How to structure a good PowerPoint Presentation

When creating presentations, it is particularly important that they are well organized and have a consistent structure.

A logical structure helps the audience to follow you and to remember the core information as best as possible. It is also important for the presenter, as a good presentation structure helps to keep calm, to stay on the topic and to avoid awkward pauses.

But what does such a structure actually look like?
Here we show you how to best organize your presentation and what a good structure looks like.

Plan your presentation

Before you start creating your presentation, you should always brainstorm. Think about the topic and write all your ideas down. Then think about the message you want to communicate, what your goal is and what you want your audience to remember at the end.

Think about who your audience is so that you can address them in the best possible way. One possibility is to start your presentation with a few polls to get to know your audience better. Based on the results, you can then adapt your presentation a little. Use the poll function of SlideLizard and have all the answers at a glance. SlideLizard makes it possible to integrate the polls directly into your PowerPoint presentation which helps you to avoid annoying switching between presentation and interaction tool. You can keep an eye on the results while the votes come in and then decide whether you want to share them or not.

<a href=Ask your audience questions with SlideLizard" />

Typical Presentation Structure

The basic structure of a presentation is actually always the same and should consist of:

Structure of a good presentation including introduction, main part and conclusion

Make sure that the structure of your presentation is not too complicated. The simpler it is, the better the audience can follow.

Introduction

Personal Introduction

Introduce the topic

Mention the length

Duration

Icebreaker Polls

<a href=Icebreaker polls with SlideLizard" />

According to studies, people in the audience only have an average attention span of 10 minutes, which is why it is important to increase their attention right at the beginning and to arouse the audience's interest. You could make a good start with a few icebreaker polls for example. They lighten the mood right at the beginning and you can secure your audience's attention from the start.
For example, you could use SlideLizard to have all the answers at a glance and share them with your audience. In addition, the audience can try out how the polls work and already know how it works if you include more polls in the main part.

Get to know your audience

Include a quote

Main Part

Present your topic

Length and Structure

Images

Focus on the essentials

Make your presentation interactive

Make your presentation interactive by using SlideLizard

Make your presentation interactive to keep the attention of your audience. Use SlideLizard to include polls in your presentation, where your audience can vote directly from their smartphone and discuss the answers as soon as you received all votes. Here you can also find more tips for increasing audience engagement.

Conclusion

Repeat the main points

Include a Q&A part

Get Feedback

Feedback function of SlideLizard

Presentation style

Depending on the type of presentation you give, the structure will always be slightly different. We have selected a few different presentation styles and their structure for you.

Short Presentation

Short presentation

Problem Solving Presentation

<a href=Problem Solving Presentation" />

Tell a Story

Tell a story

Make a demonstration

Make a demonstration

Chronological structure

Chronological structure of a presentation

Nancy Duarte TED Talk

Nancy Duarte is a speaker and presentation design expert. She gives speeches all over the world, trying to improve the power of public presentations.

In her famous TED Talk "The Secret Structure of Great Talks" she dissects famous speeches such as Steve Jobs' iPhone launch speech and Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. In doing so, she found out that each presentation is made up of 4 parts:

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About the author

Helena supports the SlideLizard team in marketing and design. She loves to express her creativity in texts and graphics.

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