any information is too much information, and they will always be a little puzzled by what you are saying.

There are the “ Fans ”: to them, everything you say is just amazing. So you shouldn’t  judge your presentation on their reaction.

And there are all sorts of different types of audiences.

Here are a few steps to go through:

• do research about the members of your audience : by doing this you will be able to satisfy each type of person in your audience.
• try to give something to every category .

An effective way of explaining the second point might be the example of the politician . 

Politicians that give a speech have to address the needs of the many categories their electorate is made of. There are many categories: students, young voters, working-class people, etc…

They can’t leave anyone out, otherwise that category will not vote for them. But they also can’t address all these categories at the same time . 

So they divide their speech into sections . In the first section they may address the students, then in the second the persons with disabilities, and so on and so forth.

You have to do the same with your presentation.

If you make sure to address every category , every person in the audience, you will make sure that they listen and get involved, at least partially, in your speech. 

If all your audience gets involved in your speech and react in unison, they become a group .

And this is the secret goal of your presentation: to transform your audience into a group .

Here is the reason why: if they react in unison forming a group, this means that you have done your job correctly, because you managed to involve all the different categories your audience is made of , despite their high number and their different interests.

3. Engage your Audience from the First Slide to the Last

Now it is time for you to learn about a few tools and tricks that will make it easier for you to build your presentation. Everybody should know them because they represent the very essence of presentations. 

To engage your audience from the first slide to the last, you have a few tools.

The Most Important Storytelling Moment of any Presentation

Each presentation has a high point. You get to this high point by building up your argument as we described in the previous chapters: you explain the “context” of your presentation to set your speech’s ground. Ultimately you set up the transformation.

What you reach is a climax . And your audience expects it .

But what is the climax? Well, “climax” is a storytelling term that refers to the part of your speech thatis most transformative . It’s the “ peak ” of the transformation your talk is all about.

So it is pretty safe to say that it is the crucial moment of your presentation. 

The audience can “feel” it when you reach the climax and expect you to give the most insight on the topic you are covering, thus transforming them the most. 

Take advantage of this state of mind because, thanks to this excitement, your audience will better understand what you say and remember it more accurately.

Provide the most critical information, provide them the most data, make this moment special . 

Right after the climax, when the tension is at its highest, it is time for you to end your presentation and leave the stage .

If you make your exit right after a theatrical climax, your core transformation will be a lot more effective .

Presentation Ending Slides: Closing with a Summary

So, you just led your audience through the climax. 

Now, as stated before, you need to leave the stage effectively . That is, you need to accompany your audience back to their life gently, but you also want to make sure that they take with them the new knowledge given by the transformation.

How do you achieve both goals?

My advice is: provide a summary right after the climax. An overview of all the points covered during your speech. 

Why right after the climax?

The level of excitement provided by the climax will make them listen very carefully : what you say now will be remembered more efficiently and will also be understood more accurately.

A summary is the only moment when you are allowed to use bullet points . Recap the main points of your presentation, but be careful! It must be more than a simple bulleted list . 

Take your audience flying above your topic. Flying? 

When you fly, you feel powerful, happy, and exhilarated. You dominate the landscape. You feel like the master of the world. 

You want to give all these sensations to your public in regards to your speech. 

You want them to feel like they finally dominate the topic , like they are masters of the subject .

You want to show them how much you have covered and how much they have learned. You want to make them feel powerful ! 

Moreover, seeing things with some distance is very helpful to understand the subject better.

Show how much ground you have covered. Give them a bird’s eye view of your presentation so that they will remember the very essence of your message . 

How to End a Presentation Assigning Actionable Tasks to your Audience

The final goal of your presentation is to make your audience truly remember your speech .

You spent a lot of time trying to explain something, outline a topic or show a new perspective. And maybe your audience will remember what you said. 

But you want more : you want the concepts you outline to change your audience’s behavior .

It would be fantastic, right? And what if I told you that there is something you can do about that? Something you can do to make sure to transform the life of your audience truly?

Well, here is my tip for you: at the end of your presentation, give your audience something they can actually do .

Practice reinforces the theory . Translate the wisdom from your presentation into something practical.

Sum-up all the wisdom from your presentation in a task : a rule they can follow, a new goal to reach, a new habit, a call-to-action. 

Ideally, your audience can apply it in their daily life: at work, at home, during their fitness routine. It is something that can and should become a habit . It is a gift from you to your audience. 

Doing something practical related to your presentation will help your public cement your speech’s concepts in their mind. 

Doing that every day will make your presentation and insight part of their everyday lives, thus truly transforming them .

You made it! I am so proud ! You just learned how to build up a successful presentation . Thank you, I appreciate you reading this far! So… What’s next? How about having a presentation coach by your side the next time you need to craft a presentation?

The best way for me to understand your needs and provide the best solutions is to have a 30 minutes informal call. Book your slot here.

If you liked what you read, please subscribe to my almost monthly newsletter !

Pin It on Pinterest

Critical PowerPoint Shortcuts – Claim Your FREE Training Module and Get Your Time Back!

How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation (Step-by-Step)

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Presentation Design
• January 22, 2024

In this beginner’s guide, you will learn step-by-step how to make a PowerPoint presentation from scratch.

While PowerPoint is designed to be intuitive and accessible, it can be overwhelming if you’ve never gotten any training on it before. As you progress through this guide, you’ll will learn how to move from blank slides to PowerPoint slides that look like these.

Table of Contents

Additionally, as you create your presentation, you’ll also learn tricks for working more efficiently in PowerPoint, including how to:

• Change the slide order
• Reset your layout
• Change the slide dimensions
• Use PowerPoint Designer
• Format text
• Format objects
• Play a presentation (slide show)

With this knowledge under your belt, you’ll be ready to start creating PowerPoint presentations. Moreover, you’ll have taken your skills from beginner to proficient in no time at all. I will also include links to more advanced PowerPoint topics.

Ready to start learning how to make a PowerPoint presentation?

Take your PPT skills to the next level

Start with a blank presentation.

Note: Before you open PowerPoint and start creating your presentation, make sure you’ve collected your thoughts. If you’re going to make your slides compelling, you need to spend some time brainstorming.

For help with this, see our article with tips for nailing your business presentation  here .

The first thing you’ll need to do is to open PowerPoint. When you do, you are shown the Start Menu , with the Home tab open.

This is where you can choose either a blank theme (1) or a pre-built theme (2). You can also choose to open an existing presentation (3).

For now, go ahead and click on the  Blank Presentation (1)  thumbnail.

Doing so launches a brand new and blank presentation for you to work with. Before you start adding content to your presentation, let’s first familiarize ourselves with the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint interface

Here is how the program is laid out:

• The Application Header
• The Ribbon (including the Ribbon tabs)
• The Quick Access Toolbar (either above or below the Ribbon)
• The Slides Pane (slide thumbnails)

The Slide Area

The notes pane.

• The Status Bar (including the View Buttons)

Each one of these areas has options for viewing certain parts of the PowerPoint environment and formatting your presentation.

Below are the important things to know about certain elements of the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint Ribbon

The Ribbon is contextual. That means that it will adapt to what you’re doing in the program.

For example, the Font, Paragraph and Drawing options are greyed out until you select something that has text in it, as in the example below (A).

Furthermore, if you start manipulating certain objects, the Ribbon will display additional tabs, as seen above (B), with more commands and features to help you work with those objects. The following objects have their own additional tabs in the Ribbon which are hidden until you select them:

• Online Pictures
• Screenshots
• Screen Recording

The Slides Pane

This is where you can preview and rearrange all the slides in your presentation.

