how to switch to presentation mode in powerpoint

How To Get Into Presentation Mode In PowerPoint

Are you looking to take your PowerPoint presentations to the next level?

We will discuss why you should use Presentation Mode, how to enter it, its key features, and how to navigate through your slides.

Key Takeaways:

What is presentation mode in powerpoint.

Presentation Mode in PowerPoint refers to a feature that allows presenters to display their slides in a full-screen view, enhancing the visual impact of their presentation.

Why Use Presentation Mode in PowerPoint?

Using Presentation Mode in PowerPoint offers numerous advantages, such as creating a more engaging and professional presentation experience for both the presenter and the audience.

Presentation Mode allows the presenter to navigate slides effortlessly, maintaining a smooth flow of information that keeps the audience’s attention intact. The ability to preview slides on a separate monitor while presenting ensures that the speaker remains in control of the presentation pace and content delivery.

Allows for a more engaging and professional presentation

One of the key reasons to use Presentation Mode in PowerPoint is that it allows presenters to deliver a more engaging and professional presentation by providing advanced control over their slides, including features like a laser pointer .

Helps the presenter stay on track and organized

Presentation Mode in PowerPoint aids presenters in maintaining focus, organization, and efficiency throughout their presentation by offering tools like Presenter View, where notes and slide previews can be accessed.

Provides a better experience for the audience

When toggling to Presentation Mode, the display settings undergo a transformation that optimizes the presentation for viewer interaction. The ability to seamlessly swap displays allows the presenter to effortlessly navigate through slides, ensuring a smooth transition between different sections of the presentation. This elegant integration of features not only captivates the audience but also enables a more fluid and engaging delivery of the content. The visual appeal of the slides is enhanced, making it easier for viewers to follow along and grasp the key points being presented.

How to Enter Presentation Mode in PowerPoint?

Step 1: open your powerpoint presentation.

The first step to enter Presentation Mode in PowerPoint is to ensure that your presentation file is open and ready for display.

To do so, open PowerPoint and locate the file containing your presentation. Click on the file to open it. Review that the slides are arranged in the correct order and that any speaker notes or animations are set up as desired. Check the slide sorter view to confirm the flow of your presentation. Ensure that the current slide is the one you want to begin with when Presentation Mode is activated. This initial setup is crucial for a seamless transition into your presentation.

Step 2: Click on the ‘Slide Show’ tab in the top menu bar

Once you’re on the ‘Slide Show’ tab, you’ll find a variety of essential controls that aid in delivering a seamless presentation experience. Here, you can click on ‘From Beginning’ to start the slide show from the very first slide. You can choose ‘From Current Slide’ to begin from the slide you’re currently on.

Step 3: Select ‘From Beginning’ or ‘From Current Slide’ to start the presentation

After accessing the ‘Slide Show’ tab, choose between the ‘From Beginning’ or ‘From Current Slide’ options to initiate your presentation in Presentation Mode, ensuring the desired display settings and presenter view are selected.

When you opt for ‘From Beginning,’ your presentation will start from the very first slide, whereas selecting ‘From Current Slide’ allows you to start your presentation from the slide you are currently on. This choice depends on whether you want to begin at the start of the presentation or jump in at a specific point.

What Are the Features of Presentation Mode in PowerPoint?

Presenter view with notes allows speakers to refer to their talking points discreetly, ensuring a seamless delivery. The incorporated laser pointer feature permits highlighting key areas on slides, directing the audience’s focus effectively. Slide previews provide a comprehensive overview of the presentation flow, aiding in smoother transitions between topics. The option to hide or reveal slides as needed enhances the element of surprise and control during the presentation, captivating the audience’s attention. These combined features transform the presenter’s performance into a dynamic and engaging experience for all participants.

Full-screen display of slides

Ability to use a laser pointer or pen tool.

Presentation Mode enables presenters to use a laser pointer or a pen tool to highlight key points on slides, enhancing the clarity and impact of their presentation.

Presenter view with notes and slide previews

When utilizing the Presenter view, presenters gain the advantage of accessing notes discretely without them being displayed to the audience, allowing for a more professional and polished delivery. In addition, having a live preview of the upcoming slides enables the presenter to seamlessly transition between points, enhancing the flow of the presentation. Through system preferences or the displays app, customization options such as adjusting the layout to suit individual preferences or toggling between speaker notes and slide previews can be easily configured, providing a tailored experience for each presenter.

Option to hide the presentation controls

In scenarios where presenters are utilizing a two-monitor setup for advanced display configurations, such as showing notes on one screen while presenting on the other, hiding presentation controls on the main display ensures that only the essential content is visible to the audience, maintaining a neat and streamlined appearance.

How to Navigate Through Slides in Presentation Mode?

Use the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Utilize the arrow keys on your keyboard to seamlessly advance through slides in Presentation Mode, ensuring a smooth and controlled flow of your presentation.

Click on the arrows in the bottom left corner of the screen

Users can enhance their presentation experience by utilizing the fullscreen mode . By entering fullscreen, viewers can keep the focus solely on the presentation content, removing any distractions from the surrounding interface elements. This feature is particularly useful when showcasing detailed slides or when presenting to a larger audience, allowing for a more immersive and engaging delivery.

Use the scroll wheel on your mouse

With its responsive nature, the scroll wheel ensures quick and precise movements, enabling presenters to fluidly transition between slides with the utmost ease.

How to Exit Presentation Mode in PowerPoint?

To exit Fullscreen mode in PowerPoint, you can simply press the ‘Esc’ key, the keyboard shortcut that is universally used to escape full-screen views across various applications. This action will promptly take you out of the immersive mode and back to the regular interface.

Step 1: Press the Esc key on your keyboard

Exiting Presentation Mode using the ‘Esc’ key is a simple maneuver that can swiftly transition you back to your familiar workspace. Once you press the ‘Esc’ key, the fullscreen effect will dissolve, and any Speaker Notes you might have been glancing over will no longer dominate your screen, ensuring a seamless flow as you exit the presentation. This action provides an effortless way to shift the focus back to the general view of your PowerPoint, facilitating a smooth continuation of your usual workflow.

Step 2: Click on the ‘End Show’ button on the top left corner of the screen

Step 3: select ‘end show’ from the drop-down menu.

For a more detailed exit process, users can select ‘ End Show ‘ from the drop-down menu within PowerPoint, ensuring a controlled and comprehensive conclusion to their presentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i enter presentation mode in powerpoint.

To enter presentation mode in PowerPoint, click on the Slideshow tab in the top menu and then select “From Beginning” or “From Current Slide” depending on where you want to start your presentation.

Can I customize the way I enter presentation mode in PowerPoint?

Is there a shortcut to enter presentation mode in powerpoint, can i use a different display for presentation mode in powerpoint.

Yes, you can use a different display for presentation mode by going to the Slideshow tab and selecting “Set Up Slide Show.” From there, you can choose to present on a secondary monitor or projector.

How do I exit presentation mode in PowerPoint?

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How to Use the Presentation Modes and the Screen Recording Features in PowerPoint

After designing all the slides for your presentation, the next and last step is presenting in front of your audience. In this new Slidesgo School tutorial, you’ll see how the presenter view works and how you can record your presentation .

Presentation Modes

Presentation modes — set up slide show, presentation modes — record slide show.

• There are different presentation modes in PowerPoint, besides the one you can find at the bottom of the screen.
• To access the presentation modes, go to the Slide Show tab.
• The first two options allow you to start the presentation from the beginning or from the currently selected slide.

• If you choose Present Online, an URL will be generated, which you can then share with your potential online viewers. After clicking this button, a new window will open, displaying info about the Microsoft Office online presentation service and a checkbox to enable remote download for your online audience. To enjoy this service, you need an Office 365 account. When you’re ready, click Connect to generate the URL.
• If you choose Custom Slide Show, you can select which slides to display in your presentation.  First, create a new custom slide show and select the slides that you want to display. Then, click Add, enter the name of the presentation and click OK. This new custom presentation will appear on the list. Select it and click Show to begin the presentation.
• In the Set Up group you’ll find options to set up the presentation, hide slides, rehearse your presentation and even record it.
• Click Set Up Slide Show to adjust several settings regarding your presentation. You’ll find more information in the next section of this tutorial .
• If you click Hide Slide, the selected slide won’t show up during your presentation. Hidden slides will appear faded out on the list and their numbers will be crossed out.
• If you click Record Slide Show, you’ll be able to record your presentation from the beginning or from the current slide. We’ll go into detail in the last section of this tutorial.
• There are several checkboxes regarding whether to play narrations, use timings and show media controls.

• In the Monitors group you can choose which screen to display your presentation.
• The last group, Captions & Subtitles, is only available in Office 365. You’ll find options to enable subtitles, which will be generated out of your speech (so you’ll need to have a mic). There are settings to change the language and the position of the subtitles.
• Open your presentation in PowerPoint.
• Go to the Slide Show tab.
• In the Set Up group, click Set Up Slide Show. A new window will open, where you’ll find several options.
• In the top-left corner, under “Show type”, you can choose whether the presentation will be in fullscreen with speaker notes, windowed, or in fullscreen without speaker notes or the menu bar.

• Under “Show options” you can choose whether to show the presentation without narration or animations, or disable the hardware graphics acceleration (for better performance). You can also set the pen and laser pointer color.

• Under “Show slides”, you can choose which slides to show in your presentation. You can select all of them, a specific range or a custom slideshow.
• There are other settings to determine how to advance slides (manually or using timings), what the resolution will be and whether to use the presenter view.
• Click Record Slide Show. From the drop-down menu, select From the Current Slide or From the Beginning.
• A new window will open, along with the presentation in fullscreen mode. At the top-left you’ll find a button to start recording.

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How to Present a PowerPoint Slideshow With Presenter View (+ Video)

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Giving a presentation can be intimidating, even to seasoned speakers. Learn how to use PPT Presenter View , which is your private cockpit view.

This is a view that you'll see on your own screen while giving a presentation using PowerPoint. While the audience will see the presentation on the projector or big screen, you'll have your own private view on a second monitor.

This feature is like a cockpit for giving presentations. You'll keep all the most important controls front and center while presenting.

PowerPoint Presenter View gives you at least four essential tools that make presenting your slideshow more comfortable:

• In Presenter View , this display keeps your  speaker notes  in view to reference while speaking.
• You'll see a thumbnail for the next slide to begin preparing for your next key point, and you can jump to other slides quickly.
• A timekeeping tool helps you track how long you've been speaking to ensure you don't overrun any time limits.
• Drawing tools allow you to add illustrations on screen while presenting to draw attention to specific parts of your slides.

You need every advantage you can get when it's time to give a presentation. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make the most out of Presenter View in PowerPoint.

In this tutorial, I'm going to focus on an underused feature of PowerPoint: Presenter View. 

How to Present a PowerPoint Slideshow With Presenter View (Video)

In this video, I'll teach you how to get started with Presenter View in PowerPoint. You'll learn how to enable Presenter View and then use the tools inside of it. I'll teach you to use the special Presenter View features to keep your notes and tools close, that way you can present more confidently. 

Keep reading to find out more about using Presenter View in PowerPoint and the best features to try out.

Turn On PowerPoint Presenter View

In PowerPoint for macOS, simply click on  Presenter View  on the  Slide Show  tab to kick off the presentation in Presenter view .

