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How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation (Step-by-Step)

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Presentation Design
• January 22, 2024

In this beginner’s guide, you will learn step-by-step how to make a PowerPoint presentation from scratch.

While PowerPoint is designed to be intuitive and accessible, it can be overwhelming if you’ve never gotten any training on it before. As you progress through this guide, you’ll will learn how to move from blank slides to PowerPoint slides that look like these.

Table of Contents

Additionally, as you create your presentation, you’ll also learn tricks for working more efficiently in PowerPoint, including how to:

• Change the slide order
• Reset your layout
• Change the slide dimensions
• Use PowerPoint Designer
• Format text
• Format objects
• Play a presentation (slide show)

With this knowledge under your belt, you’ll be ready to start creating PowerPoint presentations. Moreover, you’ll have taken your skills from beginner to proficient in no time at all. I will also include links to more advanced PowerPoint topics.

Ready to start learning how to make a PowerPoint presentation?

Take your PPT skills to the next level

Start with a blank presentation.

Note: Before you open PowerPoint and start creating your presentation, make sure you’ve collected your thoughts. If you’re going to make your slides compelling, you need to spend some time brainstorming.

For help with this, see our article with tips for nailing your business presentation  here .

The first thing you’ll need to do is to open PowerPoint. When you do, you are shown the Start Menu , with the Home tab open.

This is where you can choose either a blank theme (1) or a pre-built theme (2). You can also choose to open an existing presentation (3).

For now, go ahead and click on the  Blank Presentation (1)  thumbnail.

Doing so launches a brand new and blank presentation for you to work with. Before you start adding content to your presentation, let’s first familiarize ourselves with the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint interface

Here is how the program is laid out:

• The Application Header
• The Ribbon (including the Ribbon tabs)
• The Quick Access Toolbar (either above or below the Ribbon)
• The Slides Pane (slide thumbnails)

The Slide Area

The notes pane.

• The Status Bar (including the View Buttons)

Each one of these areas has options for viewing certain parts of the PowerPoint environment and formatting your presentation.

Below are the important things to know about certain elements of the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint Ribbon

The Ribbon is contextual. That means that it will adapt to what you’re doing in the program.

For example, the Font, Paragraph and Drawing options are greyed out until you select something that has text in it, as in the example below (A).

Furthermore, if you start manipulating certain objects, the Ribbon will display additional tabs, as seen above (B), with more commands and features to help you work with those objects. The following objects have their own additional tabs in the Ribbon which are hidden until you select them:

• Online Pictures
• Screenshots
• Screen Recording

The Slides Pane

This is where you can preview and rearrange all the slides in your presentation.

Right-clicking on a slide  in the pane gives you additional options on the slide level that you won’t find on the Ribbon, such as  Duplicate Slide ,  Delete Slide , and  Hide Slide .

In addition, you can add sections to your presentation by  right-clicking anywhere in this Pane  and selecting  Add Section . Sections are extremely helpful in large presentations, as they allow you to organize your slides into chunks that you can then rearrange, print or display differently from other slides.

The Slide Area (A) is where you will build out your slides. Anything within the bounds of this area will be visible when you present or print your presentation.

Anything outside of this area (B) will be hidden from view. This means that you can place things here, such as instructions for each slide, without worrying about them being shown to your audience.

The  Notes Pane  is the space beneath the Slide Area where you can type in the speaker notes for each slide. It’s designed as a fast way to add and edit your slides’ talking points.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about adding, printing, and exporting your PowerPoint speaker notes, read our guide here .

Your speaker notes are visible when you print your slides using the Notes Pages option and when you use the Presenter View . To expand your knowledge and learn the ins and outs of using the Presenter View , read our guide here .

You can resize the  Notes Pane  by clicking on its edge and dragging it up or down (A). You can also minimize or reopen it by clicking on the Notes button in the Status Bar (B).

Note:  Not all text formatting displays in the Notes Pane, even though it will show up when printing your speaker notes. To learn more about printing PowerPoint with notes, read our guide here .

Now that you have a basic grasp of the PowerPoint interface at your disposal, it’s time to make your presentation.

Adding Content to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Notice that in the Slide Area , there are two rectangles with dotted outlines. These are called  Placeholders  and they’re set on the template in the Slide Master View .

To expand your knowledge and learn how to create a PowerPoint template of your own (which is no small task), read our guide here .

As the prompt text suggests, you can click into each placeholder and start typing text. These types of placeholder prompts are customizable too. That means that if you are using a company template, it might say something different, but the functionality is the same.

Note:  For the purposes of this example, I will create a presentation based on the content in the Starbucks 2018 Global Social Impact Report, which is available to the public on their website.

If you type in more text than there is room for, PowerPoint will automatically reduce its font size. You can stop this behavior by clicking on the  Autofit Options  icon to the left of the placeholder and selecting  Stop Fitting Text to this Placeholder .

Next, you can make formatting adjustments to your text by selecting the commands in the Font area and the  Paragraph area  of the  Home  tab of the Ribbon.

The Reset Command:  If you make any changes to your title and decide you want to go back to how it was originally, you can use the Reset button up in the Home tab .

Insert More Slides into Your Presentation

Now that you have your title slide filled in, it’s time to add more slides. To do that, simply go up to the  Home tab  and click on  New Slide . This inserts a new slide in your presentation right after the one you were on.

You can alternatively hit Ctrl+M on your keyboard to insert a new blank slide in PowerPoint. To learn more about this shortcut, see my guide on using Ctrl+M in PowerPoint .

Instead of clicking the New Slide command, you can also open the New Slide dropdown to see all the slide layouts in your PowerPoint template. Depending on who created your template, your layouts in this dropdown can be radically different.

If you insert a layout and later want to change it to a different layout, you can use the Layout dropdown instead of the New Slide dropdown.

After inserting a few different slide layouts, your presentation might look like the following picture. Don’t worry that it looks blank, next we will start adding content to your presentation.

If you want to follow along exactly with me, your five slides should be as follows:

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Picture with Caption

Adding Content to Your Slides

Now let’s go into each slide and start adding our content. You’ll notice some new types of placeholders.

On slide 2 we have a  Content Placeholder , which allows you to add any kind of content. That includes:

• A SmartArt graphic,
• A 3D object,
• A picture from the web,
• Or an icon.

To insert text, simply type it in or hit  Ctrl+C to Copy  and Ctrl+V to Paste  from elsewhere. To insert any of the other objects, click on the appropriate icon and follow the steps to insert it.

For my example, I’ll simply type in some text as you can see in the picture below.

Slides 3 and 4 only have text placeholders, so I’ll go ahead and add in my text into each one.

On slide 5 we have a Picture Placeholder . That means that the only elements that can go into it are:

• A picture from the web

To insert a picture into the picture placeholder, simply:

• Click on the  Picture  icon
• Find  a picture on your computer and select it
• Click on  Insert

Alternatively, if you already have a picture open somewhere else, you can select the placeholder and paste in (shortcut: Ctrl+V ) the picture. You can also drag the picture in from a file explorer window.

If you do not like the background of the picture you inserted onto your slide, you can remove the background here in PowerPoint. To see how to do this, read my guide here .

Placeholders aren’t the only way to add content to your slides. At any point, you can use the Insert tab to add elements to your slides.

You can use either the Title Only  or the  Blank  slide layout to create slides for content that’s different. For example, a three-layout content slide, or a single picture divider slide, as shown below.

In the first example above, I’ve inserted 6 text boxes, 3 icons, and 3 circles to create this layout. In the second example, I’ve inserted a full-sized picture and then 2 shapes and 2 text boxes.

The Reset Command:  Because these slides are built with shapes and text boxes (and not placeholders), hitting the  Reset button up in the  Home tab  won’t do anything.

That is a good thing if you don’t want your layouts to adjust. However, it does mean that it falls on you to make sure everything is aligned and positioned correctly.

For more on how to add and manipulate the different objects in PowerPoint, check out our step-by-step articles here:

• Using graphics in PowerPoint
• Inserting icons onto slides
• Adding pictures to your PowerPoint
• How to embed a video in PowerPoint
• How to add music to your presentation

Using Designer to generate more layouts ideas

If you have Office 365, your version of PowerPoint comes with a new feature called Designer (or Design Ideas). This is a feature that generates slide layout ideas for you. The coolest thing about this feature is that it uses the content you already have.

To use Designer , simply navigate to the  Design tab  in your Ribbon, and click on  Design Ideas .

NOTE: If the PowerPoint Designer is not working for you (it is grey out), see my troubleshooting guide for Designer .

Change the Overall Design (optional)

When you make a PowerPoint presentation, you’ll want to think about the overall design. Now that you have some content in your presentation, you can use the Design tab to change the look and feel of your slides.

For additional help thinking through the design of your presentation,  read my guide here .

A. Picking your PowerPoint slide size

If you have PowerPoint 2013 or later, when you create a blank document in PowerPoint, you automatically start with a widescreen layout with a 16:9 ratio. These dimensions are suitable for most presentations as they match the screens of most computers and projectors.

However, you do have the option to change the dimensions.

For example, your presentation might not be presented, but instead converted into a PDF or printed and distributed. In that case, you can easily switch to the standard dimensions with a 4:3 ratio by selecting from the dropdown (A).

You can also choose a custom slide size or change the slide orientation from landscape to portrait in the Custom Slide Size dialog box (B).

To learn all about the different PowerPoint slide sizes, and some of the issues you will face when changing the slide size of a non-blank presentation,  read my guide here .

 B. Selecting a PowerPoint theme

The next thing you can do is change the theme of your presentation to a pre-built one. For a detailed explanation of what a PowerPoint theme is, and how to best use it,  read my article here .

In the beginning of this tutorial, we started with a blank presentation, which uses the default Office theme as you can see in the picture below.

That gives you the most flexibility because it has a blank background and quite simple layouts that work for most presentations. However, it also means that it’s your responsibility to enhance the design.

If you’re comfortable with this, you can stay with the default theme or create your own custom theme ( read my guide here ). But if you would rather not have to think about design, then you can choose a pre-designed theme.

Microsoft provides 46 other pre-built themes, which include slide layouts, color variants and palettes, and fonts. Each one varies quite significantly, so make sure you look through them carefully.

To select a different theme, go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon, and click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Themes section .

For this tutorial, let’s select the  Frame  theme and then choose the third Variant in the theme. Doing so changes the layout, colors, and fonts of your presentation.

