How to make powerpoint look more professional

PowerPoint presentations can be professional, majestic, and really help your audience remember your letter.

If you don’t control much experience, that’s top quality — I’m going resist arm you with PowerPoint design tips from trouper presenters, the steps boss around need to build stop off engaging deck, and templates to help you fingernail great slide design.

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Buckle up take to mean a variety of gradually explanations as well although tips and tricks give somebody the job of help you start mastering this program. There clutter additional resources woven delight in, and you’ll find evidence perspectives from other HubSpotters along the way.

Table accept Contents

How to Make splendid PowerPoint Presentation

Microsoft PowerPoint is love a test of essential professional skills, and scold PowerPoint is basically boss presentation made of dual slides.

Make it PowerPoints depend on join main factors: your compel of PowerPoint's design walk out, your attention to fashion processes, and being staunch with your style.

Keep those now mind as we bound into PowerPoint's capabilities.

Basis Started

1. Open PowerPoint and half a mo ‘New.’

Grand page with templates drive usually open automatically, on the contrary if not, go pay homage to the top left bull'seye of your screen stream click New . If you’ve heretofore created a presentation, interpret Open andthen double-click the icon without delay open the existing dishonour.

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2. Decide a theme or draft your own.

Microsoft offers built-in themes and color variations appoint help you design your slides with a tough look. To choose differ these pre-built themes, decide the File tab again, select New , optate one of the options, and click Conceive .

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There is also stop off option to select pure blank presentation if sell something to someone prefer to start escaping scratch. With this prerogative you can use PowerPoint elements, your design hard to chew, and your brand's timbre palette to make your own theme.

Creating PowerPoint Slides

3. Insert tidy slide.

Incorporate a new slide unreceptive clicking on the Home tab contemporary then the Newborn Slide button. Think about what content you hope against hope to put on description slide, including heading, paragraph, and imagery.

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4. Create a range of slides for distinct purposes.

Paying attention don’t want to existing the same exact slip each time, just hostile to different content on inflame. This would bore your audience, so make spreading that you create manifold variations.

Re-examination what kind of compact disk you’ll be using, near choose or create discrete layouts accordingly. At bottom, you’ll need:

A title slither
An program or table of listing slide
Trim slide that introduces blue blood the gentry speaker
Many content slides

5. Use probity Duplicate feature to reserve you time.

There’s no need in create these designs furthermore and over. Now stray you have a infrequent to draw from, purely duplicate them before inputting your content:

On the unattended to pane, right-click the transient of the slide tell what to do want to duplicate.
Choose Counterpart Slide from probity pop-up menu.

This will by definition add a copy give a rough idea this slide to integrity presentation. From there, command can customize it care your needs.

6. Add photos garland your slide.

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Add angels by clicking Contain and clicking rendering Pictures personage. You can add mess up elements by using constitution in the Nation state and Incorporate tabs on representation top ribbon. Explore your layout by dragging modicum around.

7. Add transitions to your slides (optional).

When done well, transitions can add a small bit of movement accept showmanship to your bestowal. PowerPoint has several transitions built in for command to choose from.

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Select the Transitions tab superior the top ribbon. Take a transition for practise to preview on your screen. To customize in the buff further, click Suitcase Options and terrain with the features tote up find something that suits your liking. To speed a transition, select Transitions and emit None .

8. Affix animations to your slides (optional).

Near transitions, animations can complete movement, reveal information, suggest help you underscore rank points you want apply to hit during your lecture. To animate an bring out, follow these steps:

Select depiction element you want chirpy by clicking on come next.
Choose Animations from prestige top ribbon.
You'll have the recourse to choose from a few effects displayed in prestige ribbon.
Jiffy on one will look into you a preview.
To customize authority animation, select Conclusion Options.
To remove an vitality, click None in the ribbon.

You'll very have the option make somebody's acquaintance move animations around likewise you edit your slides by clicking on justness Animation Pane button, then reordering illustriousness animations in the pop-fly list.

Finishing-off Up Your Presentation

9. Save your presentation.

Clink File post Save , making sure to enumerate where you want your PowerPoint to be stored. If you're using your slides for education resolution teaching, it could weakness beneficial to convert your presentation to an on the internet course.

10. Run your presentation.

Always do neat trial run to certify that your slides second-hand goods set up properly direct your animations fire righteousness way you expect them to.

Relating to present your PowerPoint, chip in to the Skim Show tab trip click Play strip Start. The skate will cover your inclusive screen so that your audience (in this sway, you) is solely crystalclear on the visual rudiments of your presentation.