You'll see the Presenter View interface on one screen. The other display will show the "audience version" of the presentation. In other words, it shows what they'll see on a projector screen, or even their own display. 

How to Make the Most of Presenter View

Let's dive into some of my favorite features that Presenter View brings to the table. Using even one of these is reason enough to try out Presenter View in PowerPoint. But when you combine them together, it's a no-brainer.

This is how to use Presenter View on PowerPoint. But the real question is why to use presenter mode PowerPoint. The reason is twofold:

• It helps your slides look better.
• It keeps you organized.

You can share neat, uncluttered slides that aren’t packed with content. That’s because you can keep your supporting content to yourself.

For this Presenter View in PowerPoint tutorial, we’ll be using the beautiful Tezia - Corporate PowerPoint Template from Envato Elements. Tezia has 40 stunning slide layouts. Each one works great in PowerPoint Presenter View . Download it today and follow along.

Now, let’s learn how to use Presenter View in PowerPoint fast!

1. Speaker Notes

Speaker Notes is a top feature that works best with Presenter View in PowerPoint. Many presenters will spend time filling out cards or scribbling ideas onto paper. But it's much easier to add them directly into your PowerPoint file.

To add Speaker Notes to a presentation, start off by working in Normal view on PowerPoint's View tab. At the bottom of your screen, you can click on Notes to open up the Speaker Notes section and add your own text.

Speaker Notes and Presenter View go hand in hand. When you're in Presenter View , your speaker notes will show up on the right side of your screen. You can adjust the text size with the icons near the lower right corner. 

Speaker Notes show how to use Presenter View in PowerPoint to your advantage. They help keep you on track as you present on your key topics.

Speaker Notes are important because they avoid the potential of you reading off your slides. Why? Because you don’t have to commit every key detail to memory! You can engage with your audience, all while referring to pre-built notes that they’ll never see.

2. Slide Previews

Let’s face it: you might be sharing a presentation with dozens of different slides inside. When you know how to put PowerPoint in presentation mode, you can get a sneak preview as you present. It’s easy to forget exactly how you sequenced slides together.

With Presenter View , you can stop guessing. That’s because you’ll always have a preview of the next slide in your deck.

As you work in Presenter View in PowerPoint, notice the slide thumbnail in the upper right corner. It’s labeled Next Slide , and that’s exactly what you’re seeing. This helps you transition smoothly from slide to slide. Often, you may set up some closing narration on one slide to help introduce the next. Guesswork and delays are gone, thanks to using Presenter View in PowerPoint.

Knowing how to present on PowerPoint involves keeping slides in a logical order. That means that on occasion, your next slide should no longer be the next one in line. Presenter View helps you handle this situation. 

Across the bottom of the view is a filmstrip of every slide’s thumbnail. You can scroll through it and click on any slide to jump directly to it.

This way, you can jump around in your slide deck without your audience ever knowing it! This helps you drive the flow of your slide deck in real time, with no interruptions or distractions. 

3. Drawing Tools

Like sports commentators do during a broadcast, you can use drawing tools to draw on top of your slides. This is perfect if you've got a tablet for example, but the feature works well for computer users with a mouse too.

To enter the drawing tools, you can click on the icon shown in the PowerPoint screenshot below. This turns on the tools you need to add highlights and annotations to the selected slide.

Annotations are great if you want to call out key details in real time. You can highlight, mark up, or circle any element on a slide. This is how to use Presenter View in PowerPoint in a live environment. You can use it to capture audience attention and focus on details as your narrative flows. 

Choose from tools like the Laser Pointer, Pen, and Highlighter to add annotations to a slide. A laser pointer is a digital version of the popular tool used to draw attention to parts of a slide.

The Pen and Highlighter tools will actually add new marks on top of the slide that your audience will see. 

4. Timekeeping

This feature is straightforward to use, but I can't stress enough how helpful it is. Nothing is worse than giving a presentation and realizing that you used only half of the time. Or that you went far over the time limit.

In Presenter View , you'll see a feature that keeps time above the current slide thumbnail. You can pause this feature with the Pause button or reset the counter with the icon on the far right. But often, it's best to leave it running. This keeps you on pace, on track, and focused on your message. 

Plus, this is how to put PowerPoint in presentation mode to work for you. At a glance, you can see how much time you have left. This may encourage you to speed up your dialogue. Or it may afford you extra time to expound on a key point or new supporting detail. 

I can think of many times when this feature would have been a big help during presentations in college. When you're graded or judged based upon your runtime, it's a great idea to keep that time total in view.

5. Navigate Effortlessly with Keyboard Shortcuts

Presenter mode PowerPoint presentations are easy to navigate. That’s because they work well with a variety of keyboard shortcuts. By using these shortcuts, you can see how to present on PowerPoint efficiently.

Presenter View offers an array of keyboard and mouse shortcuts that you can use as you present. Again, your audience won’t notice this. 

For a look at them, click on the Tips button in the upper left corner of Presenter View . You’ll see a complete cheat sheet of shortcuts listed. Refer to it often and use these tips to navigate through your slides.

The Best Source for Stunning PowerPoint Templates (With Unlimited Downloads)

Envato Elements is the best place to find stunning PowerPoint templates in 2022 . For a flat, monthly rate, you can download as many PowerPoint templates as you want. Plus, Elements offers an array of other creative content. This includes stock photos, music, fonts, and more.

When you’re using Presenter View in PowerPoint, you need templates that look their best. It’s tempting to turn to free options. But premium templates from Envato Elements are always your best bet.

Why? They’re designed by creative experts with you in mind. You simply fill in the blanks to add your own content. You don’t have to spend time and effort designing slides from scratch. This gives you even more time to craft a compelling narrative to wow any audience.

With premium Envato Elements templates, you’ll unlock an array of features. Each of these helps you shine when you use presenter mode PowerPoint features:

• easy-to-edit text placeholders
• photos and illustrations throughout
• charts and infographics
• pre-built animations

As you learn how to put PowerPoint in presentation mode, you’ll see how all these benefit you.  

Learn More Powerful PowerPoint Tools

We can use tools like Presenter View to reduce the anxiety that comes along with giving presentations. It may still take time to prepare and feel confident about your presentation. But Presenter View keeps those key features in easy view so that you aren't scrambling for written notes.

Check out these tutorials to learn more about giving presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint :

Download Our eBook on Making Great Presentations (Free PDF)

We have the perfect complement to this tutorial, which will walk you through the complete presentation process. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully. 

Download our  eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It's available for FREE with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter. 

Start Using Presenter View Today

You just learned how to use Presenter View in PowerPoint. You're the pilot, and now you're in the cockpit of your presentation plane! The features you saw in this tutorial will keep everything you need in view while you give a presentation.

Don't forget to launch your presentation in presenter mode PowerPoint mode. That means you'll always have your slide cues, notes, and more while you speak to an audience.

Editorial Note:  This post has been updated with contributions and a video from Andrew Childress . Andrew is a freelance instructor for Envato Tuts+.

Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How to Work with Presenter View in PowerPoint

How to Work with Presenter View in PowerPoint

Not all presenters have excellent memory recall or the ability to speak flawlessly to the audience without any cues. However, many of them are good at hiding it by using Presenter View in PowerPoint. It is a presentation mode that enables the presenter to hide speaker notes and presentation controls from the audience while leveraging the various handy features offered by PowerPoint.

How to Use Presenter View in PowerPoint

To start using Presenter View, ensure it’s enabled before you begin your slideshow. If you are new to this feature, we recommend using this option to familiarize yourself with the various navigation options for this presentation mode. This might also be helpful if the PowerPoint templates you are accustomed to using might have animations that you might want to preview in this mode to understand when to give the next visual cue.

How to Enable Presenter View in PowerPoint

To enable PowerPoint presenter view, go to the SlideShow tab and make sure the Use Presenter View option is enabled. This will ensure that you can access Presenter View when you switch your slides to SlideShow mode.

Adjust Display Settings

You can swap between the presenter view and slideshow mode or duplicate the slideshow to exit the Presenter View from the Display Settings menu from the top toolbar.

Navigate Slides in Presenter View

Like any standard PowerPoint presentation in SlideShow mode, you can navigate between slides by using the arrow keys or with a presentation remote. Presenter View also provides slide navigation buttons to move the slides back and forth.

View Taskbar in Presenter View

The Show Taskbar option at the top enables viewing the taskbar. This can be helpful if you require using the taskbar, such as to view your battery charge, see the time, enable or disable another app from the taskbar menu, etc.

Reset or Pause the Timer

Once you start your presentation in Presenter View, a timer starts showing how much time you have spent in slideshow mode. This is an excellent way to understand how much time you have consumed for your session and to keep an eye out for good timekeeping. You can also hit Pause or reset the timer anytime.

Change the Size of the Speaker Notes

How to view notes in PowerPoint while presenting? If you have any speaker notes added to your slides, they will appear in Presenter View on your screen. You can increase or reduce the size of the text via the two options at the bottom of the speaker notes pane.

Using Annotation Tools in Presenter View

PowerPoint annotation tools can be accessed from the bottom toolbar in Presenter View. The Pen and Laser Pointer Tools button gives you access to the pen, ink colors, laser pointer, and eraser and also allows you to show or hide the mouse pointer via Arrow Options .

View All Slides in Presenter View

If you need to go back and forth to find a relevant slide for an ongoing discussion or query during your presentation, you can view all slides in Presenter View via the See all slides option.

Zoom Slides using Presenter View

PowerPoint’s Zoom feature lets presenters quickly pick a portion of the slide to zoom into. Presenter View allows you to leverage this feature by instantly selecting a portion of the slide to enlarge it after selecting Zoom into the slide option. To exit the Zoom mode or hit the Esc key.

Black or Unblack SlideShow

Sometimes, you might want to turn the screen blank for a while, such as during a mid-presentation break. The Black or Unblack SlideShow option blanks the slides for your audience while continuing to show you all navigation options via Presenter View.

Toggle Subtitles in Presenter View

One of the most revolutionary features introduced by Microsoft for PowerPoint over the past decade has been Live captions. This feature enables subtitles by converting speech to text as you present. You can toggle Live subtitles on or off while in presenter view to help your audience read what you speak.

Toggle Camera in Presenter View

Like subtitles, you can also toggle the camera on or off in Presenter View.

End Slideshow in Presenter View

There are different ways to end or exit a SlideShow from Presenter View. You can hit the Esc key or click End Slide Show . Similarly, you can click the three dots at the bottom and select End Show .

More Slideshow Options

Other than the various visibility prominent menus available to navigate, annotate, and present your slides, you can also find a few additional options via More slideshow options , which are accessible via the three dots at the bottom toolbar. These include adjusting the position of the subtitles, turning your screen white or black, ending the slideshow, etc.

How to Use Presenter View on a Single Screen

While Presenter View can be enabled to work with dual monitors, you can also use Presenter View on a single monitor with remote meeting apps like Zoom. A simple method for switching to Presenter View on a single monitor is to click the three dots ( More slideshow options ) at the bottom in SlideShow mode and select Show Presenter View .

You can also switch to Presenter View on a single monitor anytime using the ALT+F5 hotkey.

The presenter can easily manage a PPT in presentation mode, with the utility to view speaker notes, annotate or zoom slides, toggle subtitles or camera on or off, and keep your audience engaged via better slideshow management. However, if you’re new to this presentation mode, a bit of practice might help you avoid confusion when presenting before an audience in Presenter View for the first few times. For more information, check our article about PowerPoint presentation shortcuts .

