Creating effective multimedia presentations is an essential step to subsequently convince the audience of the message you want to send , be it a work project in your company, in the educational sector or in any other area of ​​our lives.

Multimedia presentations made by software can contain texts, images, videos and audio files, and are made with commercial or free dedicated applications that offer dynamism and interactivity, and help to understand data or results of the subject matter and ultimately disseminate the message.

How to create multimedia presentations

Specialized applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint , Google Slides or Impress included in the free and open source suite Libre Office, are a great way to support an exhibition and focus the attention of the audience . Its basic use is well known by computer users, but are we capable of extracting its full potential? There are a number of techniques that can help to achieve results that are close to those obtained by professionals. We leave you some of them.

1.- Choose the slides carefully . The overall design is the first thing the audience will see and will leave a lasting impression for better or worse. Don’t copy and paste slides from different sources. Create your own template, use one of those included in the selection of listed applications or look for a free one from the large collection that can be found on the Internet. This will help show the speech and key highlights.

2.- Be consistent . Use consistent fonts and sizes across all slides. Related to the previous point, if you have chosen a good template you will have it resolved, although you will have to check that the added visual elements match.

3.- Use of contrast . The use of colors is also important. A bad choice can ruin a presentation. Black text on a white background will always be the best on display, but also the most boring option. Try others but responsibly, with contrast always in mind.

4.- Outstanding colors . Using a bright color to highlight a message works, but as long as it’s used sparingly to highlight a particular message and matches the overall design. You can use techniques like the 10 commandments of color theory .

5.- Texts – KISS . Keep It Straight and Simple. Remember that the slides are there to support your talk, not to replace it. Use unique keywords on slides and full sentences on all of them.

6.- Boost your message . Ask yourself for a unique message that the audience has to take home. That should be the key word, both visually in the presentations and what is exposed verbally.

7.- Images . The presentation must have more images than texts. They can illustrate key points, reinforce and drive the main message, but don’t just use images for decoration.

8.- Be careful with the animations . In animations there is a very fine line between a comic and a professional presentation. However, animations can be powerful visual tools for explaining complicated issues. A good animation not only improves comprehension, but can also be the key to getting the message across.

9.- Objective and content . Keep the audience in mind throughout the talk and in creating the presentation. What does the audience know… what do I need to tell them… what do they expect… what will be most interesting… what will keep them focused on your talk?

10.- Practice . Once the presentation is created, practice the talk that you will offer to the audience. To do this, he knows each of the slides perfectly, speaks freely, confidently, loudly, clearly and not too quickly, maintaining eye contact with the audience.