Note: The theme dropdown area is also where you can import or save custom themes. To see my favorite places to find professional PowerPoint templates and themes (and recommendations for why I like them), read my guide here .

C. How to change a slide background in PowerPoint

The next thing to decide is how you want your background to look for the entire presentation. In the  Variants area, you can see four background options.

For this example, we want our presentation to have a dark background, so let’s select Style 3. When you do so, you’ll notice that:

• The background color automatically changes across all slides
• The color of the text on most of the slides automatically changes to white so that it’s visible on the dark background
• The colors of the objects on slides #6 and #7 also adjust, in a way we may not want (we’ll likely have to make some manual adjustments to these slides)

Note: If you want to change the slide background for just that one slide, don’t left-click the style. Instead, right-click it and select Apply to Selected Slides .

After you change the background for your entire presentation, you can easily adjust the background for an individual slide.

Inside the Format Background pane, you can see you have the following options:

• Gradient fill
• Picture or texture fill
• Pattern fill
• Hide background

You can explore these options to find the PowerPoint background that best fits your presentation.

D. How to change your color palette in PowerPoint

Another thing you may want to adjust in your presentation, is the color scheme. In the picture below you can see the Theme Colors we are currently using for this presentation.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own color palette. By default, the Office theme includes the Office color palette. This affects the colors you are presented with when you format any element within your presentation (text, shapes, SmartArt, etc.).

The good news is that the colors here are easy to change. To switch color palettes, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab in the Ribbon
• In the Variants area, click on the  dropdown arrow  and select  Colors
• Select  the color palette (or theme colors) you want

You can choose among the pre-built color palettes from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

As you build your presentation, make sure you use the colors from your theme to format objects. That way, changing the color palette adjusts all the colors in your presentation automatically.

E. How to change your fonts in PowerPoint

Just as we changed the color palette, you can do the same for the fonts.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own font combination. By default, the Office theme includes the Office font pairing. This affects the fonts that are automatically assigned to all text in your presentation.

The good news is that the font pairings are easy to change. To switch your Theme Fonts, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Variants  area
• Select  Fonts
• Select  the font pairing you want

You can choose among the pre-built fonts from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

If you are working with PowerPoint presentations on both Mac and PC computers, make sure you choose a safe PowerPoint font. To see a list of the safest PowerPoint fonts, read our guide here .

If you receive a PowerPoint presentation and the wrong fonts were used, you can use the Replace Fonts dialog box to change the fonts across your entire presentation. For details, read our guide here .

Adding Animations & Transitions (optional)

The final step to make a PowerPoint presentation compelling, is to consider using animations and transitions. These are by no means necessary to a good presentation, but they may be helpful in your situation.

A. Adding PowerPoint animations

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust animations engine designed to power your creativity. That being said, it’s also easy to get started with basic animations.

Animations are movements that you can apply to individual objects on your slide.

To add a PowerPoint animation to an element of your slide, simply:

• Select the  element
• Go to the  Animations tab in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  animation  you want

You can add animations to multiple objects at one time by selecting them all first and then applying the animation.

B. How to preview a PowerPoint animation

There are three ways to preview a PowerPoint animation:

• Click on the Preview button in the Animations tab
• Click on the little star  next to the slide
• Play the slide in Slide Show Mode

To learn other ways to run your slide show, see our guide on presenting a PowerPoint slide show with shortcuts .

To adjust the settings of your animations, explore the options in the  Effect Options ,  Advanced Animation  and the  Timing  areas of the  Animation tab .

Note:  To see how to make objects appear and disappear in your slides by clicking a button,  read our guide here .

C. How to manage your animations in PowerPoint

The best way to manage lots of animations on your slide is with the Animation Pane . To open it, simply:

• Navigate to the  Animations tab
• Select the  Animation Pane

Inside the Animation Pane, you’ll see all of the different animations that have been applied to objects on your slide, with their numbers marked as pictured above.

Note: To see examples of PowerPoint animations that can use in PowerPoint, see our list of PowerPoint animation tutorials here .

D. How to add transitions to your PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust transition engine so that you can dictate how your slides change from one to the other. It is also extremely easy to add transitions to your slides.

In PowerPoint, transitions are the movements (or effects) you see as you move between two slides.

To add a transition to a PowerPoint slide, simply:

• Select the  slide
• Go to the  Transitions tab in the Ribbon
• In the Transitions to This Slide area, click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  transition  you want

To adjust the settings of the transition, explore the options in the  Timing  area of the Transitions tab.

You can also add the same transition to multiple slides. To do that, select them in the  Slides Pane  and apply the transition.

E. How to preview a transition in PowerPoint

There are three ways to preview your PowerPoint transitions (just like your animations):

• Click on the Preview  button in the Transitions tab
• Click on the little star  beneath the slide number in the thumbnail view

Note:  In 2016, PowerPoint added a cool new transition, called Morph. It operates a bit differently from other transitions. For a detailed tutorial on how to use the cool Morph transition,  see our step-by-step article here .

Save Your PowerPoint Presentation

After you’ve built your presentation and made all the adjustments to your slides, you’ll want to save your presentation. YOu can do this several different ways.

To save a PowerPoint presentation using your Ribbon, simply:

• Navigate to the  File tab
•  Select  Save As  on the left
• Choose  where you want to save your presentation
• Name  your presentation and/or adjust your file type settings
• Click  Save

You can alternatively use the  Ctrl+S keyboard shortcut to save your presentation. I recommend using this shortcut frequently as you build your presentation to make sure you don’t lose any of your work.

This is the standard way to save a presentation. However, there may be a situation where you want to save your presentation as a different file type.

To learn how to save your presentation as a PDF, see our guide on converting PowerPoint to a PDF .

How to save your PowerPoint presentation as a template

Once you’ve created a presentation that you like, you may want to turn it into a template. The easiest – but not technically correct – way, is to simply create a copy of your current presentation and then change the content.

But be careful! A PowerPoint template is a special type of document and it has its own parameters and behaviors.

If you’re interested in learning about how to create your own PowerPoint template from scratch, see our guide on how to create a PowerPoint template .

Printing Your PowerPoint Presentation

After finishing your PowerPoint presentation, you may want to print it out on paper. Printing your slides is relatively easy.

To open the Print dialog box, you can either:

• Hit Ctrl+P on your keyboard
• Or go to the Ribbon and click on File and then Print

Inside the Print dialog box, you can choose from the various printing settings:

• Printer: Select a printer to use (or print to PDF or OneNote)
• Slides: Choose which slides you want to print
• Layout: Determine how many slides you want per page (this is where you can print the notes, outline, and handouts)
• Collated or uncollated (learn what collated printing means here )
• Color: Choose to print in color, grayscale or black & white

There are many more options for printing your PowerPoint presentations. Here are links to more in-depth articles:

• How to print multiple slides per page
• How to print your speaker notes in PowerPoint
• How to save PowerPoint as a picture presentation

So that’s how to create a PowerPoint presentation if you are brand new to it. We’ve also included a ton of links to helpful resources to boost your PowerPoint skills further.

When you are creating your presentation, it is critical to first focus on the content (what you are trying to say) before getting lost inserting and playing with elements. The clearer you are on what you want to present, the easier it will be to build it out in PowerPoint.

If you enjoyed this article, you can learn more about our PowerPoint training courses and other presentation resources by  visiting us here .

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6 Simple Parts for Beginners to Create a PowerPoint Presentation

Last Updated: December 19, 2022 Fact Checked

Creating a New PowerPoint

Creating the title slide, adding a new slide, adding content to slides, adding transitions, testing and saving your presentation.

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA . Darlene Antonelli is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. Darlene has experience teaching college courses, writing technology-related articles, and working hands-on in the technology field. She earned an MA in Writing from Rowan University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on online communities and the personalities curated in such communities. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 4,319,581 times. Learn more...

Do you want to have your data in a slide show? If you have Microsoft 365, you can use PowerPoint! PowerPoint is a program that's part of the Microsoft Office suite (which you have to pay for) and is available for both Windows and Mac computers. This wikiHow teaches you how to create your own Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on a computer.

Things You Should Know

• Templates make it easy to create vibrant presentations no matter your skill level.
• When adding photos, you can adjust their sizes by clicking and dragging in or out from their corners.
• You can add animated transitions between slides or to individual elements like bullet points and blocks of text.

• If you don't have a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, you can use the website instead of the desktop app. Go to https://powerpoint.office.com/ to use the website version.
• You can also use the mobile app to make presentations, though it's easier to do this on a computer, which has a larger screen, a mouse, and a keyboard.

• If you don't want to use a template, just click the Blank option in the upper-left side of the page and skip to the next part.

• Skip this step if your selected template has no themes available.

• If you're creating a PowerPoint presentation for which an elaborate title slide has been requested, ignore this step.

• You can change the font and size of text used from the Home tab that's in the orange ribbon at the top of the window.

• You can also just leave this box blank if you like.

• You can also click and drag in or out one of a text box's corners to shrink or enlarge the text box.

• On a Mac, you'll click the Home tab instead. [1] X Research source

• Clicking the white slide-shaped box above this option will result in a new text slide being inserted.

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Content with Caption
• Picture with Caption

• Naturally, the title slide should be the first slide in your presentation, meaning that it should be the top slide in the left-hand column.

• Skip this step and the next two steps if your selected slide uses a template that doesn't have text boxes in it.

• Text boxes in PowerPoint will automatically format the bulk of your text for you (e.g., adding bullet points) based on the context of the content itself.
• You can add notes that the Presentation will not include (but you'll still be able to see them on your screen) by clicking Notes at the bottom of the slide.

• You can change the font of the selected text by clicking the current font's name and then clicking your preferred font.
• If you want to change the size of the text, click the numbered drop-down box and then click a larger or smaller number based on whether you want to enlarge or shrink the text.
• You can also change the color, bolding, italicization, underlining, and so on from here.

• Photos in particular can be enlarged or shrunk by clicking and dragging out or in one of their corners.

• Remember to keep slides uncluttered and relatively free of distractions. It's best to keep the amount of text per slide to around 33 words or less. [2] X Research source

• Slide content will animate in the order in which you assign transitions. For example, if you animate a photo on the slide and then animate the title, the photo will appear before the title.
• Make your slideshow progress automatically by setting the speed of every transition to align with your speech as well as setting each slide to Advance . [3] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source

• If you need to exit the presentation, press Esc .