Right-clicking on a slide  in the pane gives you additional options on the slide level that you won’t find on the Ribbon, such as  Duplicate Slide ,  Delete Slide , and  Hide Slide .

In addition, you can add sections to your presentation by  right-clicking anywhere in this Pane  and selecting  Add Section . Sections are extremely helpful in large presentations, as they allow you to organize your slides into chunks that you can then rearrange, print or display differently from other slides.

The Slide Area (A) is where you will build out your slides. Anything within the bounds of this area will be visible when you present or print your presentation.

Anything outside of this area (B) will be hidden from view. This means that you can place things here, such as instructions for each slide, without worrying about them being shown to your audience.

The  Notes Pane  is the space beneath the Slide Area where you can type in the speaker notes for each slide. It’s designed as a fast way to add and edit your slides’ talking points.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about adding, printing, and exporting your PowerPoint speaker notes, read our guide here .

Your speaker notes are visible when you print your slides using the Notes Pages option and when you use the Presenter View . To expand your knowledge and learn the ins and outs of using the Presenter View , read our guide here .

You can resize the  Notes Pane  by clicking on its edge and dragging it up or down (A). You can also minimize or reopen it by clicking on the Notes button in the Status Bar (B).

Note:  Not all text formatting displays in the Notes Pane, even though it will show up when printing your speaker notes. To learn more about printing PowerPoint with notes, read our guide here .

Now that you have a basic grasp of the PowerPoint interface at your disposal, it’s time to make your presentation.

Adding Content to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Notice that in the Slide Area , there are two rectangles with dotted outlines. These are called  Placeholders  and they’re set on the template in the Slide Master View .

To expand your knowledge and learn how to create a PowerPoint template of your own (which is no small task), read our guide here .

As the prompt text suggests, you can click into each placeholder and start typing text. These types of placeholder prompts are customizable too. That means that if you are using a company template, it might say something different, but the functionality is the same.

Note:  For the purposes of this example, I will create a presentation based on the content in the Starbucks 2018 Global Social Impact Report, which is available to the public on their website.

If you type in more text than there is room for, PowerPoint will automatically reduce its font size. You can stop this behavior by clicking on the  Autofit Options  icon to the left of the placeholder and selecting  Stop Fitting Text to this Placeholder .

Next, you can make formatting adjustments to your text by selecting the commands in the Font area and the  Paragraph area  of the  Home  tab of the Ribbon.

The Reset Command:  If you make any changes to your title and decide you want to go back to how it was originally, you can use the Reset button up in the Home tab .

Insert More Slides into Your Presentation

Now that you have your title slide filled in, it’s time to add more slides. To do that, simply go up to the  Home tab  and click on  New Slide . This inserts a new slide in your presentation right after the one you were on.

You can alternatively hit Ctrl+M on your keyboard to insert a new blank slide in PowerPoint. To learn more about this shortcut, see my guide on using Ctrl+M in PowerPoint .

Instead of clicking the New Slide command, you can also open the New Slide dropdown to see all the slide layouts in your PowerPoint template. Depending on who created your template, your layouts in this dropdown can be radically different.

If you insert a layout and later want to change it to a different layout, you can use the Layout dropdown instead of the New Slide dropdown.

After inserting a few different slide layouts, your presentation might look like the following picture. Don’t worry that it looks blank, next we will start adding content to your presentation.

If you want to follow along exactly with me, your five slides should be as follows:

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Picture with Caption

Adding Content to Your Slides

Now let’s go into each slide and start adding our content. You’ll notice some new types of placeholders.

On slide 2 we have a  Content Placeholder , which allows you to add any kind of content. That includes:

• A SmartArt graphic,
• A 3D object,
• A picture from the web,
• Or an icon.

To insert text, simply type it in or hit  Ctrl+C to Copy  and Ctrl+V to Paste  from elsewhere. To insert any of the other objects, click on the appropriate icon and follow the steps to insert it.

For my example, I’ll simply type in some text as you can see in the picture below.

Slides 3 and 4 only have text placeholders, so I’ll go ahead and add in my text into each one.

On slide 5 we have a Picture Placeholder . That means that the only elements that can go into it are:

• A picture from the web

To insert a picture into the picture placeholder, simply:

• Click on the  Picture  icon
• Find  a picture on your computer and select it
• Click on  Insert

Alternatively, if you already have a picture open somewhere else, you can select the placeholder and paste in (shortcut: Ctrl+V ) the picture. You can also drag the picture in from a file explorer window.

If you do not like the background of the picture you inserted onto your slide, you can remove the background here in PowerPoint. To see how to do this, read my guide here .

Placeholders aren’t the only way to add content to your slides. At any point, you can use the Insert tab to add elements to your slides.

You can use either the Title Only  or the  Blank  slide layout to create slides for content that’s different. For example, a three-layout content slide, or a single picture divider slide, as shown below.

In the first example above, I’ve inserted 6 text boxes, 3 icons, and 3 circles to create this layout. In the second example, I’ve inserted a full-sized picture and then 2 shapes and 2 text boxes.

The Reset Command:  Because these slides are built with shapes and text boxes (and not placeholders), hitting the  Reset button up in the  Home tab  won’t do anything.

That is a good thing if you don’t want your layouts to adjust. However, it does mean that it falls on you to make sure everything is aligned and positioned correctly.

For more on how to add and manipulate the different objects in PowerPoint, check out our step-by-step articles here:

• Using graphics in PowerPoint
• Inserting icons onto slides
• Adding pictures to your PowerPoint
• How to embed a video in PowerPoint
• How to add music to your presentation

Using Designer to generate more layouts ideas

If you have Office 365, your version of PowerPoint comes with a new feature called Designer (or Design Ideas). This is a feature that generates slide layout ideas for you. The coolest thing about this feature is that it uses the content you already have.

To use Designer , simply navigate to the  Design tab  in your Ribbon, and click on  Design Ideas .

NOTE: If the PowerPoint Designer is not working for you (it is grey out), see my troubleshooting guide for Designer .

Change the Overall Design (optional)

When you make a PowerPoint presentation, you’ll want to think about the overall design. Now that you have some content in your presentation, you can use the Design tab to change the look and feel of your slides.

For additional help thinking through the design of your presentation,  read my guide here .

A. Picking your PowerPoint slide size

If you have PowerPoint 2013 or later, when you create a blank document in PowerPoint, you automatically start with a widescreen layout with a 16:9 ratio. These dimensions are suitable for most presentations as they match the screens of most computers and projectors.

However, you do have the option to change the dimensions.

For example, your presentation might not be presented, but instead converted into a PDF or printed and distributed. In that case, you can easily switch to the standard dimensions with a 4:3 ratio by selecting from the dropdown (A).

You can also choose a custom slide size or change the slide orientation from landscape to portrait in the Custom Slide Size dialog box (B).

To learn all about the different PowerPoint slide sizes, and some of the issues you will face when changing the slide size of a non-blank presentation,  read my guide here .

 B. Selecting a PowerPoint theme

The next thing you can do is change the theme of your presentation to a pre-built one. For a detailed explanation of what a PowerPoint theme is, and how to best use it,  read my article here .

In the beginning of this tutorial, we started with a blank presentation, which uses the default Office theme as you can see in the picture below.

