Creating a Presentation Blueprint
A presentation blueprint or outline is a starting point for building your presentation, a foundation to help you move forward. Besides, this stage involves creating a short series outlining some fundamentals of preparing slides for presentations. Creating a good blueprint is especially important if your presentation consists of 20 slides. But where to start for a beginner, and how to plan a presentation? Here are the key nuances that will help you stand out from the crowd.
How to Write a Presentation Outline
On the one hand, the process of preparing to create a presentation can cause fear among beginners. Surely you can hear questions in your head like, "What is an outline for a presentation? Where do I start, and how can I achieve the desired result? Here are a few steps you should take first.
Determine Your Presentation Goal
Setting goals is always a top priority for those who need to craft a good presentation. Ask yourself, "Why do I want to create these slides? What is my goal, and what is the priority audience? What will make my presentation successful?" All of these questions are important, as are the answers to them. Think for at least thirty minutes about what kind of structure you want to see. As a rule, such brainstorming is essential to crafting a good outline for a presentation. Now let's move on to the next step.
Mind the Structure
Now it's time to form the basic structure for your presentation. All slides can be divided into three conditional parts: intro, main, and conclusion. The intro part is where it all has to start. Creating a presentation outline should involve finding a good hook to grab people's attention. Your task is to choose a good quote, fact, joke, or important statistic. Then you can craft the central part with your ideas and the final slides.
Get the Right Visuals
Your PowerPoint slide outline will not be interesting or informative unless you choose the right visuals. Brainstorm and determine how many images, graphs, tables, or screenshots you might need. Gather as much graphic content as possible to make it easier for you to craft your slides. You should also consider how your visuals have a common style and fit in with the main content. Then your outline will stand out.
Decide on Evaluation Criteria
Your evaluation criteria are essential to crafting good slides. That is why you need to decide what is most important to you. Do you want to focus on the number of slides, stylistic aspects, or data? Perhaps some points will seem more relevant to you than others, and that's good. Do a preliminary content analysis and select the outline format for presentation. You might benefit from other people's experiences, so check out some samples online.
Call to Action
How to write a presentation outline like a pro? Start by analyzing the introductory part and develop a phrase that encourages your audience to take a certain action. In other words, you need a psychological trigger. Perhaps your presentation should advertise products, and services, provide information or motivate people to do something. One or two trigger phrases will be a good start for the first or second slide. Check out any presentation outline sample and see how other people integrate similar phrases into their presentations.
Provide a Solution
Think in advance about the solution you will offer your audience. The fact is that each presentation contains a "recipe" that helps to solve certain problems. That is why you should consider this aspect in your blueprint. Luckily, you don't have to write down all the details at the start of a workflow. Instead, make a small sketch to outline the vector of your future work. Next, it will be easier for you to handle the crafting of slides and the layout of ideas.
Primary Sources
Check the content of presentation slides! The fact is that your presentation should be based on reliable information, relevant sources, and arguments that will encourage your audience to take a certain action. That is why you should make a list of primary sources that you will use during slide crafting. Take your time and think carefully about what quotes, statistics, and nuances you will add to your blueprint. Such a mission only seems trivial, but the reality is much more complex. Check all the nuances and make a hierarchical sequence for your sources.
Make a Design Draft
Design is an important part of your outline so think about how you will craft your slides. What color scheme suits you best? Do you need an animation, video, or sound samples? You may even need to consider how you will add your visuals and where you will leave the sectors for the text. The background also matters because headings and text should be contrasting. It is unlikely that your audience will be delighted with white text added to a light background. Spend some of your time on design activities and do a test presentation overview to ensure you haven't missed anything.
Decide on an Order
Your slides will look like a cloud of tags in the early stages. But now, it's time to organize the chaos and create consistency. First, consider what slides you'll add to your presentation's beginning, middle, and end. Next, don't forget there are so-called "technical" slides, such as the title or your contact information. Finally, think about harmonizing all the slides to avoid dissonance or confusion.
Perhaps you should add hyperlinks and a table of contents with active transitions to different parts of your presentation. This approach will allow you to organize your slides better and avoid confusion. In addition, it will be easier for you to analyze and interpret information during your speech.
Check Your Outline
You have done a good job and created a springboard for crafting your presentation. First, you must check your outline and ensure everything is in order. Then, conduct quality control and make sure you succeed in your mission. Perhaps you should prepare for minor edits or replacement of some slides. Don't forget that your outline is just the beginning, and there is still a lot of activity to complete your journey. Continue working if you are satisfied with the results and have no obvious shortcomings.
Is It Worth Spending So Much Time on Your Outline?
As a rule, crafting your outline can take about half the time you spend creating all the slides. On the one hand, this is a lot for the average blueprint. But let's look at things from a different angle. Preparing for slide crafting includes many activities, quality control, structuring, and choosing a visual design. All these stages are extremely important, and you will spend much more time if you miss something. Your outline is your crafting base, so don't worry about timing. Sometimes it is better to spend an hour more than to reveal any critical error at the presentation stage of your work.
Final Words
Now you know how to craft a good presentation blueprint, and you will surely be able to stand out from the crowd. Try not to rush and follow your plan carefully. Each crafting stage is extremely important, so carefully analyze each line. Your actions will directly affect the quality of your presentation, so consider how you will polish your slides. Follow all the basic principles, and you will be able to craft an outstanding blueprint.
