Virtual presentations require slides that are clear, engaging, and easy to follow. With over 35 million PowerPoint presentations delivered daily, it’s essential to design slides that work well on any screen size and keep audiences focused. Here’s a quick summary of the 10 key tips to improve your virtual presentation slides:
- Focus on one idea per slide: Avoid clutter and keep each slide simple for better engagement.
- Use visual hierarchy: Direct attention with larger text, bold colors, and strategic placement of elements.
- Choose high-contrast colors: Ensure readability across different devices and for visually impaired viewers.
- Simplify data with charts: Turn complex information into clear visuals like bar or line charts.
- Add interactivity: Use polls, clickable elements, or videos to keep the audience engaged.
- Use clear fonts and sizes: Stick to sans serif fonts like Arial or Helvetica and ensure text is large enough to read.
- Maintain consistent branding: Use the same colors, fonts, and logos to reinforce your brand identity.
- Keep animations simple: Use subtle effects like fades or wipes to enhance, not distract.
- Highlight key takeaways: Ensure each slide communicates a clear, memorable message.
- Test on different devices: Check how your slides look on laptops, tablets, and smartphones to ensure compatibility.
Tips for designing slides for virtual presentations
1. Focus on One Idea Per Slide
One of the biggest pitfalls in virtual presentations is cramming too much onto a single slide. When your audience is viewing on smaller screens, this can lead to instant cognitive overload. Research indicates that the human brain processes up to six elements on a slide effectively, but exceeding that limit can increase cognitive load by a staggering 500%.
In virtual presentations, your slides play a critical role in delivering your message. Remote audiences depend on slides to convey clear, focused ideas. Overloading a slide with multiple points or visuals can scatter their attention, making it harder for them to stay engaged.
"The golden rule is to have one claim or idea per slide. If you have more to say, put it on the next slide." – Jurczynski
By sticking to one idea per slide, you make it easier for your audience to absorb information. Instead of struggling to filter through cluttered slides, they can quickly grasp the main point and follow along with your narrative. Think of each slide as a stepping stone in your story, guiding your audience without overwhelming them.
For instance, when explaining a multi-step process, dedicate one slide to each step. This not only simplifies complex concepts into manageable pieces but also creates natural pauses, giving you the opportunity to emphasize key points.
"Any slide with more than 10 words is a document." – Nancy Duarte
Keeping your slides focused on a single objective also helps you control the pacing of your presentation. Frequent visual changes signal new ideas, keeping your audience attentive. Each slide becomes a cue for viewers to re-engage with your content.
To achieve this, make sure every slide has a clear, concise heading that reflects its core message. Eliminate any elements that don’t directly support that message.
"Reduce, reduce, reduce, until you get to a single message, clearly described, which takes less than 1 minute to present." – Kristen M Naegle
2. Use Visual Hierarchy to Direct Attention
Visual hierarchy plays a key role in how your audience processes the information on each slide. In virtual presentations, your slides are the main tool for steering viewers’ attention. This hierarchy determines the order in which slide elements are noticed and understood.
Start with larger elements to grab attention quickly – they signal importance right away. By varying the size of text and visuals, you can clearly separate main ideas from supporting details. For instance, if you’re showcasing quarterly results, emphasize a key metric like "Revenue increased 25%" in bold, large text. This immediately highlights its significance over the smaller, supporting details.
Color contrast is another powerful tool. Use bold, high-contrast colors to make headings and key data stand out. Since virtual presentations are often viewed on devices with different screen resolutions, increasing the contrast ensures your slides remain clear and easy to read. Complementary color schemes can also boost readability across various screens.
Positioning matters, too. Place critical information in the top left corner, taking advantage of natural reading patterns. Add graphical cues like arrows or bullet points to guide the audience’s focus where you want it.
A great example of effective visual hierarchy is the Airbnb pitch deck. It keeps slides concise – around 40 words – and uses keywords, large numbers, and icons to leave a lasting impression.
3. Choose High-Contrast Colors for Better Readability
The colors you choose for your presentation slides can either enhance or hinder their readability. With your audience viewing your slides on a variety of devices – each with different screen qualities – high contrast is essential to ensure your content is easy to read.
Here’s why contrast matters: there needs to be enough distinction between your text and background colors for the content to be legible. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) suggest a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for standard text to meet accessibility requirements.
For example, black text on a white background or white text on a dark background offers the highest contrast ratio of 21:1. Compare that to red on white, which only achieves a 3.9:1 ratio – far less readable. This difference becomes even more critical when projecting slides, as projectors tend to display colors 20–30% lighter than they appear on your computer screen.
