There are a number of differences between a Microsoft PowerPoint college presentation and a presentation created for your job. Many of these tips may seem like common sense, but it’s the finer points of a presentation that your audience will pick up on and define how much they’ll get out of it and whether they’ll take it seriously.

The following is a checklist containing the most common points to look for when creating a presentation for your work. It’s a good idea to print something like this and review it before submitting your presentation for any type of review.

• Use a template – If you can, you should use the standard template that your company, project, etc. uses for PowerPoint presentations when creating your own presentation. This is what your audience is likely to expect, and if not (for example, in the case of a new client) this is what you want them to expect from now on.
• Consistent font style – You must use a consistent font style throughout your presentation. Places where exceptions to this rule might occur are:
  • cover slide – The first slide of your presentation will usually have fonts etc. that are not found in the rest of your presentation. This is fine as it can be a standard slide for your company presentations or just the standard for your project. It can also draw attention to the presentation, so you really want to make it stand out.
  • Headers/Footers – The header or footer of each slide is usually part of the template you and your company use for PowerPoint presentations, so it most likely won’t have the same font as the body of your slides.

  In addition to the two examples above, you should use a consistent font style across all sections of your slides. For example, your body text on each slide should share the same font, as well as any headers or footers that exist outside of your template.

• Choir Friendly Clip Art – While it may seem clever at the time to make a slide with a big “Idea” lightbulb, it won’t win you any points with your audience. clip art it’s very generic and doesn’t really add anything to the presentation, it just clutters it up. On the other hand, if you want to use actual images of your theme, that’s fine.
• Use bulleted thoughts – One of the biggest mistakes you can make when putting together a presentation is putting too much information on the slide. This often happens when paragraphs are used instead of concise, bulleted thoughts. Each slide is not meant to be a Word document; you’re only supposed to have points that you can talk to while you’re giving your presentation. Too much information per slide will quickly cause your audience to lose interest and you may lose hope that they will leave without having learned anything. Be concise and strive to convey only your main points on each slide.
• Get peer review – This is probably the most important tip to remember. Before submitting your work, you should always have it peer reviewed and read it yourself. It’s easy to get lost in your project when it’s been “in the weeds” for a long time, so it’s always a good idea to step back and have someone else look over it. It’s also a good idea to set it aside for a moment and then go through the presentation again to gain a new perspective.

The tips above are a good start for a checklist you can use before you deliver any of your presentations. You must add information specific to your job. This will save everyone proofreading and revising time and make your first draft that much better.