2. Designing a PowerPoint from scratch isn’t ideal for most marketers.
Though some of us may have some flair for design, it’s pretty daunting to look at the
default introduction title slide, knowing you have a ways to go before you have an
engaging, interactive presentation to upload to SlideShare.
To make sure you’re set up for SlideShare success, follow the steps in this template.
We’ll help you figure out the slide design elements, then combine them in different
layouts, and then take care of some SlideShare-specific technical skills. Bonus: We
even sprinkled in some extra resources in case you want to make your presentation
extra spiffy.
INTRO
4. DESIGN
We’re going to walk you through best practices for creating engaging visual
content in a presentation. Then, you can use these design elements as
building blocks for the rest of your SlideShare presentation.
The essential visual elements that’ll
make your slides look gorgeous.
5. FONTS
Pick two different fonts to use throughout your presentation: One for
your headers, and one for your body text. Your header font should be
bold and eye-catching, and your body text font should be simple and
easy to read. (See how we’ve done it in this presentation?)
1
2 When trying to emphasize small text, use bold text, not italics. Bold
text is much easier to read when it’s small.
Want to spruce up your
presentation with custom
fonts? Here are 28 free fonts
you can download.
Want to spruce up your
presentation with custom
fonts? Here are 28 free fonts
you can download.
6. COLORS
Colors set the tone for your presentation and
help your readers digest information. Without
diving too deep into theory, one of the best
color combinations is the triadic color scheme
(shown on the right), which is three colors
located 120° from each other on the color wheel.
At the very least, you should have one or two
neutral colors and one stand-out color. Learn more about
the different types of color combinations in this helpful post
by KissMetrics.
1
2 The key is to make sure there is a big difference between the colors you pick to
help grab your viewers’ attention and direct their attention to where the important
information is.
7. VISUAL CONTENT
There are lots of ways to incorporate visual content into your
presentations without hiring a designer. Here are four ways can give
your presentations some visual pop:
• Stock Photos
• Vector Icons
• Screenshots
• PowerPoint Objects
In the next few slides, we’ll break down each type of visual
content as well as resources you can use to find and create
them.
8. Stock Photos
Having engaging photos is crucial to your
SlideShare’s success -- but you need to make
sure you have exclusive rights to using them.
While you can always use Creative Commons
visuals, non-cheesy stock photos look much
more professional and can be used whenever
and wherever you like.
VISUAL CONTENT
Tip: To receive 75 free stock
photos you can use in your
presentations, head here:
http://bitly.com/75StockSoci
al
Tip: To receive 75 free stock
photos you can use in your
presentations, head here:
http://bitly.com/75StockSoci
al
9. Vector Icons
Notice that icon to the right? It’s called a vector icon: it’s
basically an icon that can be stretched to any size without
looking pixelated. Pretty cool, huh?
They are extremely useful for conveying abstract concepts –
think of things like email and social media that you can’t just
snap a picture of (or you can … but it’s not that eye-
catching).
There are a few ways you can find or create vector icons:
•Find free or paid vector images online, such as here.
•Use special character fonts like Webdings, Wingdings, and
Symbols.
VISUAL CONTENT
10. PowerPoint Objects
Another way to create icons and objects is by using PowerPoint’s
shapes. Though there aren’t a ton of options available, they can
be a great way to hack together engaging icons and objects.
To spruce up your PowerPoint objects, select the object you
want to beautify, then in the menu, click “Format,” then “Shape”
in the drop down menu. A whole slew of options will appear
so you can customize your object:
•Fill Background: Under “Fill,” select a color in the drop down next to “Color.”
•Transparency: In that same tab, drag the “Transparency” slider to make it more transparent.
•Rotate: Under “3-D Rotation,” you can rotate an object on the X, Y, or Z axis.
•Glow: Under “Glow and Soft Edges,” you can select the color, size, and transparency of a halo around
your object.
•Shadow: Under “Shadow” you can choose the color, size, distance from object, transparency, and
angle of the shadow.
VISUAL CONTENT
This speech bubble is an example of a
PowerPoint shape. If you want to learn
more ways to create visual content,
check out our visual content crash
course here:
http://bit.ly/VisualContentCrashCours
e
This speech bubble is an example of a
PowerPoint shape. If you want to learn
more ways to create visual content,
check out our visual content crash
course here:
http://bit.ly/VisualContentCrashCours
e
11. Screenshots
And of course, if you want to include any
images of software or websites, you’ll want to
incorporate them into your presentations.
You’ll take a screenshot outside of PowerPoint
(on a PC, push the “Print Screen” button; on a
Mac push “Command” + “Shift” + 3).
Once you have an image of your screen, you
can use PowerPoint to crop, edit, and
annotate the screenshot. For example, we
used an arrow found in the PowerPoint
Objects to highlight a blog post headline in the
example on the right.
VISUAL CONTENT
Headline
Headline
12. LAYOUTS
The next step to creating a presentation of your very own is to mix and
match the previous design elements in different slide layouts. Here are 10
to get you started, but keep in mind that you should substitute your own
design flair when you use them.
