Corporates and firms have altered their ways of working owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. With our lives transforming from physical workspace to the virtual world, remote presentations have become the norm for the global workforce. In the wake of the current social distancing situation, employees are compelled to Work From Home (WFH). Earlier, the traditional office rooms hosted the presentations but, now with virtual conferences, presentations are given digitally.
PowerPoint presentations are the leading choice among the professionals to showcase analysis, business pitches, brainstorm ideas or reinforce the branding strategy. With in-person presentations, the audience is more or less engaged with the content. But, how to captivate your clients in online presentations where a dull presentation would compel them to zone out? The key is to make eye-catching and top-notch presentations with pertinent PowerPoint templates which hold your audience’s gaze. A striking and interactive presentation is sure to leave your stakeholders impressed.
Here are some tips and tricks for you to create your perfect remote presentation to connect with your audience:
Choose An Apt Template
A vibrant presentation template is a game-changer for a striking slide deck. Select a befitting template for your PowerPoint presentation from hundreds of websites available online like SlideModel, Prezi, Visme, etc. A template suiting your niche like Marketing, Finance, SWOT will fuse your presentation with a professional graphic design. Stock templates often induce dullness to your slides due to their monotony. Pick a template corresponding to your brand’s aesthetic for it to be unique. Choose invigorating templates for the quick formulation, editing, and consistency of the presentation.
Strong Landing Slide
A PowerPoint presentation must have a strong landing slide in the beginning to catch the audience’s eye. While presenting remotely, it is a requisite for your presentation’s opening to be gripping to spare your audience from getting distracted. Integrate your landing slide with a strong background, perfect images, and appropriate content to grip everyone’s attention from the first five minutes. Incorporate questions, focused headlines, and key phrases in the landing slide. State the objectives of the presentation clearly and hold their curiosity from the start!
Visually Pleasing Content
While working on a remote presentation, avoid infusion of text-heavy slides as they are appreciated less by the audience owing to their monotony. To render your presentation a stunning and charismatic look, incorporate it with enticing images, leverage superior and high-quality illustrations that complement your text. Ensure to use pixel-perfect, non-blurred, and best resolution images for them to be visually pleasing. Bold and colorful imagery promotes easy idea capturing and comprehension of the text in slides. Boost the visual kick of your presentation with awe-inspiring images.
Compelling Narrative
Presenting your virtual pitch deck in the form of a story will leave an indelible impact on your clients’ minds. Depending upon your field, weave your presentation’s topic into a story form for it to be of interest and engagement. Portraying data and statistics with just raw facts will not get your point across to the audience. Remote presentations ought to be twice as compelling as the ones imparted in the offices. Focus on the details, the story behind your slides and pique the investors or management’s interest with a narrative.
Statistics Presentation Through Charts And Diagrams
Since attending remote presentations is arduous enough with ample distractions, adding data in bullets and making it more complex won’t aid in its understanding. Data visualization with charts, diagrams, shapes, and timelines will simplify your statistics making it concise and powerful. Select state-of-the-art templates from SlideModel with breathtaking visuals, color-coded charts, and diagrams which will save your time and beautify your presentation. Further, you can also forge salient business charts using business intelligence tools such as Power BI.
One Topic Per Slide
Assign individual slides for the critical concepts of your presentation for them to stand out. It is crucial in a remote PowerPoint presentation as it allows your audience to get back on track quickly if they get lost for some reason. Bestow each slide with a purpose and engaging title. Avoid excessive cluttering of slides with many topics on one as it unfolds the presentation as disorganized, which is daunting to grasp. Focus on a clear presentation outline, designate each presentation slide with one topic, and deliver it easily.
Animations And Transitions
Subtle animations and slide transitions go a long way in making your presentation look more lively and charming. Animations make your presentations more dynamic leaving your information to be more memorable. Transitions between slides assist in moving from one slide to the next more smooth and less jarring. A well-ordered slideshow will garner praise from your bosses or your clients. Also, Make sure to use only relevant and minimum animations and transitions as they should not be distracting and overwhelming.
Competent Typography
Ever had to squint your eyes to read the text in the slide? Keeping the font size too small in your slides can cause your audience to lose interest in it quickly as they will have to struggle to read the text. As a remote presenter, select the fonts and their size methodically. Incorporate functional fonts rather than fancy fonts. Complement the fonts of your slide topic and the text present in it. Use only 2-3 fonts in a presentation for it to maintain consistency. Select a fitting font size that is easily readable from a distance to dodge any strain on your audience’s eyes.
Q&A
To ace at a remote virtual presentation, the best way to connect with your audience is through a Q&A session at the end or in the middle if necessary. Clear out the doubts of your audience and interact with them one by one to avoid interference of voices. You are the host of your presentation, ask the people to raise their hands to ask questions, and unmute them in order. Alternatively, you can also ask your audience to type their queries in the chatbox. Follow a conversation protocol and encourage participation from the audience.
Simplify Your Slides
A complex presentation with an overload of content and images might be difficult for your online audience to understand. Keep your slides simple with minimalist features. Fuse your slides with cues for you to remember the essential points while delivering. Stick to the main ideas of your topic instead of including irrelevant ones which will pile up your slides. Remember that you’re presenting to numerous people online who might not have great internet speed. Tone down the animations, limit the videos and gifs for a seamless presentation.
Presentation is all about performance be it in-person or virtually. A powerful and impacting PowerPoint presentation has the potential to exhibit your ideas engagingly. To form an authentic connection with your audience during a virtual presentation is of the essence. Craft delightful presentations in your quarantine with these tips and enhance your remote presentation experience. Be prepared, tech-ready and interactive to give an exceptional remote presentation.