• Windows - Click File , click Save , double-click This PC , select a save location, enter a name for your presentation, and click Save .
• Mac - Click File , click Save As... , enter the presentation's name in the "Save As" field, select a save location by clicking the "Where" box and clicking a folder, and click Save .

Community Q&A

• If you save your PowerPoint presentation in .pps format instead of the default .ppt format, double-clicking your PowerPoint presentation file will prompt the presentation to open directly into the slideshow view. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 0
• If you don't have Microsoft Office, you can still use Apple's Keynote program or Google Slides to create a PowerPoint presentation. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Your PowerPoint presentation (or some features in it) may not open in significantly older versions of PowerPoint. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 1
• Great PowerPoint presentations avoid placing too much text on one slide. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=DBDCE00C929AA5D8!252&ithint=file%2cpptx&app=PowerPoint&authkey=!AH4O9NxcbehqzIg
• ↑ https://www.virtualsalt.com/powerpoint.htm
• ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/set-the-timing-and-speed-of-a-transition-c3c3c66f-4cca-4821-b8b9-7de0f3f6ead1#:~:text=To%20make%20the%20slide%20advance,effect%20on%20the%20slide%20finishes .

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7 Steps to Create a Presentation in PowerPoint (+ Templates)

Learn essential steps and tips to move beyond data slides. Discover why PowerPoint falls flat and unveil next-gen tools for impactful presentations.

Hadar Peretz

6 minute read

Short answer

7 steps to create a presentation in PowerPoint

Begin with a surprise or bold statement.

Provide necessary background information.

Frame your presentation as a story.

Keep the text concise and meaningful.

Use visuals to complement the text.

Incorporate interactive design.

Conclude with actionable insights.

Effective data and visual presentation requires specific knowledge

Displaying complex data and project visuals via multimedia elements demands substantial knowledge.

It's not merely about presenting data but doing so in a manner that's intuitive and engaging for the audience.

Utilizing graphs, charts, videos, and interactive animations effectively necessitates a good grasp of design principles, storytelling, and data visualization.

Moreover, familiarity with the technology and platforms for creating and sharing these multimedia presentations is crucial.

This blend of design acumen, technological expertise, and succinct communication is key to ensuring the data and project visuals are comprehended well by the audience.

5 benefits of mastering PowerPoint presentations

PowerPoint presentations come with a variety of benefits that make them a popular choice for both professional and educational settings. Here are some of the advantages:

Visual Engagement: Utilize visuals to keep audiences engaged and convey ideas effectively.

Organization: Structured slides ensure a clear, linear flow of content.

Customization: Modify designs to suit different topics or branding needs.

Compatibility and Reusability: Easily share across platforms, and update or reuse presentations.

Supports Multimedia: PowerPoint supports the integration of videos, hyperlinks, and other multimedia elements.

How to make a presentation in PowerPoint? (7 steps)

Creating a compelling presentation in PowerPoint is a blend of artistry and storytelling, combined with a clear understanding of the material at hand.

Let’s break down this process into seven detailed steps to craft a presentation that not only captivates your audience but leaves a lasting impact.

1. Start with a surprising statement, a bold promise, or a mystery

Kicking off with something unexpected grabs your audience's attention right from the outset.

It might be a shocking fact related to your topic, a bold promise of what they'll learn, or a mystery that piques their curiosity.

For instance, if your presentation is about time management , you might start with a surprising statistic about the average amount of time people waste on trivial tasks.

learn how to avoid these presentation starters : overloading facts, over-explaining initially, generic content, relying solely on PowerPoint norms, revealing key benefits early, and focusing on self over audience engagement.

Aim for curiosity-sparking, audience-tailored narratives.

2. Provide context with a bit of background information

Before diving deep, give your audience a clear understanding of the topic at hand. Offer a brief background to set the stage.

Going with the time management example, you could provide some insights into how modern distractions have made managing time more challenging.

3. Structure your presentation within a story framework

Stories are a powerful medium to convey messages. Structuring your presentation as a story keeps your audience engaged.

Introduce a protagonist, which could be an individual, a group, or even your audience, facing a problem that your presentation will help solve.

For instance, narrate a day in the life of a person struggling to manage time and how the techniques you’re about to share turn things around.

4 steps to structuring your presentation within a story framework:

Introduce Setting and Characters: Kickstart by presenting the backdrop and the entities involved, making them relevant to your audience.

Highlight a Conflict or Challenge: Unveil a significant problem or hurdle that the audience can relate to, setting the stage for your solutions.

Propose the Resolution: Unfold your solutions to the earlier stated problem, walking your audience through each resolving step.

Recap and Look Ahead: Conclude by recapping the narrative and offering actionable steps or insights for the audience to ponder upon or implement.

4. Make every word count, and use as few as possible

Conciseness is key. Make sure each word on your slide adds value to your presentation. This approach keeps your slides uncluttered and easy to follow.

For instance, instead of writing a long sentence about the importance of prioritizing tasks, use a brief statement like “Prioritize to Monetize.”

5. Use visuals only to support your presentation text

Utilizing visuals judiciously within your presentation is crucial. Visuals should complement your narrative, not overshadow it.

Explore the steps to make a presentation creative , apply these methods, and see your skills enhance, leading to captivating presentations.

The essence is to employ images, graphs, and charts to enhance understanding or convey a message more efficiently.

For instance, a simple pie chart can swiftly illustrate how much time is saved by effective prioritization.

By adhering to this guideline, you ensure that your audience remains focused on the key messages being delivered, with visuals serving as a supportive tool rather than a distraction.

6. Use interactive design to make your audience active participants

Engage your audience with interactive elements. Incorporating clickable links, embedded videos, or live polls can make your presentation more interactive and engaging.

For instance, a live poll could be used to understand the audience’s prior knowledge about time management.

7. End by telling your audience what they can do with what they’ve learned

Your conclusion should empower your audience to apply the learnings in their lives. Recap the key points and provide actionable steps they can take post-presentation.

For instance, share a list of time-management tools or a 30-day challenge to improve productivity.

By following these seven steps, you’re on the path to mastering the art of creating impactful PowerPoint presentations.

Each step is geared towards making your content more engaging, understandable, and memorable, ensuring that your message not only resonates with your audience but prompts action long after your presentation concludes.

Browse basic examples about how to end a presentation and discover what should be on the last slide of the presentation.

8 pro tips for crafting effective PowerPoint presentations

Crafting an effective PowerPoint presentation demands a blend of clear objectives, engaging narrative, visual creativity, and audience-centric communication.

Here are key tips to guide you in this endeavor:

Know Your Audience: Tailor your message to match audience expectations.

Clear Objective: Define the primary goal of your presentation.

Engaging Storyline: Employ a compelling narrative to convey your message.

Simplicity is Key: Keep content concise and language simple.

Visual Aids: Use visuals like images and charts to support text.

Practice and Prepare: Familiarize yourself with your content and anticipate questions.

Interactive Elements: Incorporate polls or Q&A to engage the audience.

C all to Action: End with a clear call to action guiding the audience on the next steps.

Why it's time to move to the next-gen presentation tools

Making a memorable presentation requires more than just PowerPoint slides. In fact, making a PowerPoint presentation interesting is impossible .

In today's digital era, engaging your audience demands innovative tools and a narrative approach.

Let’s explore a game-changing tool for impactful presentations.

Embrace interactivity

Interactive presentations foster real-time engagement, turning monologues into dialogues.

Tools like Storydoc offer a fresh, engaging approach to sharing your message.

With the right tools, creating lasting impressions is a breeze. It’s time to change the narrative and make your presentations both informative and inspiring.

Here’s our CEO, Itai Amoza, discussing the key elements that make a presentation engaging:

Best tool for making an effective presentation

Traditionally, PowerPoint or Google Slides were the go-to platforms for crafting presentations, offering simplicity.

However, to truly engage modern audiences, stepping up your game is essential. This is where next-gen AI-driven tools like Storydoc come into play.

Unlike static slides, Storydoc enables the creation of interactive, immersive content experiences. It’s not merely about showcasing data, but weaving a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience.

Creative presentation templates

Ever faced the daunting blank slide with a blinking cursor urging creativity? It's like having a stage awaiting your script.

Overcoming this initial challenge can be hefty, but there's a savior - creative presentation templates.

These templates act like a structured canvas, guiding your narrative while leaving room for your unique flair.

Grab a template and witness the simplicity it brings to narrating your distinct tale.

I am a Marketing Specialist at Storydoc, I research, analyze and write on our core topics of business presentations, sales, and fundraising. I love talking to clients about their successes and failures so I can get a rounded understanding of their world.

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How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

Create a basic PowerPoint presentation to share information

• University of Utah
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In This Article

Jump to a Section

Create a PowerPoint Presentation

Add text and images to a powerpoint presentation.

• Save and Share PowerPoint Presentation

What to Know

• Select File > New > Blank Presentation or choose preset theme.
• Next, select Home tab > New Slide . Or right-click Slide Sorter bar > select New Slide .
• Select Insert tab > Text Box > select spot in slide for text box > enter text. Select Insert > add images.

This article details how to put together a PowerPoint presentation using PowerPoint for Microsoft 365, PowerPoint 2019, 2016, and 2013.

Here are the steps to create a basic PowerPoint presentation.

Open PowerPoint. The program may open a blank presentation. If so, select File > New to see the options for creating a new slideshow.

If you'd like to take a tour of the most popular PowerPoint features, go to File > New , then choose the Welcome to PowerPoint template.

Select either a Blank Presentation or choose one of the Microsoft-supplied design themes to create your presentation. When you choose a blank presentation, PowerPoint creates a one-slide presentation that starts with a title slide. You can then select the text boxes on the Title Slide to add your text.

Themes include matching color palettes and fonts to help you create a document with a cohesive look.

Add more slides to your presentation. Go to the Home tab and select New Slide . Or, right-click the Slide Sorter bar in the left pane and select New Slide .

Change the slide layout, if desired. Go to the Home tab and select Layout . Then, choose options for content layout in your slides, which you can resize or delete as needed.

Repeat these steps until you have enough slides to finish your presentation.

Now that you've created the framework of your presentation, you can use some basic operations to make it more interesting.

If you selected a pre-determined layout for a slide that includes text or image elements, click any element. Selecting a text box opens it for editing. You can then type or paste your content into the text box. General content boxes have icons to click to insert objects, including tables, charts, SmartArt, pictures, and video.

