How to Make Professional PowerPoint Presentations

Are you anxious about preparing for an upcoming presentation? You need to present something professionally to gain your audience's trust or a breakthrough in your career.

Remember: presentations are a skill, and skills can be built. Inspiring speakers practice and learn their craft.

If you're short on time, this tutorial is the perfect way to get going. I'll share some of my favorite tried and true professional PowerPoint tips for creating presentations.

5 Quick-Fire Tips for More Professional Presentations

Let's start off by reviewing five of my favorite professional PowerPoint presentation tips. These are great reminders to start with when you're preparing to speak.

1. Practice Really Does Make Perfect

It's a well-known piece of advice, but you've got to practice your presentation to make it successful. A well-rehearsed presentation helps you come across confidently and resonate with the audience.

Not all practice is created equally though. Here are professional PowerPoint presentation tips for how to get the most out of your preparation time:

• If possible, rehearse in the same room that you plan to present in. This gives you a sense of familiarity for your presentation.
• Use speaker notes in PowerPoint to keep your key talking points in view while presenting.
• Use a cell phone to record an audience perspective on your presentation to take notes on how you'll appear to your audience.

2. Stick to "One Big Idea"

Many presentations will overwhelm you with data and details. In an attempt to persuade, presenters will include every possible reason you should agree with them.

By the time the presentation reaches its conclusion, your audience may be so overwhelmed with ideas that they'll have missed your most important points.

As a presenter, it's your job to be clear. Stick to the key idea that you're presenting to make sure that your audience doesn't get lost in the details.

3. Don't be Afraid to BLUF

Sharing a big idea is important, but where you put it is also essential. That's why you should put your Bottom Line Up Front, also known as the BLUF principle. Put the bottom line (the key idea) near the beginning of your presentation.

Books and movies take you through a journey that ends with a conclusion. Presentations should give you the answer up front and explain that conclusion with the subsequent slides.

The BLUF principle reminds me to cut to the chase when sharing the most important part of a presentation. Get straight to the heart of the message before your audience is distracted or exhausts their limited supply of attention.

4. Include Professional Presentation Graphics

For professional presentations, your audience might be more analytical than the average viewer. They're more inclined to view PowerPoint charts and graphs and derive meaning from them than talking points.

Graphics and charts are the quickest way to convey a point. Consider using bar charts and line graphs to show trends and key statistics that reinforce your point.

For more bite-sized tips on how to give great presentations, check out Brad Smith's tutorial below with tons of other professional PowerPoint tips. I frequently read these before I start building a presentation to put good presentation ideas in my short-term memory bank:

5. Use Presenter View

My final tip is one that enables every other professional PowerPoint presentation tip we've already shared. By using Presenter View, you'll have a view of all the key tools and features in a single view. That means you'll have your speaker notes, a preview of the next slide, and a timer that helps you stay on track.

Most presentations are delivered in rooms with multiple screens. Presenter View shows your presentation on one screen that your audience sees and shows helpful information to presenters on a second screen.

To turn on Presenter View, jump to the Slide Show tab, and make sure that Use Presenter View is ticked. When you start to present, you'll see two different views.

In Presenter View, keep your eye on a few key features as you can see in the screenshot below. Speaker notes live on the right side and help cue up your key talking points. The next slide preview is also a great prompt to help you direct your speaking flow. And finally, don't forget to keep an eye on the timer to stay on track.

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