That gives you the most flexibility because it has a blank background and quite simple layouts that work for most presentations. However, it also means that it’s your responsibility to enhance the design.

If you’re comfortable with this, you can stay with the default theme or create your own custom theme ( read my guide here ). But if you would rather not have to think about design, then you can choose a pre-designed theme.

Microsoft provides 46 other pre-built themes, which include slide layouts, color variants and palettes, and fonts. Each one varies quite significantly, so make sure you look through them carefully.

To select a different theme, go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon, and click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Themes section .

For this tutorial, let’s select the  Frame  theme and then choose the third Variant in the theme. Doing so changes the layout, colors, and fonts of your presentation.

Note: The theme dropdown area is also where you can import or save custom themes. To see my favorite places to find professional PowerPoint templates and themes (and recommendations for why I like them), read my guide here .

C. How to change a slide background in PowerPoint

The next thing to decide is how you want your background to look for the entire presentation. In the  Variants area, you can see four background options.

For this example, we want our presentation to have a dark background, so let’s select Style 3. When you do so, you’ll notice that:

• The background color automatically changes across all slides
• The color of the text on most of the slides automatically changes to white so that it’s visible on the dark background
• The colors of the objects on slides #6 and #7 also adjust, in a way we may not want (we’ll likely have to make some manual adjustments to these slides)

Note: If you want to change the slide background for just that one slide, don’t left-click the style. Instead, right-click it and select Apply to Selected Slides .

After you change the background for your entire presentation, you can easily adjust the background for an individual slide.

Inside the Format Background pane, you can see you have the following options:

• Gradient fill
• Picture or texture fill
• Pattern fill
• Hide background

You can explore these options to find the PowerPoint background that best fits your presentation.

D. How to change your color palette in PowerPoint

Another thing you may want to adjust in your presentation, is the color scheme. In the picture below you can see the Theme Colors we are currently using for this presentation.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own color palette. By default, the Office theme includes the Office color palette. This affects the colors you are presented with when you format any element within your presentation (text, shapes, SmartArt, etc.).

The good news is that the colors here are easy to change. To switch color palettes, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab in the Ribbon
• In the Variants area, click on the  dropdown arrow  and select  Colors
• Select  the color palette (or theme colors) you want

You can choose among the pre-built color palettes from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

As you build your presentation, make sure you use the colors from your theme to format objects. That way, changing the color palette adjusts all the colors in your presentation automatically.

E. How to change your fonts in PowerPoint

Just as we changed the color palette, you can do the same for the fonts.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own font combination. By default, the Office theme includes the Office font pairing. This affects the fonts that are automatically assigned to all text in your presentation.

The good news is that the font pairings are easy to change. To switch your Theme Fonts, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Variants  area
• Select  Fonts
• Select  the font pairing you want

You can choose among the pre-built fonts from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

If you are working with PowerPoint presentations on both Mac and PC computers, make sure you choose a safe PowerPoint font. To see a list of the safest PowerPoint fonts, read our guide here .

If you receive a PowerPoint presentation and the wrong fonts were used, you can use the Replace Fonts dialog box to change the fonts across your entire presentation. For details, read our guide here .

Adding Animations & Transitions (optional)

The final step to make a PowerPoint presentation compelling, is to consider using animations and transitions. These are by no means necessary to a good presentation, but they may be helpful in your situation.

A. Adding PowerPoint animations

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust animations engine designed to power your creativity. That being said, it’s also easy to get started with basic animations.

Animations are movements that you can apply to individual objects on your slide.

To add a PowerPoint animation to an element of your slide, simply:

• Select the  element
• Go to the  Animations tab in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  animation  you want

You can add animations to multiple objects at one time by selecting them all first and then applying the animation.

B. How to preview a PowerPoint animation

There are three ways to preview a PowerPoint animation:

• Click on the Preview button in the Animations tab
• Click on the little star  next to the slide
• Play the slide in Slide Show Mode

To learn other ways to run your slide show, see our guide on presenting a PowerPoint slide show with shortcuts .

To adjust the settings of your animations, explore the options in the  Effect Options ,  Advanced Animation  and the  Timing  areas of the  Animation tab .

Note:  To see how to make objects appear and disappear in your slides by clicking a button,  read our guide here .

C. How to manage your animations in PowerPoint

The best way to manage lots of animations on your slide is with the Animation Pane . To open it, simply:

• Navigate to the  Animations tab
• Select the  Animation Pane

Inside the Animation Pane, you’ll see all of the different animations that have been applied to objects on your slide, with their numbers marked as pictured above.

Note: To see examples of PowerPoint animations that can use in PowerPoint, see our list of PowerPoint animation tutorials here .

D. How to add transitions to your PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust transition engine so that you can dictate how your slides change from one to the other. It is also extremely easy to add transitions to your slides.

In PowerPoint, transitions are the movements (or effects) you see as you move between two slides.

To add a transition to a PowerPoint slide, simply:

• Select the  slide
• Go to the  Transitions tab in the Ribbon
• In the Transitions to This Slide area, click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  transition  you want

To adjust the settings of the transition, explore the options in the  Timing  area of the Transitions tab.

You can also add the same transition to multiple slides. To do that, select them in the  Slides Pane  and apply the transition.

E. How to preview a transition in PowerPoint

There are three ways to preview your PowerPoint transitions (just like your animations):

• Click on the Preview  button in the Transitions tab
• Click on the little star  beneath the slide number in the thumbnail view

Note:  In 2016, PowerPoint added a cool new transition, called Morph. It operates a bit differently from other transitions. For a detailed tutorial on how to use the cool Morph transition,  see our step-by-step article here .

Save Your PowerPoint Presentation

After you’ve built your presentation and made all the adjustments to your slides, you’ll want to save your presentation. YOu can do this several different ways.

To save a PowerPoint presentation using your Ribbon, simply:

• Navigate to the  File tab
•  Select  Save As  on the left
• Choose  where you want to save your presentation
• Name  your presentation and/or adjust your file type settings
• Click  Save

You can alternatively use the  Ctrl+S keyboard shortcut to save your presentation. I recommend using this shortcut frequently as you build your presentation to make sure you don’t lose any of your work.

This is the standard way to save a presentation. However, there may be a situation where you want to save your presentation as a different file type.

To learn how to save your presentation as a PDF, see our guide on converting PowerPoint to a PDF .

How to save your PowerPoint presentation as a template

Once you’ve created a presentation that you like, you may want to turn it into a template. The easiest – but not technically correct – way, is to simply create a copy of your current presentation and then change the content.

But be careful! A PowerPoint template is a special type of document and it has its own parameters and behaviors.

If you’re interested in learning about how to create your own PowerPoint template from scratch, see our guide on how to create a PowerPoint template .

Printing Your PowerPoint Presentation

After finishing your PowerPoint presentation, you may want to print it out on paper. Printing your slides is relatively easy.

To open the Print dialog box, you can either:

• Hit Ctrl+P on your keyboard
• Or go to the Ribbon and click on File and then Print

Inside the Print dialog box, you can choose from the various printing settings:

• Printer: Select a printer to use (or print to PDF or OneNote)
• Slides: Choose which slides you want to print
• Layout: Determine how many slides you want per page (this is where you can print the notes, outline, and handouts)
• Collated or uncollated (learn what collated printing means here )
• Color: Choose to print in color, grayscale or black & white

There are many more options for printing your PowerPoint presentations. Here are links to more in-depth articles:

• How to print multiple slides per page
• How to print your speaker notes in PowerPoint
• How to save PowerPoint as a picture presentation

So that’s how to create a PowerPoint presentation if you are brand new to it. We’ve also included a ton of links to helpful resources to boost your PowerPoint skills further.

