Category: Presentation Design

PowerPoint

You probably made your very first presentation in PowerPoint. And you probably made the last one there too. Why? Because it comes automatically on your computer. When your parents bought you Windows 95, it was there. When your school updated to Windows 98 it was there. When your work thought it was cool being on Windows 2000 it was there. And it’s still there, on the Microsoft Office Cloud. The only way you’re not making your presentation in PowerPoint? You’re making it in Keynote, Apple’s iWork substitute instead. Or you’re smarter than this post and you’ve explored the other three options below at this point and you’re just reading this as a refresher.

There’s nothing morally wrong with using PowerPoint. There are people who will use the other three methods below and still read off their slides, use ugly, un-readable fonts and mumble their words. You’re reading this blog and maybe taking one of my courses so that won’t be you. Still, there are other options and this is one.

Pros: Don’t need to be connected to the internet to write and design it, present it, export it to another format. Also, you can print handouts of your presentation easily, just select the option to print three to a page and you get the little note sections for people to feel in their notes and comments. You can customize your colors, fonts, and pictures. You can even change the size of your slides. Yes, you can make square PowerPoint slides.

Cons: It’s a Microsoft product. If it’s Keynote, it’s harder to customize or be compatible with computers that aren’t Macs. It doesn’t dance. If you don’t save it to your Dropbox or email it to yourself, you can’t dig your presentation out of the cloud.

Prezi

I love to dance. It takes nothing for me to pull up my 90’s Jamz playlist on Spotify and start doing a two-step. In fact, I’ve pulled it up right now as I’m writing this post.

I say this to tell you that presenting in Prezi feels like dancing. You start with a blank canvas and you can make your slides bounce in and out. You can set up a video. You can zoom in and out of diagrams.

In fact, if your presentation is really just one long illustration and description of a complicated diagram, go with this. You can zoom in and out and help people really understand the flow of your information.

Pros: Great for making complicated diagrams come alive. Also, it lives on the cloud, so no losing it or losing corrections between devices.

Cons: Only connected to the internet, so if where you’re going is not connected to the internet you can’t run the presentation. Or if your internet is slow or your computer’s a little older (like mine), then it could take forever to make the presentation move as fast you need it. Also, no customization of fonts outside of what’s already loaded in the system. Oh and speaking of the system, if you want to keep that presentation private, you have to pay at least $4.99 a month.

Canva

Speaking of Canva, it does more than make your Pinterest graphics. It has properly sized presentation and handout (if you are going for an 8.5×11 sheet of paper for the handout). If you’re new to Canva, it’s a website that has pre-loaded templates for pretty much any document or digital image you want to create, for pretty much any media, social or offline.

You can also add any kind of picture, shape or font you want. Mostly for free, but you can keep your presentations private, unlike Prezi. Also, it seems hipper, cooler and it’s cloud-based, so again, no losing your slides.

Pros: Everything I just listed above.

Cons: Still no custom fonts, so if you, your organization or your company have brand guidelines, outside of the logo and your colors, you won’t be getting any of those guidelines into your presentation. Also, everyone has probably used one of the Canva fonts already. Just like the PowerPoint standard fonts, that gets old fast. But at least in PowerPoint, you can use all your custom system fonts.

InDesign

So there you go. All the tools you need to get started making your presentation and handout!

I’m Kristen. I do a lot of public speeches, especially about urban planning and development. I also dabble in designing print patterns and there’s an urban planning blog and a communications consultancy in there somewhere. Learn more about me. Follow my PlantoSpeak board on Pinterest and send me public speaking questions on Twitter via the hashtag #PlantoSpeakQ&A. If you’re in the DC area, join the Meetup group! Let me know how these tips are working for you, by dropping me a line or commenting below. 

Conference season is upon us. Or it’s not a conference you have to present at, you need to get something built and you need city approval to do so. Unlike in years past, you’ve been asked by someone (your office, your vision board, your professor), to make a presentation. Don’t worry, you can do it. I’m going to help you rock this out.

