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5 Best Free PowerPoint Presentation Template Websites For You

July 2, 2015 by Muhammad Noer 2 Comments

You can get a consistent and professional look presentation slides by using a good presentation template.

A good template will save you a lot of time in creating and designing presentation slides.

You don’t need to create new design. Just follow the template and edit text or picture as needed.

Most PowerPoint Presentation Templates Are Outdated

Unfortunately, not all presentation templates were created with the latest visual design approach.

Simply by searching for the keyword "Presentation Templates", you will find thousands of presentation templates that you can download quickly and most of them free of charge.

The challenge is most of free templates are outdated.

However, there are some good templates, which will allow you to create presentation slides with a fresh and nice visual appearance.

You have to carefully select the right templates to make a stunning presentation.

Our Recommended Free Presentation Template Websites

Please visit the list below for trusted and good presentation template website:

1. Ppttemplate.net

This is the best free PowerPoint template website that we found. The website arrangement is user friendly. It helps a lot in finding the templates you need.

This website contains over 700 free PowerPoint templates that you can download instantly. Amazingly, you can find a template not only based on a certain theme, but also the specific color that you want.

3. Presentationfx.com

The PowerPoint template collection from this website is limited. However, you can still find a good presentation template based on diverse theme from this website.

4. Powerpointstyles.com

This website offers more than 250 free PowerPoint presentation templates with a responsive search menu based on the keywords you are looking for.

Therefore, you don’t have to open the page one by one. This will help you to find the right template much faster.

5. Templateswise.com

With simple appearance, this website provides a complete PowerPoint presentation templates and easily searchable.

This website also provides a search menu by keywords or theme that will allow you to browse and find your ideal template.

That’s 5 free PowerPoint presentation template website that we recommend for you. I hope you will enjoy it.

Good presentation templates will enhance your credibility as a presenter. This will help you to perform the best and impress the audience.

Please share your comment for other recommendation.

Free Images for PowerPoint Presentation

November 16, 2013 by Muhammad Noer 4 Comments

One big issue that often prevents us in designing an excellent slide is finding the right and suitable image for presentation.

In this article I will share to you 10 best websites that will help you to get a high quality picture. You can use the image for PowerPoint slide or any other purpose with royalty-free.

Here is review of 10 website to get royalty-free images for your PowerPoint presentation:

1. Kozzi.com

Kozzi provides thousands of images, clip art and video clips that you can use for personal or commercial purposes for free. You don’t have to give any attribution for the image you use.

What you need to do is sign up to Kozzi. Once your registration approved you are free to download images, clip art, and video clips available in this site.

Another advantage is you can also become a reseller by inviting other people to join. Only by making people sign up for free you’ll get $ 10 credit that you can use to download premium images.

Join Kozzi here.

2. Imagebase.net

Most pictures available on Imagebase were taken by David Niblack. You can use all the images from the website for personal or commercial purposes. No attribution required, and you even don’t need to sign up to download all the pictures available on this website.

3. Flickr

Many of you might be familiar with this site. Flickr has thousands of high quality pictures. Before downloading an image, pay attention to the terms and requirements of the license. The easiest way to make sure about the license is by checking it with Creative Commons Attribution License

You have to sign up first to be able to download a picture. Registration can be done by email or directly from your Facebook account.

Not all images on Flickr can be used for free. Some images have license that you can buy from getty images. So, don’t forget to check closely on the license of each image before you use it.

4. Photl.com

Photl provides many exclusive images. You can download a free image for personal, educational or other non-commercial purposes with limited resolution (849×565 pixel, 1920×1280 pixel). If you want to download an image with greater resolution you should buy an extended license.

You have to register first to download a file. Another requirement is Photl has limited download capacity maximum 10 Megabytes per day. No restriction for paid user.

5. Freerangestock.com

Freerangestock provide many pictures with fine quality. Parts of the pictures have been edited by Freerangestock team so it looks more attractive. And yes you are right, you can use the pictures for personal or commercial purposes for free.

Registration is needed to be able to use it. Freerangestock offering an interesting options. You have two options before downloading the picture: you can download it right away or edit it before downloading. You can cut out the pictures online as needed before you download it.

6. www.sxc.hu

SXC offer you hundreds of thousands of high quality images that you can use for personal or commercial purposes. You can browse their image collection which is containing over 350.000 high quality photos by more than 30.000 photographers.

What you need to do is sign up and start using it.