10 different slide layouts you can
use in your own presentation.
15. Nulla lacus eros.
NUMBERED LIST TITLE
1
2
3
4
Facilisis vitae condimentum ut.
Aliquam accumsan neque.
Praesent elementum tortor non diam mollis.
16. CHECKLIST TITLE
Nulla lacus eros.
Facilisis vitae condimentum ut.
Aliquam accumsan neque.
Praesent elementum tortor non diam mollis.
17. • Lorem ipsum dolor sit
amet.
• Sed do eiusmod tempor
incididunt ut labore.
• Et dolore magna aliqua..
• Ut enim ad minim veniam,
quis nostrud
BULLETED LIST TITLE
18. “Duis eu velit
facilisis, ornare dui
eget, gravida
neque.”
“Duis eu velit
facilisis, ornare dui
eget, gravida
neque.” AUTHOR NAME
Author Title
19. 55% of people in lacinia sit amet ligula sit amet
vestibulum.
Source: Company Name
23. SLIDESHARE
TECH TIPS
Being successful on SlideShare isn’t as simple as uploading an existing PowerPoint
presentation – no matter how beautifully you’ve designed it. Here are three really
important tips to consider before you upload your presentation.
A few extra pointers to help you spruce up
your presentations for SlideShare.
24. “ANIMATED” SLIDES
SlideShare does not support PowerPoint animation, so all of those smooth
entrances you planned for your text boxes and objects go out the window
once you upload your presentation.
… But you can still fake animation by creating a series of slides with a new
object appearing on each new slide.
Click through the next few slides to see how this might work.
25. “ANIMATED” SLIDES
Ooooh! Here’s a
new object that just
“appeared” on
the right!
Ooooh! Here’s a
new object that just
“appeared” on
the right!
SlideShare does not support PowerPoint animation, so all of those smooth
entrances you planned for your text boxes and objects go out the window
once you upload your presentation.
… But you can still fake animation by creating a series of slides with a new
object appearing on each new slide.
Click through the next few slides to see how this might work.
26. “ANIMATED” SLIDES
Ooooh! Here’s a
new object that just
“appeared” on
the right!
Ooooh! Here’s a
new object that just
“appeared” on
the right!
… And another, on
the left!
… And another, on
the left!
SlideShare does not support PowerPoint animation, so all of those smooth
entrances you planned for your text boxes and objects go out the window
once you upload your presentation.
… But you can still fake animation by creating a series of slides with a new
object appearing on each new slide.
Click through the next few slides to see how this might work.
27. “ANIMATED” SLIDES
Ooooh! Here’s a
new object that just
“appeared” on
the right!
Ooooh! Here’s a
new object that just
“appeared” on
the right!
… And another, on
the left!
… And another, on
the left!
TIME-SAVING TIP
Work backwards. Create the final slide with all the elements in place. Then,
duplicate it however many times you want the animations to appear. Next, delete
extra objects from earlier slides of the animation. This way, you’re not trying to
position all the elements again and again as you progress through the animation.
TIME-SAVING TIP
Work backwards. Create the final slide with all the elements in place. Then,
duplicate it however many times you want the animations to appear. Next, delete
extra objects from earlier slides of the animation. This way, you’re not trying to
position all the elements again and again as you progress through the animation.
SlideShare does not support PowerPoint animation, so all of those smooth
entrances you planned for your text boxes and objects go out the window
once you upload your presentation.
… But you can still fake animation by creating a series of slides with a new
object appearing on each new slide.
Click through the next few slides to see how this might work.
28. CLICKABLE LINKS
If done right, you can include links in your
presentation that SlideShare users can click on
directly in the slide – perfect for showcasing
any calls-to-action or external resources.
If done wrong, you’ll have something in
SlideShare that looks like a link, but you can’t
actually click on it, which could severely
decrease your click-through rates.
The process for making clickable links in
SlideShare is different for Mac and PC, but you
can get a step-by-step guide for both platforms
in this HubSpot blog post.
29. EXPORT TO ADOBE PDF
If you are making a clickable aspect, you will
already have done this step, so you can skip to
the next slide.
If you don’t have links in your presentation,
you’ll need to make sure you export your
PowerPoint to PDF (ideally in Adobe Acrobat).
This way, make sure the quality and designs
are preserved once uploading to SlideShare.
To save your file as a PDF:
•Mac: Select File > Save As, then choose
“PDF” as format.
•PC: Select File > Save As Adobe PDF.
30. The PDF of your slides is ready
to be uploaded to SlideShare.
Go on, do it!
Once it’s uploaded, add a title
and description, and promote
it on your social media
channels to get exposure.
Then, sit back, relax, and
watch the traffic and leads
pour in!
… AND
YOU’RE
DONE!
31. So you have a great presentation and you
want it to drive more business …
can help with that.
32. What is ?
All-in-one inbound
marketing
software.Get a DemoGet a Demo Video OverviewVideo Overview
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