When you are creating your presentation, it is critical to first focus on the content (what you are trying to say) before getting lost inserting and playing with elements. The clearer you are on what you want to present, the easier it will be to build it out in PowerPoint.

If you enjoyed this article, you can learn more about our PowerPoint training courses and other presentation resources by  visiting us here .

🔒 Unlock the PowerPoint Shortcuts Trusted by Industry Leaders KKR, American Express, HSBC, and More!

Join over 114,880 professionals from diverse fields including consulting, investment banking, advertising, marketing, sales, and business development who have supercharged their PowerPoint game with our proven methods.

✅ Customize compelling presentations effortlessly.

✅ Master time-saving techniques for faster deck creation.

✅ Boost your career prospects with top-notch PowerPoint skills.

Get FREE access to the Critical PowerPoint Shortcuts module of our premium training course by entering your name and email below.

DISCLAIMER: PC Users Only!

We respect your privacy and will keep your info safe and confidential.

About The Author

Popular Tutorials

• How to Strikethrough Text (l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶) in Word, Excel & PowerPoint
• How to Make Animated Fireworks in PowerPoint (Step-by-Step)
• Strikethrough Shortcut (l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶) for Word, Excel & PowerPoint
• How to Create a Flash Card Memory Game in PowerPoint (Like Jeopardy)
• Keyboard Shortcuts Not Working: Solved

PowerPoint Tutorial Categories

• Strategies & Opinions
• Shortcuts & Hacks
• Pictures, Icons, Videos, Etc.
• New Features
• Miscellaneous
• Charts & Data Viz

We help busy professionals save hours and gain peace of mind, with corporate workshops, self-paced courses and tutorials for PowerPoint and Word.

Work With Us

• Corporate Training
• Presentation & Template Design
• Courses & Downloads
• PowerPoint Articles
• Word Articles
• Productivity Resources

Find a Tutorial

• Free Training
• For Businesses

We help busy office workers save hours and gain peace of mind, with tips, training and tutorials for Microsoft PowerPoint and Word.

Master Critical PowerPoint Shortcuts – Secure Your FREE Training Module and Save Valuable Time!

⌛ Master time-saving expert techniques.

🔥 Create powerful presentations.

🚀 Propel your career to new heights.

We value your privacy – we keep your info safe.

Discover PowerPoint Hacks Loved by Industry Giants - KKR, AmEx, HSBC!

Over 114,880 professionals in finance, marketing and sales have revolutionized their PPT skills with our proven methods. 

Gain FREE access to a full module of our premium PowerPoint training program – Get started today!

We hate spam too and promise to keep your information safe.

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Facebook . To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

• Start using PowerPoint Video
• Save a PowerPoint presentation Video
• Insert items Video
• Finalize and review Video
• Prepare and run Video

Start using PowerPoint

The best way to learn about PowerPoint 2013 is to start using it. Create a blank presentation and learn the basics of how to work with it.

Basic tasks for creating a PowerPoint 2013 presentation

What's new in PowerPoint 2013

Let's create a PowerPoint presentation.

This is what you see when you first open PowerPoint 2013.

You can open an existing presentation over here, or create a new one from a template.

Since this is our first time, let's start with a Blank Presentation .

This area over here is the slide pane, where you choose the slide you want to work on.

And this is where you work on it.

By default, PowerPoint adds a blank title slide when you first start.

This area, up here, is called the ribbon, which contains the tools for creating your slides and slide show.

Where do we start? Well, how about here, where it says, "Click to add title" .

PowerPoint uses placeholders like this to suggest what to do.

That is it. The first slide is finished.

Now to add the next slide, we'll come up here to the ribbon.

These buttons at the top are called tabs.

When you click a tab, you see the commands and options that are associated with that tab.

And on the HOME tab, there's a group of commands related to slides, including New Slide .

This time, PowerPoint adds a slide with a different layout of placeholders.

Type your slide title at the top. Then, type a list of the things you want to talk about.

PowerPoint automatically formats the text as bullets.

Before we add more slides, let's move down to the status bar, and click this button to open the NOTES pane.

Here you can add notes to use during your presentation.

If you need more room, hold the mouse over the border, until you see a double-headed arrow. Then, drag the border up.

It's usually considered a best practice to keep the amount of text on your slide to a minimum, and fill in all the details with your talk.

Don't worry. The audience can't see the notes. These are just for your reference.

We'll get into the ways to use PowerPoint during your presentation later.

Up next, let's save the presentation file and move on.

Need more help?

Want more options.

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

Microsoft 365 subscription benefits

Microsoft 365 training

Microsoft security

Accessibility center

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.

Ask the Microsoft Community

Microsoft Tech Community

Windows Insiders

Microsoft 365 Insiders

Was this information helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

You’re using an older browser version. Update to the latest version of Google Chrome , Safari , Mozilla Firefox , or  Microsoft Edge for the best site experience.

• eLearning Blog
• eLearning Basics
• Instructional Design
• Corporate Training
• Course Selling
• Manufacturing
• Products iSpring Suite iSpring Learn
• Use Cases Onboarding Compliance Training Induction Training Product Training Channel Partner Training Sales Training Microlearning Mobile Learning
• Company About Us Case Studies Customers Partnership Course Development Contact Us
• Knowledge Hub Knowledge Hub Academy Webinars Articles Guides Experts on iSpring
• Language EN English Français Deutsch Español Italiano Nederlands Português Polski 中文 日本語 العربية Indonesia
• Shopping Cart

How to Structure a PowerPoint Presentation

Table of Contents

This is the main part of your presentation, which should keep the promises you made in the introduction. This is where you explain your topic and present all your information. 

Depending on the nature of your presentation, divide it into segments/points. Arrange your points in a logical order and then provide information to support each of them. There are many different ways to organize your key points, for example:

• Number your points according to their priority (1, 2, 3, …)
• Place the points in a time frame (past, present, future)
• Use narration (tell a story from beginning to end)
• Present the points with a problem-solution dynamic (state a problem, describe its impact, offer ways to solve the issue)

A good conclusion summarizes the key points you made or highlights what the audience should have learned. It clarifies the general purpose of your presentation and reinforces the reason for viewing it. Here are the slides you may want to include:

• Summary. List what goals your audience have achieved, what knowledge they got, and how this information can help them in the future.
• Conclusion. Here you can thank your audience for viewing the presentation.

Tips for Structuring a Presentation in PowerPoint

Now that you know which parts a typical presentation should consist of, let’s see how to structure it in PowerPoint. 

1. Combine slides into sections

When working with a large PowerPoint presentation (PPT), you can create sections that can be collapsed and expanded. This will help you keep presentation slides organized and facilitate navigation in editing mode. To do that, follow these steps:

• To shift a section, right-click on its name and use the Move Section Up and Move Section Down options.
• To collapse or expand a certain section, click on the collapse icon to the left of the section name. You can also minimize and maximize all sections at once by right-clicking on the section name and choosing Collapse All or Expand All .

As well, you can access these settings by choosing Slide Sorter under the VIEW tab.

This kind of segmentation is a great way to overview the logical flow of your slides all at once and see if there are any changes required. For example, you may decide to break one slide into two or three, or the other way around.