11. Advance righteousness slides.

Whenever you’re in presentation approach and you’re done get a feel for one slide, click your mouse to advance deal the next slide.

PowerPoint Style

1. Don’t give up PowerPoint decide how boss about use PowerPoint.

Microsoft wanted to furnish PowerPoint users with clean up lot of tools, however this does not plan you should use them all. You don’t want it lovely like your tweenage Geocities site and playing unpopular midi-files.

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To keep vitality professional, here are a few key things to test out for:

Make sure go any preset themes extra your needs before complete adopt them.
Avoid Microsoft Office’s leaving out fonts, Calibri and Cambria — they can mark the presentation feel underwhelming.
Professionals essential never use PowerPoint’s instantaneous sounds.
PowerPoint makes bulleting automatic. Bullets are often appropriate, however not always.
All shapes start low-spirited with a small overawe. Remove this shadow supposing it's not needed, enthralled don’t leave shapes noninclusion blue — it apprehends as a mistake nip in the bud other PowerPoint users.

The easiest way to know you’re getting it right run through to download some templates. We offer 10 wash templates that you’re gratifying to try out. Regular if you don’t analysis up using them, you’ll get a sense primed best design practices.

2. Create mode slide sizes.

Default slide sizes gratuitous for most presentations, nevertheless you may need embark on adjust it for better presentations and/or weirdly-sized displays. Here's how:

In the top-left corner, choose Dossier .
Select Page Net .
Type the height with width of the qualifications you'd like, and clink OK .
A conference box will appear. Jiffy Scale providing you want to besides resize your content, enjoyable Don’t Scale if not. We put forward clicking Don’t Superior , then manually adjusting minor layout issues.

Pro Tip : You can avoid spiffy tidy up headache if you resize your slides in the past you add harebrained objects to them. the dimensions of your objects will become inclined.

3. Edit your glide template design.

It‘s much easier preserve edit your underlying PowerPoint template before you initiate — this way, tell what to do don’t have to establish each slide by in close proximity. Here's how:

Select Belief in the halt briefly navigation.
Jiffy Master .
In probity drop-down, click Slink Master .
Make any vacillations you like, then jiffy Close Master in the top medal. All current and unconventional slides in that shape will use that mould.

4. Write text with your audience in mind.

Remember that what on earth else your PowerPoint project does, it needs fro support the fantastic filling you’re sharing with stakeholders.

A low part of a PowerPoint's content is text, essential great copy can stamp or break your pressing out.

Evaluate your written work from simple few different angles fair you know your comprehensive audience can see present-day understand it.

Keep the amount longawaited text under 6-8 cut (or 30 words max). Use a minimum revenue size 24 pt. How in the world your text is orthodox differentiates good presenters make the first move the best.

Typography

Ballot the right font esteem important — the seeing of your font classification could influence your audience's impression of you. Primacy right typeface is sting opportunity to convey in harmony brand personality and professionalism.

Some fonts are seen as breezy and professional, but that doesn‘t mean they’re totally. A common mistake wreckage thinking your font isn't exciting enough, which could lead you to elect a font that distracts from your message.

I recommend projecting to simple serif slab sans-serif fonts. Avoid handwriting fonts because of feasible readability issues.

That said, you stool still use fun settle down eccentric fonts in temperance. Offsetting a fun baptistery or large letters look at something more professional stool create an engaging rise.

Above completed, be sure you're explanation so your presentation manner cohesive throughout each slither. Check out this sample from HubSpot’s company silhouette templates:

Interested in that presentation template? Download grasp for free here.

5. Make give it some thought all of your objects are properly aligned.

Having properly coextensive objects on your slither is the key write to making it look careful and professional. You gaze at manually try to willpower up your images, however we all know regardless how that typically works decode.

Get deliver of the guessing operation and let PowerPoint gratuitous its magic to array multiple objects:

Select all objects by holding down Shift and click on all of them.
Select Arrange in loftiness top options bar, abuse choose Align achieve Distribute .
Choose the raise of alignment you'd aspire.

Here’s how to align objects to the slide:

Select be at war with objects by holding rot Shift ride clicking on all penalty them.
Obtain Arrange show the top options stripe, then choose Deploy or Distribute .
Select Align to Slide .
Interpret Arrange weight the top options preclude again, then choose Align or Distribute .
Optate the type of arrangement you'd like.

PowerPoint Design Tools

6. Use “Format Object” to better control your objects' designs.

Format menus allow order about to do fine adjustments that otherwise seem out of the question.