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60 Effective PowerPoint Presentation Tips & Tricks (Giant List)

Here's a PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks guide that takes you through how to make a good PowerPoint presentation.

The best PowerPoint presentations shouldn’t be remembered. Instead, they should fall into the background to support you and the message you’re trying to get across.

Unlike good PowerPoint presentations , bad PowerPoint presentations are a distraction. You may remember them, but not in a good way.

You’ve seen them before. They might have millions of lines of text. Or a disjointed flow to the slides. Even worse, some slides feature ugly photos and poor design that detract from the message you’re trying to get across. That can even hurt your credibility as a professional or speaker.

This article will take you from finding your initial topic to learning how to make a great PowerPoint presentation. Our guide covers everything in between so that you learn how to present a PowerPoint like a pro.

These Microsoft PowerPoint presentation tips and guidelines are organized into sections. So cut straight to the advice you need and come back when you’re ready for the next steps.

Guide to Making Great Presentations (Free eBook Download)

Also, download our Free eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It’s the deepest resource for learning effective presentation skills for a PPT.

This eBook covers the complete presentation process. It takes the PowerPoint tips and tricks you learn in this article further. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully. It’s another great source for presentation design tips.

Master PowerPoint (Free Course): 15 Essential Tips

This article is full of helpful tips so you can build a powerful presentation. You can also find more PowerPoint tips in this video lesson:

To learn even more about how to make a PowerPoint look good, review the huge list of tips below.

What Makes a PowerPoint Presentation Effective?

Knowing how to use PowerPoint and work within it quickly is helpful. But more important is making a good presentation that hits all your goals. A great PowerPoint presentation is:

• Prepared to Win . Research, plan, and prepare your presentation professionally. It helps you deliver an effective message to your target audience.
• Designed Correctly . Your visual points should stand out without overwhelming your audience. A good PowerPoint visual shouldn’t complicate your message.
• Practiced to Perfection . Rehearse your timing and delivery so that your points land as practiced with a live audience.
• Delivered With Poise . Present with a relaxed inner calm and confident outward projection. Give your audience warmth, excitement, and energy.
• Free From Mistakes . Avoid typos, cheesy clip art, and mistakes like reading directly from your slides.

Consider this your all-inclusive guide to how to make a good presentation. We’ll look at preparing your presentation and explore how to design it in PowerPoint. Plus, we’ll cover how to practice and nail your delivery successfully come presentation time.

We’ll also address what not to do in these tips for PowerPoint presentations—so you can sidestep any big mistakes. Now let’s dig into these tips for effective PowerPoint presentations.

Killer Presentation Preparation Tips to Get Started Right

Before even opening PowerPoint, start by addressing these things. These Microsoft PowerPoint tips and tricks will ensure that you’re prepared for your presentation:

1. Know Your Stuff

Your presentation isn’t about your slides alone. It’s about the message you want to get across. Before filling in stats, facts and figures, think about the narrative that’ll be discussed, why, and in what order.

2. Write It Out

Start in a Word or Google doc, and storyboard or script the entire presentation. This will give you an idea of how the information presented will flow and how viewers will see it in sequence. Learn the complete writing process .

3. Highlight What’s Most Important

A presentation covers the most crucial pieces only. Whatever you’ve been working on that led to this—a paper, a work project, a new product design—doesn’t need to be shared in its entirety. Pick key points and put the rest in an “Appendix” to refer to during the Q&A session at the end.

4. Know Your Audience

How you talk to a room full of medical professionals should be different from the way you address a room full of young entrepreneurs. Everything, in fact, is different: your topic selection, the language you use, the examples you give to illustrate points. The little bits of humor you include should be tailored specifically with your target audience in mind.

Understand your audience’s needs to create a successful PowerPoint presentation. Customize your content to meet their specific requirements.

5. Rehearse! (Yes, Already)

It’s never too early to get used to the rhythm of your presentation and take note of points you want to emphasize. While saying it out loud, you’ll start to develop a “feel” for the material. You’ll notice that some things work well, while others don’t and might need to be worked around.

6. Rewrite After You Rehearse

As you’re rehearsing your presentation, you’re bound to stumble over sections that don’t quite flow naturally. Instead of reworking your delivery, it might be time to consider the content and rewrite the areas that served as stumbling blocks.

“Editing is hard. ‘It’s good enough,’ is a phrase wannabes use. Leaders take editing seriously.” – Anthony Trendl

The most important part of creating a great presentation is the writing stage. The second most important stage is rewriting.

7. Share With a Friend

If the stakes are high for your presentation, it’s never too early to get feedback from those that you trust. Here’s an article that helps you collaborate as a team on a PowerPoint presentation. Get PowerPoint design tips from those that you trust when you collaborate.

Simple Tips to Design Your PowerPoint Presentation Better

Second only to you (the information you bring and how you present it) is your PowerPoint slides. If not designed well, a PowerPoint can be disengaging or distracting (regardless of the content quality). Here are some presentation design tips to make sure this doesn’t happen to you:

8. Keep Your Slides Simple

This is one of the most important PowerPoint presentation tips to follow when designing your slides. Keep in mind that less is more (effective.) A cluttered slide is distracting. It causes confusion for an audience: Which part of the slide should I focus on? Should I read the slide or pay attention to the presenter?

A simple, visually appealing slide will engage your audience, keeping them on track with your main points. Here’s an example of a simple slide that serves its purpose perfectly:

Minimalist slide templates like Nook can help you resist the urge to clutter your slides.

9. Limit Words on Your Slides

Piggybacking on the last point, less is more effective. If possible, avoid bullets altogether. Otherwise cut them to just a few simple words. The audience should be listening, not reading.

10. Use High-Quality Photos and Graphics

One of the most important tips for quality PowerPoint presentations is to use high-quality photos and graphics.

Earlier in this tutorial, you saw Envato Elements, an all-you-can-download service with PPT tips inside of templates. Those pre-built designs are a beginner’s best friend. They’re even better when paired with Elements’ unlimited library of stock photos .

People are more likely to take you seriously if your presentation is visually appealing. Users view attractive design as more usable. Similarly, they’ll view a more attractive PowerPoint as more effective.

11. Use Accurate and Relevant Charts and Graphs

Charts and graphs can also be distracting if they’re not used right. Make sure your information design is simple and clean so that the audience doesn’t spend the entire time trying to decipher what your X axis says. Learn more about PPT data presentation .

12. Use High-Quality, Fresh Templates

Have you seen the old PowerPoint template that looks like worn paper and uses ink splashes? Yeah, so has your audience. Templates can be distracting if they’re too basic or if the design feels dated. You need one with great design options.

Costs are always a concern. But when you use Envato Elements, you’ve got everything you need to create a great PowerPoint presentation . That’s thanks to the incredible all-you-can-download subscription package.

The best PowerPoint tips and tricks can hardly compare to the value of using a template while building your presentation.

On Envato Elements, there are thousands of PowerPoint design templates that are ready to use. Instead of designing a presentation from scratch, start with a template! Just add your specifics to the placeholders.

Templates like Galaxi are impressively designed and waiting for your slide specifics.

The best PowerPoint design tips save you time. And there’s no tip more powerful than this one: use a pre-built template . It helps you master how to present a PowerPoint without spending all your time in the app.

13. Choose Appropriate Fonts

Fonts are an important part of engaging your audience. Fonts and typography choices have a subconscious effect on viewers. They can characterize your company’s presentation and brand either positively or negatively. Make sure that you’re choosing fonts that are professional and modern.

14. Choose Color Well

Like font choice, colors cause specific subconscious reactions from viewers. Choosing an outdated color combination for your presentation will render it ineffective.

Below is an example of the Popsicle PowerPoint template , which has a modern presentation color choice:

The Popsicle PowerPoint template highlights how harmonized color palettes can create beautiful slides.

15. Clean + Simple Formatting Makes All the Difference!

We’ve got a full tutorial on how to make a good presentation slide . Give it a read through and review the accompanying video. Just remember, less is more. The focus is you and your message , not your slides.

16. Make Sure All Objects Are Aligned

A simple way to create a well-designed presentation is to make sure all items on a slide are intentionally aligned. To do this, hold down Shift and select all the objects you want to include. Then choose Arrange in the options bar and apply Alignment Type .

17. Limit Punctuation

This isn’t the place for exclamation points. Emphasize your points (while speaking). Don’t enlist punctuation to do this for you. (Leave these at home!!!)

18. Avoid Over-Formatting Your Points

This PowerPoint presentation tip is simple. There’s no need to have every word of every bullet point capitalized, or to have all your bullet points in title case. If possible, drop bullets altogether. Again, the simpler, the better!

Limit your text formatting, including reducing the use of bullets, underline, and other effects. Compare the before example on the left to the revised version on the right.

19. Combine Information With Graphics in PowerPoint

One of the most powerful presentation skills for PPT is using infographics. With the right type of visuals, slides come to life and reduce the text in favor of graphics.

Infographics help combine information with graphics. It’s easier to explain complex ideas when you use visual formats that are intuitive.

Practice Presentation Tips: Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse!

Delivery is probably more important than the actual content. Here’s how to become more aware of your own unique ticks, and how to present like a polished pro:

20. I’ll Say It Again, Rehearse!

Just do it. Again and again. Experiment with pauses, gestures, and body language. Practice around one hour for every minute of your speech.

21. Practice With a Timer

Consistency is key to an effective PowerPoint presentation. The timing should be similar (ideally the same) each time you rehearse. This one will especially pay off when it’s time to present in front of your audience.

22. Slow It Down

Many of the best speakers today intentionally speak slowly. You’ll have the chance to emphasize, appear more thoughtful, and make your information easier to digest.

23. Pause More Often

Like the prior tip, pausing more often allows your main points to be emphasized and gives time for information to sink in. You need to let key points breathe a little before rushing into the next section.

24. Record Yourself

Use your phone’s voice recorder. Assess and critique yourself. Consider:

• Are your pauses too short or too long?
• Are you speaking slowly enough? Too slow?
• When you’re nervous, does your voice get high like the mice in Cinderella?

It’s always weird to hear your own voice recorded; don’t stress it. Use this as a time to adjust.

25. Choose Three Focal Points in the Room

If you stare at the same spot (or even creepier, the same person) the entire time, your presentation will be ineffective (and awkward.) People will be distracted by you, wondering what you’re staring at.

Try this: pick three points in the room (typically: left, center, right). Take time to direct your delivery toward each physical focal point in the room. Also, focus on the center when making your primary points.

26. Vary Your Sentence Length

This makes you sound more interesting, and it’s easier for your audience to follow. Think short and punchy. Or go long and complex for dramatic effect.

27. Modulate!

Don’t speak in monotone for your whole presentation. Be conscious of raising and lowering your voice tone. Otherwise, people will tune you out, and you’ll come across like the teacher in Charlie Brown.

28. Practice in Front of a Mirror

What you look like is as important as how you sound. Pretend you’re having a normal conversation, and allow your hands to move with your speech to emphasize your points. Just don’t get carried away! (I’m thinking Brene Brown or President Obama , not your Aunt Jamie after a few gin and tonics.)

29. Use “Present Mode” When Rehearsing

When you finally are ready to hit the Present button in PowerPoint, make sure you use the Present Mode option. This allows you (and only you) to view extra notes about each slide—just in case you forget something!

