We all are prisoners to the deadlines that we have to meet every day in our professional and personal life. Deadlines to submit a project or to complete a professional commitment and more. One deadline that can overwhelm us is creating a presentation within hours for a meeting or a seminar.
Imagine if your teacher or boss asks you to create a presentation within 2 hours for an important meeting? It is immense pressure to perform a huge task because creating a powerful slideshow and then presenting it needs time and practice. But since you don’t have an option, you need to know a few efficient tips. Tricks that will enable you to make a slideshow quickly and present it well too.
Let’s check them out.
- Start backwards
The best tip to create a presentation quickly is to start the process backwards. It means before you begin writing, think what key-points you want the audience to remember? It needs to be close to three and not more.
Then draft a rough outline of the slide on a paper so you know what to put in the slide and how to organize the content. This will make the presentation making process a bit simpler.
Ask yourself what the audience is expecting to get out of the presentation, and what you want them to do about it? When you have this information, creating a presentation fast will become easy.
- Choose the right tool
There are slideshow makers that can help you make a presentation within minutes, and one of them is Canva. It has numerous templates that you choose as per your need and customizes it later. Once you have the template, add music or images or text or graphics, and your presentation is ready.
Using a template saves your time and keeps the slideshow consistent as well. Also, the Canva slideshow maker is an online free tool so no need to download or worry about getting software that works on every system.
- Keep it simple
Transitions and fancy YouTube videos are fun but not necessary for an impactful presentation. The audience is there to listen to your ideas and opinion on the topic. So, make sure the content is simple, to-the-point, and depicts your thoughts. Use graphics to support your opinion, but don’t make it the highlight of the slide. If you do that, people will be distracted and unable to comprehend the message/information you are trying to convey.
- Introduce the takeaways
We understand the points system better, and it is easy to preserve in the memory too. Therefore, start the presentation by explaining the takeaways of the slide to the audience. Then talk about them one by one in-depth and go back to the takeaways as a means to remind the audience about it.
It makes it easy for you as well, and the audience also knows what to expect from the demonstration.
- Use more images
Text even in bullet form can distract the audience from what you are saying as people take time to process it. Also, writing the points may take up time that you don’t have right now. So, instead, use large images. With no or decreased amount of text, an image can help get the message across with more impact leaving time for the audience to listen to what you are saying.
- Slash text
A slideshow is never complete without text. But to quickly make a slide, you should opt for slash text which is using not more than ten words per slide. Compensate for the lack of words with graphics or your speech. The slideshow is only a support system for your speech. You need to know the topic well enough that you don’t need too much information on the slide to get you through it.
It is for the benefit of the audience so that they can know what you will be talking about next.
- Take time editing the slides
When you know what takeaways, you want the audience to remember and what your goals are, writing a powerful presentation becomes simple and quick. But as quickly as you created the slideshow, take the double time to edit it.
When you are editing the slideshow, look for spelling errors, graphics issues, problems with the takeaway, and more. See to it that the presentation is what you need for the audience to take action.
- Make smart font decision
While creating a presentation, people get hung up on fonts and typefaces as they should be because they can make your presentation compelling. But when you are pressed for time, never experiment with new fonts as they might not work in the hardware you use to present. Instead, opt for two fonts which you know look professional and appealing and use one for heading and the other for content.
Also, make sure to keep the font size big. It fills slides, especially when you have to submit a specific number of slides. And most importantly, it ensures that even the person sitting on the last seat is able to read the slides.
- Know the venue
Before you start working on the slide, know the venue. Will it have a Wi-Fi connection or what system will you get to show the presentation, or do you have to bring your laptop? Knowing all this will save you from going to the trouble of following tons of procedures to ensure your presentation works. For instance, if there is a stable Wi-Fi connection, you can directly log in to your Canva account and start presenting.
- Follow the 10/20/30 rule
To quickly create a slide, follow this rule:
- 10 slides: Make sure you cover the whole topic in 10 slides. Remember it is only for support, you are the main presenter.
- 20 minutes: Know how much time you have and practice explaining a slide for 20 minutes and no more.
- 30 size: The size of the font should not be less than 30 points for better visibility.
With these tips, you are ready to blow the mind off your audience. Also, deadline or no deadline, do make use of these tips to improve the quality of your presentation.