What are the things to keep in mind while making a good PowerPoint presentation?

This is a post that I have written as part of my application to become a facebook beta tester.

A great PowerPoint presentation can go a long way in the making of a successful deal. Business or recreation or learning, PPTs today, rule our world. And if you are good at it you do get noticed. But if you are bad at it you surely get noticed. The other way that is…

Here are therefore six points that one may keep in mind while making a presentation and be sure of not being noticed the other way.

Length of PPT in terms of slides is one of the most important factors in a business presentation. The thumb rule is minimum of 6 and maximum of 20 slides keeping in mind the average “interested” human attention span. Anything beyond 20 and it will bore your audience except if you are Megan Fox or Brad Pitt.

If the limit of slides is 20, it never means that you cram all that you have got in 20 slides and feel happy about it. A slide with too much information whether text or images is still a bore. The 666 rule should be followed when creating a slide. 6 bullets per slide, 6 words per bullet and maximum 6 slides of text in a row before a graphic shows up. Apart from text in slides, one may use graphics and ClipArt. The point to remember however is that you should use new age, 3D and still subtle graphics and not in your face type strong visual graphics. One may also use GIF animations as long as they are subtle.

The background of a PPT slide sometimes becomes one’s canvass and therefore bears the brunt of artistic explosion. However a background that is in contrast with the text color and is constant across all your slides is the best and safest bet. As far the fonts go, the most stylish ones are the toughest to read for your audience and the size of 44 as heading and 28 as body text is the best readable with a decent looking font.

Another thing is animation and effects. All business PPTs should have minimal effects unless your business card either says graphic designer or Steve Jobs. One may experiment with effects little bit if one is making an informal sort of presentation.

Last but not the least is sound. Sound of applause while you present figures of growth may be music only to your ears. Generally the only sound that a business PPT should be presented with is that of you talking.

Finally, don’t trust the technology too much and keep a backup of your presentation.

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