30. Practice With New Audiences

If possible, try doing a few real live test runs as a webinar or even at a local Toastmasters organization to get some feedback from a live audience.

31. Engage the Audience by Asking Questions

There’s no reason that a presentation should be one-sided. Why not invert the format and ask your audience a question?

To learn how to create a slide that kicks off a Q&A, use this article . These PowerPoint design tips help you create an engaging and exciting discussion.

Helpful Tips to Step Up and Deliver Come Presentation Time

When the actual day arrives, there are only a few last PowerPoint presentation tips and guidelines to keep in mind:

32. Take a Deep Breath

Deep breathing is proven to relieve stress. It’s simple, and it’ll help you remain calm and in the moment, even up to the last minute before starting.

33. Lighten Up Your Mood

Tell yourself a joke or watch a funny video clip. Do this before the presentation, of course. Research concludes that happy people are more productive. More productive is more focused and able to perform better.

34. Remind Yourself to Take It Slow

When we’re stressed or nervous (or both), we tend to speak faster. Consciously, take yet another deep breath and remind yourself to take it slow!

35. Read the Room

Every presentation room has a temperature. It’s your job as a speaker to gauge it and tailor your presentation to it.

Here’s a great example. Layoffs are coming at a company, and you’re asked to speak to an audience. Even if the audience isn’t personally affected by the actions, you’ve got to consider the morale of the workforce.

Skilled speakers have a knack for reading the energy of the room and adjusting their presentation on the fly.

The last thing that group will want to hear is how strong the economy is and why the company is the best place to work. That doesn’t mean that you’ve got to align to their uncertainty, but don’t go too far against the grain while presenting.

Robert Kennedy III is a master of bringing energy and aligning a speech to the audience. Here’s his advice for adjusting:

“It can be hard to wake up a “dead” crowd but go for it. Most of all, don’t take their energy personally. Focus on serving them with every bit of your fiber then leave empty.”

36. Fake It ‘Til You Make It!

Go forward with confidence. If you act confident, you’ll start to feel more confident. Move slowly with grace, speak clearly, smile, wear something nice. You’ll appear confident to all attendees (no matter how you feel internally).

PowerPoint Presentation Tips and Tricks to Help Avoid Mistakes (What Not to Do)

Most importantly, focus on what you can do to make your presentation better. There are a few important things not to do that we’ve got to address. Here are a handful of PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks to help you avoid missteps.

37. Stop With the Sound Effects

Sound effects are distracting and outdated. In most cases, avoid them. Add audio or music to your presentation to inject interest or highlight an important point, but it’s something to take extra care with. If you insert audio, then make sure your use really connects with your audience and has a fresh approach. Otherwise, it’s best to leave it out.

38. Don’t Use Flashy Slide Transitions

Again, this is distracting and outdated. Use transitions and subtle animations in your PowerPoint presentation. But you need to take care and do it right .

39. Beware of Clip Art

This PowerPoint presentation tip shouldn’t even have to be said. But please, please don’t use clip art. Use professional graphics instead.

40. Don’t Be Afraid to Be Afraid

The fear of public speaking is a real one. Many beginners think that if they’re feeling nervous that a presentation won’t go well or succeed. That might lead them to cancel the presentation.

Here’s a tip from expert Sandra Zimmer, who leads The Self-Expression Center on conquering your fears before you take the stage:

“Get out of your head and into your body. I do this through a grounding exercise that really works to calm nerves and bring you present in the moment.”

If you think that public speaking fears aren’t normal, you might never give your award-winning presentation. So don’t be afraid to be afraid, and acknowledge it’s part of the process!

41. Don’t Read Directly During Your PowerPoint Presentation

If you spend your entire presentation looking at the screen or your note cards, you’re sure to lose your audience’s attention. They’ll disengage from what you’re saying, and your presentation will fall flat.

Reading from your paper or screen also makes it look like you’re not prepared. Many people do it, but no one should. As a general rule, only present something you know well and have, at least mostly, memorized the main points of.

42. Don’t Miss Out on PowerPoint Customizations

Many new PowerPoint users often make significant mistakes when using Envato Elements designs.

The best way to see how to make a good presentation PPT is to start with designs from others. That means using a template, but that doesn’t mean you can’t customize them!

Don’t forget that PowerPoint templates are infinitely customizable. Think of them as guides with built-in presentation design tips.

To see more presentation tips that show you what not to do, make sure to check out our guide .

Work in PowerPoint More Effectively (Tips & Tricks to Level Up Your PPT Skills)

These PowerPoint tips will help you get the most out of the application to level up your next presentation. Let’s dive in.

43. Use the Visual Guides

When you’re designing your next PowerPoint presentation, it helps to create a sense of visual rhythm. Slides that have objects aligned and centered are more likely to resonate with an audience.

44. Use a Few Animations (Tastefully)

Animations in effective PowerPoint presentations are a slippery slope. We’ve all sat through presentations where there were so many objects in motion that it was easy to lose focus on the key ideas in the presentation.

But that’s why animations get an unfairly bad reputation. Use animations to create motion and hold an audience’s attention. Use them sparingly and on key elements on your slide, and you’ll capture that attention properly.

45. Stage Key Content With Animations

You just learned that animations should avoid being distracting. But there’s an important principle to using animations properly. It’s called staging content.

Staging content means that the content appears step by step. There’s nothing worse than overwhelming an audience with all your content at once. But when you stage content, bring it on step by step.

Take it from presentation pro Suzannah Baum :

“If you’re sharing a slide with lots of different points on it, using the animation to reveal those points one at a time is a way to keep the presenter’s content flowing smoothly.”

For more animation presentation tips and tricks, follow our guide .

46. Add a Video to Your PowerPoint

When you’re sharing a big idea in your presentation, it helps to share your perspective from a few different angles. Adding a video to supplement your content can do just that. Luckily, it’s easy to add and embed a YouTube video in your next PowerPoint presentation.

47. Add Charts & Graphs

Charts and graphs can help you tell stories with data. It’s easy for an audience to zone out when you throw a big data table or set of statistics at them.

instead, convert those to charts and graphs. Try out our tutorial to learn how to edit those graphs.

48. Build Your Own Infographics With SmartArt

Earlier in this tutorial, we gave you one of my favorite PowerPoint design tips: use infographic templates.

Here’s another. One of my favorite PowerPoint features is SmartArt, which allows you to build infographics right inside the app.

You don’t have to use another graphic design app like Photoshop or Illustrator to add visuals. Instead, try out SmartArt to help you build graphics that are easy to update.

49. Use Presenter View

Remember that when you use the PowerPoint, you’ re the presentation. The slides are just there to reinforce what you’ve got to say and support your speaking points.

That’s why I always recommend using Presenter view. More often than not, you’re going to have several displays. Presenter view shows your content on your screen, while your presentation is displayed on another screen.

50. Track Your PowerPoint Changes

One of my favorite PowerPoint design tips is to collaborate. Those who know you best will suggest compelling changes that are sure to help you succeed.

As you start collaborating on your presentation, it helps to keep track of proposed and included PowerPoint changes. Use this article to track changes made by others.

10 More Advanced PowerPoint Tips & Tricks

Really need to wow an audience with a good PowerPoint presentation? Give these tips a try to make an unforgettable impression:

51. Engage With an Interactive Quiz

A good PowerPoint presentation gets your audience involved. One of the best PowerPoint tricks is to do that with a quiz. By engaging audiences, a quiz makes your slides memorable.

By adding trivia, you’ll see how to present a PowerPoint in a way that people will love. Channel your inner game-show host today. MIDTEST is a  good PowerPoint presentation  with quiz slides.

52. Illustrate With Custom Image Masks

One of the top PowerPoint tips is to illustrate your slides. But you can go beyond simple, rectangular images on each slide.

The Burte template is full of  PowerPoint tricks , including custom image masks. Image masks shape photos into unique works of art. And thanks to premium templates, you can style photos just like this. Masks overlay your photos onto geometric shapes, instantly elevating your style.

53. Print Handouts With Extra Notes

Wonder how to give a good presentation PPT that audiences will remember? Give them a piece of it to take home.

PowerPoint makes it easy to print handouts with room for notes on the page. This way, audiences can keep copies of your slides, along with their own notes. This is the perfect way to ensure everyone engages with and retains your content.

54. Make Bulk Edits With Master Slides

When you think about how to present a PowerPoint, consider your branding. That means keeping your logo front and center in the eyes of an audience. But if you’re working with a lengthy slide deck, this could seem daunting.

That’s where master slides come in. They’re common in premium layouts, and they’re a leading example of presentation skills for PPT. Master slides let you make bulk edits fast.

55. Shrink File Sizes for Sharing

Many of the top presentation tips involve making your slides more accessible. Often, that involves sharing them with audiences online.

You’ll often find that email clients and cloud services limit the size of files that you share. This can be a problem with large PPT slide decks. But there are a few quick steps you can take to reduce PPT file size. Cut graphics, scale down photos, and more.

56. Map Processes With Flowcharts

As you consider how to do a good PowerPoint presentation, think of ease of understanding. After all, you’re trying to explain something to your audience.

The  Flowcharts in Infographics  template seamlessly illustrates ideas and processes. A flowchart maps out a process in a visual way. Instead of resorting to endless narration, try a quick illustration like this. It saves you time and effort, and your audience is sure to thank you.

57. Use Brand-Specific Colors

Using presentation skills for PPT helps form an association between your message and branding. There’s no better way to do that than with your brand colors.

PowerPoint makes it easy to change color themes, adding your brand colors and logo to each slide. This is one of the top PowerPoint tricks for marketing presentations.

58. Build Social Media Posts in PPT

A good PowerPoint presentation doesn’t have to be shared through a projector. Use the app and templates to build amazing illustrations to use anywhere.

A template like Soffee helps you learn how to present a PowerPoint easily with a pre-built design.

Try using PowerPoint to create social media posts. It helps you engage with your audience, with no need to design custom layouts from scratch.

59. Be Industry-Specific

One of the top presentation tips in 2024 is to be industry-specific. That means avoiding generic layouts and choosing something more customized.

This offers two key advantages. First, you save time by having layouts built for you. Second, you gain design inspiration for your specific topic. Themed templates are truly the best of both worlds.

The Medical and Health template is a good PowerPoint presentation with a set theme.

60. Design for Online (Virtual) Sharing

Last but not least in our list of PowerPoint tips comes virtual presenting. More and more often, slides will be shared with online audiences around the globe.

Why not design your slides for that very purpose? And then learn how to share flawlessly with a global team? It’s one of the top presentation tips for 2024. Embrace it today.

More Great PowerPoint Tutorial Resources

We’ve built a resource for Microsoft PowerPoint that you’re sure to want to try. It includes countless PowerPoint tips and tricks. It’s called How to Use PowerPoint (Ultimate Tutorial Guide) and has all the PowerPoint design tips you need.

Discover More Top PowerPoint Template Designs From Envato Elements for 2024

You’ve just seen our favorite powerful PowerPoint presentation tips and guidelines to help you improve your speaking. We’ve also mentioned Envato Elements, an incredible all-you-can-download source for top PowerPoint designs .