Add a text box to a slide. Go to the Insert tab and choose Text Box . Click any place in the slide to place the box. When you begin typing, the Home tab opens with text formatting options such as font, size, bold, italics, color, and alignment. The text editing buttons are only available when a text box is selected.

To resize a text box, drag (click and hold with a mouse) one of the adjustment handles on the outside of the text box until the text box is the desired size.

Add an image. Go to the Insert tab and find the options in the Images group. Choose from these options:

• Picture opens a file browser. Navigate to the photo on your computer you wish to use.
• Online Picture opens a search window. Search Bing for an image online or use OneDrive to access your photos.
• Screenshot captures part of your screen and adds it to your presentation.
• Photo Album accesses a group of photos on your computer.

Adding other objects is also done through the Insert tab. You can drag and create shapes, SmartArt, and charts.

Save and Share a PowerPoint Presentation

Don't leave your new presentation without saving it. Also, you may want to share it with someone or put it where you can access it easily.

Save your presentation by selecting File > Save As .

You can also select Save as Adobe PDF to convert the presentation to a PDF file.

If you use OneDrive, save your presentation to OneDrive for easy access and sharing.

Select File > Share to see options to share your presentation quickly. Depending on your other software, PowerPoint allows you to share through OneDrive, email, and other options.

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What are the steps to create a PowerPoint presentation?

By: Author Shrot Katewa

Knowing how to create a PowerPoint presentation is without doubt one of the most basic and important skills that businesses today expect their employees to have. We have frequently seen people struggle and literally spend days, even weeks in creating a PowerPoint presentation and they still don’t get it right! This can be a daunting task or a cakewalk depending on who you ask. In case you are one of those people who fear PowerPoint presentations – don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

But first, just in case you are wondering, what is a PowerPoint presentation? A PowerPoint presentation is a tool that allows us to share information about a certain topic in an effective manner. As opposed to other forms of sharing information, PowerPoint presentation allows us to make the information specific to our audience and often present it in an engaging manner. It has a wide range of uses. However, the beauty of PowerPoint is that it is very easy to use for beginners and packs some awesome features even for experts! PowerPoint presentation file can be used as a standalone file or as a reference in the background while delivering your presentation . The term is derived from Microsoft PowerPoint who created the PowerPoint software. While there are other tools that also allow us to create and deliver a presentation, PowerPoint, today, has become synonymous with any form of presentation.

Let’s dive right into the steps for creating a PowerPoint presentation – 

Step 1 – preparing to create your PowerPoint presentation

Preparing for creating your presentation is one of the KEY STEPS that can set your presentation apart. A good PowerPoint presentation is engaging & easy to follow, aesthetically beautiful, has a clear objective, and actionable next steps (wherever possible).

Thus, there are a few things that you should keep in mind even before you begin creating a PowerPoint presentation. You should step back for a moment and ask yourself –

• Who is my target audience? 
• How much time do I have with my target audience? 
• Will I be sharing this deck over email or do I plan to present it in person? 
• What is the audience size who you would be delivering the presentation?

Answers to the above questions can give you direction for a few key things while creating a presentation. For example, if you are planning to present to a large audience, you may want to ensure that you don’t cram too much of the information on the slides as it may be difficult for people to read and it will act as a distraction.

Another example on how the above questions can help would be on the number of slides. If you know that you have about 30 minutes for delivering the presentation, you may want to keep about 10 minutes for answering questions from the audience. Thus, you would only be left with about 15-20 minutes to for the actual presentation. Such an assessment allows you to identify how many slides should you consider for your presentation based on a rough estimate on the amount of time each slide would take.

Step 2 – create your PowerPoint presentation structure

Once you’ve completed step 1, you will now have to start thinking about what is the objective of the PowerPoint presentation that you intend to create. What content would you like to include in order to achieve the objective. Mostly importantly, how you would want to structure the content of your presentation.

The best presentations are those which represent the most complex piece of information in the easiest and the simplest manner possible such that your audience spends the least amount of time understanding it!

-Shrot Katewa

When it comes to structuring your presentation – there is no right or wrong. It’s about what works best for you and what would be the easiest and the most simplest way you can represent the most complex piece of information such that your audience spend the least amount of time understanding it.

Every presentation is different and each presentation follows its own structure. But, what’s really important is the information flow. We recommend our customers to start with a high level view of your presentation objective – an abstract idea or a problem statement. As you proceed in your presentation, substantiate your idea and go deeper explaining more about your objective or the key idea. You can close with specific takeaways or call to actions that you want your audience to focus on. 

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you were the founder of Uber. Now, if you were creating a PowerPoint pitch deck for Uber, a great place to start the presentation would be with a “Problem” that Uber is trying to solve

Stating the problem upfront gives a sense of the direction in which the rest of the presentation would flow. In the above example, the problem statement indicates that you would be talking about cabs or transportation or topics related to the problem in the rest of your presentation (it would be really odd if otherwise).

In a well structured pitch deck, your next steps will elaborate on the market size – how big a problem it is, solution – how does Uber solve that problem, demo – how does the app work, revenue model – how the company plans to earn money, funding related details – funds to be raised and how it will be utilised.

Step 3 – collating content to create your PowerPoint presentation

This is relatively the easy part of your PowerPoint presentation. Once you have a fair idea about the content structure, it is a lot easier for you to put the content on those slides. Most of us know what our organisation does. However, some of us often struggle with the right type of information for some slide.

One of the tricks that we’ve seen work very well with our customers who are unable to put content on the slide is to look at the topic of the slide and think about what your response would be if a 12 year old child asked you about the topic of your slide! How would you respond? Speak the response out loud. You may also want to record your own response. Then, make a note of the points that you mentioned and include content on those points on the specific slide.

Lastly, make sure to look at what your competitors are talking about. You will surely find a few relevant points for your presentation as well.

Step 4 – designing your PowerPoint presentation

Designing your PowerPoint presentation, in itself, is very difficult to cover in just one post. We will soon be carrying a series on designing your PowerPoint presentation. However, sharing below some of the basic things that all of us should keep in mind –

Choosing the right fonts for your PowerPoint presentation is important. If you are making a professional presentation, avoiding casual fonts is highly recommended. Small decisions like choosing the right fonts can make a big impact to your presentation. There’s a whole science behind how caligraphy impacts individual behaviour. Steve Jobs was one of the pioneers and early adopters of the concept of personalised calligraphy right through his early Macintosh days ( Source )

Small decisions like choosing the right fonts can make a BIG IMPACT to your PowerPoint presentation

You may ask what fonts are right to use for your PowerPoint presentation. San Serif fonts such as Arial or Calibri would both be great fonts to use for your PowerPoint presentation. Some of our other favourites are Montserrat and Helvetica. These work great for most professional presentations.

Another thing to keep in mind would be to use not more than 2 fonts in your presentation. Ensure that there is consistency in the use of fonts. For instance, all your headings should be of the same font family and font size. We recommend avoiding any special effects on the fonts especially for professional PowerPoint presentations, but that’s really a personal choice. Also, do note that the size of the font is not too small as this can make your presentation difficult to read, especially for a larger audience.

Colour scheme

In some cases, the use of your colour pallette may be restricted to the brand guidelines of your organisation. That may actually make it easier for you to choose the colours for your PowerPoint presentation as your choice is restricted. Regardless, a critical point that you may want to keep in mind while designing the slides would be to use contrasting colours for your fonts and the background. That means using colours on the opposite end of the colour wheel. This will ensure good readability of the content. Avoid using flashy colours and more than 4-5 colours throughout the presentation. This maintains consistency of your PowerPoint presentation. If you need to use additional colours, using monochromatic colour scheme would be better than using multiple colours

Images & Graphics

Graphics and images break the monotony of your PowerPoint presentation content. However, using images & graphics is great for your presentation if used appropriately and sparingly. When using images, ensure that it relates to your content. Make sure that you have the legal rights and license for using the images. It is easy to fall in the trap of using copyrighted images from Google. Copyright infringement can damage the reputation of your organisation. We wrote an extensive post on how to avoid using copyrighted images and use images from Google and other sources for free. (Read more about it – https://www.owlscape.in/can-i-use-google-images-for-my-presentation/ ) 

Similarly, use graphics only when needed. A general rule of thumb for using graphics would be when you have bullet point based content on your slides. In such scenarios, graphics will enhance the overall look and feel of your slides.

Number of Slides

Our attention span is very limited. Thus, having too many slides on your presentation is something that should be avoided. There is no fixed rule on how many slides should one have on a presentation although Guy Kawasaki’s “10/20/30 rule” ( source ) may be an exception. However, an easy way to calculate the number of slides that you should have on your presentation is to identify the total amount of time you have for delivering the presentation. Divide that by the approximate time that you may spend on each slide. The resulting number could act as a reference to the number of slides you should be looking at.

We hope that this blog was useful for you and that it helps you to create better presentations in the future. What did you think about it? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Let us know if you have any questions or if you would like to cover some specific topics that will help you upgrade your presentation skills.

How to Create a PowerPoint Presentation Step by Step: 2024 Guide

Creating a PowerPoint presentation is a skill that’s become essential whether you’re a student, professional, or just looking to organize your thoughts visually. A PowerPoint presentation can help you communicate ideas, pitch proposals, or educate an audience with ease. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps of creating an attention-grabbing presentation from scratch, so let’s dive in.

Step by Step Tutorial: Creating a PowerPoint Presentation

Creating a PowerPoint presentation might seem daunting at first, but by following these simple steps, you’ll be able to craft a compelling presentation that captivates your audience. This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating a presentation, from opening PowerPoint to adding the finishing touches.

Step 1: Open PowerPoint and Choose a Template

Open Microsoft PowerPoint on your computer and select a template that fits your presentation’s theme and purpose.

Choosing the right template is crucial as it lays the foundation for your presentation’s design. PowerPoint offers a variety of templates to suit different needs, from business presentations to educational slideshows. Pick one that reflects the tone you want to set.

Step 2: Create Title Slide

Add a title slide by clicking on the “New Slide” button and selecting “Title Slide” from the options.

Your title slide is the first impression your audience will get, so make it count. Include the title of your presentation, your name, and any other relevant information. Keep it simple and eye-catching.

Step 3: Add Content Slides

Add new slides for your content by clicking on the “New Slide” button and choose the layout that best fits your information.

For each new slide, think about the best way to present your information. Will it be a bullet list, a graph, or an image? PowerPoint provides different slide layouts that can help you organize your content effectively.

