Presentations are about as common as emails in the business world. It’s pretty unlikely that you’ll skate through a job without having to create a slide or presentation deck to share with upper management, colleagues, or clients. It’s something that’s usually mandatory (and mundane) so people tend to dread giving—and watching—presentations regardless of how important the topic.
Afterall, they all look the same, right? A few photos here, several bullet points there. We hate to stereotype, but generally speaking, when a non-designer has to create a presentation you’re going to get the bare minimum. You’ve heard the phrase “death by PowerPoint,” which in its simplest form means your deck is lackluster and boring people into a deep, deep daydream (or if it’s really bad, maybe even a nap and an actual dream). Luckily, you can turn it around.
What are some creative presentation ideas that can help you break through the boredom? Try these 7 things to elevate your next presentation in Beautiful.ai.
Think outside the (text) box
The cold, hard truth is that people are expecting your presentation to be boring. Your audience has seen enough presentations to know that most people will use the obvious slides: bullet points, chaotic charts that they can’t make sense of, and lengthy blocks of text. The first mistake you can make in presentation design is settling for a seemingly popular slide layout. Let’s dodge the bullet points. Think outside the (text) box and format your slides in new interesting ways. Beautiful.ai’s inspiration gallery can help you try presentation templates in new ways that you might not have thought of otherwise. With pre-built (fully customizable) templates curated by our in-house designer, there are countless templates to help you get started and spark your own ideas. The Smart Slides help you rethink your story and structure it in a more creative way.
Play with color
Black and white are great, but let’s show your true colors. You can make your presentation pop by simply choosing a more vibrant color palette. Whether it’s different variations of the pantone color of the year, or your brand colors, choosing eye-catching hues is an easy way to take your presentation to the next level. That said, we recommend selecting colors that complement one another and create a nice contrast. For example, you should have a mix of darker and lighter hues so that your text, graphs, and charts are legible when the colors are used together on the same slide.
Use a background image
Title slides with a blank, solid-colored background are so 2015. When you need a section break, or title page, try using a background image behind your title. Not only will this give your audience’s eyes a break from reading slides, it will be more apparent that you’re moving on to a new section or point. Your background image should be relevant to your overarching message, on-brand, and eye-catching without lacking quality. Beautiful.ai’s free image library offers hundreds of thousands of high-quality images to support any story.
Add dynamic animations
We’ve all been there: mindlessly playing on our phone when something flashes on the television pulling your attention back to the show you were watching. It’s simple, really. The sudden motion caused you to focus on what was happening and redirect your eyes to the screen. The same applies to dynamic animations in presentations. If you opt for your graphs, charts, or slides to build with the help of animations you’re a lot more likely to have an engaged audience. We’re not talking about giving them motion sickness, so don’t overdo it, but simple movements on the screen bring your slides to life. Not all stories are created equally so Beautiful.ai allows you to choose your animation speed and style, so that they build on the slide in a way that best supports your unique story.
Tell your story with audio
Sometimes you need to provide more context to your slide. If you can’t be there live— or in person— adding audio is a lifesaver. By adding audio to your presentation, you’re the narrator of the story. You’re telling your audience exactly what they need to pay attention to so that they don’t miss the key points. You can use this to add music, voice-overs, or simply call out a particular part of the slide. Get creative with your audio, it can be the difference between a stellar presentation and one that falls short.
Include video
In case you missed it: video is the new picture. It’s 2021, and video is becoming increasingly more popular than it was in previous years. Especially in our new normal of remote work, video acts as a way to tell your story faster, and in a more engaging way than a static photo would. Everything from social media to presentations is leaning heavily into video to help inform, interact, and maintain relationships with audiences. In Beautiful.ai, it’s just as easy to add video as it is to add photos with our Video slide template— so go crazy.
Get your audience involved
Even with the greatest looking presentation of all time, you might still lose an audience member or two. It’s them, not you. But what if we told you there’s a way to reel them back in? If you find your audience dozing off or staring into space, don’t be afraid to get them involved with the presentation. Some creative presentation ideas that include the audience members might be adding polls to a slide, asking them thought-provoking questions, gamifying the experience with trivia, or by giving them incentives to share on social media (think live tweets) with an event hashtag. By letting them in on the fun, and the conversation, you’re encouraging them to stay engaged and retain the information you’re telling them.
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