• A Microsoft PowerPoint presentation is an electronic slideshow, a slide-by-slide discussion of information, data, pictures, graphs and multimedia. Whether your target audience is one person or 1,000, creating a successful PowerPoint presentation may be the difference in training employees properly, securing new donations or selling products.
  
  

Illustration Ideas

• Much of creating a PowerPoint presentation involves corralling thoughts into bullet points or short paragraphs on each slide. Break up text and give audience members a way to picture the slide's main points by adding illustrations. PowerPoint imports photographs and videos directly onto slides, and even has preinstalled clip art, available by clicking the "Insert" tab and "Clip Art" toolbar. While adding images just for the sake of images will clutter the slides, choosing a graph to illustrate an annual report or a photograph to show a product in use can help viewers quickly understand the information.
  
  

Temper Transitions

• Microsoft PowerPoint may seem like text on a slide on a projected screen, but the program comes with a variety of ways to add animation to those slides. With a couple of clicks, you're able to add transitions such as "Fly In," "Wipe," "Color Pulse," "Shrink and Turn," "Swivel" and "Random Bars." Each animation transition activates the text or slide, but piling them on top of each other can overwhelm viewers. PowerPoint creators such as those at the University of Pennsylvania (see References) suggest tempering transitions' use. Animation after animation may eventually become as dull as having no animation, so choose placement wisely, such as on the title slides for each new section of the presentation.
  
  

Maintain Consistency

• A PowerPoint presentation which switches from a blue background and white text to a green background and black text, then to a brick pattern background and spray-paint styled text may confuse an audience and make the presentation seem incohesive. Take advantage of PowerPoint's "Slide Master" to give the presentation consistency. The slide master works by assembling all formatting into a single slide, including a background color, pattern or image, font choices and colors, company logo and bullet hierarchy. Make changes once on the slide master and they're applied to the entire presentation. If your organization has branding choices such as particular colors and fonts for presentations, assign them to the slide master and the slideshow will be appear similar to other company materials.