7. Stockfreeimages.com

Stock Free Images supported and owned by Dreamstime.com, the world leading website in photos supplies.

The license status of all images from Stock Free Images is royalty free. You can download it as many as you like and use it in many ways as long as you give attribution back to the Stock Free Images as the copyright owner.

Registration is needed to be able to use it.

8. rgbstock.com

rgbbstock offer a lot of high-quality images. All images on rgbbstock are free to be used for personal or commercial purposes. You can use them in a digital format on websites, blogs, multimedia presentations, video or in printed materials such as magazines, books, brochures, leaflets and textbooks.

9. Freedigitalphotos.net

Free Digital Photos is a website which offers a unique way to download the images. All images on this website are available for free. You can use it for personal, charitable, educational and even commercial purposes.

No registration needed to download a picture. You only have to give attribution or credit for the image you used for free. But if you choose not to give a credit or if you need a larger version of the image, then you can buy a license for it.

10. Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia has more than 15 million media files that you can use for free. This website is a great place to find various types of content or images under public domain license. It means you are free to use it for personal or commercial purposes.

However, there are some images that still require attribution to the copyright owners. Check the requirement before you use it.

That’s all 10 best websites that you can use to get a high quality images with royalty-free license. Although most of them give you the right to use the images freely, we suggest you to do the following:

Always check the requirements and licenses before you use any image.
Learn how to use an image in a presentation properly, so you can avoid terrible mistakes in using image in a presentation.

Enjoy the website and start creating great presentation.

Don’t forget to share your thoughts and comments. If you have information on other great website which offer high quality image for free, please share it on your comment below.

Understanding Audience, Why It Is Important for Your Presentation

September 24, 2013 by Muhammad Noer 3 Comments

Who is your audience?

Presentation is made to be presented in front of the audience. A specific audience. Every presentation has its own specific and different audience. You need to deal with them differently.

Understanding your audience—people who will come to attend and listen to you—will help you to understand how they process the information and what they want to hear from a presentation.

This is very important, not only in constructing the content, but also in making adjustments to the entire design of the presentation, to help you influencing the audience effectively.

If we look at the three interrelated components in a presentation, one of the most important key in a presentation is the audience. You are there to give a presentation and create a communication process for them.

Recognizing Your Audience is Very Important

Understanding your audience is a key to create and deliver a great presentation. You cannot offer something interesting to your audience unless you know who they are. You have to know what they need and want from your presentation.

Its hard to expect an effective communication process if you don’t know their point of view when they are listening to you.

As presenter, you will find it difficult to relate yourself with them. Your audience will also have difficulties to understand you.

It can create a situation that will leads to frustration: You are frustrated because you can not make them understand, and they are frustrated because it is difficult to understand you.

You will not encounter this situation if you know your audience well. Your job will be much easier, because you know exactly what they want. You can choose which information should get across and which one is not necessary. Convincing the audience will becomes much easier too, because you understand what factors that influences them to take action.

Recognizing the audience is not just knowing that they are your boss, co-workers, students, or a group of society. Knowing the audience includes knowing their name, their position in the organization, what decision they make, and what they need from your presentation. And, more importantly, why they come to your presentation.

Recognize your audience. This is what distinguishes a great presenter from an ordinary one.

The first thing a great presenter will do is identifying their audience. Then use these valuable information to design a relevant and effective presentation.

Ordinary presenters, that often deliver a monotonous and ineffective presentation feel that it is not important to find out in detail who their audience is. They simply give the same presentation to different audiences.

Every communication is unique. And presentation is a communication. Your audience and the situation surrounding the communication process will influence it’s effectiveness.

Who is the Audience of your presentation?

Before starting to prepare a presentation, find out who will present in your presentation. More information you have will help your readiness to act in a presentation.

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said, “He who knows his enemy and himself well will not be defeated in a hundred battles. He who knows himself but not his enemy, will have an even chance of victory. He who does not know himself and his enemy, is bound to suffer defeat in all battles.”

In short, Sun Tzu said: “A person who recognize himself, recognize his opponent and recognize the battlefield, will win in every battle.”

A presentation is a battlefield of communications. You want the audience to accept and understand your message as good as possible.

That’s why you have to recognize your strength as a presenter, recognize your opponent (audience and what they expect), and recognize the battlefield (media communication, situation surrounding the presentation, and the specific approach that you may need). With all of this you are ready to win every presentation.

What You Need To Know From the Audience?