When creating your slides, remember that approximately 2.2 billion people worldwide experience visual impairments, including difficulties with color perception. Among them, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some form of color vision deficiency. Poor contrast can make it even harder for these individuals to engage with your presentation.
Testing your color combinations is quick and can dramatically improve your slides. Use a color contrast checker to ensure your choices meet the 4.5:1 ratio. Another simple trick? Convert your slides to grayscale to see if the elements still stand out. If your brand colors don’t meet contrast standards, consider using them sparingly as accents rather than for critical text or backgrounds.
Steer clear of problematic color pairings like green and red or blue and yellow, which can be especially difficult for those with color blindness to distinguish. Instead, opt for colors from opposite ends of the spectrum and test them on multiple devices to confirm their readability.
Virtual presentations often take place under less-than-ideal conditions – whether it’s bright sunlight, dim lighting, or on low-resolution screens. By prioritizing strong contrast, you ensure your key points remain visible and accessible, no matter the environment.
4. Turn Complex Data into Simple Charts
Too much data can overwhelm your audience during virtual presentations. Here’s a key fact to keep in mind: the human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. That’s why simplifying your data into clear, effective charts is so important.
Start by identifying your main ideas and choosing a chart type that communicates them effectively. Bar charts are ideal for comparing categories, like regional sales figures. Line charts work well for showing trends over time, such as monthly website traffic. Pie charts are best suited for part-to-whole relationships, where the total equals 100%.
"What’s the point of this slide?" is my guiding mantra. Stripping down each page to its core components shows care for the time and focus of your audience, and they can feel it."
- Anastasia Bachykala, Sr. Presentation Specialist, The New York Times
Once you’ve nailed down your core message – whether it’s growth, challenges, or comparisons – stick to data that supports it. For example, if you’re showcasing revenue growth, quarterly or yearly figures are usually more impactful than monthly details.
Simplify your visuals. Remove unnecessary elements like gridlines, excessive decimals, or confusing legends. Your audience should be able to grasp the main takeaway in five seconds or less. Remember, people retain only 10% of information after three days.
Label charts clearly and provide context. Virtual audiences don’t always have the chance to ask questions, so use descriptive titles. Instead of a vague label like "Q3 Results", go for something specific: "Q3 2024 Revenue Increased 23% Over Q2 2024". Include time frames, units, and any other details that make the data easy to understand.
Use color to draw attention. Highlight key data points with bold colors while keeping the rest in neutral tones. For example, if you’re emphasizing one standout product line, make it pop visually. This approach is especially useful in virtual settings, where screen quality can vary. A well-designed slide can seamlessly guide your audience from raw data to actionable insights.
Make your message memorable. Data visualization doesn’t just improve clarity – it can also reduce meeting times by 24%, helping teams make faster decisions and stay engaged.
"Good presentation skills on virtual platforms actually begin with compelling slide design. A good presenter must design for focus first. Slides are even more important now that the presenter is visually sidelined."
- Edmund Monk, CEO, The Learning and Performance Institute
5. Add Interactive Elements to Boost Engagement
Virtual presentations can easily slip into being one-sided lectures if you don’t actively engage your audience. By incorporating interactive elements, you can transform passive viewers into active participants, making your presentation not only more effective but also more memorable.
Use live polling to check understanding. Polls in real time provide instant feedback, helping you gauge whether your message is hitting the mark. They also allow you to adjust your content on the spot to better meet audience needs.
Take it further with clickable buttons for self-paced exploration. These buttons let your audience dive into additional details at their own pace, without overwhelming your slides. This approach respects different learning preferences while keeping everyone engaged.
Break things up with short videos and gamification. Embedding videos – like product demos or customer testimonials – can add variety and keep attention levels high. Gamified elements, such as quizzes or challenges, can also make your presentation more interactive and reinforce key points in a fun way.
Make Q&A sessions part of the flow. Instead of waiting until the end, pause every few slides to answer questions. This keeps the conversation dynamic and ensures your audience understands each concept before moving forward.
"Don’t be a ‘sage on a stage’; involve your audience and limit your talk time by incorporating quality interactivity with your virtual audience!" – Jim Biggs, Lead Instructional Designer/Virtual Trainer, Resident
Test everything ahead of time. Before going live, check all interactive features – polls, clickable elements, videos, and anything else – to avoid technical hiccups.