2. Use the Outline View

One other way to structure a PowerPoint presentation in the editing mode is to use Outline View . You can choose it from the VIEW tab.

This view doesn’t display sections, but it shows the title and main text of each slide, which can give you a quick overview of the presentation contents. Here you can go through the entire text and edit it instantly. You can also work with text (on the left) and slides (on the right) simultaneously, as the latter is shown on the right side of your screen.

Note that, to be displayed in an outline, text needs to be typed in a text placeholder, not a text box . A text placeholder is a box with the words “Click to add text” or “Click to add title”, and it appears when you choose a standard layout.

You can also use Outline View to promote bullet text to titles and the other way around. To do that, right-click on a relevant title or text and select the Promote or Demote options.

Be attentive about demoting a title, as this will delete the original slide and move its title and text to the adjacent slide.

PowerPoint only allows users to promote and demote text, not entire slides. Therefore, there’s no possibility to change the hierarchical order of slides.

3. Create a table of contents

All the aforementioned tips help you organize a presentation when formatting it. However, it’s crucial that your viewers can easily navigate through entire presentation too. One sure way to provide them with this opportunity is to create an interactive and structured table of contents.

Though there’s no native automatic outline in PowerPoint, it can be created manually:

• Press Ctrl+A to select all the names, and Ctrl+C to copy them. 
• Then Press Ctrl+V to paste the copied titles on the desired slide. In case there are too many titles and they don’t fit onto a single page, you can divide the table of contents into two columns or place it on two slides.

You’ll need to repeat this procedure to link all the chapters to corresponding slides. For more information, read this step-by-step guide on how to add a hyperlink in PowerPoint .

Now all the chapters can be accessed from a single table of contents, which is very convenient. However, you will also need to link them back to that unifying page. You can do this by inserting an Action Button on every slide of your presentation in Slide Master mode:

Now there is a single page from which all the other pages can be easily accessed. As well, it’s possible to go back to the table of contents at any time with the intuitive Home button.

Depending on the size of your presentation, the time it takes to create an interactive outline may vary, as you will need to add hyperlinks to every chapter manually. Be aware that if you rename a slide or simply delete it, these changes will not be automatically registered in the table of contents. For example, if you delete a slide, its title will still be displayed in the table of contents, but clicking on it won’t lead the viewer to another point in the presentation.

This is what our sample presentation looks like:

A Better Way to Structure a PowerPoint Presentation

Creating a table of contents manually might be fine for a small presentation, but if you have 122 slides, it would require too much time and energy to do so. That’s why, instead of manually creating a table of contents, we took advantage of iSpring Suite and simply enabled the automatic outline.  

iSpring Suite

Fully-stocked eLearning authoring toolkit for PowerPoint. No training required to start!

Note: iSpring Suite turns slides into HTML5 format, so your audience can view them online, right in their browsers. 

As you can see, the new presentation has a pop-up outline and a navigation panel, which make it possible to move to any slide at any time without leaving the slide show mode. 

How to set up navigation

To create navigation in your presentation, follow these simple steps:

• Get a free trial of iSpring Suite.

• When you’ve configured the Slide Properties settings, click on Save & Close in the upper-left corner.

How to configure an outline

Whereas PowerPoint requires the outline to be designed manually, iSpring Suite has already prepared it for you. At the same time, you don’t have to stick with the standard outline template, as you can easily customize the player’s final look and feel:

We recommend leaving Enable Search marked, as this will allow viewers to search for any content at any time, including the texts on the slides. This is especially useful for large presentations with a lot of text.

If you have previously arranged slides into multiple levels in the Slide Properties, then leave Multilevel outline marked. That way, the outline will display the nesting structure of the presentation, facilitating navigation. You can learn more about the other outline options here .

• When you have finished configuring the player, click on Apply & Close in the upper-left corner.
• Now you can publish your enhanced presentation either to HTML5, to make it easily accessible via browser on any device, or MP4 video format. If you’re going to upload your presentation to an LMS, you can publish it to any eLearning format: SCORM, AICC, Tin Can, or cmi5. 

While a standard PowerPoint slideshow is straightforward and limited, iSpring Suite saves viewers from having to follow a strict slide order. An interactive and searchable outline allows non-linear navigation, where any information can be accessed at any time at a glance.

Also read : → How to Convert PowerPoint to MP4 Video

Also read : →  How To Record Presentations With Audio

Another perk

iSpring Suite comes with Content Library , which provides a great collection of presentation templates and allows you to create professional-looking presentations in a matter of minutes. Each template includes basic course elements: a title slide, a table of contents, chapters, a timeline, and info slides. Organize them in the order you prefer, populate them with your texts and images, and your presentation is ready to go.

We hope this article will help you develop an ideal structure for your PowerPoint presentation and do this quickly and easily. Captivate your audience with a powerful and persuasive presentation!

Do you have any other insights on how to simplify PowerPoint slides design? Please share them in the comment section. We’d like to hear from you. 

Fast course authoring toolkit

Create online courses and assessments in record time.

Content creator:

Helen Colman

She enjoys combining in-depth research with expert knowledge of the industry. If you have eLearning insights that you’d like to share, please get in touch .

You might also like this

Subscribe to our blog

Stay tuned to get our latest eLearning tips and tricks!

By clicking “Subscribe”, you agree to our Privacy Policy . All emails include an unsubscribe link, so that you can opt-out at any time.

We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our website and also for analytics and marketing purposes. You can enable or disable optional cookies as desired. See our Cookie Policy for more details.

Manage your cookies

Essential cookies are always on. You can turn off other cookies if you wish.

Essential cookies

Analytics cookies

Social media cookies

How-To Geek

How to start a powerpoint slideshow.

Let the slideshow begin!

Quick Links

Start a slideshow in powerpoint's desktop app, start a slideshow in powerpoint's web app, start a slideshow in powerpoint's mobile app, key takeaways.

To start a PowerPoint slideshow on your desktop, open your slideshow and click "Start Slide Show" in the "Slide Show" tab. If you're using the web app, select "From Beginning" in the "Slide Show" tab. On mobile, simply tap the Monitor icon at the top of your screen.

There's nothing quite like finishing a presentation after spending hours getting it just right. Now, show off your hard work by starting your Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow on desktop, web, and mobile using the methods below.

Related: How (and Why) to Start Microsoft PowerPoint from the Command Prompt

To play a slideshow in PowerPoint's desktop app, all you have to do is click an option or press a shortcut on your keyboard .

Start the process by opening your presentation with PowerPoint. Then, in the app's ribbon at the top, select the "Slide Show" tab.

In the "Slide Show" tab, from the "Start Slide Show" section, choose "From Beginning" (or press F5). Now your presentation will play from the very first slide.

If you'd like to start the slideshow from your current slide, choose the "From Current Slide" option. Alternatively, press Shift+F5 on your keyboard.

While your presentation is playing, you can perform various tasks, like moving to the next slide or ending the show. You can reveal these options by right-clicking anywhere on the slide.

Alternatively, you can use the following keyboard shortcuts while viewing your slideshow:

• Spacebar or Right Arrow Button: Go to the next slide in the presentation.
• Left Arrow Button: Go to the previous slide in the presentation.
• Esc: End the show.
• W: Hide your current slide and display a white screen. Press the same key again to bring back the slide's content.
• B: Hide your current slide and display a black screen. Revert back to the slide's content by pressing the same button.
• Ctrl+Left Mouse Button: Activate the laser point tool to point at things in your slides.
• Ctrl+P: Launch the pen tool to annotate your slide's content during your show. You can choose if you'd like to keep these annotations when you end the show.
• Ctrl+i: Access the highlighter tool to highlight items in your slides.

