Tag: SlideGenius Blog

3 Pros of Professional PowerPoint Design for Medical Fields

medical powerpoint

Powerpoint tips

presentation tips

Rick Enrico

SlideGenius Blog

Jun 10, 2015

Most aspiring professionals choose the medical field because they want to save lives. As with other disciplines, this requires constant improvement to keep up with the constantly evolving scientific challenges. Novel breakthroughs in biotechnology and healthcare continue to increase life expectancy and quality of living for everyone.

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However, all this research requires ample investment, timely upgrades, and modest adoption rates. Here’s why professional PowerPoint designs can help you achieve your goals in the medical field:

They break down important information.

A professional and well-planned PowerPoint deck condenses information for easier digestion and dependable action on the audience’s end. When you have the ultimate goal of improving lives, then it’s even more important to make every communication opportunity count.

It also allows for a more focused and convincing discussion, which accentuates a well-researched, decisive, coordinated, and persuasive presentation that relates your message in a concise manner.

Visuals explain data better.

It’s important to demonstrate trends and improvements when trying to sell new technology. Establishing its superiority over existing ways increases chances for investment or upgrades, whichever you’re aiming for.

Unfortunately, data wholly represented by numbers —or worse, spreadsheets—can make slides unconvincing and unattractive. Pictures appeal to their emotional needs better, while also providing an easy to follow narrative to explain the main message. This is why the concept of data visualization or the data display through engaging diagrams and images is so catchy.

Templates are readily available.

PowerPoint has been a standard for designing presentations with its wide-ranging available templates that can be used for diverse medical fields. You can effectively tackle a variety of specializations such as cardiology, radiology, neurology, or oncology, as long as you have the right template.

There are even available slides which allow easy graph or diagram inclusion, saving you time when you need a deck ASAP.

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When selling or proposing industry-changing improvements, professional PowerPoint design condenses complicated information into terms that even laypeople can easily understand. The more easily you can communicate your idea to somebody else, the more likely they’ll accept and implement it into their workflow. It’s hard for most people to digest complicated facts or numbers. Using strong visuals will not only make the information easier to understand, but it’ll also help them retain the information more effectively.

Since medical professionals rarely have time to spare to design a PowerPoint, having templates done by presentation experts saves time and money which can be directed towards more important healthcare efforts. If you need help revising your deck so that it’ll convince more of the people you want to assist, contact our experts for a free quote. You, your colleagues, and your patients will be thankful you did.

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References

“3 Secrets to Make Numbers Interesting in Sales Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed June 10, 2015.
Few, Stephen. “35. Data Visualization for Human Perception.” Interaction-design. Accessed June 10, 2015.

How to Deliver Small-Scale Presentations

Powerpoint tips

presentation tips

Rick Enrico

SlideGenius Blog

small-scale presentations

Oct 14, 2014

When we think of presentations, we often imagine standing in front of a large audience. But as JD Schramm points out in his article for Harvard Business Review, plenty of meetings and presentations involve a much smaller crowd.

Often, you won’t find yourself addressing an auditorium full of people. In truth, most presentation meetings involve less than 10 participants. Most of the time, presentations happen with you and the audience interacting closely with one another.

While you may think this is an easier scenario to handle, small-scale presentations can also have a few challenges.

What do you do with your slides?

In small-scale presentations, you won’t need to project your slides. But this doesn’t mean that visuals aren’t necessary. Even with a smaller group, your presentation will still need to connect and engage. As you would with any presentation, highlight your main points with powerful visuals.

So how do you share your slides then? You can prepare a printed deck. Build your slides as you usually would, but skip the animation and huge pictures. Instead, opt for interesting color schemes and eye-catching illustrations. As always, keep your content precise and concise. Another option is to make an iPad or tablet PowerPoint presentation.

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Should you sit or stand?

As you may have guessed, standing is a powerful nonverbal cue. When you stand while others remain in their seats, you show that you’re in a position of power and authority. This is important at the start of a presentation, and why you should stand as you begin your presentation. If the presentation meeting is more formal in nature, you can opt to remain standing as you delve into the main presentation and only take a seat when it’s time to answer questions. For meetings that are more casual, you can deliver the entirety of your presentation seated.

The seat you take is another crucial factor in small-scale presentations. As the presenter, you should be seated in a place that allows you to see everyone in the table. It’s important that you’re in a place where you can easily make eye contact with the group. If you’re delivering a pitch, you should sit close to the primary decision maker.

