The key to a creating an effective slideshow is to try to make it as engaging as possible. At the end of the day, your goal should be to keep your audience interested from start to finish.
To be honest that isn’t nearly as difficult as it sounds, especially once you know the best ways to make your slideshows more engaging:
Restrict each slide to a single main point
Every slide that you create should be about a single main point. The entire focus of the slide should be on that point, so as not to distract viewers.
While that may mean that you need more slides in your slideshow, it shouldn’t affect its overall duration. In fact, if anything the duration may be less if you’re able to more effectively deliver the information by taking advantage of the entire slide.
More visuals, less text
Not only are visuals more effective at delivering information, but they are also much more interesting. It is important that you take advantage of that, and leverage visuals to put the main point in each slide across to your audience.
It is up to you whether the visuals you use should consist of a graph, chart, illustration, diagram, photo, or even a simple infographic. Try to find the best way to encapsulate the information in visual form.
Don’t spend too much time on each slide
By restricting each slide to a single point and using visuals, you should be able to spend much less time on each slide – which is good. Ideally, you should try to not spend any more than a minute or two on each slide, as that will help you to keep your slideshow moving and make it more interesting to your audience.
Open the slideshow with a hook
To make sure you are able to interest your audience right from the get-go, you should always open your slideshow with a hook. There are lots of different types of hooks that you can use, and the only real rule is that it must be interesting.
One of the more effective hooks is to let your audience know what they stand to gain from the slideshow. By telling them how the information you’re presenting can benefit them, you’re more likely to make them feel interested in what you’re saying.
It should be noted that if you’re creating a slideshow as a video you can use other audiovisual elements to make it more engaging – depending on the software that you use. For example, with Movavi Slideshow Maker you could add background music to set the tone and pace of the slideshow.
Last but not least – try to keep your slideshows concise. The ‘optimal’ duration for slideshows can vary quite a bit depending on the topic and the type of material being presented. That is why focusing on delivering the information in as concise a manner as possible tends to be better than trying to limit yourself to an arbitrary duration.