Here are five of the best PowerPoint templates that you can use to create your best presentation yet:

1. Galaxi PowerPoint Template

Blast off to success with the help of this PowerPoint template! Think of the pre-built slide designs as pro PowerPoint design tips. They’re built by professional graphic designers. All the popular and modern slide styles that are perfect for your next presentation. Use Galaxi’s five styles and 30 designs to create a great presentation.

2. Masmax PowerPoint Template

We selected templates for this article that match the PowerPoint tips and tricks provided. Masmax fits the bill perfectly across its 234 unique slide designs. These slide designs are sure to align with the latest in design expectations.

3. STYLE Multipurpose PowerPoint Template V50

Style is subjective, but we can all agree that this template is stunning! The light and airy slide designs are built with fashion-focused designs in mind. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not perfect for most presentations. When learning to present a PowerPoint, remember that templates can be customized to suit your purpose.

4. Peachme Creative PowerPoint Template

Peachme has image-focused slides with splashy designs. The slides are colorful and perfect for a modern presentation. Don’t worry about remembering all the PowerPoint design tips because they’re included in the pre-built slides. Use Peachme’s designs for your presentation today.

5. Buizi Office Building Rent PowerPoint Template

Buizi markets itself as a real estate focused template. It’s ideal for that purpose because of the minimal, image-focused slide designs. But that also makes it a perfect choice for presentations in many fields.

We’ve just scratched the surface of PowerPoint design tips with these five options. Here are many more, bundled inside of the best roundups on Envato Tuts+:

How to Build a Good PowerPoint Presentation Quickly (In 2024)

You’ve already seen effective presentation skills PPT techniques. But you may be wondering exactly how to do a good PowerPoint presentation. It only takes a few clicks. Let’s learn how in just five steps.

For this mini-tutorial, we’ll use the Enjoy PowerPoint Template from Envato Elements. You’ll see that it’s a beautiful template that helps you learn how to present a PowerPoint by giving you every object and layout you need.

Let’s get started:

1. Choose Your Slides

As you can see, a template like Enjoy has dozens of unique slides inside. The key to how to give a good presentation PPT is to choose only the slides that you need.

One of the best PowerPoint tricks is to start by selecting slides you wish to use from your template.

In PowerPoint, scroll through the sidebar on the left to view different slide layouts. Right-click and choose Delete to remove unwanted designs. Plus, you can click and drag slide thumbnails to reorder them in the deck.

2. Add Text

Consider how to do a good PowerPoint presentation without investing a ton of time. That’s where premium templates come in.

One of our top presentation tips when working with a PPT is to lean on the pre-built text boxes for your content.

To add custom text, simply click and select the contents of any text box on your slide. Then, type in your own words. Repeat as needed throughout your slide deck.

3. Customize Fonts

With text selected, it’s easy to customize fonts on each slide. Find the Font section on PowerPoint’s Home tab. From there, you’ve got a variety of dropdown options.

Another of our top tips for presentation tricks is to use a custom font setting in your template.

Click to change the font, font size, and more. You can also use the buttons on the left to add bolds, italics, and more.

Need more custom font styles? As an Envato Elements subscriber, you’ve got instant access to thousands of custom fonts . Use them in your presentation with ease.

4. Insert Images

Slides like this one contain an image placeholder. That’s another advantage found only with premium templates. These make adding images a breeze.

Add images to your PPTX template for more visually interesting slides.

To get started, find an image file stored on your computer. Then, drag and drop it over the placeholder. PowerPoint will import it, sized and scaled for a perfect fit.

5. Change Colors

One of the top effective presentation skills is changing shape colors. This helps you control the look and feel of each slide.

With a shape selected, find the Shape Format tab on PowerPoint’s ribbon. Then, click on the Shape Fill dropdown. You’ll see a color chooser menu appear. Click on any thumbnail to apply it to the shape or browse through the Gradient and Texture options.

Start Putting These PowerPoint Presentation Tips & Tricks Into Use Today!

Learning to write, design, and present a PowerPoint presentation is an invaluable skill, no matter where you use it. If you’re a good communicator of important messages, you’ll never go hungry.

Luckily, improving PowerPoint presentations isn’t as hard as it seems. Follow these tips for PowerPoint presentations to design and deliver with greater confidence.

Remember: Less is more (effective) . Use PowerPoint presentation templates for better design and more effective visual impact. And you can customize a PPT template quickly , with the right workflow.

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Presenter View in PowerPoint

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How to Use Presenter View in PowerPoint

• You can use thumbnails to select slides out of sequence and create a customized presentation for your audience.
• Preview text shows you what your next click will add to the screen, such as a new slide or the next bullet in a list.
• Speaker’s notes are shown in large, clear type so that you can use them as a script for your presentation.
• You can temporarily black out the screen during a presentation and then resume where you left off. This can come in handy during breaks or question and answer periods.

Start Presenter View

• Click the Options button.

The Presenter view fills the screen. The same presentation tools are available below the slide, and it also shows the current time and a thumbnail of the upcoming slide. At the bottom of the screen, use the arrows to move forward or backward in the presentation.

Command Buttons

At the top of the Presenter view, there are command buttons.

• Show Taskbar : Show or hide the Windows taskbar.
• Display Settings : When projecting, swap which display shows the presenter view or duplicate the slide show on both screens.
• End the Slide Show : Return to Normal view.

The timer is located at the top-left corner of the current slide. It keeps track of how long Presenter view has been running.

• Click the Pause button to temporarily stop the timer.

The Notes pane gives you a large look at any notes added to the slide. In Presenter view, you have the flexibility to change the display size.

End Presenter View

You can close Presenter view without ending the presentation entirely.

• Click the Options menu.

You return to the regular slide show view.

To close Presenter View and end the presentation, just press Esc .

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How to Present a PowerPoint Slideshow (w/ Shortcuts)

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• May 11, 2019

There are a variety of ways to start a PowerPoint presention, depending on:

• Where you start your presentation (from beginning or from current)
• Which PowerPoint view you prefer to present in (Slide Show view or Presenter view)
• How comfortable you are with keyboard shortcuts

Why would Microsoft include so many ways to present a presentation? My guess is that everyone learns PowerPoint differently, and has personal presentation styles.  The more options you have, the easier your life will be as there will always be a way to start your presentation the way you want to (or jump back into it when you need to).

See all the options below and find the method that works best for you and let the slide show begin !

NOTE: If you are running two presentations side-by-side, each presentation needs to be started as it’s own slide show. To see how to set up two PowerPoint presentations to run side-by-side like this before you start your slide show, read my guide here .

Table of Contents

Start slide show from beginning.

To start a slideshow from the beginning of your presentation using the ribbon, simply.

• Navigate to the  Slide Show tab
• Select  From Beginning

Selecting  From Beginning  starts your presentation from the very first non-hidden slide in your presentation, regardless of which slide you are currently inside of your deck.

You can also start your slide from the beginning of your presentation by hitting the Slideshow From Beginning keyboard shortcut,  F5 .

Regardless of which method you use, this is the classic way to start your presentation in full screen from your first title slide (regardless of where you are in your slide deck).

Let the slide show begin!

NOTE: To expand your knowledge and learn how to use PowerPoint’s FREE and HIDDEN built-in laser pointer to point things out during your presentation, read my guide here .

Take your PPT skills to the next level

Start slide show from current.

To begin your slide show from the slide you are currently on using the ribbon, simply

• Navigate to the Slide Show tab
• Select  From Current Slide

Selecting From Current Slide starts your slide show from whatever slide you are currently on, even if the slide is hidden.

You can also start your slide from the current slide you are on by hitting the  Shift+F5  keyboard shortcut.

Because it’s often easiest to catch errors when building your slides in this full screen mode, I highly recommend learning the  Shift+F5  shortcut and using it frequently as you build your slides to spot them for errors.

If you don’t want to bother learning the From Current Slide shortcut, you can also start your slideshow by clicking the  Slide Show  icon at the bottom of your screen.

This is a fantastic way to spot check your slides as you are building them. On top of that, it’s a fast and uncomplicated way to re-start your presentation from where you left off after demoing something on screen.

Start a mini-slide show in PowerPoint

You can also use the following hidden PowerPoint shortcut to run a mini slide show over the top of your current deck.

To run a mini slide show, simply:

• Hold down the  Alt key  on your keyboard
• With your mouse, click the  Slide Show  icon

Doing so starts a small slide show of your presentation that you can see below, from the current slide you are on.

Presenter View

The Presenter View is an alternate way to run your presentation in PowerPoint. In this view, your slides are projected on screen, and the details of your presentation are displayed on your computer as pictured below.

The presenter view includes your next (non-hidden) slides that is coming up, your current slide projected on screen, how long you’ve been talking and your speaker notes.

To launch the  Presenter View  from the beginning of your presentation using your Ribbon, simply:

• Navigate to the  Slide Show  tab
• Hold down the  Alt key on  your keyboard
• Click  From Beginning

Holding down the  Alt key  and clicking  From Beginning , the Presenter View will launch from the very first (non-hidden) slide in your presentation.

You can also launch the presenter view from the beginning of your presentation at any time by clicking Alt + F5  on your keyboard.

Start Presenter View in PowerPoint From Current Slide

Did you know that you can access different views in PowerPoint by adding keys as you click commands in the PowerPoint ribbon?

To start the Presenter view from your current slide using your Ribbon, simply:

• Hold down the Alt key on your keyboard
• Click  From Current Slide

Holding the Alt key and clicking From Current Slide launches the Presenter View from your current slide. So, this is another way you can quickly practice your presentation, see your speaker notes and see what’s coming up next.

You can also launch the Presenter View from the beginning of your presentation at any time by hitting Alt+F5 on your keyboard.

Showing and Hiding Presenter View

Regardless of which view you start your PowerPoint slide show; you can switch between the two different slide show views without exiting presentation.

To switch between the two slideshow views (while giving your presentation), simply:

• Right-click your slide in whichever presentation view you are currently in
• Select either Show Presenter View or Hide Presenter View

When would you use a feature like this during a presentation? One example is if you want to view your notes without leaving the slide show mode.

NOTE: The letter r  for both  Show Presenter View  and  Hide Presenter View  is underlined. This means that it is a keyboard shortcut. So, if you want to quickly flip between these two presentation views, you can simply right-click your slide and hit the letter r on your keyboard. Doing so automatically switches the view you are in.

Controlling how your presentation runs

Another way to control how your presentation runs (including the default laser pointer and pen color), is the Set Up Slide Show dialog box.

To open the  Set Up Slide Show  dialog box, simply:

• Select the  Set Up Slide Show  command

Doing so, opens all your PowerPoint slide show settings and options as pictured below.

Inside the slide show settings dialog box, you can select:

• How your presentation runs (full screen, window or in kiosk mode).
• Your default pen and laser pointer color options ( see our laser pointer article here ).
• Which slide you want start from, or which slides you want to show. You can also setup a custom show here.
• How your slides progress (manually or using slide timings).
• Which of your computer monitors (or screens) your slide show runs on.

The  Set Up Slide Show dialog box is also the secret to running multiple presentations at the same time in PowerPoint. To expand your knowledge and learn how to set this up, read our guide here .

Setup Slide Show SECRET Shortcut

To use the SECRET shortcut to open the Set Up Slide Show dialog box, simply:

• Hold down the Shift key on your keyboard
• With your mouse, click the Reading View icon at the bottom of your screen

This is useful when you need to quickly cycle through lots of PowerPoint presentations and change how those presentations run. Instead of wasting time clicking through the Ribbon, simply hold the Shift key and click the  Reading View icon. This is also a friendly conversation starter with a fellow PowerPoint enthusiast at Happy Hour.