How should you speak? How should you move?

Even as you sit with the audience, it’s important to be mindful of your voice and gestures. As always, speak with a voice that’s loud and clear. A strong voice comes from the diaphragm, so maintain proper posture once you’re seated. Keep your back straight and your feet firmly on the ground. When you’re talking, you can lean forward slightly to show the audience that you’re engaging in a conversation with them. As you would in any presentation, maintain eye contact throughout. When taking questions, Schramm suggests that you can lean back into your chair to seem more approachable.

Conclusion

Regardless of the size of your audience, the goal of your presentation remains the same. You want to be able to communicate your ideas in the most efficient way possible.

When facing a small group, always be mindful of how you present yourself. You can still command authority and create an engaging atmosphere without the usual presentation set up.

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Reference

Schramm, JD. “How to Present to a Small Audience.” Harvard Business Review. August 20, 2014. Accessed October 14, 2014.

 

Featured Image: Sebastiaan ter Burg via flickr.com

The Best Medicine: 5 Tips on How You Can Give Humorous Presentations

audience engagement

presentation humor

presentation tips

public speaking skills

Rick Enrico

SlideGenius Blog

speech communication

Jun 10, 2014

Humor can be a powerful tool in presentations. It helps break the ice, engage your audience, and make your message more memorable. However, incorporating humor into a presentation requires balance, as poorly timed or inappropriate jokes can distract or alienate your audience. When done right, humor can add energy and levity to your talk, making your key points stick.

Here are five tips on how to give a humorous presentation while maintaining professionalism and delivering your message effectively.

1. Know Your Audience

The key to using humor in a presentation is understanding your audience. Tailor your jokes or humorous anecdotes to suit their interests, preferences, and cultural norms. What might be funny to one group could be confusing or offensive to another, so take time to assess who you’re speaking to.

How to Do It:

  • Research Your Audience: Know the demographics of your audience—age, profession, industry, and cultural background. Humor that resonates with younger professionals may differ from that which appeals to senior executives.
  • Stay Relevant: Ensure that your humor is related to the presentation’s topic and relevant to your audience’s experiences.
  • Test Your Jokes: If possible, try out your jokes on a few colleagues or friends to gauge their reactions. Make sure the humor comes across the way you intend it to.

Example:

For a presentation to a group of healthcare professionals, lighthearted jokes about the quirks of medical training or patient interactions could resonate, while industry jargon-based humor may be confusing for a non-specialized audience.

2. Use Humor to Support Your Message

Humor should complement, not distract from, the core message of your presentation. Use jokes, funny anecdotes, or humorous visuals to reinforce your key points rather than overshadow them. Well-placed humor can make complex or dry subjects more engaging and easier to remember.

How to Do It:

  • Tie Humor to Key Points: Incorporate humor where it naturally fits, especially when making transitions between sections or introducing complex ideas. It can help break down barriers and make difficult content more accessible.
  • Use Relatable Situations: Jokes or stories drawn from everyday work experiences can make your audience feel more connected to your message.
  • Keep It Simple: Avoid overly complex humor that takes too long to set up. Quick, simple jokes or quips are easier to weave into your narrative.

Example:

If you’re presenting on project management challenges, you might use a humorous meme or quote about the unpredictability of deadlines to introduce the importance of time management.

3. Balance Humor and Seriousness

While humor can make your presentation more enjoyable, it’s important not to overdo it. Too much humor can dilute your message and make you seem unprofessional. Find a balance by incorporating humor in moderation and maintaining a tone that’s appropriate for your topic.

How to Do It:

  • Limit the Jokes: Focus on quality over quantity. A few well-timed jokes will have a greater impact than constant attempts at humor, which can quickly become tiresome.
  • Maintain Professionalism: Ensure that your humor doesn’t undermine the serious aspects of your presentation. Keep the tone light, but transition smoothly back to your core message when necessary.
  • Use Humor as a Breather: If your presentation covers complex or technical material, humor can serve as a way to give your audience a mental break before diving back into the main content.

Example:

During a technical presentation about cybersecurity, you might make a light joke about how your grandparents handle online passwords, but quickly transition back to the importance of robust security measures for businesses.

4. Leverage Visual Humor

Sometimes, a funny image, meme, or visual can have a greater impact than a spoken joke. Visual humor can quickly convey a message without interrupting the flow of your presentation, and it can add an extra layer of engagement for visual learners in your audience.