We have summarized here several things you need to know about your audience:

Who will present to your presentation?
What is their position in the organization?
What is their educational background, or their job?
What is their level of knowledge about the topic you will deliver?
What is their learning style?
What they like to hear and what they don’t?
What is their purpose in listening to your presentation?
Why they need to listen to you?

Now, you know why understanding the audience is so crucial in a presentation.

Don’t forget that the first thing you have to do every time you prepare a presentation is recognizing your audience. It will help you a lot in creating content and designing the most appropriate communication for them.

What is Presentation?

July 31, 2013 by Muhammad Noer 12 Comments

You have heard many times about presentation.

But do you know what exactly presentation is?

Presentation is a form of communication. In presentation, you communicate a message in an integrated way by using voice, image, and body language.

Hovland, Janis and Kelly define communication as follows:

“The process by which an individual (the communicator) transmits stimuli (usually verbal) to modify the behavior of other individuals (the audience)”

Three Components of Communication

Based on that definition, there are three key components in delivering a good communication:

Communicator
The message and media used
Receiver (audience)

A good communicator needs to craft a good message, using the right media in order to enable the receiver get it.

Successful Communication

Successful communication occurs when the audience accepts and understands a message exactly the same as what is intended by the communicator.

Is it possible to transfer a message 100% similar to what was intended by the communicator?

In theory, of course it is possible.

Well, this could be achieved if the communicator using the right media, the right delivery method, and at the right time. All of this required to minimizes the possibility of information deviation.

But that’s in theory.

In practice, it is impossible. In reality, there are so many variables that make a message or idea is not received 100% the same by the receiver. During the transfer of the message, part of information would be lost in the process.

Therefore, your job as a good communicator and presenter is to minimize the information distortion. To make the information well received by the listeners.

What is The Purpose of A Presentation?

What is the purpose of a presentation?

At least there are two main purpose of presentation: to inform and to persuade.

1. To Inform

We present something to share information. To make people understand what they didn’t know before. Presentation to inform will need to be delivered using a good and clear message. A message that is easily understood by the audience.

2. To Persuade

Most presentation falls in this area. We present something to convince other people to do, buy, or take action that we want.

A sales person will use his presentation to convince other people to buy products or services he sells.

A fundraiser will use his presentation to convince prospective donor to donate their money.

A politician will present to convince people to take action and choose him for the next election.

When you use presentation to persuade or convince, then you need to touch not only the logic, but also the emotion of the audience.

Do it right and you will make the audience taking action that you want.

Presentation Slides

What’s on your mind when you heard about “presentation”?

If you are like most people, you might think about slides. Don’t get trapped into the fallacy that presentation is slide and slide is a presentation.

In modern world, people use slide as a visual aid during presentation. Slides has become the most common tools for a presentation.

But remember, you are the presenter, not the slide.

The slide is only the aid. There are many other tools you can use such as: flipchart, sample of product, demonstration etc.

So, please design a good slide, but don’t forget it is your job to make sure the message get across effectively to the audience.

Presentation and Business

If you are a professional in business, you might use presentation in frequently basis. You need to make a slide deck to report a project. You need to give a presentation in front of key decision maker.

Good presentation skills will help a lot in your success in professional life. Therefore, master the skills of presentation starting from structuring your idea, creating a visual slide, and to deliver it in a convincing way.

How To Make A Good Presentation

If presentation is very important, then how to make a good presentation?

The answer is easy. Make sure your audience understand your message and take action after attending your presentation.

There are three component to make a good presentation: content, design, and delivery.

1. Content

Presentation is about structuring your thought and share it to other people. Make sure you understand what you want to communicate and why. This will help you to define what message to be included and how to deliver it.

Think about your subject and prepare a good structure that help people to understand what is the problem and why they should listen to you and take action on your advice.

2. Design

Since most presentation nowadays will be accompanied by using PowerPoint slides, it will be really helpful if you are able to design a good slide.

How to make a good slide design?

The answer it makes it Keep It Simple and Straight.

Put on thought on a slide, use a strong visual such as picture or diagram, and create a focus so people will understand easily what you are trying to convey.

3. Delivery

Last one, a presentation is made to be delivered to the audience. Learn how to deliver it in a convincing way. If you have good content and good design, this job will be a lot easier.

Practice your presentation so you are able to deliver it smoothly. Great presenter like Steve Jobs practice a lot before the actual session. Practice some technique from public speaking to help you connect with the audience.

Definition of Presentation

Back to the first question, what is presentation?