NOTE: The color of your Reading View icon might be different than in the picture above, as it is dependent on the Office Theme you selected for PowerPoint.

How to exit a PowerPoint presentation early?

Regardless of how you start your full screen presentation, you can end your presentation at any time by hitting the Esc key on your keyboard.

Hitting  Esc  immediately takes you out of the   PowerPoint presentation mode and back to the normal editing view of your slides, on whatever slide you were last presenting.

Here is how you can use a combination of all the different keyboard shortcuts to spot check and practice your presentation in full screen before you finalize your presentation.

• Hit  F5  on your keyboard to   start your presentation in full screen from the very first slide in your presentation. You can then use your arrow keys to advance, spot checking your slides for errors.
• When you find an error, simply hit  Esc  key to return to the normal PowerPoint editing view to fix your slide.
• When you are done, hit  Shift + F5  to return the full screen presentation mode from the slide you just updated. You can then continue spot checking your presentation (without having to start over from the beginning).

In this way you can quickly work your way through your slides and practice your presentation, fixing and adjusting your content as you go.

Understanding how to run your presentations is CRITICAL to the success of your presentation. Not only in presenting them live, but also in knowing how to spot check your slides as you build them.

I personally find it easiest to spot check your slides and quickly fix errors by running your presentation in slide show mode (or full screen). The last place you want to discover an error is during your presentation.

Using the commands and shortcuts above, you can quickly start, exit and step back into your slide show. Once you have these commands and features down, you will also look like a whiz during your presentations.

If you enjoyed the depth of this article, you will love our other PowerPoint training courses and free resources. To learn more, visit us here .

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Mar 4, 2021

Switch between editing and viewing in PowerPoint for web

Robin Miller

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Hi, Office Insiders! I’m Robin Miller, a Program Manager on the PowerPoint team. I’m happy to announce that we have made it even easier to switch between editing and viewing presentations in PowerPoint for the web.

Editing and viewing in PowerPoint

As you are reviewing and getting familiar with the content of a presentation, use the Viewing mode, and don’t worry about accidentally moving things around or making unintended changes. When you’re ready to provide feedback and make updates, switch to the Editing mode.

We’ve updated PowerPoint for the web so you can now quickly change between both modes with a couple of clicks.

How it works  

As long as  you have  Edit  permissions  for a given pres entation, you  can choose to be in Editing or Viewing mode.   

• To switch between the modes, click  Editing   in the ribbon  and  then  choose  Viewing .   To switch back, choose  Editing .  

Requirements  

• You must have Editing permissions. Users with View-only  permissions   won’t  be able to switch into Editing mode.  

Tips and tricks  

• The option to  Open in Desktop   can   also now be found in this menu.  If   you are running PowerPoint in Teams,  the  Open in Desktop  button remains outside the mode menu  for now.   

Known  issues    

The mode menu options are disabled and difficult to see when in Slide Sorter View while also using High Contrast Mode.  

Availability   

This feature is  rolling  out  to  PowerPoint for the web users. We are working on bringing the  feature  to PowerPoint for Windows and Mac in the future. 

Feedback  

If you have any feedback or suggestions, you can  send  them by clicking  Help > Feedback .  

Learn what  other information you should include in your feedback  to ensure  it’s actionable and reaches the right people. We’re excited to hear from you!  

Sign up for the  Office Insider newsletter  and get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month!

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How to switch between Views in PowerPoint while presenting

How to switch between views in powerpoint, how to switch to outline view in powerpoint.

Click the View tab and select Outline in the Presentation views group.

How to switch to Slide Sorter view in PowerPoint

How to switch to note page view in powerpoint, how to switch  to reading view in powerpoint, how to switch to normal view in powerpoint, which button do you click to see a transition in normal view, how do you switch between viewing options in powerpoint, how do you go to the next slide in powerpoint without clicking, what is the difference between reading view and slide show view, shantelanderson@twc.

Present on multiple monitors (and view speaker notes privately)

You can present with two monitors: Using Presenter View is a great way to view your presentation with speaker notes on one monitor (your laptop, for example), while your audience views the notes-free presentation on a different monitor (like a larger screen you're projecting to).

Note:  Make sure the device you're using for your presentation supports the use of multiple monitors. Check with your manufacturer for up-to-date information about multiple monitor support.

To do this procedure and split the view between projectors in this way, you must be connected to the second screen.

Set up PowerPoint to use Presenter view with two monitors

On the Slide Show tab, in the Monitors group, select Use Presenter View .

Windows Display Settings should open.

In the Display Settings dialog box, on the Monitor tab, select the monitor icon that you want to use to view your speaker notes, and then select the This is my main monitor check box.

If the This is my main monitor check box is selected and unavailable, the monitor is already designated as the primary monitor.

Select the monitor icon for the second monitor—the one the audience will watch, and then select the Extend my Windows Desktop onto this monitor check box.

Notes:  If the Windows Display Settings don't open, do the following:

Windows 10: Click Start > Settings > System > Display . At the top, under Customize your display , is a diagram of the screens connected to your computer, with each screen numbered. If you are connected to a project, typically it will be represented in the diagram as screen 2. Select screen 1 in the diagram, then scroll downward. Ensure that the check box named Make this my main display is selected. Above that check box, in the Multiple displays list, select Extend these displays .

Windows 8: Right-click the Windows Start button, click Control Panel > Display > Adjust resolution . In the Multiple displays list, click Extend these displays . Select the monitor on which you want to view your speaker notes, and click Make this my main display .

You can use PowerPoint on your smartphone as a remote control to run your presentation and view your speaker notes. See Using a laser pointer on your smartphone when presenting in PowerPoint for more information, including a brief video.

Deliver your presentation on two monitors

On the Slide Show tab, in the Set Up group, click Set Up Slide Show .

In the Set Up Show dialog box, choose the options that you want, and then click OK . If you choose Automatic , PowerPoint will display speaker notes on the laptop monitor, if available. Otherwise, PowerPoint will display speaker notes on the main display identified in your Display settings ( Settings > Display ).

Extend vs. Duplicate: What happens after the slide show ends

PowerPoint does something behind the scenes to make the process of starting a slide show on a second monitor as smooth and quick as possible. When you enter Slide Show, PowerPoint automatically changes your display settings (also known as your display topology) to Extend .

What can be confusing is what happens after your slide show concludes:

In newer versions of PowerPoint , when your slide show ends,, PowerPoint reverts to your default setting, returning to Duplicate , if that's what you have chosen.

Video: Use Presenter view

View your speaker notes as you deliver your slide show

Video: Rehearse timings for a slide show

Zoom in to part of a slide in Slide Show view

Print your PowerPoint slides, handouts, and notes

Create a self-running presentation

Start the presentation and see your notes in Presenter view

PowerPoint videos not playing on secondary monitor

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How can I edit a presentation while in presentation mode?

I'm looking for a way to present to a live audience and incorporate their input into my presentation. With a "static" presentation, you have to keep taking down, editing, and then re-presenting the slide deck. I'm looking for a way to incorporate and save changes directly into the live presentation.

I use Keynote and PowerPoint, so a method to accomplish this with either would be ideal. But I am open to a solution that requires something else.

• microsoft-powerpoint
• presentations
• iwork-keynote

• I would gladly take a hack for PowerPoint or Keynote. That would be the preferred method –  Max Phillips Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 21:46
• Would a PDF with fillable forms meet your requirements? It's not clear what sort of input you want to accept. If it's just text, then running a PDF reader in full-screen mode might do what you want. –  AFH Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 22:19
• There is no hack. This behavior has been "normal" in Powerpoint at least for quite a while. 99% of people present by duplicating their screen (same thing on projector and their computer) but if you extend your display to the projector Powerpoint by default uses a different mode that has a special view on the computer display an the full-screen slide on the projecting display. And... you can edit in real time, while presenting, with live updates to the slides. –  music2myear Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 23:00

3 Answers 3

For Windows:

PowerPoint has had this capability for quite some time. The key is to NOT duplicate your computer screen with the presenting screen ( TV, projector, other screen, etc. I'll use "projector" in this how-to for simplicity purposes. ) The only requirement is that you have some screen besides the projector.

With a Windows computer, when you connect to a projector use the Win + P command and choose the Extend the display. This means that your computer screen and the projector will show different things. You can also do this in Display Settings if you're more familiar with that.

PowerPoint has some intelligence to determine which screen is a projector and which is not, but if you need more control over which screen the presentation is on and which one will be your control screen, in the Slide Show tab you'll find Set Up Slide Show, which includes settings for this.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Presenter View (also an option in the Slide Show tab) can make things a little more difficult, but not much. When using Presenter Mode, the default behavior is for the Presenter Mode window to go full-screen, and you cannot edit in Presenter Mode. However, resizing the Presenter Mode window should allow you to easily bring up the main PowerPoint window, which is where the magic will happen.

So, all that aside, the meat of the solution:

Just edit the darn thing. That's all it takes.

With the presentation running happily away on the projector and the main PowerPoint window up on your computer screen, you can edit as much as you please and your edits will be reflected in real-time in the presentation itself ( Note: I've known about the Presenter Mode and running presentations on multiple monitors for years, but am only testing the specifics of editing in PowerPoint 2016. I do not know how the behavior is different in previous versions. ).

I don't know. I could not find specific documentation of this ability/feature for either Keynote or PowerPoint for Mac. While in Windows the Presenter view can be resized, some suggest this is not an option in Office for Mac.

One work around would be to use the Freeze capability of most projectors to freeze the current image on the screen, then exit the presentation on the computer, edit the slideshow, begin it at that slide again, and then unfreeze the projector image.

• I'm pretty familiar with extended desktop. It's what I work in most of the time. Is this procedure the same on Mac? And what version of PowerPoint are you using? –  Max Phillips Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 16:26
• Macs an Keynote have generally encouraged people to use the extended desktop, so I'm not surprised you're more familiar with that mode. Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to test on an Apple computer. I tested this while writing the answer on Office 2016, which is the same version available for Mac. –  music2myear Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 16:38
• I just can't figure out how to resize the Presenter Mode window. If I play the show without presenter view it takes over the PowerPoint module, there is no window behind it. –  Max Phillips Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 16:44
• Interesting. I know the feature isn't new (or limited) to 2016 because of the answers to this question from 3 years ago: superuser.com/questions/681019/… –  music2myear Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 17:04
• I'm trying to find documentation on the Mac versions. –  music2myear Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 17:04

For Mac using PowerPoint 16:

Open the presentation you want to show. On the Mac menu bar go to window and click New Window.

This will pop out a duplicate PowerPoint presentation. Drag one of them to the second monitor and run it under setup option: "Browsed by an individual (window)"

You can now edit and add slides on the fly in the window that remains on your main desktop without interrupting the presentation. You can even edit the slide that you are currently showing on the screen and it will update automatically as you change it.

• TIL. Sweet. I'm glad you were able to figure it out. Feel free to mark this as the answer, but I'd also recommend modifying your original question to indicate you're talking about Mac OS, which would help clarify why my answer was not the best. –  music2myear Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 23:11
• I want to give credit it where it's deserved. I wasn't trying to steal it. Just wanted to make sure that it was out there for people to find. –  Max Phillips Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 4:43
• No worries. We're about the best answers, and sometimes details such as the OS you're limited to help make sure answers that sound like they may have multiple possible answers can be narrowed down to the right one. –  music2myear Commented Jan 15, 2017 at 19:23

Windows 7 x64 using PowerPoint 2016

When using two screens make sure to uncheck "Use Presenter View" and start your slideshow

On Screen 1 you will be able to edit text on the fly and even add slides.