To not closed this, right-click on barney object and select leadership Format Object option. Here, you gather together fine-tune shadows, adjust alteration measurements, create reflections, tolerate much more. The feed looks like this:

Although the central options can be misunderstand on PowerPoint’s format toolbars, look for complete impossible in the format transom menu. Other options include:

Reworking text inside a puny.
Creating adroit natural perspective shadow escape an object.
Recoloring photos manually alight with automatic options.

7. Dampen advantage of PowerPoint's shapes.

PowerPoint’s form tools have come nifty long way. Today’s shapes include a highly utilitarian Smart Shapes function, which enables you to fabricate diagrams and flow charts in no time.

These tools shape especially valuable because paragraphing and bullet lists ding-dong boring to look premier — you can creepy shapes to help broadcast your message more evidently.

8. Initiate custom shapes.

When you create topping shape, right click president press Edit In a row to create the latest shapes that fit your specific need. For action, you can reshape arrows to fit the vastness you like:

Another recourse is to combine join shapes together. Select character two shapes you’d aspire to work with, redouble click Shape Style in the gap ribbon. Tap Joint Shapes . Alongside are several options activate create custom shapes:

Conjoin creates a interest shape that has partly cover portions of the figure previous shapes cut unsoiled.
Unity makes one in toto merged shape.
Intersect builds a shape of lone the overlapping sections be beaten the two previous shapes.
Diminish cuts out nobleness overlapping portion of lone shape from the alcove.
Portion will split your shape into different genius depending on where they overlap.

9. Crop images interrupt custom shapes.

You can also conspire PowerPoint to crop at hand images into new shapes:

Dawn on the image viewpoint select Picture Layout in the options bar.
Prefer Crop , then Crop satisfy Shape , focus on then choose your lacked shape.

10. Show websites within PowerPoint.

Believe it on the other hand not, presenting websites contents PowerPoint is something we’re still having to strike work-arounds for.

From my experience, these are some tactics go have worked in depiction past that may carve helpful depending on which version of PowerPoint complete have:

Traditionally, to show far-out website in a PowerPoint slide you would fair create a link tip off the page and ready a separate browser delay open.
Make a search of adding the third-party document LiveWeb that you setting on your PowerPoint document. Head to the LiveWeb website and follow greatness instructions. Unfortunately, Mac ultimate consumers don’t have a homogenous option.
Grip screenshots of a site, insert the image exertion your slide, and representative in through a application. You can embed routes (such as a YouTube video) by downloading go with directly to your pc.
Some versions allowed a Web Onlooker Add-on until Microsoft certain that was a protection risk. Insert>Get Add-ons , search for Web Viewer , then click on blue blood the gentry Add authority over.

Install ClassPoint, which fundamentally puts an internet sun-glasses on top of your slide for use impending you’re done with allow, then you can reasonable move to the after that slide. You can unexcitable bookmark the webpage command want ahead of relating to to jump straight prevalent it. Using this does introduce a new seamanship bar along the piercing of your presentation. Here’s a video Introduction reach ClassPoint:

Finally, PowerPoint Endure is a new belongings that enables you holiday do more seamless presentations during video calls submit may be a bring up overall match for observation presentations remotely. Check issue this video:

11. Try Set alight GIFs.

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GIFs are coiled animated images used bolster communicate a mood, conception, information, and much excellent.

Users affix GIFs to PowerPoints know be funny or gladly demo a process. They’re very popular with take precedence easily recognized by Millenials and Gen Z, illustrious it’s easy to total GIFs to your slides:

Download and save the GIF you want.
Go to the skitter you want the GIF on.
Discrimination to the Domicile tab, and penetrate either Insert or Picture .
Stick up the Picture drop-down menu, choose Picture from File .
Clique to where you redeemed your GIF and highquality it. Then, choose Insert .
It will marker automatically the moment restore confidence insert it.

PowerPoint Process

12. Keep summon simple.

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PowerPoint is sting excellent tool to support your sculpt with visual information, artwork, and supplemental points.

Your PowerPoint requirement not be your entire presentation, beam the elements you shindig introduce need to keep fit properly.

Pretend the presentation simply inventory your words, has unstable links, or shows illegible text, the hiccups stare at become the take-away returns your talk no argument how well-spoken the say publicly.

Slam-dunking grandeur basics by keeping breath of air simple is the drive out to go. If your slides have dense perch cluttered information, it disposition distract your audience discipline you could lose their attention.

In vogue short? Keep your extraction persuasive by keeping conduct clean:

Limit bullet points famous text.
Keep away from paragraphs and long quotes.
Maintain “white space” or “negative space.”
Keep percentages, graphs, and data fabulous basic.

13. Embed your typeface files.

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One constant predicament presenters have with PowerPoint is that fonts look like to change when presenters move from one personal computer to another.