Every interactive element should serve a purpose. Thoughtfully integrating these features can turn your presentation into an engaging, results-driven experience.
sbb-itb-2fdc177
6. Use Clear Fonts and Proper Text Sizing
When it comes to virtual presentations, your choice of font can either draw your audience in or leave them struggling to engage. Since viewers may be tuning in from laptops, tablets, or phones, readability becomes a top priority, even more so than in traditional, in-person settings. Poor font choices don’t just lead to eye strain – they can actively drive your audience away from your message.
Stick to sans serif fonts for virtual presentations. Clean and simple fonts like Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, and Verdana work well across a variety of screen resolutions and devices. Their lack of decorative strokes ensures your text remains sharp and legible, even on smaller screens.
Some organizations even rely on custom or consistent fonts to maintain clarity and branding.
"As designers, we can choose when words serve the visual or when words are the visual. At Airbnb, we use type to both blend in and stand out – to keep the focus on the community and to make big statements." – Derek Chan, Creative Lead, Airbnb
Font size is just as important as font style. Our eyes are constantly processing visual information, so using clear, large text helps reduce cognitive load. If your font is too small, you’re essentially asking your audience to strain to understand your content. Aim for these sizes in virtual presentations:
- Titles: 28pt or larger
- Headers: 20pt or larger
- Body text: 16pt or larger
Stick to system fonts and limit font sizes. System fonts like Tahoma, Verdana, Impact, Georgia, and Palatino are reliable because they ensure your presentation looks consistent across different devices and software. Additionally, avoid using more than three font sizes per slide. A consistent hierarchy of text sizes helps guide your audience’s focus and prevents visual clutter.
Finally, test your slides on multiple devices to confirm that your fonts look good in every viewing scenario. Research shows that people retain 42% more information when it’s presented with clear and accessible visuals.
Choosing the right fonts and sizes isn’t just about aesthetics – it’s about respecting your audience’s time and making your message as impactful as possible. When your text is easy to read, your presentation becomes both more professional and more memorable.
7. Keep Branding Consistent Across All Slides
Your virtual presentation serves as a direct reflection of your company’s professionalism. Consistent branding not only enhances the visual appeal but also builds trust and reinforces your brand identity.
Start by focusing on your key visual elements. Your logo, color scheme, and typography should remain uniform throughout the presentation. Studies show that a consistent color palette can boost brand recognition by up to 80%. This means sticking to the exact shades that represent your brand on every slide.
To achieve this, create a style guide that outlines everything: logo formats, color codes (CMYK, RGB, HEX), and one or two approved typefaces for text elements.
"Brand consistency is the practice of presenting standard messaging, visuals, and tone across every platform, touchpoint, and customer interaction. It’s about making people recognize your brand instantly, no matter where they’re exposed to it." – Dennis Hammer, Content Governance, Siteimprove
The financial benefits of consistent branding are hard to ignore. Consistency in your slides fosters trust, which can lead to stronger customer relationships. This trust translates into tangible business value, making it essential to integrate consistent branding into every aspect of your presentation.
Create flexible templates that include pre-approved colors, layouts, headers, and design elements. These templates ensure your team can stay on-brand without sacrificing creativity.
Looking at industry leaders like Google and Coca-Cola, you’ll see how cohesive design choices – like unified color schemes and layouts – reinforce their global recognition. Take a page from their playbook to strengthen your own brand presence.
To avoid off-brand designs, train your team using clear brand guidelines and provide a library of pre-approved visual assets. This helps maintain consistency across all presentations and ensures every team member is on the same page.
It’s worth noting that 90% of potential customers expect a consistent experience with a brand across all platforms. Your virtual presentations should feel like a seamless extension of your website, business cards, and other marketing materials. When every slide adheres to the same visual standards, it enhances your company’s identity and professionalism.
"Consistent design helps to make your message clear and easy to understand. It allows your audience to focus on the content of your presentation rather than being distracted by inconsistent or confusing design elements." – Emily Bryce, Presentation Designer
The goal is to make your brand consistency feel effortless. Your audience should instantly recognize your company’s visual identity without it overshadowing your content. A unified brand identity not only makes your slides visually appealing but also reinforces the clarity and structure of your overall message.
8. Use Simple Animations and Transitions
When it comes to virtual presentations, animations and transitions can either enhance your message or completely distract from it. The key lies in using them sparingly and with purpose.
Animations should always serve a clear function. They’re most effective when highlighting essential data, introducing information step-by-step, or creating a smooth flow between ideas. Research in cognitive theory suggests that too much visual stimulation can overwhelm your audience, making it harder for them to absorb and remember your points. This is why it’s critical to choose animation techniques thoughtfully.