Step 4: Insert Text

Click on the text boxes to add titles, subtitles, and bullet points to your slides.

When inserting text, it’s essential to be concise and to the point. Use bullet points or short sentences to make your slides easy to read and understand.

Step 5: Add Images, Charts, and Media

Enhance your slides by inserting images, charts, graphs, and other media to support your content.

Visuals can be a powerful tool to complement your message and keep your audience engaged. Make sure to use high-quality images and charts that are relevant to your content.

Step 6: Customize Slide Design

Customize the design of your slides by adjusting the background, colors, and fonts to make your presentation more visually appealing.

Your presentation’s design should reflect your content and audience. Customize your slides’ look and feel by using colors and fonts that are easy on the eyes and consistent throughout the presentation.

Step 7: Add Transitions and Animations

Apply transitions between slides and animations to text or objects to make your presentation more dynamic.

Transitions and animations can help maintain your audience’s interest, but use them sparingly. Too many animations can be distracting and may take away from your content.

Step 8: Review and Edit

Review your slides for any typos, inaccuracies, or design inconsistencies, and make the necessary edits.

It’s always good practice to review your presentation before the final show. Check for any mistakes or design issues that could detract from your message.

Step 9: Practice Your Presentation

Practice presenting your slides to ensure you are familiar with the content and the flow of your presentation.

Practicing your presentation helps you become more comfortable with the material and timings. It also allows you to make any last-minute adjustments to your slides.

Step 10: Save and Share

Save your presentation and share it with your audience, either by email, cloud storage, or by presenting it live.

Once your presentation is complete, save it in the appropriate format and share it with your audience. You can share it via email, a cloud storage service, or present it live during a meeting or class.

After completing these steps, you will have a well-structured and visually appealing PowerPoint presentation ready to impress your audience.

Tips for Creating a PowerPoint Presentation

• Keep your slides simple and uncluttered to maintain your audience’s attention.
• Use high-contrast text and background colors for readability.
• Limit the number of bullet points per slide to avoid overwhelming your audience.
• Use high-quality images and avoid stretching them to maintain professionalism.
• Rehearse your presentation multiple times to ensure a smooth delivery.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many slides should a powerpoint presentation have.

The number of slides in your presentation should be dictated by the content and the time available. As a general rule, try not to exceed one slide per minute of presentation time.

Can I use videos in my PowerPoint presentation?

Yes, you can insert videos into your PowerPoint slides. Make sure they are relevant to your content and that you have the necessary rights to use them.

What is the best font size to use for PowerPoint presentations?

A font size of at least 24 points is recommended for readability, but this may vary depending on your audience and the size of the screen.

How can I make my PowerPoint presentation more engaging?

To make your presentation more engaging, use storytelling, ask questions, include interactive elements, and use relevant visuals to complement your message.

Can I access PowerPoint presentations on different devices?

Yes, you can access PowerPoint presentations on different devices as long as you have the PowerPoint app installed or access to PowerPoint Online.

• Open PowerPoint and choose a template.
• Create a title slide.
• Add content slides.
• Insert text.
• Add images, charts, and media.
• Customize slide design.
• Add transitions and animations.
• Review and edit.
• Practice your presentation.
• Save and share.

Creating a compelling PowerPoint presentation requires a blend of clear content, engaging visuals, and confident delivery. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can build a presentation that not only looks professional but also keeps your audience invested in what you have to say. Remember, the key to a successful presentation is preparation. Take the time to practice, edit, and refine your slides until they convey your message effectively and effortlessly. As PowerPoint continues to evolve, stay updated with the latest features to ensure your presentations stand out. Whether you’re in the classroom, boardroom, or conference hall, a well-crafted PowerPoint presentation can be the difference between leaving a lasting impact or being quickly forgotten. So go ahead, use this 2024 guide to create a powerpoint presentation that’s not just good, but great.

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.

Read his full bio here.

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PowerPoint  - Creating and Opening Presentations

Powerpoint  -, creating and opening presentations, powerpoint creating and opening presentations.

PowerPoint: Creating and Opening Presentations

Lesson 3: creating and opening presentations.

/en/powerpoint/understanding-onedrive/content/

Introduction

PowerPoint files are called presentations . Whenever you start a new project in PowerPoint, you'll need to create a new presentation , which can either be blank or from a template . You'll also need to know how to open an existing presentation .

Watch the video below to learn more about creating and opening presentations in PowerPoint.

To create a new presentation:

When beginning a new project in PowerPoint, you'll often want to start with a new blank presentation.

• A new presentation will appear.

To create a new presentation from a template:

A template is a predesigned presentation you can use to create a new slide show quickly. Templates often include custom formatting and designs , so they can save you a lot of time and effort when starting a new project.

• Click the File tab to access Backstage view , then select New .

• A preview of the template will appear, along with additional information on how the template can be used.

• A new presentation will appear with the selected template .

It's important to note that not all templates are created by Microsoft. Many are created by third-party providers and even individual users, so some templates may work better than others.

To open an existing presentation:

In addition to creating new presentations, you'll often need to open a presentation that was previously saved. To learn more about saving presentations, review our lesson on Saving Presentations .

Most features in Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint, are geared toward saving and sharing documents online . This is done with OneDrive , which is an online storage space for your documents and files. If you want to use OneDrive, make sure you’re signed in to PowerPoint with your Microsoft account. Review our lesson on Understanding OneDrive to learn more.

To pin a presentation:

If you frequently work with the same presentation , you can pin it to Backstage view for easy access.

• Select the File tab to go to Backstage view , then click Open . Your Recent Presentations will appear.

Compatibility Mode

Sometimes you may need to work with presentations that were created in earlier versions of PowerPoint, like PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2000. When you open these types of presentations, they will appear in Compatibility Mode .

Compatibility Mode disables certain features, so you'll only be able to access commands found in the program that was used to create the presentation. For example, if you open a presentation created in PowerPoint 2003, you can only use tabs and commands found in PowerPoint 2003.

In the image below, you can see at the top of the window that the presentation is in Compatibility Mode. This will disable some current PowerPoint features, including newer types of slide transitions.

To exit Compatibility Mode, you'll need to convert the presentation to the current version type. However, if you're collaborating with others who only have access to an earlier version of PowerPoint, it's best to leave the presentation in Compatibility Mode so the format will not change.

You can review this support page from Microsoft to learn more about which features are disabled in Compatibility Mode.

To convert a presentation:

If you want access to the newer features, you can convert the presentation to the current file format.

Note that converting a file may cause some changes to the original layout of the presentation.

• The presentation will be converted to the newest file type.
• Open our practice presentation .
• Notice that the presentation opens in Compatibility Mode . Convert it to the current file format. If a dialog box appears asking if you would like to close and reopen the file in order to see the new features, choose Yes .
• In Backstage view, pin a file or folder.

/en/powerpoint/saving-presentations/content/

How to Create a Simple PowerPoint Presentation

These steps let you add titles, text, designs, and images

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You can make your next classroom or office presentation stand out by creating slides in PowerPoint, a simple process anyone can learn with a little practice.

Getting Started

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When you first open PowerPoint, you'll see a blank “slide” with space for a title and a subtitle in different boxes. You can use this page to begin creating your presentation right away. Add a title and subtitle in the boxes if you want, but you can also delete the boxes and insert a photo, graph, or another object onto the slide.

Creating Slides

Here is an example of a title in the “title” box, but instead of a subtitle, there's a photo in the subtitle box.

To create a slide like this, click inside the “Title” box and type a title. The “subtitle” box is a container for inserting text, but if you don't want a subtitle there, you can remove this box by clicking on one edge to highlight it and then hitting “delete.” To insert a picture into this space, go to "Insert" on the menu bar and select "Picture." Choose a photo from your saved photo files in locations such as "My Pictures" or a flash drive .

The picture you select will be inserted onto the slide, but it may be so big that it covers the entire slide. You can select the picture and make it smaller by moving your cursor to the edge of the photo and dragging the corners inward.

Now that you have a title slide, you can create additional presentation pages. Go to the menu bar at the top of the page and select "Insert" and "New Slide." You’ll see a new blank slide that looks a little different. The makers of PowerPoint have tried to make this easy and have guessed that you’d like to have a title and some text on your second page. That's why you see “Click to add title” and “Click to add text.”

You can type a title and text in these boxes, or you can delete them and add any type of text, photo, or object that you like by using the "Insert" command.

Bullets or Paragraph Text

A title and text have been inserted in the boxes on this slide template. The page is set up to insert text in bullet format. You can use bullets, or you can delete the bullets and type a paragraph .

If you choose to stay with the bullet format, type your text and hit "return" to make the next bullet appear.

Adding a Design

Once you have created your first couple of slides, you might want to add a design to your presentation. Type the text for your next slide, then go to "Format" on the menu bar and select "Slide Background." Your design choices will show up on the right side of the page. Click on the different designs to see how your slide will look in each format. The design you select will be applied to all your slides automatically. You can experiment with the designs and change them at any time.

Watch Your Slide Show

You can preview your slideshow at any time. To see your new creation under way, go to "View" on the menu bar and select "Slide Show." Your presentation will appear. To move from one slide to another, use the arrow keys on your computer keyboard.

To go back to design mode, hit the “Escape” key. Now that you have some experience with PowerPoint, you're ready to experiment with some of the other features of the program.

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How to Create a PowerPoint Presentation

Introduction: How to Create a PowerPoint Presentation

The possible uses of PowerPoint are countless.  A slide show can help a teacher teach a lesson, illustrate an event in history, easily display statistical information, or be used for training in corporations.  A slide show can be a valuable tool for teaching, sharing and learning.  Whether presenting at a conference or convincing your parents to get a puppy, PowerPoint presentations are useful no matter what the topic and help communicate ideas to an audience.  The invention of PowerPoint by Gaskins has saved presenters hours of painstakingly handcrafting displays, and created a professional and easy way to relay information.  The following are steps on how to create a basic PowerPoint presentation, however certain steps may vary slightly depending upon what version of PowerPoint you are using.  This tutorial is specifically using PowerPoint 2007.

Step 1: Launch the PowerPoint Program

When you launch the PowerPoint program, you may be prompted to pick what kind of document you want to create.  Choose to create a blank presentation.  If it does not ask you this, a blank presentation will automatically launch.

