Every speaker knows well how important a presentation is when speaking at an online event. Its content serves as a guide for the speaker, indicating the topics that should be covered next, while for the audience, in turn, it is a reference point in relation to what the speaker is delivering at any given moment. However, the content of the presentation is only half the battle, because what good is it to us if the slides are illegible or, even worse, display poorly in the live broadcast.

Is there one final recipe for the perfect presentation? Not likely. After all, one must take into account the fact that different platforms and tools may have different requirements for its various aspects. Therefore, event organizers should make sure that each speaker is informed about the technical requirements that a presentation at an event should meet. This will avoid a situation where changes are hastily made to the presentation file on the eve of the speech (and these can sometimes mess things up!).

Format (ratio of the resolutions)

The most popular and most often recommended presentation format is widescreen (16:9). Unless the organizer's recommendations indicate otherwise, even before creating and completing the slides, set their resolution aspect ratio to this value. The 16:9 format will be best suited for display on laptop screens and monitors and, unlike the default 4:3, will avoid the formation of the characteristic black bars on the sides of the presentation in the transmission window.

Template

The main criterion we should follow when choosing a template is its clarity and esthetics. For presentations at an online event, minimalist templates with a limited number of graphic elements that will not distract viewers from the presented content will work best. Templates with motley, multicolored backgrounds should definitely be left for another, less formal occasion. Let's also choose a template with a high contrast between the background and the font (e.g. white background and black font), which will help ensure that the content is sufficiently readable.

Font

When deciding on a particular presentation template, let's bet on a readable font that our viewers will be able to read on small screens and with poor transmission quality (caused, for example, by a poor internet connection). Sans-serif fonts, which do not have embellishments on the ends of letters, will work best. Although they are often less elegant than serif fonts, for online presentations we should be guided by readability, rather than esthetics.

Once we have chosen our font, we should skillfully use all its attributes - color, thickness, size, highlighting, etc. At the beginning of the creation of the presentation, we should set a minimum size of the font used (e.g. 24), below which we will not go (except in the case of footnotes, if it is necessary to include them). After all, we need to be aware that many participants in online events log in from mobile devices, which have much smaller screens than laptops, for example. Moreover, hybrid events, where the displayed presentation will also be viewed by a desktop audience, are becoming increasingly popular. In such a case, the content must be clearly visible to those sitting in further rows. As for other font parameters, on the other hand, let's not be afraid to use them and experiment with them. Use a different thickness for titles and another for content. Using color or highlighting (such as bold or underline), let's highlight key words or the most important information. Do this with a thoughtful approach, of course, trying to maintain consistency and moderation in the colors, thicknesses and sizes used.

Multimedia

If we want to spice up our presentation with graphic elements, we can add multimedia files to it, such as photos, graphics, gifs, animations or videos. When choosing multimedia, first of all, let's pay attention that the files are of good quality to avoid pixelation during transmission. Let's also try not to exaggerate the number of photos and videos, as their excess can effectively distract viewers from the content of the presentation.

Animated transitions

Every speaker should answer the question whether the use of animated transitions in his or her presentation is really necessary. Perhaps the presentation has a minimalist template and no multimedia, in which case animated transitions between slides would help spice it up. Otherwise, let's consider whether the large number of graphic elements and the variety of fonts used combined with animations will not cause clutter and the flashiness will not take priority over readability. If we decide to use animated transitions, let's first make sure that their correct display will be provided by the live streaming tool. Some tools support only simple transitions, while others do not support them at all. Second, let's try to choose simple, consistent animations that will not distract viewers from the content being presented.

Consistency

This is a very important issue, often forgotten by presenters, which translates into both readability and appearance of the final presentation. Ensure consistency at every level - template, font, animated transitions or graphic sizes.

Length

The ideal length of a presentation is one that is suited to the speaking time and that exhausts the topic, but at the same time does not tire nor bore the viewer. It is difficult to give a specific number of slides, because in one case it will be 10, and in another 30. Remember that not everything needs to be on the slides, because some things can (and even should) be spoken out loud. However, if you really want your presentation to have a lot of content and multimedia, it is worth considering creating two versions of it - an abbreviated one to be presented during the broadcast and a full one that can be made available to event participants after the speech.

Weight

The less the presentation file weighs, the better, especially for the organizer and the live broadcast team, who receive at least a couple of files like this. When you have a presentation ready, always check its weight and, if possible, try to reduce it (e.g. by removing unnecessary multimedia elements or slightly reducing their quality). Ideally, the presentation file could be sent as an email attachment. However, if this is not possible, let's try to make the file weight closer to 200 MB than 2 GB.

Format (file extension)

The final presentation file should have a fairly universal format that will be supported by most devices. Thus, it will be best to save the file to .pptx or .pdf format (remember that the latter will not include animated transitions between slides). Never deliver a presentation to organizers with a .key extension, and if you are preparing it on a Mac, export it to a more universal format.