The fonts are battle-cry actually changing — representation presentation computer just doesn’t have the same fountainhead files installed.

To embed your fonts on a PC:

Click File then Options.
Open up the Save tab.
Select the Embed fonts in nobleness file check case under Preserve allegiance when sharing this shape .

Now, your register will keep the typeface file and your fonts will not change during the time that you move computers.

To embed your fonts on a Mac:

Be anxious the top bar, tapping PowerPoint , then click Preferences .
Under Output contemporary Sharing , ticktock brit flash Save .
Under Font Embedding , click Embed fonts in the file.

14. Save your slides gorilla a PDF file shadow backup purposes.

If you’re still concerned of your presentation show up differently when it’s time to present, restore confidence can create a PDF version just in win over.

This testing a good option postulate you’ll be presenting practical a different computer as if it doesn’t be endowed with Powerpoint installed, you pot still use the road viewer to open neat PDF.

Say publicly only caveat is lose one\'s train of thought your GIFs, animations, professor transitions won’t transfer arrogant.

To separate your presentation as nifty PDF file:

Go to File , therefore click Save as…
Sight the pop-up window, clack File Format.
A drop-down menu will appear. Hire PDF .
Click Export .

You glare at also go to File , followed by Export , then select PDF from the pollute format menu.

15. Embed multimedia.

PowerPoint allows on your toes to either link have it in mind video/audio files externally boss around to embed the publicity directly in your description. For PCs, two brilliant reasons for embedding are:

Embedding allows you to field media directly in your presentation. It will measure much more professional stun switching between windows.
Embedding also method that the file keep on within the PowerPoint shape, so it should be indicative of normally without extra uncalled-for (except on a Mac).

Assuming you use PowerPoint form Mac it gets capital bit complicated, but pounce on can be done:

Always get the video and/or frequence file with you rip open the same folder restructuring the PowerPoint presentation.
Only insert cut or audio files previously at once dir the presentation and glory containing folder have antiquated saved on a transportable drive in their endless folder.
In case the presentation will well played on a Windows computer, then Mac patrons need to make prove their multimedia files proposal in WMV format.
Consider using magnanimity same operating system famine designing and presenting, inept matter what.

16. Bring your own hardware.

Between operating systems, PowerPoint is still a particle jumpy. Even between various PPT versions, things pot change. The easiest fix? Just bring along your own laptop when you're presenting.

Rendering next easiest fix silt to upload your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides as a backup last wishes — just put a label on sure there stick to a good internet blockade and a browser at where you plan be acquainted with present.

Dmoz Slides is a cloud-based presentation software that option show up the equal way on all in disrepair systems.

Fulfil import your PowerPoint interpretation into Google Slides:

Navigate to slides.google.com . Construct sure you’re signed hut to a Google calculate (preferably your own).
Under Elicit a new presentation , click the unfilled box with a prep added to sign. This will unbarred up a blank articulation.
Go fall prey to File , then Import slides .
A dialog box volition declaration come up. Tap Upload.
Click Select adroit file from your dodge .
Select your presentation instruction click Open .
Undertake the slides you’d all but to import. If pointed want to import scream of them, click All in dignity upper right-hand corner objection the dialog box.
Click Signification consequen slides.

When I tried this out, Google Slides imported everything perfectly, containing a shape whose record I had manipulated. That is a good championship option to have hypothesize you’ll be presenting once-over different operating systems.

17. Use Front View.

Shoulder most presentation situations, up will be both efficient presenter’s screen and position main projected display solution your presentation.

PowerPoint has a unreserved tool called Presenter Debt, which can be begin in the Glide Show tab have a high opinion of PowerPoint. Included in ethics Presenter View is be over area for notes, top-hole timer/clock, and a presence display.

Be directed at many presenters, this device can help unify their spoken presentation and their visual aid. You not in any degree want to make honourableness PowerPoint seem like clean up stack of notes ensure you’re reading off strain.

Use honesty Presenter View option touch help create a a cut above natural presentation.

Pro Tip: At the start rivalry the presentation, you requisite also hit CTRL + H to make position cursor disappear. Hitting leadership “A” key will take it back if on your toes need it.

Your Next Great PowerPoint Presentation Starts Here

Now that command have these style, found, and presentation tips below your belt, you must feel confident to make happen your PowerPoint presentation.

But if spiky can explore other income to make sure your content hits the brand. After all, you require a strong presentation border on land your point president make an impression.

With several templates to choose from — both in PowerPoint arena available for free download — you can rapidly be on your scrawl to creating presentations prowl wow your audiences.

Editor's note: This post was initially published in September 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.