Step 2: Choosing a Design

The next thing you want to do is decide what design you want for the presentation. To do this, go to the 'Design' tab at the top of the page. Scroll through all the options and decide which one looks best for the presentation you want. To get a preview of what the design will look like before applying it to the presentation, hover over the design you want to preview. This design will be automatically continued throughout the rest of your presentation. Once you have more than one slide, you can add a different design for just one slide. To do this, select the slide you want to change the design on by clicking on it. It will pop-up as the big slide in the screen. Then you can right-click the design you want for this slide and select 'Apply to Selected Slide'. It will appear on that slide, but will not change the design of the other slides.

Step 3: Create Title Page

Click the first box that says 'Click to add title' and add the title of your presentation.  Click the bottom box to add your name, or any other subtitle that you choose.  Once you have your text in the boxes, you can change their font, size, color, etc. with the toolbar options at the top.  You can change the size of the text box by selecting it, and then dragging the corners of the box.  To move the text boxes, select the box, and move your arrow over the border of the box.  A four-arrow icon will appear, and clicking with this icon will allow you to move the text boxes wherever you choose.

Step 4: Add More Slides

Chances are, you are going to need more than one slide.  There are a few ways you can add more slides.  Notice that there is a separate area to the left of the screen where your first slide is located.  The first way to add a slide is to right-click the area under where your first slide is located and select 'New Slide'.  A new slide will appear.  The second way to add another slide it to click 'New Slide' in the toolbar above the slides.  This button is divided into two parts,. The top will insert a new slide with a default layout.  You can also click the bottom half of this button, which will allow you to choose what type of layout you want.  You can choose a slide with two text-boxes and a title, one text-box, only a title, and many other options.  You will see your new slide appear to the left under the first, as well become the large slide that you can edit.  The design you picked earlier will have carried over to this slide.  The design will carry over for the rest of the slides you create unless you decide to change just one, like described earlier.  The guideline layout you chose will appear, and you can then add in your information.

Step 5: Add Charts, Pictures, Graphs, Etc.

If you want to insert a chart, picture, graph, or any other graphic, click on the 'Insert' tab at the top of the window.  Here you will see buttons of all the options of what you can insert into your slide.  Click the designated box and insert what it is you want to have on that slide.  A second way you can insert pictures and graphs is when you have an empty text or image box.  Little pictures of the same options you saw in the toolbox will show up in the middle of the box, and you can click any of these to insert as well.  Once you have your chart or picture, you can add a border or edit it however you want in the 'Format' tab.

Step 6: Add Transitions

To add transitions in between your slides, click the 'Animations' tab at the top of the page.  Here you can scroll through all the options of transitions, and hover over them to see a preview.  Select the slide you want the transition applied to, and then click the transition you chose.  You can do this for every slide, selecting the same or different transitions.

Step 7: Changing the Order

Once you have all your slides made, you can change the order of the slides.  To do this, click and drag the slides from where they are to where you want them in the order.  Another possibility, which is particularly useful if you presentation is longer, is to click the 'Outline' button.  You can find this small button above the left area where all your slides are located smaller, directly to the right of the 'Slides' button.  Here you will see a list of all your slides and you can click and drag your slides to where you want them.

Step 8: Play the Presentation

Once you have all your slides completed and in the order you want, view your slideshow.  Click the 'Slide Show' tab at the top of the page and select 'From Beginning'.  You can go through your entire slideshow, and change slides by clicking or pressing the right arrow.  A shortcut to this is pressing F5.  Congratulations! You have now made a PowerPoint presentation.

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

PowerPoint presentations are not usually known for being engaging or interactive. That’s often because most people treat their slides as if they are notes to read off  and not a tool to help empower their message.

Your presentation slides are there to help bring to life the story you are telling. They are there to provide visuals and empower your speech.

So how do you go about avoiding a presentation “snoozefest” and instead ensure you have an engaging and interactive presentation?  By making sure that you use your slides to help YOU tell your story, instead of using them as note cards to read off of.

The key thing to remember is that your presentation is there to compliment your speech, not be its focus.

In this article, we will review several presentation tips and tricks on how to become a storytelling powerhouse by building a powerful and engaging PowerPoint presentation.

Start with writing your speech outline, not with putting together slides

Use more images and less text, use high-quality images, keep the focus on you and your presentation, not the powerpoint, your presentation should be legible from anywhere in the room, use a consistent presentation design, one topic per slide, avoid information overwhelm by using the “rule of three”.

• Display one bullet at a time

Avoid unnecessary animations

• Only add content that supports your main points

Do not use PowerPoint as a teleprompter

• Never Give Out Copies of the Presentation

Re-focus the attention on you by fading into blackness

Change the tone of your voice when presenting, host an expert discussion panel, ask questions, embed videos, use live polling to get instant feedback and engage the audience.

• He kept his slides uncluttered and always strived for simplicity
• He was known to use large font size, the bigger, the better.
• He found made the complex sound simple.

He was known to practice, practice, and keep on practicing.

Summary – how to make your presentation engaging & interactive, fundamental rules to build powerful & engaging presentation slides.

Before we go into tips and tricks on how to add flair to your presentations and create effective presentations, it’s essential to get the fundamentals of your presentation right.

Your PowerPoint presentation is there to compliment your message, and the story you are telling. Before you can even put together slides, you need to identify the goal of your speech, and the key takeaways you want your audience to remember.

YOU and your speech are the focus of this presentation, not the slides – use your PowerPoint to complement your story.

Keep in mind that your slides are there to add to your speech, not distract from it.  Using too much text in your slides can be distracting and confusing to your audience. Instead, use a relevant picture with minimal text, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

This slide is not unusual, but is not a visual aid, it is more like an “eye chart”.

Aim for something simpler, easy to remember and concise, like the slides below.

Keep in mind your audience when designing your presentation, their background and aesthetics sense. You will want to avoid the default clip art and cheesy graphics on your slides.

While presenting make sure to control the presentation and the room by walking around, drawing attention to you and what you are saying.  You should occasionally stand still when referencing a slide, but never turn your back to your audience to read your slide.

You and your speech are the presentations; the slides are just there to aid you.

Most season presenters don’t use anything less than twenty-eight point font size, and even Steve Jobs was known to use nothing smaller than forty-point text fonts.

If you can’t comfortably fit all the text on your slide using 28 font size than you’re trying to say and cram too much into the slide, remember tip #1.4 – Use relevant images instead and accompany it with bullets.

Best Practice PowerPoint Presentation Tips

The job of your presentation is to help convey information as efficiently and clearly as possible. By keeping the theme and design consistent, you’re allowing the information and pictures to stand out.

However, by varying the design from slide to slide, you will be causing confusion and distraction from the focus, which is you and the information to be conveyed on the slide.

Technology can also help us in creating a consistent presentation design just by picking a topic and selecting a sample template style. This is possible thanks to the SlideModel’s AI slideshow maker .

Each slide should try to represent one topic or talking point. The goal is to keep the attention focused on your speech, and by using one slide per talking point, you make it easy for you to prepare, as well as easy for your audience to follow along with your speech.

Sometimes when creating our presentation, we can often get in our heads and try to over-explain. A simple way to avoid this is to follow the “ Rule of Three ,” a concept coined by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

The idea is to stick to only 3 main ideas that will help deliver your point.  Each of the ideas can be further broken into 3 parts to explain further. The best modern example of this “Rule of Three” can be derived from the great Apple presentations given by Steve Jobs – they were always structured around the “Rule of Three.”

Display one sentence at a time

If you are planning to include text in your slides, try to avoid bullet lists, and use one slide per sentence. Be short and concise. This best practice focuses on the idea that simple messages are easy to retain in memory. Also, each slide can follow your storytelling path, introducing the audience to each concept while you speak, instead of listing everything beforehand.

Presentation Blunders To Avoid

In reality, there is no need for animations or transitions in your slides.

It’s great to know how to turn your text into fires or how to create a transition with sparkle effects, but the reality is the focus should be on the message. Using basic or no transitions lets the content of your presentation stand out, rather than the graphics.

If you plan to use animations, make sure to use modern and professional animations that helps the audience follow the story you are telling, for example when explaining time series or changing events over time.

Only add engaging content that supports your main points

You might have a great chart, picture or even phrase you want to add, but when creating every slide, it’s crucial to ask yourself the following question.

“Does this slide help support my main point?”

If the answer is no, then remove it.  Remember, less is more.

A common crutch for rookie presenters is to use slides as their teleprompter.

First of all, you shouldn’t have that much text on your slides. If you have to read off something, prepare some index cards that fit in your hand but at all costs do not turn your back on your audience and read off of your PowerPoint.  The moment you do that, you make the presentation the focus, and lose the audience as the presenter.

Avoid Giving Out Copies of the Presentation

At least not before you deliver a killer presentation; providing copies of your presentation gives your audience a possible distraction where they can flip through the copy and ignore what you are saying.

It’s also easy for them to take your slides out of context without understanding the meaning behind each slide.  It’s OK to give a copy of the presentation, but generally it is better to give the copies AFTER you have delivered your speech. If you decide to share a copy of your presentation, the best way to do it is by  generating a QR code  for it and placing it at the end of your presentation. Those who want a copy can simply scan and download it onto their phones.

Tips To Making Your Presentation More Engaging

The point of your presentation is to help deliver a message.

When expanding on a particularly important topic that requires a lengthy explanation it’s best to fade the slide into black.  This removes any distraction from the screen and re-focuses it on you, the present speaker. Some presentation devices have a built-in black screen button, but if they don’t, you can always prepare for this by adding a black side to your presentation at the right moment.

“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Part of making your presentation engaging is to use all the tools at your disposal to get your point across. Changing the inflection and tone of your voice as you present helps make the content and the points more memorable and engaging.

One easy and powerful way to make your presentation interactive is experts to discuss a particular topic during your presentation. This helps create a more engaging presentation and gives you the ability to facilitate and lead a discussion around your topic.

It’s best to prepare some questions for your panel but to also field questions from the audience in a question and answer format.

How To Make Your Presentation More Interactive

What happens if I ask you to think about a pink elephant?  You probably briefly think about a pink elephant, right?

Asking questions when presenting helps engage the audience, and arouse interest and curiosity.  It also has the added benefit of making people pay closer attention, in case they get called on.

So don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if rhetorical; asking a question engages a different part of our brain. It causes us to reflect rather than merely take in the information one way. So ask many of them.

Asking questions can also be an excellent way to build suspense for the next slide.