If you haven’t already noticed, I’ve done this at least once or twice. And that’s just the two that have full video recordings.

Again, as I mentioned in a prior post, one of my wishes is for people to learn and understand why and what we do. And since I’ve got a spare moment while I’m attending the TRB Annual Meeting in DC, I’m going to share the top six things that I do that help me as well as others that I’ve learned by making presentations over the last five years (and even beforehand that helped me ace my undergraduate public speaking course).

Before we dig in further, for the sake of this post, I’m addressing presentations of work done for architecture, planning, placemaking, engineering, and policy along with advocacy and research of those works.

Read over the guidelines.

Just like that building or street or vehicle you want to build, you need to build the thing that tells the story by the specs that the manufacturer has given you. If you only have 20 minutes, you only have 20 minutes. If you need a scale model, bring a scale model. Creativity in these things comes after you’ve combed over what’s been asked of you and you know exactly what’s NEEDED in your presentation.

If you don’t have clear guidance or it’s not written out, try calling or emailing the event organizer, the project manager or whoever has released the guidelines. Do remember, that if you’ve been told to not call or email, then you have to go with what’s on the paper and work through that challenge.

Sketch out your main points

If you use the scientific method to present your findings, distil them down to the key points. You can always answer questions during and after your presentation. Especially when you go to public meetings. Conciseness and brevity may actually get you the votes you need for your project to proceed to build out. Again, use your main points to frame your presentation and keep you in line with guidelines such as time, content or materials needed for presentation.

Design it well. Or before you start designing, learn how to design it well

Study best practices in graphic design. Your posters, slide shows, photos, websites and models need to be to scale, at the proper resolution and engaging. Google best practices in graphic design. Google how to install or find free fonts. Use sites like Canva to create infographics and quote boxes to stick into your presentations. Hack Microsoft Word and make it look like you did it in Illustrator or InDesign. In our sector, we are all designers of some kind or at the very least we can be creative and learn new skills. Flex that muscle and put it into your presentations. If you have a good grasp of these tools already, this is your time to show out. You are putting on a show. Make sure your set looks great.

Tell a good story

Now that you have your set pieces ready, it’s time for dialogue. Storytelling is vital for presenters who are trying to convince a neighborhood or government body to build something new or revamp something old. Even if you are just presenting theories and findings, seek to inspire. Storytelling puts your work in the context of the community it will serve. Yes, you may want your project to make money, but the ethical high ground here is to make sure people understand why something needs to be done and why you need to be the one to do it.

Consider a handout

When you go to a performance, you generally get a program or playbill, that helps you remember who’s on stage and what the main plot is. Same with your work. For you, a one page handout with the names of your design team, your research questions, a rendering of your building or street and why you want to build, research or present your work is sufficient to help people remember what you want to do. They can also write their own notes and questions on that handout and start the process of learning what you are doing for themselves.

Answer and don’t fear questions

The point of presentation is education, then action. People cannot take action on what you say or show them if you don’t help them understand what you are saying and displaying. While you may feel interrogated, at the end of the session, your thoughts and maybe even your designs will be better formed. Do honor a sense of decorum and don’t let others completely disrupt or discredit your work, especially if they don’t offer real solutions. Also, know that your project may be growing and be ok with letting people know that this is a phase and you’ll be presenting more later or after another revision.

Finally, even if the project isn’t approved or only one person understands your theory, you still look awesome representing your venture. I have written off certain audiences as not worthy or at least not understanding of what I do. Don’t do that in your presentation. Be the person that people want to hear or work with on this and other projects or research.

Good luck and happy presenting! 

If you want to dig deeper into these six principles, plus learn a seventh that you need to get started, join my free, self-guided Present Your Best Work in Just Six Days email course. You’ll immediately get information about the seventh thing, Don’t Be Scared. Or, you can book me online for an in-person or virtual coaching session.