If you'd like to jump to a specific slide while presenting, press that slide's number on your keyboard and hit Enter. For example, press 12 and hit Enter to access that slide quickly.

To access the Presenter view, where you can see the upcoming slides and other options, right-click anywhere on your slide and choose "Show Presenter View."

With these options, you can start a slideshow and have it play exactly how you want.

To play a slideshow on the web, launch your preferred web browser and access PowerPoint on the web . Then, open your presentation.

From PowerPoint's ribbon at the top, select the "Slide Show" tab.

In the "Slide Show" tab, start your slideshow from the first slide by clicking the "From Beginning" option. To have your show play from your current slide, choose "From Current Slide."

Your presentation is now playing.

To reveal the options for moving slides, annotating items, and using Presenter Coach , bring your cursor to your screen's bottom-left corner. Then, click the appropriate icon.

Related: How to Practice Your Presentations with PowerPoint's Presenter Coach

To start a slideshow in the PowerPoint mobile app , launch the app on your phone and open your presentation.

On the presentation screen, at the top, tap the Monitor icon to play the slideshow.

Your presentation has now begun.

To move to the next slide, swipe left on your screen. To go to the previous slide, swipe right.

You can reveal PowerPoint's presentation options, like annotation and black screen tools, by tapping at the top of your presentation. Then, choose the option you'd like to use.

And that's it. Happy presenting!

Want to learn a few tips to help you make the best PowerPoint presentations ? If so, check out our guide.

Related: 8 Tips to Make the Best PowerPoint Presentations

20 Great Examples of PowerPoint Presentation Design [+ Templates]

Published: January 17, 2024

When it comes to PowerPoint presentation design, there's no shortage of avenues you can take.

While all that choice — colors, formats, visuals, fonts — can feel liberating, it‘s important that you’re careful in your selection as not all design combinations add up to success.

In this blog post, I’m sharing some of my favorite PowerPoint tips and templates to help you nail your next presentation.

Table of Contents

What makes a good PowerPoint presentation?

Powerpoint design ideas, best powerpoint presentation slides, good examples of powerpoint presentation design.

In my opinion, a great PowerPoint presentation gets the point across succinctly while using a design that doesn't detract from it.

Here are some of the elements I like to keep in mind when I’m building my own.

1. Minimal Animations and Transitions

Believe it or not, animations and transitions can take away from your PowerPoint presentation. Why? Well, they distract from the content you worked so hard on.

A good PowerPoint presentation keeps the focus on your argument by keeping animations and transitions to a minimum. I suggest using them tastefully and sparingly to emphasize a point or bring attention to a certain part of an image.

2. Cohesive Color Palette

I like to refresh my memory on color theory when creating a new PowerPoint presentation.

A cohesive color palette uses complementary and analogous colors to draw the audience’s attention and help emphasize certain aspects at the right time.

10 Free PowerPoint Templates

Download ten free PowerPoint templates for a better presentation.

• Creative templates.
• Data-driven templates.
• Professional templates.

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Tell us a little about yourself below to gain access today:

It‘s impossible for me to tell you the specific design ideas you should go after in your next PowerPoint, because, well, I don’t know what the goal of your presentation is.

Luckily, new versions of PowerPoint actually suggest ideas for you based on the content you're presenting. This can help you keep up with the latest trends in presentation design .

PowerPoint is filled with interesting boilerplate designs you can start with. To find these suggestions, open PowerPoint and click the “Design” tab in your top navigation bar. Then, on the far right side, you'll see the following choices:

This simplistic presentation example employs several different colors and font weights, but instead of coming off as disconnected, the varied colors work with one another to create contrast and call out specific concepts.

What I like: The big, bold numbers help set the reader's expectations, as they clearly signify how far along the viewer is in the list of tips.

10. “Pixar's 22 Rules to Phenomenal Storytelling,” Gavin McMahon

This presentation by Gavin McMahon features color in all the right places. While each of the background images boasts a bright, spotlight-like design, all the characters are intentionally blacked out.

What I like: This helps keep the focus on the tips, while still incorporating visuals. Not to mention, it's still easy for me to identify each character without the details. (I found you on slide eight, Nemo.)

11. “Facebook Engagement and Activity Report,” We Are Social

Here's another great example of data visualization in the wild.

What I like: Rather than displaying numbers and statistics straight up, this presentation calls upon interesting, colorful graphs, and charts to present the information in a way that just makes sense.

12. “The GaryVee Content Model,” Gary Vaynerchuk

This wouldn‘t be a true Gary Vaynerchuk presentation if it wasn’t a little loud, am I right?

What I like: Aside from the fact that I love the eye-catching, bright yellow background, Vaynerchuk does a great job of incorporating screenshots on each slide to create a visual tutorial that coincides with the tips. He also does a great job including a visual table of contents that shows your progress as you go .

13. “20 Tweetable Quotes to Inspire Marketing & Design Creative Genius,” IMPACT Branding & Design

We‘ve all seen our fair share of quote-chronicling presentations but that isn’t to say they were all done well. Often the background images are poor quality, the text is too small, or there isn't enough contrast.

Well, this professional presentation from IMPACT Branding & Design suffers from none of said challenges.

What I like: The colorful filters over each background image create just enough contrast for the quotes to stand out.

14. “The Great State of Design,” Stacy Kvernmo

This presentation offers up a lot of information in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming.

What I like: The contrasting colors create visual interest and “pop,” and the comic images (slides 6 through 12) are used to make the information seem less buttoned-up and overwhelming.

15. “Clickbait: A Guide To Writing Un-Ignorable Headlines,” Ethos3

Not going to lie, it was the title that convinced me to click through to this presentation but the awesome design kept me there once I arrived.

What I like: This simple design adheres to a consistent color pattern and leverages bullet points and varied fonts to break up the text nicely.

16. “Digital Transformation in 50 Soundbites,” Julie Dodd

This design highlights a great alternative to the “text-over-image” display we've grown used to seeing.

What I like: By leveraging a split-screen approach to each presentation slide, Julie Dodd was able to serve up a clean, legible quote without sacrificing the power of a strong visual.

17. “Fix Your Really Bad PowerPoint,” Slide Comet

When you‘re creating a PowerPoint about how everyone’s PowerPoints stink, yours had better be terrific. The one above, based on the ebook by Seth Godin, keeps it simple without boring its audience.

What I like: Its clever combinations of fonts, together with consistent color across each slide, ensure you're neither overwhelmed nor unengaged.

18. “How Google Works,” Eric Schmidt

Simple, clever doodles tell the story of Google in a fun and creative way. This presentation reads almost like a storybook, making it easy to move from one slide to the next.

What I like: This uncluttered approach provides viewers with an easy-to-understand explanation of a complicated topic.

19. “What Really Differentiates the Best Content Marketers From The Rest,” Ross Simmonds

Let‘s be honest: These graphics are hard not to love. I especially appreciate the author’s cartoonified self-portrait that closes out the presentation. Well played, Ross Simmonds.

What I like: Rather than employing the same old stock photos, this unique design serves as a refreshing way to present information that's both valuable and fun.

20. “Be A Great Product Leader,” Adam Nash

This presentation by Adam Nash immediately draws attention by putting the company's logo first — a great move if your company is well known.