(Steve Jobs was known to ask questions during his presentations, in this slide he built suspense by asking the audience “Is there space for a device between a cell phone and a laptop?” before revealing the iPad) Source: MacWorld SF 2018

Remember the point of your presentation is to get a message across and although you are the presenter, it is completely fine to use video in your PowerPoint to enhance your presentation.  A relevant video can give you some breathing time to prepare the next slides while equally informing the audience on a particular point.

CAUTION: Be sure to test the video beforehand, and that your audience can hear it in the room.

A trending engagement tool among presenters is to use a live polling tool to allow the audience to participate and collect immediate feedback.

Using a live polling tool is a fun and interactive way to engage your audience in real-time and allow them to participate in part of your presentation.

Google Slides has a built-in Q&A feature that allows presenters to make the slide deck more interactive by providing answers to the audience’s questions. By using the Q&A feature in Google Slides, presenters can start a live Q&A session and people can ask questions directly from their devices including mobile and smartphones.

Key Takeaways from one of the best presenters, Steve Jobs

He kept his slides uncluttered and always strove for simplicity.

In this slide, you can easily see he is talking about the battery life, and it uses a simple image and a few words. Learning from Jobs, you can also make a great presentation too. Focus on the core benefit of your product and incorporate great visuals.

Source: Macworld 2008

SlideModel.com can help to reproduce high-impact slides like these, keeping your audience engagement.

He was known to use large font sizes, the bigger, the better

A big font makes it hard to miss the message on the slide, and allows the audience to focus on the presenter while clearing the understanding what the point of the slide is.

He found made the complex sound simple

When explaining a list of features, he used a simple image and lines or simple tables to provide visual cues to his talking points.

(This particular slide is referencing the iMac features)

What made Steve Jobs the master of presentation, was the ritual of practicing with his team, and this is simple yet often overlooked by many presenters.  It’s easy to get caught in the trap of thinking you don’t need to practice because you know the material so well.

While all these tips will help you create a truly powerful presentation , it can only achieve if applied correctly.

It’s important to remember when trying to deliver an amazing experience, you should be thoroughly prepared. This way, you can elevate your content presentation, convey your message effectively and captivate your audience.

This includes having your research cited, your presentation rehearsed.  Don’t just rehearse your slides, also take time to practice your delivery, and your tone.  The more you rehearse, the more relaxed you will be when delivering. The more confident you will feel.

While we can’t help you with the practice of your next presentation, we can help you by making sure you look good, and that you have a great design and cohesiveness.

You focus on the message and content; we’ll focus on making you look good.

Have a tip you would like to include?  Be sure to mention it in the comments!

Like this article? Please share

Audience, Engaging, Feedback, Interactive, Poll, Rule of Three, Steve Jobs Filed under Presentation Ideas

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2 Responses to “23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations”

Very great advices!

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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How To Merge Shapes In PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide

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Adding shapes to your PowerPoint presentations can greatly improve their visual appeal, allowing you to create unique graphics and designs that effectively communicate your message. Whether you want to combine shapes, remove parts of one shape from another, or simply make your slides look better, understanding how to use the Merge Shape commands is essential.

In this guide, we’ll explore different ways to merge shapes in PowerPoint, starting from the basics and moving to more advanced techniques. By the end of this article, you’ll have the skills to create eye-catching shapes and designs that will engage your audience.

What Is Merge Shapes in PowerPoint and Why It Is Important?

The Merge Shapes feature in PowerPoint is a handy tool that lets you combine two or more shapes to create a new custom shape. This feature can greatly enhance the visual appeal and clarity of your presentations.

Here are a few ways it can be useful in your presentations:

• Adding depth and dimension to your slides.
• Emphasizing specific areas of your presentation.
• Creating visually engaging diagrams, flowcharts, and timelines.
• Updating your slide backgrounds.
• Designing customized graphics and icons.

Steps to Merge Shapes in PowerPoint

1. Adding Shapes

To include shapes in your PowerPoint slide, head to the ‘Insert’ tab on the PowerPoint Ribbon. In the ‘Illustrations’ group, click ‘Shapes.’ Choose your desired shape from the drop-down menu, then click and drag it onto your slide. Repeat for each shape, ensuring they overlap as needed.

2. Selecting Shapes

To select multiple shapes, hold down the ‘Shift’ key and click on each shape you want to merge.

3. Accessing Merge Shapes

Once shapes are selected, go to the ‘Shape Format’ tab on the Ribbon. In the ‘Insert Shapes’ group, click ‘Merge Shapes’ to see merge options.

4. Choosing Merge Type

In the drop-down menu, select your merge preference:

• Union: Combines shapes into one.
• Combine: Removes overlaps to form a new shape.
• Fragment: Splits shapes at intersections.
• Intersect: Forms a shape from overlapping areas.
• Subtract: Removes overlapping parts of one shape from another.

5. Applying Merge

After choosing, PowerPoint will merge shapes accordingly. Adjust the merged shape’s size, position, and formatting as needed.

6. Saving Changes

Once satisfied, save your file to keep changes. Edit or use the shape in your presentation.

These steps explain merging shapes in PowerPoint, helping you create custom designs for presentations.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Merging Shapes in PowerPoint

1. Shape Selection

Make sure to select all the shapes you want to merge before using the “Merge Shapes” or “Combine Shapes” feature.

2. Compatibility Check

Check that the shapes you’re trying to merge can actually be merged using the “Merge Shapes” feature. Some shapes might not work together.

3. Stacking Order Adjustment

Remember that the order you select shapes in can change how they merge. If the result isn’t what you expected, try rearranging the order of the shapes.

4. Overlapping Areas

Be aware that merging shapes can create areas where they overlap. Adjust the shapes or use options like “Fragment” or “Intersect” to fix any overlap issues.

5. Grouping Merged Shapes

After merging shapes, it’s a good idea to group them together to avoid accidentally changing the merged shape.

6. Selecting the Correct Merge Option

Choose the right merge option (Union, Combine, Fragment, Intersect, or Subtract) based on what you want the final shape to look like.

7. Alignment and Distribution

Once you’ve merged shapes, make sure they’re aligned properly and evenly distributed for a neat and professional finish in your presentation.

Closing Thoughts

With a little practice and these helpful tips, you’ll be merging shapes in PowerPoint like a pro in no time. This powerful feature unlocks a world of creative possibilities, allowing you to design unique and impactful visuals that will leave a lasting impression on your audience. So, go forth and unleash your inner design guru!

Frequently Asked Questions

How can merge shapes be used in presentations.

Merge Shapes can be used in presentations to add depth and dimension, highlight specific areas, create diagrams and flowcharts, enhance slide backgrounds, and design custom graphics and icons.

How do I merge shapes in PowerPoint?

To merge shapes in PowerPoint, select the shapes you want to merge, navigate to the “Format” tab, click on “Merge Shapes,” and choose one of the available merge options (Union, Combine, Fragment, Intersect, or Subtract) based on your desired outcome.

Can I undo a merge operation in PowerPoint?

Yes, you can undo a merge operation in PowerPoint by pressing Ctrl + Z or selecting “Undo” from the Edit menu.

Are there any limitations to merging shapes in PowerPoint?

While Merge Shapes offers a range of options for combining shapes, some complex shapes may not merge as expected. It’s recommended to experiment with different shapes and merge options to achieve the desired result.

Why is “Merge Shapes” not available in PowerPoint?

There might not be any shapes selected on your slide. The “Merge Shapes” option appears only when you have at least two shapes chosen. Try inserting some shapes and then try merging them!

How do I merge shapes in PowerPoint using Union?

To merge shapes wiSth Union in PowerPoint, select the shapes and choose “Merge Shapes” > “Union” under the Drawing Tools Format tab (appears when shapes are selected).

How to merge two shapes using the subtract option in PowerPoint?

• Select two shapes (hold Shift to pick both).
• Go to the Shape Format tab (appears when shapes are selected).
• Click Merge Shapes > Subtract. (Subtracts second shape from first).

Can you merge 2 shapes in powerpoint?

Yes, You can merge 2 shapes in PowerPoint! Select the 2 shapes (hold Shift to pick both) and then under the “Shape Format” tab (appears when selected), choose “Merge Shapes” for a combined shape.

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How an AI Powerpoint Generator Transforms Ordinary Presentations into Extraordinary Experiences

How to create high quality power point presentations - quickly - with AI

Say goodbye to dull and monotonous presentations and hello to extraordinary experiences that will leave a lasting impact!

AI PowerPoint Generators are revolutionizing the way ordinary slideshows captivate audiences. Whether you're a professional speaker, a student, or simply someone who wants to impress with their slides, an AI PowerPoint generator is here to take your presentations to the next level.

But what is the best free AI PowerPoint generator? How can you choose the best tool to use, and how can AI voiceovers bring your PowerPoint presentation to the next level using text-to-presentation processes?

Whether you're using Powerpoint or Google Slides, this article will delve into all you need to know about using AI to generate your next presentation. Let's dive in!

What is an AI PowerPoint Generator?

An AI PowerPoint Generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to automatically create presentations.

The tool takes input in the form of data, text, or images and generates slides with relevant content and visual elements. This eliminates the need for manual slide creation and saves time for users, making it a convenient solution for creating engaging presentations.

What is the best tool for generating AI presentations? In our opinion, Canva or ChatGPT are both fantastic options that you can try out.

5 Steps to Incorporating an AI PowerPoint Generator in Your Presentation

So, how can we use AI to generate a great presentation?

Step 1: Choose an Appropriate AI PowerPoint Generator

To start using AI in your presentations, you need to pick the right AI PowerPoint tool. It's important to choose one that works well for you, matches your needs, and has the features you want.

This initial decision sets the stage for a presentation that smoothly includes AI, fitting your style and needs.

Our favorite options include ChatGPT and Canva. With accessible price points and easy-to-use interfaces, these two options stand out as great tools. Whether you need a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or an AI presentation maker for Google Slides, both these options are standouts.

Step 2: Get to Know the AI Tool Inside Out

After picking your AI tool, it's crucial to really understand how it works.

Take the time to learn about the algorithms it uses to create content, its design tips, and any special things it can do. This deep understanding helps you make the most of the AI tool so you can improve your presentation's content and visuals for a better experience.

When you're learning a new tool, our recommendation is to browse YouTube for tutorials and get acquainted with experts in that niche. There are hundreds of great creators out there who have fantastic tutorials, so get exploring!

Step 3: Pick the Right Presentation Style

Now, it's time to get started on the actual content generation.