For a professional look, stick to simple and subtle effects. In PowerPoint, basic animations like "Appear", "Fade", and "Wipe" work well for business settings. Similarly, transitions between slides should be clean and understated – options like "Fade", "Push", "Cut", or "Cover" maintain a polished tone.
Timing also matters. Animations should wrap up within three seconds. Anything longer risks testing your audience’s patience and disrupting the natural flow of your presentation. Ideally, your animations should sync with your speaking pace, keeping everything cohesive.
Consistency is another crucial factor. Using multiple transition styles can distract your audience, so it’s best to stick to one throughout your presentation.
Don’t forget to test your animations. Technical glitches like lag or pixelation can ruin even the most well-planned effects. Make sure your animations run smoothly on all devices you plan to use.
Animations should also guide your audience through the content, not act as decoration. For instance, entrance effects can introduce key data points one at a time, helping to prevent information overload. Exit effects like "Dissolve Out" or "Float Down" can subtly remove completed points, keeping the focus on what’s next.
Remember, animations should support your message, not overshadow it. When used to clarify complex ideas or emphasize critical data, they can enhance your presentation. However, if they’re purely for flair, they risk undermining your professionalism and distracting from your insights.
The best virtual presenters know that simplicity wins. A single, well-placed fade effect to reveal quarterly results can leave a lasting impression – far more than a slide cluttered with spinning graphics and flashy transitions. Ultimately, your audience should walk away remembering your ideas, not your effects. Every design choice, including animations, should prioritize clarity and engagement above all else.
9. Highlight Key Takeaways on Each Slide
While visuals and data clarity are important, the real secret to a memorable presentation lies in emphasizing key takeaways. Each slide should deliver a clear, standout message that sticks with your audience, as most viewers forget the majority of the content soon after.
To make your slides impactful, focus on highlighting the core message of each one. These key takeaways should answer the main questions your presentation seeks to address. They’re not just bullet points – they’re your most important insights and calls to action.
Keep your slides concise by limiting key points to 3–6 per slide, following the "Rule of 3." This approach prevents information overload and ensures that each point carries more weight, making it easier for your audience to remember.
Visual design can amplify your takeaways. Use tools like color accents, bold text, and icons to draw attention to your main ideas. As Microsoft’s Creative Designer Kaili Miyamoto puts it:
"One of the essential objectives of iconography is to help people absorb, retain and process your message more efficiently. When designed well, using icons enriches minimal content by empowering key points without all of the wordiness."
Craft action-oriented titles that align with your presentation’s goals. For example, instead of generic headers like "Results", opt for something specific like "Q3 Revenue Increased 23% Through Digital Channels." This immediately communicates the value of the information.
Consider using a "3–2–1" structure: three key takeaways, two supporting details, and one call to action. This format helps reinforce your message and keeps your slides organized.
Repetition is a powerful tool for retention. The most critical takeaways should appear multiple times throughout your presentation – in summary slides, verbal recaps, and visual cues. Since people only retain about 50% of what they hear and listen with 25% efficiency, repeating your key points ensures they resonate.
Make your takeaways actionable and easy to understand. Each one should be specific enough to inspire immediate action once the presentation is over.
"A well-designed key takeaways slide reflects your audience-centricity and commitment to delivering value."
Finally, test your takeaways with colleagues to ensure they’re clear and align with your speaking pace. If something doesn’t immediately stand out, refine it. Research shows that structured information improves retention by 40% compared to unstructured content.
10. Test Slides on Different Devices and Screen Sizes
Slides that look perfect on your laptop might not translate well to smartphones, tablets, or large monitors. Testing your presentation on a variety of devices helps ensure it displays correctly for everyone viewing it.
The 16:9 aspect ratio is the go-to standard for modern presentations, with dimensions of 1,920 pixels wide by 1,080 pixels high. While this format works well for most screens, it’s still crucial to check how your content appears across different devices. Without testing, you might encounter distorted images, stretched text, or wasted screen space. Make sure every element – text, visuals, and layout – adjusts smoothly to various screen sizes.
Identify the key devices your audience might use: desktops, laptops, tablets (in both landscape and portrait modes), and smartphones. Test your slides on each to verify their readability and overall appearance. Keep in mind that what looks sharp and clear on a 27-inch monitor could be hard to read on a 5-inch phone screen.
| Device Type | Common Screen Resolutions |
|---|---|
| Desktop | 1920×1080, 1536×864, 1366×768 |
| Mobile | 360×800, 390×844, 393×873 |
| Tablet | 768×1024, 810×1080, 820×1180 |
Pay particular attention to font sizes. Text that appears crisp on your computer might shrink into illegibility on smaller screens or look awkward on larger displays. Adjust font sizes to suit different viewing distances. Ensuring clear fonts and a consistent layout enhances the overall impact of your presentation.