On Screen 2 you will see updates in real-time. If a slide is added in Screen 1 then you will need to activate Screen 2 and press the left or right arrows respectively.

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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Presentations > How to introduce yourself in a presentation

How to introduce yourself in a presentation

A well-executed presentation should captivate your audience and listeners. The first step to gaining their attention is creating an engaging introduction. Learn why presentation introductions are important and how to properly execute one for your presentation.

Why are presentation introductions important?

Presentation delivery impacts your audience’s reception and listening skills. A dull delivery can deter listeners and potentially leave them disinterested. Conversely, an effective delivery can engage your audience, promote active listening, and stimulate substantive discussion.

Presentation introductions also help to establish the outline of your presentation and give the audience an idea of what is to come. Introductions play a crucial role in captivating listeners from the onset and building momentum. They address who you are, why the audience should be invested, state the topic, establish credibility, preview the main points, and establish the cadence and tone of your presentation. Before you dive into the content of your presentation, ensure you establish an effective introduction to captivate your audience.

Tell your story with captivating presentations

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How to begin a presentation introduction

To establish rapport with your audience, here are some tips to effectively introduce yourself and your presentation:

Be clear and concise

A succinct introduction makes it easier for your audience to follow. Keep your introduction simple, short, and include only necessary information. State your name and topic clearly so your audience knows you from the beginning. Avoid unnecessary details or lengthy anecdotes in your introduction to keep things focused and to the point.

Provide pertinent background information

In addition to your name and topic, highlight anything else that is relevant. You can include your education, work background, qualifications, and other information. Most importantly, ensure the information you disclose is directly relevant to yourself and presentation.

Create a hook or attention getter

Once you’ve established your name and topic, create an engaging hook or attention getter. Your introduction can be funny, clever, or it can captivate your audience. Have fun creating an introduction, but be sure to align your tone and delivery to your audience.

Outline your presentation

Let your audience know what your will be discussing. Establish a roadmap of your presentation: outline your contents, topics, and main points in an easily digestible format. This makes it easier for your audience to follow your presentation and prepare for its contents.

Practice and refine

Once you’ve created a solid introduction, rehearse your introduction until the delivery is organic and smooth. Confidence is key for an optimal delivery. Speak clearly, practice eye contact, and use storytelling to engage your audience.

Be authentic

Above all, be yourself—authenticity helps you build trust and connection with your audience. Carry you character, speech, and personality into your presentation to draw in your audience.

A successful introduction establishes tone, cadence, topic, and showcases your personality. Gain your audience’s attention and effectively deliver your presentation with an effective introduction. For more ways to engage your audience and improve presentation delivery , learn more presentation tips .

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Introduction to standardization in business reporting.

Posted on June 27, 2024 by Numbers around us in R bloggers | 0 Comments

Why Standardization Matters

Hey there! Thanks for joining me on this exciting journey into the world of International Business Communication Standards (IBCS). Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of the SUCCESS acronym, let’s take a step back and chat about why standardization in business reporting is such a game-changer. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by messy reports with inconsistent formatting, you’re not alone. I’ve been there too, staring at a sea of numbers that don’t quite add up.

Standardization in business reporting ensures that data is presented in a consistent manner, enhancing comprehensibility and comparability across different reports. Imagine flipping through different reports where each one tells its story in its own unique language — confusing, right? Standardization is like translating all those languages into one that everyone can understand easily.

Consistency is Key

Think of standardized reports as a well-organized bookshelf. You know exactly where to find what you’re looking for, and every book (or in this case, piece of data) is presented in a way that makes sense. This consistency is crucial for making informed business decisions quickly and accurately. No more wasting time trying to figure out what’s what!

I remember a time when I was working on a project that involved analyzing sales data across multiple brands. Each region had its own way of reporting — different formats, different terminologies, and different visualization styles. It was a nightmare to compile all this information into a coherent report. That’s when I discovered the power of standardization. By applying consistent formats and visual styles, the report not only became easier to read but also revealed insights that were previously hidden in the chaos.

Time-Saving and Efficiency

Let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to save time? Standardization not only reduces the risk of misinterpretation but also enhances the efficiency of report generation and review processes. Once you have a standardized template, creating new reports becomes a breeze. You can focus more on analyzing the data rather than formatting the report.

Understanding IBCS Standards

Now that we’ve established why standardization is so important, let’s get to know IBCS. The International Business Communication Standards provide a comprehensive framework for the design of business communication, particularly in the context of reports, presentations, and dashboards. The goal of IBCS is to improve the clarity, efficiency, and effectiveness of business communications.

The SUCCESS Formula

The heart of IBCS is the SUCCESS formula:

• SAY : Convey a clear message.
• UNIFY : Apply consistent semantic notation.
• CONDENSE : Increase information density.
• CHECK : Ensure visual integrity.
• EXPRESS : Choose proper visualization.
• SIMPLIFY : Avoid clutter.
• STRUCTURE : Organize content logically.

Let’s break down each component briefly:

• SAY : It’s all about making your key message unmistakably clear. Your audience should be able to grasp the main point at a glance. This involves using clear titles, highlighting key figures, and ensuring that the message is front and center.
• UNIFY : Consistency is key. This principle ensures that all visual elements (like colors, shapes, and fonts) are used consistently throughout your reports. This helps in creating a familiar look and feel, making it easier for readers to navigate and understand.
• CONDENSE : More information doesn’t necessarily mean more clutter. This principle focuses on presenting data in a compact and dense format, without overwhelming the reader. Think of using small multiples, sparklines, and condensed tables that pack a lot of information in a small space.
• CHECK : Accuracy and integrity are paramount. This involves verifying the data, ensuring that scales and labels are accurate, and avoiding any visual misrepresentations. It’s about being honest and precise with your visuals.
• EXPRESS : Choosing the right type of visualization for your data is crucial. This principle guides you on selecting the most effective chart types to convey your message clearly, whether it’s bar charts, line charts, scatter plots, or more advanced visualizations.
• SIMPLIFY : Less is more. Avoiding unnecessary elements and focusing on what’s important helps in reducing cognitive load on the reader. This means removing gridlines, reducing colors, and using white space effectively.
• STRUCTURE : Organize your content logically. This involves structuring your reports in a way that guides the reader through the data naturally. Sections, subsections, and a logical flow of information are essential here.

Clarity and Comprehension

I’ve been standardizing reports in my previous roles for quite some time. But I only came across IBCS recently, and let me tell you, I’m absolutely loving it as a framework. It has transformed the way I think about presenting data. Suddenly, my reports are not just a collection of numbers but a coherent story that my audience can easily understand and act upon. Each element of the SUCCESS formula plays a critical role in achieving this clarity.

Practical Steps to Implement Standardization

Alright, let’s get practical. How can you start standardizing your reports? Here’s a step-by-step guide that I’ve found incredibly useful:

• Evaluate Current Practices : Start by evaluating your current reporting practices. Identify inconsistencies and areas for improvement. Trust me, you’ll find plenty of “aha!” moments here.
• Educate and Train : Educate your team about the importance of standardization and the principles of IBCS. Knowledge is power, after all. Conduct workshops or training sessions to get everyone on the same page.
• Develop Templates and Tools : Develop standardized templates and tools that align with IBCS guidelines. This step is crucial for ensuring consistency across all reports. Tools like Quarto can be incredibly helpful here.
• Monitor and Collect Feedback : Regularly review your reports for compliance with the standards and gather feedback from users. Continuous improvement is the name of the game. Set up a feedback loop where users can suggest improvements and share their experiences.

Personal Experience in Implementation

In my previous role, we initiated a project to standardize our sales reports. Initially, there was some resistance — change is always hard. But after a few training sessions and some hands-on practice, the team started to see the benefits. The reports were not only easier to produce but also much more impactful. We even started receiving positive feedback from our clients who appreciated the clarity of our presentations.

Here’s a personal tip: Start small. Implement standardization in one type of report first. This approach allows you to refine the process and make adjustments before rolling it out across all reports.

Challenges and Solutions

Of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. We faced challenges like getting everyone to adopt the new standards and ensuring consistency across all reports. But with persistent effort and open communication, we overcame these hurdles. The key was to make everyone understand the long-term benefits of standardization.

One challenge we faced was with custom reports requested by different departments. These reports often deviated from the standard format. Our solution was to create a flexible template that allowed for some customization while still adhering to the core IBCS principles. This compromise ensured that the reports remained standardized but could still meet the specific needs of each department.

Types of Data Analysis

Before we dive deeper into reporting, let’s quickly touch on the different types of data analysis. Understanding these will help you tailor your reports to your specific needs.

Descriptive Analysis: The What

Descriptive analysis is all about summarizing past data to understand what happened. Think of it as the “what” of your data. It’s like looking at your car’s speedometer to see how fast you went. This type of analysis uses statistics like mean, median, and mode to describe the data.

For instance, if we look at the nycflights13 R dataset, a descriptive analysis might involve calculating the average delay time for flights, the total number of flights, or the distribution of flight delays across different months. This helps to paint a clear picture of historical performance.

Diagnostic Analysis: The Why

Diagnostic analysis moves us to the “why.” This type of analysis examines data to understand why something happened. It’s like figuring out why your car’s speed dropped suddenly — maybe there was a traffic jam? Diagnostic analysis involves looking at correlations and potential causal relationships to uncover the reasons behind certain trends or anomalies.

In the context of nycflights13, we might investigate why certain flights are delayed more frequently. This could involve examining variables like weather conditions, carrier performance, or airport congestion. Understanding these factors can help pinpoint the causes of delays.

Predictive Analysis: The What Might Happen

Predictive analysis uses statistical models and forecasting techniques to predict future outcomes based on historical data. It’s like forecasting whether you’ll hit traffic on your next trip based on past experiences. This type of analysis helps in anticipating future trends and making proactive decisions.

Using nycflights13, a predictive analysis might involve forecasting future flight delays based on historical delay patterns and upcoming weather forecasts. This can help airlines and passengers plan better and mitigate potential issues.

Prescriptive Analysis: The What Should We Do

Finally, prescriptive analysis provides recommendations for actions based on predictive analysis. It’s like your GPS suggesting an alternate route to avoid that predicted traffic jam. This type of analysis uses algorithms to suggest various courses of action and their potential outcomes.

For nycflights13, prescriptive analysis could recommend optimal flight schedules or routes to minimize delays. It might also suggest operational changes, like adjusting staffing levels during peak hours or implementing new maintenance protocols.

Reporting Delivery Platforms

Not all reports are created equal, and neither are the platforms we use to deliver them. Let’s break down the different platforms and how they impact standardization:

Interactive Dashboards

Interactive dashboards are dynamic and allow users to explore data in real-time. Standardization here ensures consistency across various views and interactions. Think of platforms like Power BI or Tableau. These dashboards are great for providing an overview and enabling detailed drill-downs.

Using the nycflights13 dataset, an interactive dashboard might include various widgets and filters that allow users to view flight performance by date, carrier, or destination. Ensuring that these elements are standardized makes the dashboard intuitive and user-friendly.

