How to Make a Last-Minute Presentation Deck

A digital slideshow presentation can be a beautiful, informative thing – if you know what you’re doing and how to get the most out of your software. You also need some time to put all your information together, decide how you want to present it, and create something visually stunning and useful. But what if you don’t have time? What if your boss tells you at 10 a.m. that you have to present at 11 a.m., or you forgot a project until the next morning? You can still make a beautiful presentation even in just an hour.

Your slideshow timeline

We’ll go into details below, but for now here’s the schedule to follow if you only have an hour or so to create your slideshow:

• 10 minutes to identify key points and messages to share
• 10 minutes Gather stock art, graphics, photos, or other assets
• 35 minutes to set up the simple presentation

• Five minutes to download and prepare the presentation to give

Stick to the basics and what you already know

If you google how to make a slideshow fast, you will get a variety of offers from sites that promise to help you create a great slideshow fast. However, if you have never used any of these presentation makers, don’t start now. It takes time to get used to a new software and how to play the slideshow once you’re done with it. You run the risk of significantly slowing down your project progress if you pick a random online presentation generator and then spend most of your time figuring out how the heck to use it.

Also, you could complete your project with an online designer, only to find you can’t download it unless you pay or sign up for a trial that ends up draining money from your checking account each month, long after you it no longer need the software. Instead, use the software you already know or have available, like Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Use pre-made design templates

The main software programs for creating presentations have pre-installed design templates you should really use it. For example, in Google Slides, you’ll find “Theme Builder” under the “View” tab. You’ll be shown dozens of possible themes, all of which have their own layouts for individual slides. Each template slide is unique but matches the color and font themes of others with the same theme. Your presentation will look cohesive and thoughtful, even if it was a rush job. Access takes only a few seconds and helps you deliver a presentation that looks so much more professional than a blank white slide or, worse, some kind of eccentric WordArt nightmare.

Include only the most important information

You don’t have to show every single word of your presentation on your slides. In fact, the fewer words you have, the better you could be, as long as what you show is effective and helps you remember what you are trying to convey verbally.

Before you start creating the slideshow, go through your notes, research, statistics or whatever you want to present. Highlight the key deliverables or points your audience needs to see. Build around these. If you’re looking at sales for a quarter, title a slide “Q3 Sales.” Add a bullet point or two that demonstrates the sales. Add a chart if you have one available, but don’t work on making one if you don’t. No need to add superfluous information about what all this is means; You will discuss this out loud during your presentation. Your next slide might be a year-over-year comparison to the previous third quarter’s sales, or a comparison to the year-to-date sales. Just keep it simple.

For this purpose, the choice of font is very important. According to Pickita digital asset management company, you should use “tTry not to use more than two different fonts in your presentation, and make sure they blend well and don’t clash or distract.” If using a pre-made templatethe work of selecting the font is already done for you.

Use at least a 30 point font size for headings and something between 24 and 28 point for additional text, which you really shouldn’t have a lot of.

Organize your ideas

Each slide should contain a message, point, or idea. For example, don’t throw a historical overview on the same slide as future projections. You can use a lot of slides and it won’t take much time, but you’ll give away that you were stressed and in a hurry if you present something disjointed and confusing.

PickiIt also suggests using only three to five bullet points at a time and no more than five items per slide. We would recommend even fewer items if possible, since you won’t have time to do all the uploading, dragging and dropping, or arranging. PickiBut here’s a great tip: “Enlarge your images and reduce the amount of text.” If an image or graphic would explain something as well as a series of bullet points, always go with the image.

per pickit, “We know our brains can process images up to 60,000 times faster than text, and using a large image gets your point across quickly without being distracting.” Plus, it’s just faster on your side. (personal computerMag also recommends for this purpose, do not shy away from free stock art, but only attempt this if you are familiar with finding quality photos and, if your presentation will be publicly available, how to obtain them.)