Well-chosen images can add power to any PowerPoint slideshow. Choose the right graphics, and your presentation will be much more effective. Here are five tips to consider when adding graphics to your slideshow:
Your goal will rarely be to wow your audience with stunning graphics. The purpose of your images is to reinforce the goal of your presentation. If you’re selling a product or service, then your pictures need to strengthen your sales message. If you’re training employees or students, then your images need to make the spoken and written words more memorable and more understandable. Never make your images the focus of your PowerPoint presentation. Focus on your goal. Your images are your supporting staff, and never the stars of the show.
Each of your slides needs to be part of a coherent presentation. If many of your slides have a different look and feel, then your audience needs to figure out the format that you’re using as you move from slide to slide. Use images consistently, or the people in your audience will find their minds wandering as they look for a pattern in your slides.
Create a format that you’ll use for all of your slides. Place your company logo, your website URL, and similar information on the same place in every slide. Use PowerPoint Slide Masters to ensure consistency.
Your presentation will be stronger if all of the pictures in your slideshow seem to be part of the same family of artwork. By using similar images on every slide, your audience quickly understands how your graphics contribute to the overall presentation. Well-chosen artwork makes it easier for your audience to understand your message. So, avoid the temptation to mix line drawings, photographs, abstract art, text art, cartoons, and screenshots. If mixing formats makes sense, then do it. Realize, however, that a cohesive set of images will make it easier for your audience to understand your message.
ShapeChef is a graphic and chart library for PowerPoint that helps entrepreneurs, educators, and salespeople create polished slideshows. The software package includes professionally-crafted images that let you add a consistent set of images to your PowerPoint presentation, effortlessly and affordably. Learn more about how ShapeChef can help you build compelling slideshows on https://www.shapechef.com/.
There’s no need to fill every square inch of every slide. Full slides can be overwhelming. White space, by contrast, is relaxing.
The purpose of the words and images on each slide is to help the audience put your ideas in context. If you present them with too many words, or with too many images, they’ll be examining your slides instead of listening to your verbal presentation. Resist the temptation to fill every slide with objects. Your audience will thank you.
When watching a slideshow, people tend to follow the actions of the people in the images on the screen. The most important elements in your images are the people’s arms, legs, and eyes.
Whether the images are line drawings, silhouettes, or photographs, if the people are looking at the bullet points on your slide, then the people in the audience will look there, too. If the people in your pictures are looking away from the text on the slide, your audience will pay a lot less attention to your text.
Similarly, the people in your images should be walking (or running or facing) into the slide, and not out of it. People in the audience will tend to look in the same direction that people in the images are moving. To keep your audience interested in your presentation, use images with people who are “interested in” your presentation.
It’s easy to flip or rotate an image to make sure that the people in it are looking in the right direction. Microsoft uses the same basic image manipulation tools in PowerPoint that you’re familiar with in Word. It couldn’t be simpler to get the people in your images to focus on the prize. And that helps the people in your audience do the same.
Don’t be afraid to break the rules. If there’s a good reason to mix different types of images in your slideshow, then do it. As long as you’re aware that there may be a downside to your decision, rely on your instincts and your best judgment.
Start building a library of images that you’ll be using in all of your presentations. Whether you start with a PowerPoint add-on like ShapeChef or build your own collection of images from scratch, adding these images to your slideshows will engage your audience and make them much more responsive to your presentation.
ShapeChef is a tool that helps you find and manage graphics and charts for your presentations. Click here for details.
