I hate Powerpoint, I really do. It's unintuitive, difficult to use, its tools and layout almost encourages you to create horribly boring presentations. Unfortunately it is the way of the world, the industry standard, a necessary evil, I suppose - and there is not much we can do about it.

So recently I've been working on some presentations we are giving at some industry events. My job was simple, I was given a draft powerpoint file and was instructed to 'Do your creative thing'. Now, although my first instinct was to do away with the Powerpoint file and make something in Flash, I do see the merit of having it in Powerpoint format - so it is easy for other staff to edit and update, without the need for the designer.

 

Firstly - I changed the fonts, updated the background theme and layout. After throwing in some appropriate full screen images, neatening up all the text and redesigning the charts - I had a shiny, brand new presentation to go. It was passed around the office and the comments were positive, most were very happy about how professional it looked.

 

The thing is, you don't need to be a graphic designer to be able to put together a nice Powerpoint presentation.

 

And although I could go into a step-by-step guide on how anyone can put together a nicer presentation, it's probably more effective if I point you in the direction on useful resources for making a better presentation.

 

Presentation Zen
http://www.presentationzen.com/
Garr Reynolds blog  is full of great tips on how best to, and not to use different elements to make an effective presentation. It's really easy to read, and quite insightful - even for the seasoned graphic designer. It might also be worth checking out his bestselling book. He also has some great tips on slides.

 

Making Better Graphs and Charts
Ugly graphs and charts are perhaps the root cause of painfully presentations. FlowingData have a great piece with a sense of humour titled: 6 Steps to Make Your Graph (Really) Ugly. Also, if you want to have a go, they have a good beginner guide to designing a graph in Adobe Illustrator.

 

Finding Images
Sourcing appropriate images for a presentation can be tricky, finding good quality ones can be a bit of a mission. Try using Everystockphoto which is a search engine for free and licensed images and StockXchng which is a free stock image site.

 

Need some inspiration?
Get some inspiration at the Slideshare World's Best Presentation Content