At this step, it's critical to choose a presentation style that fits your content's theme and your audience's expectations.

But don't panic - AI PowerPoint tools usually offer various templates for different themes and purposes; whether you're looking for a corporate feel, a fun-friendly presentation, or even a video template, then your AI tool should have you covered.

Remember: Selecting the right template makes the creative process smoother, resulting in a polished and professional look.

Step 4: Customize Your Content with AI-Powered Suggestions

Now, you're ready to get to the meat of the presentation - the content. While you may already have a load of content that's ready to be slotted into your presentation, you may also take this time to get writing.

Remember, it's always possible to incorporate AI into your content creation process at this stage.

Content creation tools like ChatGPT can help refine your language, ensuring accuracy and impact and generating scripts and images.

Step 5: Add AI-Enhanced Visuals and Effects to Your Presentation

In the final step, use AI-generated visuals and effects to enhance your presentation.

Explore the AI tool's capabilities to create impactful visuals, sophisticated graphics, or interactive elements that grab your audience's attention. From data visualization to smooth transitions, AI elevates the visual appeal of your presentation, leaving a memorable impression on your audience.

As well as this, now's the time to add an AI voiceover to your presentation to allow your content to be shared and rewatched over and over again or even translated into multiple languages. Plus, having an AI voiceover makes a presentation more accessible to those with visual impairments or who use a screen reader.

ElevenLabs  is a great tool for you to use here. With high-quality, human-like narration and an accessible, easy-to-use platform, ElevenLabs is the perfect tool for generating fantastic audio for your AI-generated presentations.

Ultimately, by following these five steps carefully, integrating AI into your presentation workflow becomes an efficient process that results in a professional and sophisticated presentation that resonates with your audience.

The Future of Presentations Using AI

Using AI in presentations has a bright future with lots of exciting possibilities. AI technology is changing the way we do presentations, making them more interactive and engaging. These AI tools can create cool visuals, understand data in real time, and even help with understanding what people say and translating languages. So, when people make presentations, they can use AI to make them more powerful and grab the audience's attention.

In the future, AI in presentations is likely to keep getting better. Experts think that AI will become even smarter, allowing for more advanced and personalized presentations. This means that presentations can be customized to fit what each person likes and how they learn best.

For businesses, using AI in presentations is increasingly important. It helps companies in many industries communicate better and engage employees and clients alike. These AI tools make it easier to create convincing presentations that engage clients, partners, and audiences and make content accessible to those with visual impairments or different learning abilities. Plus, AI can quickly and accurately analyze data and make it easier for businesses to make smart decisions.

In a nutshell, AI is changing the presentation game, making a Google Slide or PowerPoint presentation more exciting and personalized. As AI keeps improving, businesses are set to benefit from better communication and smarter decisions. It's an exciting future for presentations in the business world.

Final Thoughts

To sum it all up, we're on the brink of a big change in how we do presentations, thanks to the increasing use of an AI PowerPoint generator. AI is making presentations more engaging, interactive, and tailored to individual preferences, and the future holds even more exciting possibilities, with AI getting smarter and making presentations even more customized.

For businesses, using AI in presentations is not just a trend; it's a smart move. It helps companies communicate better and make informed decisions with data, reaching their employees and their clients with more curated content. For individuals, an AI PowerPoint generator saves time and makes creating engaging presentation content simple.

So, as we look ahead, embracing AI in presentations is more than just an option—it's an opportunity to excel in communication, engagement, and data-driven decision-making.

The combination of human creativity and AI innovation promises to redefine how we present information, creating a world where presentations are not only informative but also captivating and personalized.

Try ElevenLabs today

How To Get Free Access To Microsoft PowerPoint

E very time you need to present an overview of a plan or a report to a whole room of people, chances are you turn to Microsoft PowerPoint. And who doesn't? It's popular for its wide array of features that make creating effective presentations a walk in the park. PowerPoint comes with a host of keyboard shortcuts for easy navigation, subtitles and video recordings for your audience's benefit, and a variety of transitions, animations, and designs for better engagement.

But with these nifty features comes a hefty price tag. At the moment, the personal plan — which includes other Office apps — is at $69.99 a year. This might be the most budget-friendly option, especially if you plan to use the other Microsoft Office apps, too. Unfortunately, you can't buy PowerPoint alone, but there are a few workarounds you can use to get access to PowerPoint at no cost to you at all.

Read more: The 20 Best Mac Apps That Will Improve Your Apple Experience

Method #1: Sign Up For A Free Microsoft Account On The Office Website

Microsoft offers a web-based version of PowerPoint completely free of charge to all users. Here's how you can access it:

• Visit the Microsoft 365 page .
• If you already have a free account with Microsoft, click Sign in. Otherwise, press "Sign up for the free version of Microsoft 365" to create a new account at no cost.
• On the Office home page, select PowerPoint from the side panel on the left.
• Click on "Blank presentation" to create your presentation from scratch, or pick your preferred free PowerPoint template from the options at the top (there's also a host of editable templates you can find on the Microsoft 365 Create site ).
• Create your presentation as normal. Your edits will be saved automatically to your Microsoft OneDrive as long as you're connected to the internet.

It's important to keep in mind, though, that while you're free to use this web version of PowerPoint to create your slides and edit templates, there are certain features it doesn't have that you can find on the paid version. For instance, you can access only a handful of font styles and stock elements like images, videos, icons, and stickers. Designer is also available for use on up to three presentations per month only (it's unlimited for premium subscribers). When presenting, you won't find the Present Live and Always Use Subtitles options present in the paid plans. The biggest caveat of the free version is that it won't get any newly released features, unlike its premium counterparts.

Method #2: Install Microsoft 365 (Office) To Your Windows

Don't fancy working on your presentation in a browser? If you have a Windows computer with the Office 365 apps pre-installed or downloaded from a previous Office 365 trial, you can use the Microsoft 365 (Office) app instead. Unlike the individual Microsoft apps that you need to buy from the Microsoft Store, this one is free to download and use. Here's how to get free PowerPoint on the Microsoft 365 (Office) app:

• Search for Microsoft 365 (Office) on the Microsoft Store app.
• Install and open it.
• Sign in with your Microsoft account. Alternatively, press "Create free account" if you don't have one yet.
• Click on Create on the left side panel.
• Select Presentation.
• In the PowerPoint window that opens, log in using your account.
• Press Accept on the "Free 5-day pass" section. This lets you use PowerPoint (and Word and Excel) for five days — free of charge and without having to input any payment information.
• Create your presentation as usual. As you're using the desktop version, you can access the full features of PowerPoint, including the ability to present in Teams, export the presentation as a video file, translate the slides' content to a different language, and even work offline.

The only downside of this method is the time limit. Once the five days are up, you can no longer open the PowerPoint desktop app. However, all your files will still be accessible to you. If you saved them to OneDrive, you can continue editing them on the web app. If you saved them to your computer, you can upload them to OneDrive and edit them from there.

Method #3: Download The Microsoft PowerPoint App On Your Android Or iOS Device

If you're always on the move and need the flexibility of creating and editing presentations on your Android or iOS device, you'll be glad to know that PowerPoint is free and available for offline use on your mobile phones. But — of course, there's a but — you can only access the free version if your device is under 10.1 inches. Anything bigger than that requires a premium subscription. If your phone fits the bill, then follow these steps to get free PowerPoint on your device:

• Install Microsoft PowerPoint from the App Store or Google Play Store .
• Log in using your existing Microsoft email or enter a new email address to create one if you don't already have an account.
• On the "Get Microsoft 365 Personal Plan" screen, press Skip For Now.
• If you're offered a free trial, select Try later (or enjoy the free 30-day trial if you're interested).
• To make a new presentation, tap the plus sign in the upper right corner.
• Change the "Create in" option from OneDrive - Personal to a folder on your device. This allows you to save the presentation to your local storage and make offline edits.
• Press "Set as default" to set your local folder as the default file storage location.
• Choose your template from the selection or use a blank presentation.
• Edit your presentation as needed.

Do note that PowerPoint mobile comes with some restrictions. There's no option to insert stock elements, change the slide size to a custom size, use the Designer feature, or display the presentation in Immersive Reader mode. However, you can use font styles considered premium on the web app.

Method #4: Use Your School Email Address

Office 365 Education is free for students and teachers, provided they have an email address from an eligible school. To check for your eligibility, here's what you need to do:

• Go to the Office 365 Education page .
• Type in your school email address in the empty text field.
• Press "Get Started."
• On the next screen, verify your eligibility. If you're eligible, you'll be asked to select whether you're a student or a teacher. If your school isn't recognized, however, you'll get a message telling you so.
• For those who are eligible, proceed with creating your Office 365 Education account. Make sure your school email can receive external mail, as Microsoft will send you a verification code for your account.
• Once you're done filling out the form, press "Start." This will open your Office 365 account page.

You can then start making your PowerPoint presentation using the web app. If your school's plan supports it, you can also install the Office 365 apps to your computer by clicking the "Install Office" button on your Office 365 account page and running the downloaded installation file. What sets the Office 365 Education account apart from the regular free account is that you have unlimited personal cloud storage and access to other Office apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Read the original article on SlashGear .

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Create and open

Create and open a powerpoint presentation.

Start collaborating with these quick instructions on how to create, share, and edit presentations on your own or with your team.

To convert your Google Slides to PowerPoint, go to File > Download > Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx). Then open the file in PowerPoint. See more at Get started with Sheets .

Note:  Features and information in this guide apply to PowerPoint as available through Microsoft 365.

Create a new presentation

Open PowerPoint.

Select Blank presentation , or select one of the themes.

Select More themes to view the gallery and search for more.

Add a slide

Select the slide you want your new slide to follow.

Select Home > New Slide .

Select Layout and the you type want from the drop-down.

When you save your files to the cloud, you can share and collaborate with others.

Select File > Save As .

Select a OneDrive folder and name the file.

After you save once to OneDrive, AutoSave is enabled that saves your file automatically, every few seconds, as you work.

Rename a presentation

Select the file name on the title bar.

In the menu that appears you can rename the file, select a new location to move it to, or see the version history for the file.

When you're online, AutoSave is always on and saves your changes as you work. If at any time you lose your Internet connection or turn it off, any pending changes will sync as soon as you’re back online.

At the top of your Microsoft Office apps on Windows you'll find the Search box. This powerful tool helps you look up PowerPoint commands, get Help, or search the Web.

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