What I like: He uses popular images, such as ones of Megatron and Pinocchio, to drive his points home. In the same way, you can take advantage of popular images and media to keep your audience engaged.

PowerPoint Presentation Examples for the Best Slide Presentation

Mastering a PowerPoint presentation begins with the design itself.

Get inspired by my ideas above to create a presentation that engages your audience, builds upon your point, and helps you generate leads for your brand.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. This article was written by a human, but our team uses AI in our editorial process. Check out our full disclosure to learn more about how we use AI.

Don't forget to share this post!

Related articles.

17 PowerPoint Presentation Tips From Pro Presenters [+ Templates]

How to Write an Ecommerce Business Plan [Examples & Template]

How to Create an Infographic in Under an Hour — the 2024 Guide [+ Free Templates]

Get Buyers to Do What You Want: The Power of Temptation Bundling in Sales

How to Create an Engaging 5-Minute Presentation

How to Start a Presentation [+ Examples]

120 Presentation Topic Ideas Help You Hook Your Audience

How to Create the Best PowerPoint Presentations [Examples & Templates]

The Presenter's Guide to Nailing Your Next PowerPoint

How to Create a Stunning Presentation Cover Page [+ Examples]

Marketing software that helps you drive revenue, save time and resources, and measure and optimize your investments — all on one easy-to-use platform

Contribute to the Microsoft 365 and Office forum! Click  here  to learn more  💡

April 9, 2024

Contribute to the Microsoft 365 and Office forum!

Click  here  to learn more  💡

PowerPoint Forum Top Contributors: Steve Rindsberg  -  John Korchok  -  Bob Jones AKA: CyberTaz   ✅

May 10, 2024

PowerPoint Forum Top Contributors:

Steve Rindsberg  -  John Korchok  -  Bob Jones AKA: CyberTaz   ✅

• Search the community and support articles
• Microsoft 365 and Office
• Search Community member

Ask a new question

Creating a new slide takes me to the first slide in the presentation

Whenever I create a new slide or paste a slide onto my PowerPoint, it will take me back to the first slide. It gets annoying when I have multiple slides. Im using windows OS.

• Subscribe to RSS feed

Report abuse

Reported content has been submitted​

Replies (4) 

• Microsoft Agent |

Dear Majid Mohammed Almulla,

Apologies for the inconvenience caused and please don’t worry, let’s work together on your concern and move towards a resolution path.

I understand your concern and I would like to convey that I have tested the behavior in the latest version of the PowerPoint application on the Current channel, where the new slides either when it’s added manually or pasted doesn’t take me to the first slide.

I would like to suggest you check whether the PowerPoint app using at your end is using the latest version of the PowerPoint app:

Open the PowerPoint presentation> File> Account> Update Options> Update Now.

If the PowerPoint app is up to date, I would like to suggest to launch PowerPoint 365 app in the Safe Mode and check the outcome:  Open Office apps in safe mode on a Windows PC - Microsoft Support

If still having the issue, I would like to suggest you perform Online Repair to the Office apps:  Repair an Office application - Microsoft Support

If nothing works, we are sorry and request you to share the following information which will help us to better understand and guide you further:

1. PowerPoint App Account page: Open the PowerPoint presentation> File> Account> Take a screenshot and share it with us.

2. Does the same problem happens with the specific presentation or even with new presentations?

3. Does the problem happens after the recent Office apps update?

4. Do other users in your organization has reported similar issue?

Our sincere apologies for not resolving the problem is first reply but answers to above queries will help us to better understand your situation and guide you in the right direction.

Appreciate your patience and understanding. Have a great day!!

Best Regards,

Was this reply helpful? Yes No

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for writing back and updating with us. Apologies for the delay in the response as I am out of the office due to the weekend.

As per the further updates, since you mentioned the problem happens only with a specific presentations, I would like to request you to share the sample problematic PowerPoint presentation, where it will help us to test the behavior from our end and share the results with you.

If you are willing, please remove the personal information from the copy of the problematic presentation and share the link of the presentation by uploading it to any cloud location such as OneDrive.

Appreciate your patience with us and have a wonderful day!!

Can we connect on teams as the PPT has organization specific templates.

Question Info

• For business
• Norsk Bokmål
• Ελληνικά
• Русский
• עברית
• العربية
• ไทย
• 한국어
• 中文(简体)
• 中文(繁體)
• 日本語

Blog – Creative Presentations Ideas

infoDiagram visual slide examples, PowerPoint diagrams & icons , PPT tricks & guides

Creating Impactful Slides: PowerPoint Chart Improvement Tips

As a slide designer, I frequently work on enhancing charts to make them more impactful for business presentations. Today, I want to share several practical chart improvement tips on how to creatively customize your PowerPoint graphs for a more professional look.

Chart Improvement 1: Broadening Bars

The first step in upgrading a bar chart  I usually do is adjusting the width of the bars . The default width proposed by PowerPoint or Excel often makes the bars appear too narrow. Since these bars are crucial for conveying information in PowerPoint presentations, I make them wider for better visual presentation of underlying data values. 

To do this, I simply right-click on a bar, select ‘Format Series’, and then adjust the Gap Width. A good rule of thumb is to aim for a Gap Width of around 70-80%. This simple adjustment makes a significant difference in how your bar chart in PowerPoint is perceived.

Chart Improvement 2: Enhancing Clarity with Data Labels

Another data chart area worth customizing, after adjusting the bar widths are the data labels . The default location of data values is not always optimal. They may be too small or not visible. In my example placing these data labels inside the bars can significantly improve readability. Thanks to wider bars, we now have a space to embed numbers inside. This positioning, close to the bar ends, conveniently shows the value. 

To ensure they stand out, I increased the font size to 20 and adjusted the color to white for better contrast against the colored background. Depending on the font used, making these labels bold can further improve visibility. This makes your bar chart in PowerPoint not only more readable but also more visually engaging.

Chart Improvement 3: Simplifying Your Bar Chart, Removing Unnecessary Information

A key part of making a slide more readable is removing unnecessary elements . For instance, if the vertical axis (Y-axis) is providing practically the same information as data labels, then simply delete it. You will not lose information because it’s mentioned inside bars. 

Alternatively, you can keep only the axis and remove the bar data labels. You don’t need to have the same data expressed twice. 

This step, along with removing gridlines, contributes to a cleaner and more focused bar chart in PowerPoint, ensuring that the viewer’s attention is solely on the data being presented.

Chart Improvement 4: Tailoring the Graph Legend

The final touch I usually do in optimizing a bar chart in PowerPoint is adjusting the legend’s position . The legend placement depends on your presentation context. 

If your audience is already familiar with presented data categories, the legend can be placed in a less prominent position e.g. on the right side or under the data chart. However, for newcomers who seek first to learn what data categories you present, I recommend placing the legend where they see it first. For example at the top of the bar chart in PowerPoint or from the left side. This ensures an immediate understanding of what each bar represents, enhancing the overall effectiveness of your presentation.

Legend position can be adjusted either from chart options or manually by moving it.

Conclusion: Enhance Your PowerPoint Bar Charts for Audience Engagement

To sum up, customizing a bar chart in PowerPoint for better clarity involves several key steps:

• widen the bars (applying the 80-20 rule)
• enhance data value visibility
• eliminate unnecessary elements – axis data if they are already expressed other way
• choose the legend’s position based on your audience’s familiarity

By following these simple yet effective tips, you can transform a standard chart into a more engaging and informative visual tool for your business presentations. Explore more practical tips on how to ensure the slide reading flow is natural and easy to follow.