Presentations

Presentations are typically used for communicating key findings to stakeholders. Standardized slides enhance clarity and ensure that key messages are consistently communicated. PowerPoint or Google Slides are your friends here.

Imagine preparing a quarterly review using nycflights13 data. A standardized presentation template would include consistent slide layouts, color schemes, and fonts, making it easier for the audience to follow along and understand the insights.

Static Reports

Static reports provide a fixed snapshot of data. Standardization in static reports ensures that all necessary information is included and presented clearly. PDF reports or printed documents often fall into this category.

For example, a static report using nycflights13 data could be a detailed monthly performance report. Standardized headers, footers, and table formats ensure that the report is easy to read and understand.

How Different Types and Delivery Points Affect Standardization

Alright, let’s tie it all together. Different types of analysis and delivery platforms influence how you apply standardization:

• Descriptive Analysis on Dashboards : Ensure that interactive elements are standardized so users can easily compare past performance across different metrics.
• Diagnostic Analysis in Presentations : Use consistent visuals to explain why certain trends occurred. This helps stakeholders grasp the insights quickly.
• Predictive Analysis in Static Reports : Present forecasts in a standardized format to make it easier for readers to understand and trust the predictions.
• Prescriptive Analysis Across Platforms : Whether it’s a dashboard, presentation, or report, standardized recommendations ensure that the suggested actions are clear and actionable.

Tools for Standardizing Reports in R

In this chapter, we’ll discuss the tools I’ll be using in R to ensure our reports adhere to IBCS standards. Standardizing reports involves a combination of data manipulation, visualization, and documentation tools. Here are the main tools and packages we’ll be using throughout this series:

Data Manipulation with dplyr and tidyr

To start, we need robust tools for data manipulation. The dplyr and tidyr packages from the tidyverse suite are indispensable for cleaning, transforming, and organizing our data.

• dplyr : This package is perfect for data wrangling. With functions like select(), filter(), mutate(), summarize(), and arrange(), we can easily manipulate our data frames to get them into the right shape for analysis.
• tidyr : This package helps in tidying data, ensuring that it follows the tidy data principles. Functions like pivot_longer(), pivot_wider(), unite(), and separate() make it straightforward to reshape data as needed.

Data Visualization with ggplot2

Visualization is a cornerstone of effective reporting, and ggplot2 is the go-to package for creating high-quality graphics in R. It follows the grammar of graphics, which makes it highly flexible and powerful.

• Consistent Themes : We’ll use ggplot2's theming capabilities to apply consistent colors, fonts, and layouts across all our visualizations. This aligns with the UNIFY principle of IBCS.
• Custom Visuals : We’ll create custom visuals that not only look good but also convey the right message clearly, adhering to the EXPRESS principle.

Enhancing ggplot2 with Extensions

There are several extensions to ggplot2 that can help enhance its capabilities and ensure our visualizations are both informative and aesthetically pleasing:

• ggthemes : Provides additional themes and scales that help in standardizing the look and feel of plots.
• gghighlight : Allows us to highlight specific data points in a plot, making it easier to draw attention to key information.
• ggrepel : Helps in adding labels to plots without overlapping, ensuring that our visualizations remain clear and readable.
• patchwork : Facilitates the combination of multiple ggplot2 plots into a single cohesive layout, supporting the CONDENSE principle by increasing information density.

Reporting with Quarto

For generating and maintaining our reports, we’ll use Quarto, a new, powerful tool for creating dynamic documents in R.

• Dynamic Reports : Quarto allows for the integration of R code and markdown, enabling us to create reports that are both reproducible and interactive.
• Standardized Templates : We can create standardized templates that ensure consistency across all reports.

Table Formatting with kableExtra

Tables are a crucial part of any report, and kableExtra is an excellent package for creating well-formatted tables in R.

• Enhanced Tables : kableExtra provides functionality to produce beautiful tables within Quarto documents. It supports various table styling options, including striped rows, column alignment, and more.
• Interactive Tables : This package also supports the creation of interactive tables, making it easier for readers to explore data.

Supplementary Tools

• scales : This package works with ggplot2 to ensure that our scales are appropriately formatted, enhancing readability and accuracy.
• lubridate : Useful for handling date-time data, ensuring our time series data is properly formatted and easy to manipulate.
• stringr : Helps with string manipulation, making it easier to clean and prepare text data for reporting.

So, there you have it — a comprehensive introduction to the importance of standardization in business reporting and an overview of how IBCS can help you achieve it. In the next episodes, we’ll dive deep into each component of the SUCCESS formula, starting with SAY: Convey a Message . We’ll explore how to clearly and effectively communicate the main message in your reports, using practical examples and the nycflights13 dataset to illustrate these principles in action.

Remember, the goal here is to make your reports not just informative but also engaging and easy to understand. Let’s embark on this journey together and transform your business reporting skills!

Stay tuned, and happy reporting!

Introduction to Standardization in Business Reporting was originally published in Numbers around us on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Copyright © 2024 | MH Corporate basic by MH Themes

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• INNOVATION FESTIVAL
• Capital One

06-26-2024 TECH

Figma’s new Slides app focuses on design, fun, and (oh, yeah!) AI

CEO Dylan Field says that users have always used Figma’s design platform to create presentations. But its new app for that purpose ‘just emerged.’

[Image: courtesy of Figma]

BY  Harry McCracken 5 minute read

In a sense, Figma has been in the presentation software business for years—just not on purpose.

The company’s namesake product is a web-based design platform optimized for prototyping user interfaces, not assembling and conducting slideshows. Nonetheless, plenty of users commandeered it for that purpose. In just the past 12 months, users have created 3.5 million slide files, the company says.

Today, at its Config conference in San Francisco, Figma is unveiling a real presentation product. Logically named Figma Slides, it joins the company’s design tool and FigJam whiteboard to form a visual communications suite of sorts. Launching as a free beta available to anyone who’d like to try it, Slides will become a paid feature once it officially ships.

Dylan Field, Figma’s cofounder and CEO, is one of those folks who was already using the platform as an ad hoc presentation package. But he doesn’t take credit for seizing the opportunity to formalize that function with Figma Slides. Instead, he says he gave in to a groundswell of internal support. “Folks who were already inside the company [said] ‘Hey, we need a product,’” he told me earlier this week. “It was never a top-down directive. Honestly, it just emerged.”

By extending Figma’s reach into a mainstay of business software such as presentations, Figma Slides does reflect one of Field’s own mantras about the future of his company and work in general: that creativity is the new productivity . The app also helps build out what Figma looks like as an independent business after the collapse of Adobe’s $20 billion acquisition bid , which was bedeviled by antitrust concerns and ended last December. So does the other news it’s announcing at Config, including a redesign of the design tool, more pervasive use of AI across the platform, and revisions to “ Dev Mode ,” which facilitates the process of turning prototypes into working products.

Still, for all the arguments in favor of Figma embracing presentations, it’s not like it’s entering an emerging market without deeply entrenched competition. Few software products are as synonymous with their category as Microsoft’s 37-year-old PowerPoint. Organizations that aren’t paying for it as part of Microsoft 365 (née Microsoft Office) probably have access to Google Slides, a component of Google Workspace . Field acknowledges that “a graveyard ” of other alternatives have come and gone over the years.

But he stresses that the current field has room for multiple players: “ Canva Presentations might be one of the biggest ones out there, and Tome is growing fast. There are so many slide products.” Perhaps more important, Figma isn’t rash enough to think it can kill PowerPoint. The idea, Field says, is to offer a great presentation option for Figma’s core constituency: “people who are building products.”

That’s a sizable audience in itself. Though Figma doesn’t disclose how many users it has, one 2023 survey said that 70% of design professionals cited it as their primary tool. Once designers within an organization embrace the platform, it tends to spread: All told, usage is evenly split among designers, developers, and other folks who participate in product development, the company says. Field predicts that students—who can get the whole Figma platform free—will also like Figma Slides.

At last: presenter notes

Based on the demo Field gave me over Zoom, Figma Slides certainly looks like a Figma product. It’s a polished, wholly browser-based experience with built-in real-time collaboration features akin to those in the company’s design tool and FigJam. But feeling Figma-esque wasn’t enough. For example, a presenter notes feature was mandatory: “It’s a very simple thing, but it’s probably one of our most-requested features for Figma,” Field says. The company also created a grid view optimized for viewing an entire show in thumbnail form and shuffling slides around.

Presentation templates were another necessity, and given Figma’s design orientation, the quality bar was high. “We have all sorts of templates we’re shipping with, and those templates give you a ton of control,” Field says. The app does a fair amount to ensure visually pleasing results on its own, such as intelligently adjusting text color to ensure legibility when you change the background. But users who want absolute freedom to specify typography, shapes, and other elements can turn on Design Mode, which provides access to a wealth of existing features. They can also drag design prototypes created in Figma right onto slides, where they continue to function—a killer feature that PowerPoint and Google Slides can’t replicate.

Along with everything Figma Slides does to let users handcraft exactly the presentation they envision, it also packs some generative AI. (Hey, this is 2024—of course it does!) For example, a Tone feature lets you use AI to auto-rewrite slide text on two axes: “Concise” to “Expanded” and “Casual” to “Professional.” You can also just tell the app to reword your phrasing in a style such as “Executive,” “Technical,” or “Educational.”

Oddly enough, Field didn’t mention the AI features Figma Slides has until I asked about them—a striking departure in an era when many tech executives won’t shut up about the technology. He’s hardly an algorithmic Luddite: For example, he says that one of Figma’s priorities is to help neophytes get going on its platform. AI can help by generating images, text, and entire designs, ensuring that they aren’t scared away by a blank canvas.

But rather than talking up automation for its own sake, Field, who told me in 2021 that the company wanted to make sure its FigJam whiteboard let “the humanity [shine] through,” emphasized similar goals when I spoke to him about Figma Slides. The app lets people viewing a slideshow participate with features such as stamps and polls—a dollop of interactivity far afield from business presentations in their stereotypical, largely one-way form.

“What’s been wild with FigJam is that our differentiator is fun,” Field says. “And the more fun you can make a meeting, the more that you can get people to express [themselves], to bring their ideas to the board, to participate. I think people are going to see the same thing in Slides.”

With AI’s tendency to mechanize aspects of work that were once the province of the human mind, concepts like fun, self-expression, and participation can feel endangered. Field, however, argues that they’re only becoming more crucial. “We’re in a world where AI is just going to make everybody more productive,” he says. “And my view is that creativity is going to be how you stand out. Actual unique thinking—going down divergent paths, working past clichés.”

Historically, presentation software’s reputation for inducing tedium has been so pervasive that even Microsoft has acknowledged the phenomenon of “ death by PowerPoint .” It would be pretty cool if a product such as Figma Slides not only overcame that regrettable legacy but sparked the kind of fresh thinking Field is talking about.

You’ve been reading Plugged In, Fast Company ’s weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to you—or if you’re reading it on FastCompany.com—you can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Wednesday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at [email protected] with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters.

Recognize your technological breakthrough by applying to this year’s Next Big Things in Tech Awards before the final deadline, July 12. Sign up for Next Big Things in Tech Awards notifications here .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Harry McCracken is the global technology editor for Fast Company , based in San Francisco. In past lives, he was editor at large for Time magazine, founder and editor of Technologizer , and editor of PC World   More

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