1. Create a Strong First Impression

Your title slide is the first thing your audience will see, so make sure it captures the mood and overall theme of your presentation. Following the title slide, include a “meet the team” slide introducing the team with headshots, names, and roles. The final component of your introductory slides should be a preview slide that outlines topics you will cover in the presentation. This helps set the expectations of what your audience can expect to hear. Aim to keep the preview slide to 3-5 topic chunks.

2. Keep it Consistent

• Consider your audience’s brand​ and align your design with their brand standards.
• Consider the mood you want to create and choose colors that reinforce this.​
• Choose no more than 2 fonts.
• As a whole your slide deck should feel like a cohesive unit.

3. Take Advantage of Company Logo and Branding

• if you have access to the company brand kit, take advantage of the color guides and logos offered.

4. Create Meaningful Headlines

• Avoid creating headlines to your slide that are simply descriptive. Instead, strong headlines are ones that:

5. You Slide deck Should Tell a Coherent Story

• You should storyboard or outline BEFORE building your slides.​ The audience should be able to clearly understand the story of your presentation if they were to read only the headlines of your slides. If not, keep editing.

6. Avoid Overwhelming the Audience with Visual Noise

• You want your audience to focus primarily on what you are sharing verbally, with slides reinforcing your message. To minimize distraction and keep focus:
  • Limit the use of bullet points​.
    • Audiences will read instead of listening to you if you include too much text.
  • Make sure text and images are readable from a distance​.
    • A good starting place is 28-point font for non-reference text.
  • Limit yourself to one idea per slide.
    • Opt to create a different slide if you have another idea to share.
  • Minimize animations.​
    • Only use animations when they add value to your presentation.

7. Everything on your Slide should have a Purpose

• Everything in the body of the slide should support and reinforce the headline.​
• Make sure charts and graphs are directly labeled and easy to read.
• Only use high quality images.
• Limit elements that are merely decorative.​

8. Tailor the Number of Slides to the Length of the Presentation

• As a general rule, use one slide per minute of a presentation.

9. Finish with Impact and Prepare for the Q&A

• Provide a succinct recap slide that refreshes the audience’s memory of what was covered and reinforces your message. If the presentation is persuasive in nature, provide a clear call to action. If you are presenting to an external client, include your contact information. If you are holding a Q&A after the presentation, be sure to prepare several slides and create quick links to slides within your presentation.

10. Ensure your Slides are Audience-Centered

• Always keep the needs and concerns of your audience at the forefront of your design decisions.
• Slides are an effective way to use the power of images or data visualization to make complicated or dense material come to life for your audience.