Watch the movie with full instructions here:

Explore another article related to bar chart design, where I share how to effectively address the common mistakes in PowerPoint chart design .

Follow our  YouTube channel  if you want to see more of such guides, and  subscribe to the newsletter  to get more design tips and slide inspiration.

Author: Peter Zvirinsky, slide design trainer and the founder of infoDiagram Reach out to Peter on  LinkedIn  or via his  slide design & training  website.

Published by

Chief Diagram Designer, infoDiagram co-founder View all posts by Peter Z

A simple guide to slideshows

Learn what slideshows are, how they’re used, common features, and how to choose a slideshow maker. Get started creating your own slideshows today with Microsoft PowerPoint.

What is a slideshow?

What are slideshows used for.

Meetings and presentations

Slideshows are most frequently used to create professional presentations for business meetings, conferences, and educational purposes. A  slideshow program  allows people to organize content, include visuals, and enhance the overall impact of their message.

Visual storytelling

Because slideshows sequentially display engaging visuals, text, and other multimedia, they’re a strong way to tell a cohesive and compelling narrative from start to finish.

Content creation

Slideshows give content creators a versatile and efficient way to organize information, increase visual appeal, and communicate effectively across different contexts.

Photo and video sharing

Slideshow makers are popular for creating photo and video presentations, especially for events like weddings, birthdays, and vacations. People can add transitions, music, and captions to fully bring the photo-sharing experience to life.

Training and tutorials

Slideshows help break down complex information into digestible chunks with the support of visuals and text, making them ideal for instructional materials, tutorials, and training modules.

Collaborative projects

In collaborative settings, teams use slideshow makers to create joint presentations or reports. The best slideshow makers enable multiple contributors to add their content simultaneously, which helps ensure a cohesive and unified presentation.

What are the features of a slideshow creator?

Slideshow creators vary in what they offer but ideally include:

A library of templates, themes, and images.

If you’re not a designer, this feature is huge. Simply browse the options available in your slideshow maker library to create a polished, professionally designed presentation in a flash. Be sure to confirm that access to the library is free and the images are approved for unrestricted usage.

Audio and video compatibility.

Keeping your audience engaged is key to any successful slideshow presentation. To mix things up, being able to add a multimedia element—like a song or a video clip—will help people stay focused and interested.

Presentation tools.

Handy presenter tools go a long way toward making your slideshow experience seamless. For example, straightforward slide navigation, slideshow keyboard shortcuts, pen and highlighter markup, and adjustable resolution settings.

AI assistance.

With AI revolutionizing content creation, using a slideshow maker that has AI capabilities will enhance efficiency and innovation. Depending on the slideshow app you have, creating an entire slideshow could be as easy as a quick prompt, like “Make a presentation about the benefits of sustainable fashion that has 15 slides.” 

Animations.

Like audio and video, animations give your audience a bit of sensory surprise that can capture their attention. 

Slide transitions.

Add some pizzazz to how you change slides with visual effects like fading, wiping, and zooming. 

Screen recording.

Being able to record your screen in a slideshow maker is helpful when giving an instructional talk, software demonstration, and other types of presentations that require visual aids.

A place to put speaker notes.

Having somewhere to jot a few notes down will help remind you of everything you want to cover as you present.

Different viewing options.

Looking at different views—for example, a presenter view, an audience view, and a high-level view of slide order—is useful when organizing your slideshow’s structure and understanding and preparing for what you’ll see versus what your audience will see.

How do I choose the right slideshow maker?

When choosing a slideshow maker, keep the following questions in mind to make sure you get the most for your money:

Is it scalable with your business?

As your organization grows and changes, it’s important to have flexible technology that adapts to new needs. Having certain features—such as cloud-based collaboration, compatibility with other work apps, and a mobile app—will help ensure that no matter how your business changes, the slideshow maker is up to the task. This also applies to pricing plans. Consider choosing a slideshow app that has a subscription plan (so the software is always up to date), volume-based pricing, or enterprise-level pricing.

Does it have a variety of visual elements?

It’s pretty much a given that a slideshow maker will allow you to add images, but think outside the JPEG box—what other visual elements are available to you? Features like preset themes, free templates, SmartArt, a built-in clip art library, shape tools, background styles, 3D models, and charts and graphs provide diverse ways to switch up how a slideshow looks without relying solely on adding your own images.

Is it easy to use?

You could have the most feature-rich slideshow maker on the market, but if it isn’t easy to use, you probably won’t use it. Or you will, but you’ll be frustrated, waste valuable time, and have difficulty convincing people you work with to use it. As you research slideshow makers, look for videos that show the apps’ interfaces in action to help you decide if they’re intuitive and will have a shorter learning curve.

Does it have collaboration and sharing options?

Because making a slideshow is often a collaborative effort, it’s worthwhile to find a slideshow creator that was designed with this in mind. Pick one that offers editing controls and commenting, as well as the ability to work on a slideshow at the same time as someone else. Having a cloud-based slideshow maker will be key here. You’ll not only save yourself time but also keep things simple by not having multiple versions of the same slideshow.

Explore more about slideshows and slideshow makers

Copilot in powerpoint.

Transform how you make slideshows with the versatile AI in Copilot for PowerPoint.

Improve your presenting skills

Practice presenting with an AI speaker coach to get feedback on body language, repetition, and pronunciation.  

Six slideshow tips and tricks

Read up on tips about how to finesse your slideshows to give your most confident presentations.

Get free PowerPoint templates

Show your style with PowerPoint templates in more than 40 categories.

How to make a branded slideshow

Create a cohesive visual identity for your brand that goes beyond adding a logo to every slide.

Try a photo album template

Relive your favorite memories with photo album templates designed for all your unforgettable moments.

The benefits of visual aids in slideshows

Discover why using visual aids helps communicate ideas and messaging more effectively.

Slideshows that reach all learners

Explore the different ways that people learn and how to include all learning styles in your presentations.

Frequently asked questions

How do i make a good slideshow.

Making a good slideshow in PowerPoint is easy:

Plan what you’d like to include in your slideshow.

Launch your slideshow creator.

Choose the theme you’d like.

Import media.

Add text, music, and transitions.

Record, save, and share your slideshow.

Learn more about how to make a slideshow .

How do I add music to a slideshow?

To add music to a slideshow, first make sure that you’re using a slideshow maker with music compatibility. In PowerPoint, follow these steps:

Open your PowerPoint presentation and select the slide where you want to add music.

Click on the Insert tab in the ribbon menu.

Click on the Audio button and select Audio on My PC.

Browse to the folder on your computer where the audio file is located and select it.

Click on the Insert button.

How do I record a slideshow?

The steps for recording a slideshow in PowerPoint will vary depending on the version that you own. Get help with slideshow recording based on your version. 

What types of files can I add to a slideshow?

File compatibility in PowerPoint includes the use of JPEGs, PNGs, TIFFs, GIFs, PDFs, MP3s, WAVs, MIDIs, MPEG-4 Videos, and Windows Media Videos.  

How do I share my slideshow?

To share your PowerPoint slideshow, follow these steps:

Open your presentation and click Share at the top right of your screen.

If your presentation isn't already stored on OneDrive, select where to save your presentation to the cloud.

Choose a permission level, like Anyone with a link , or maybe just people in your company. You can also control if people can edit or just view the doc. 

Select Apply.

Enter names and a message.

Select Send.

Follow Microsoft