Also, check that charts, graphs, and images display properly across devices. Center critical content to avoid cropping on screens with different ratios. Don’t forget to test your color contrasts – variations in brightness and color calibration between devices can affect visibility.
"Responsive screen testing ensures that content is properly displayed, accessible, and user-friendly on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones." – Olha Holota, TestCaseLab
To simulate how your slides will look on different screens, use browser developer tools. While these tools provide a good starting point, nothing beats testing on actual devices for the most accurate results.
Once you’ve confirmed the layout and visuals are in order, create a checklist to ensure everything is polished. Verify that text is legible, images are clear, interactive elements function correctly, and the layout remains intact. Testing early gives you time to make necessary adjustments.
For maximum compatibility, save your presentation in multiple formats, such as .pptx and .pdf. If you’re unsure about the final display setup, prepare both 4:3 and 16:9 versions to accommodate different projection systems.
Conclusion
Creating virtual slides that resonate with your audience requires a balance of clarity, engagement, and accessibility. The ten tips shared in this article offer a reliable guide to crafting presentations that not only grab attention but also sustain it in a digital setting.
Virtual presentations come with their own set of challenges, especially when compared to in-person interactions. Research shows that over 80% of business professionals tend to lose focus on the speaker, with most audience members disengaging after just 10 minutes of a typical presentation. This makes thoughtful slide design more important than ever.
Since visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text, your slides should emphasize simplicity – focusing on one idea at a time, maintaining a clear hierarchy, and using high-contrast elements to ease cognitive load. Consistency in fonts, colors, and layouts also builds a sense of trust and professionalism, creating a smoother viewing experience for your audience.
Interactive features like polls and Q&A sessions can help combat short attention spans and digital distractions. These tools not only encourage active participation but also foster collaboration among attendees.
"Good presentation skills on virtual platforms actually begin with compelling slide design." – Edmund Monk, CEO, The Learning and Performance Institute
Technical preparation is another essential step. Testing your slides on different devices ensures compatibility, especially since a significant portion of your audience might access the content on mobile devices. Plus, over 90% of presenters report feeling more confident when their slides are well-designed.
For leaders, effective slide design goes hand in hand with building support networks. Communities like CEO Hangout offer a space for skill development and peer connection, which is especially valuable given that nearly half of CEOs report feelings of loneliness. These networks provide not only practical insights but also a much-needed sense of camaraderie, helping leaders stay informed on trends and communication strategies.
FAQs
How can I make my slide design accessible for viewers with visual impairments?
To make slides more accessible for viewers with visual impairments, consider these essential practices:
- Choose sans-serif fonts like Arial or Verdana in a large size (20-28 points for text, 30-44 points for headings) to enhance readability.
- Ensure high contrast between text and background colors. Steer clear of combinations like red and green, which can be challenging for color-blind viewers.
- Include alt text for images and charts, enabling screen readers to describe visual content effectively.
- Keep slides clear by limiting text to six lines or fewer, with no more than five to six words per line.
- Arrange slide elements in a logical reading order to help assistive technologies navigate the content smoothly.
These steps will make your presentations more inclusive and easier to follow for everyone.
How can I ensure my presentation slides look great on different devices and screen sizes?
To ensure your slides look polished and consistent across different devices, start by adjusting the aspect ratio to align with common screen formats. Test your presentation on a variety of devices – smartphones, tablets, and desktops – to verify that the layout and readability hold up. Be mindful of font sizes, colors, and contrast so everything stays clear, no matter the screen resolution. Also, make sure to optimize images and videos to retain quality without slowing down performance. Using testing tools or simulators can give you a sneak peek at how your slides will appear on various platforms before you take the stage.
What are some effective ways to make my virtual presentation more interactive and engaging?
To make your virtual presentation stand out and keep your audience engaged, consider using interactive tools like polls, quizzes, or live Q&A sessions. These tools not only break the monotony but also encourage active participation. For instance, live polls can provide instant feedback, helping you gauge audience opinions, while quizzes can test their understanding and keep them actively involved throughout.
Another effective approach is incorporating storytelling techniques. By weaving relatable stories or examples into your presentation, you make the content more memorable and meaningful. Pair these stories with visuals and examples tailored to your audience’s interests to ensure the presentation feels relevant. When you combine interactive elements with clear, visually appealing slides, you’ll create a dynamic experience that grabs attention and leaves a lasting impression.
