Success with PowerPoint presentations boils down to consistently doing a handful of simple, commonsense things. Try these 7 tips on your next PowerPoint presentation and I promise your life will be much easier the next time you’re in front of a crowd:

1. Choose a PowerPoint template that uses high contrast between background and text. Like white letters on a dark blue background. Or vice versa. Otherwise your audience can’t read it.
2. Use lots of pictures to break up the monotony of page after page of text. Shoot for a picture or two on each page. Sprinkle in some humor if you can. Otherwise your audience will go to sleep.
3. Use text sparingly in as large a font as practical. Lots of text in small font will quickly lose the attention of your audience. Don’t turn your back to read the text off the slide out loud to them. Your audience can read without your help. The text should be a way to jog your memory at a glance about a point that you want to make and that you can expound upon. Bring some value to the presentation. Otherwise, why are you there?
4. Stand up and speak up when you’re giving a presentation. You’ll command more attention and respect this way. Force yourself to use a louder voice than you normally would. This will give you authority and keep the whispers and side conversations to a minimum.
5. Ask questions of your audience. Invite questions back to you. Get the audience engaged. If they know they might have to answer a question, then they’ll pay more attention and they’ll remember what you said better.
6. Withhold all props until the last third or quarter of the presentation. If you immediately give out widgets to pass around and play with, you’ll lose your audience right out of the box. Gizmos have a high cool factor and everyone gets excited once they’re loose in the crowd. It’s the number one train wreck causer if you don’t use them right.
7. Don’t give out copies of the presentation until the end. This one is a little more controversial because many people want a handout that they can use to take notes on as you go along. In fact some will demand a handout at the beginning, and may get a little irate if you don’t give them one. Resist the urge to give in and pass them out. I have had too many presentations derailed by folks flipping through to the end of the handout and asking questions out of order. If taking notes is necessary, then they can use their notepad and staple their notes to the handout afterward.