Most of us have day jobs (or night jobs, but those 40+ hr a week jobs). Some of us have to give presentations. There's nothing more satisfying than a well-put-together presentation both in language and layout. Cluttered or disjointed slides just create more visual chaos which hurts everyone's brain. The best thing is when it's simple, clear, to the point, and easy-to-follow.
Tips for your next presentation:
- Manage your colors
- You should have one color theme for the whole presentation - usually no more than 3 colors / color families, and for many of us, it's the company colors (so if you have company-preferred colors, stick to them). 1 or 2 is preferred!
- NOTE - RED usually means RED FLAG - if your company uses red, try to only use red when you're actually yelling at someone or calling out risks / concerns / things that are behind schedule. Otherwise, please pick a different color!
- Coordinate colors
- If you use blue for new items, keep using blue for new items. Don't suddenly also use blue for closed items. Use a different shade of blue or a different color completely (like grey) for closed items.
- Simplify your language
- Don't use 10 words when 4 will do
- Example:
- Original: The results from last quarter (Q2 2025) clearly state that there is a 10% increase in incoming work volume
- Simplified: Q2 results - 10% work volume increase
- Make sure bullets / boxes / things align
- There's a function in PowerPoint under Shapes called "align" and you can select your boxes or bullets you want to align and pick "align left" and they'll all align. But if you can't make that work, still do your best to align boxes and bullets. There are guidelines that show when you move objects in PPT that help you do this. Balance (including enough whitespace) helps your message come across clearly!
