The less clutter your slide is the better you visual message would be. Having a lot of stuff on the slide makes your audience distracted and can cause them to not listen to what you have to say. So keep it simple just a picture and a few words you can talk about without reading off the slide.
Try to avoid text heavy slides. The slides with the most text makes the audience stop listing to your presentation simply because they don’t want to be read the slide. SO therefore when creating a slide think limit text.
Having transition effects can be good, and can bring your presentation to life. However, limit the amount of transition effects, do not use the same effect right after another and try not to add effects on every side, simply because the audience can get tired of seeing the effects and the effects would then become useless.
When trying to add high qualilty graphics to your slide to help improve your presentation simply avoid using PowerPoint Clip Art or other cartoonish line art. In order to get high quality graphics you can take your own high-quality photographs with your digital camera, or use sites like Flikr.com (make sue to select All creater commers to avoid copyright issues). If you find a small image on google and decide to use it simply you should never stretch the small, since the low-resolution photo would make it a low quality photo.
Adding Charts to a slide can help make your presentation great, but you simply don't want to upload a random chart, you need to keep in mind the type of charts that would work. If you are trying to add a chart that shows percentages you should use a Pie Chart, and if you are trying to add a chart that shows changes in quantity over time you should add a vertical bar chart, and if you are trying to add a chart that compare quantities you need to use a Horizontal bar graph. So keep in mind what type of chart works best with the information you are trying to make into a chart.
Since no audience will be excited about a cookie-cutter presentation you should stay away from the Powerpoint Templates. If you want to use a template then you should try creating your own unique template that goes well with the theme of your presentation. If you do create a template then your presentation would look new and different from any other presentations the audience sat in before since they would not be seeing the same powerpoint templates they are used to seeing.
When using different colors on slides I suggest you use the color wheel to create your own color, and use complementary colors. Never use the same color of the image or the background of the slide as a text color simply because it is hard to read as well as hard to see. I suggest you.stay away from the color RED as a text simply because not a good look. Remember the color matters there for choose your color wisely and never use the same color of a picture and of the background as the text color.
When it comes to choosing a font you should use the same font throughout your presentation, keep it basic Arial font works best, I suggest using Arial Bold to make your text stand out.
Using video and or audio is a great way to increase the interest of your audience. Use of the video gives a great transition from the audience listening to you talk they would be getting to see what you are talking about, there for the videos/ audios gives your presentation credibility so make sure to use great and interesting videos that apply to your topic. Reminder stay away from the powerpoint sound effects simply those sounds would make your presentation look cheese and the audience would not take your presentation seriously
Using the slide sorter view can help determine if you should break slides into 2, 3 or even 4 slides if necessary. THis view gives you a sense of how your presentation would look as you present and gives you a sense of flow so you feel how the slides work in conjunction with each other or if you need to reorganize the slides so they work together better, you also get to see your presentation from the point of view of the audience, so you basically putting yourself in the audience's shoes which helps you find mistakes and correct yourself before giving the presentation.