How to Do It:

  • Use Memes or Cartoons: A well-placed meme or cartoon related to your topic can add humor without distracting from the content.
  • Create Funny Comparisons: Use side-by-side comparisons of unexpected or exaggerated visuals to illustrate a point humorously.
  • Animate Your Slides: Subtle animations or transitions can create a humorous effect without disrupting the presentation’s flow.

Example:

If you’re discussing the challenges of multitasking, you could show a funny cartoon of a person juggling way too many tasks at once, followed by a transition into how your solution simplifies work processes.

5. Be Authentic and Spontaneous

Forced humor rarely works. Being yourself, relaxed, and spontaneous often leads to more genuine and relatable humor. Audiences appreciate authenticity, and humor that reflects your own personality is more likely to resonate.

How to Do It:

  • Stay True to Your Style: Don’t try to imitate someone else’s comedic style—use humor that feels natural to you.
  • React to the Moment: If something funny happens during the presentation (like a minor tech glitch or unexpected audience reaction), acknowledge it with a light-hearted comment. This shows you can think on your feet.
  • Don’t Be Afraid to Laugh at Yourself: Self-deprecating humor, when done right, can make you seem approachable and humble.

Example:

If your clicker stops working mid-presentation, instead of panicking, you could make a quick joke like, “It seems my clicker needs more coffee than I do!” before smoothly continuing with your talk.

Final Thoughts

Humor is a powerful tool when used correctly in presentations, but it requires a thoughtful approach. By knowing your audience, tying humor to your key points, balancing lighthearted moments with serious content, and staying authentic, you can deliver a presentation that is both engaging and informative. Remember, the goal of humor in presentations is not just to entertain but to enhance your message and connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Adobe Programs for Enhancing Presentation Designs

Adobe programs for PowerPoint

Illustrator

Photoshop

ppt tips

presentation tips

Rick Enrico

SlideGenius Blog

Apr 28, 2014

As we all know, PowerPoint presentations are highly useful for sharing information. We use it to educate, train, motivate, or even to sell. Not all pitch deck presentations are created equal, though. To be effective, your slide decks should be well organized and carry strong visuals. And when it comes to creating visual elements, practically no other tools are as powerful as the Adobe programs.

Below are some of the Adobe applications that can enhance your next presentation design:

Adobe Photoshop

Microsoft PowerPoint is considered the industry standard for presentation tools. Adobe Photoshop, on the other hand, continues to set the bar for image editing. When you combine the features of these programs, you have a great chance of creating an effective presentation.

Custom backgrounds are among the great things that presenters can create with Photoshop. While you can always use PowerPoint’s preloaded templates, your presentation will only end up looking bland and generic. A Photoshop-created background, on the other hand, will allow your presentation to stand out and look professional.

To create your own background, simply choose an image that you want to use. Open it in Photoshop and edit it accordingly. After saving your personalized background image, insert it into the PPT by right-clicking on the slide and then selecting “Format Background.”  One reminder, though. Make sure that the image you use is appropriate to the theme of your presentation design. Otherwise, it will distract your audience.

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator can produce just about any type of images, making it perfect for web graphics, marketing collateral, and, of course, PowerPoint presentations. A vector-based tool, Illustrator is quite different from Photoshop (which is raster-based). This means it works using lines and curves unlike Photoshop, which does its job on a pixel level.

Using vectors created in Illustrator has some advantages over Photoshop-edited images. For one, vector objects are scalable. You can change their size without worrying about quality loss.

When you create an image in Illustrator, make sure to save it for PowerPoint. To do this, click File and then select “Save For Microsoft Office.” Choose a location for the file, then enter a filename before clicking Save. This command allows you create a PNG file that can be used not only in PPT but also in other Microsoft Office applications.

If you need to customize the PNG settings to improve resolution, transparency, or background color, you can just choose Export instead of the Save for Microsoft option.

Saving Files

Graphics imported into PowerPoint usually fall into two main categories: The Bitmap or Paint-Type and the Object-Oriented or Draw-Type.

It’s recommended that you choose widely used Bitmap types such as .JPG, .BMP, or .TIF files. Unusual files like QuickTime compressed, PICT, and EPS don’t often translate very well. So when you save or export images, determine the file type carefully to ensure a great looking final image.

References

Akhter, Aquil. “60 Beautiful Logo Design Tutorials And Resources.” Smashing Magazine. April 30, 2009. Accessed April 28, 2014.
Bear, Jacci Howard. “What Is the EPS File Format?” About.com. Accessed April 28, 2014.