After reading this article, you can now confidently tell people that presentation is communication.

It is an integrated communications made through sound, image and body language to inform and persuade your audience.

The Best Presentation Books That Can Make You a World Class Presenter

July 26, 2013 by Muhammad Noer Leave a Comment

People often ask me about what books they should read to enhance their presentation. Books that will help them to be a world class presenter.

After reading so many books, I confidently recommend 9 of the best books in presentation for your reference. Learn the book and practice the lessons from these best books. Undoubtedly, your presentation skills will improve and you will be a remarkable presenter that will impress your audience.

1. The Non Designer’s Presentation Book – Robin Williams

The main reason why I begin with Robin Williams’ book is because of its simplicity. In this book, Robin explains the basic principles of a good design and how to apply it on creating good slides.

You don’t have to be a designer to be able to design attractive and communicative slides.

In The Non – Designer’s Presentation Book – Principles for Effective Presentation Design, Robin explain CRAP approach (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity). This concept is very powerful. You can easily remember and implement it directly when creating your presentation slides.

If you are interested in learning more, I also suggest you to read “The Non Designer’s Design Book – Design and Topographic Principles for the Visual Novice”. This is Robin’s most famous and the best book, which explains basic principle in design for those who are not designers like you and me. Additionally, you can learn the typography aspects such as choosing the right font, size and using colors.

Get The Non- Designer’s Presentation Book at Amazon.Com

2. Slideology – Nancy Duarte

If you have watched The Inconvenient Truth, you must certainly agree that Al Gore has delivered a remarkable presentation. In this film, Al Gore was able to bring up an issue and make it very important.

The team who designed presentation for Al Gore was Nancy Duarte, the writer of Slideology –The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentation

This book summarizes almost the entire Nancy’s experiences as a communication consultant at Duarte Design. Interestingly, Nancy has been able to incorporate the corporate presentation approach which is mostly boring with the aesthetical design that makes the message comprehensible and visually beautiful.

Nancy teaches us how to focus on ideas rather than on slides. This book also guides you how to create diagram and present data in an interesting way. You will learn how to present a complex business issue and make it visually simple and understandable.

Get The Slideology at Amazon.com

3. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs – Carmine Gallo

Steve Jobs is one of my favorite presenters. He is the founder of Apple and also known as the great inventor in the 21^st century for many phenomenal products such as iPod, iPhone and iPad that people use every day.

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs – How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience shows you the secrets behind Job’s great presentation.

Carmine Gallo conscientiously analyses all presentations delivered by Steve Jobs during his entire career. He writes down the techniques used by this great presenter. The way how Jobs creates headline, how he divides story into three sections, incorporates the demonstration into presentation, and generates momentum to amaze the audience.

I strongly recommended this book, particularly if you hold a high position in the company and you wish to deliver an inspirational corporate presentation like Jobs.

Get The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs at Amazon.com

4. Presentation Zen – Garr Reynolds

I shall pay respect to Garr Reynolds who has influenced my way of thinking on presentation. He teaches us how to present slides from different angle, rather than the ordinary way. He also persistently goes against the traditional point of view about slides.

Garr who owns the Presentation Zen Blog, explains the philosophy and the culture principles practiced in Japan and Zen, particularly on design approach.

In his book of Presentation Zen- Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, Garr points out the importance of simplicity, visual strength and harmony.

Frankly, I might say that this book is slightly difficult compare to the Robin Williams’ one which is simple and to the point. But, if you want to grasp the aesthetical art and to learn how to make presentation slides like the world class designer, then I suggest reading this book.

You can learn more from Presentation Zen Design – Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations which is also written by Garr Reynolds who resides in Japan.

Get Presentation Zen (2nd Edition) at Amazon.com

5. Presentation Secrets – Alexei Kapterev

Presentation Secrets – Do What You Never Thought Possible with Your Presentation by Alexei Kapterev is one of my favorite books. This book explains completely about presentation from many approaches, starts from the story, slides and the how to convey it.

Alexei is not a designer such as several writers mentioned previously. He even started to focus on presentation in the last few years. However, the book he has written describes how to create and to convey a good presentation.

In this book he tells his recent and previous experiences. Moreover, Alexei is known as the writer of the famous “Death by PowerPoint” which also talks about presentation. He is now working as a consultant and teaching visual communication in Graduate School of Business Administration, at Moscow State University.

Get the Presentation Secrets at Amazon.com

6. Beyond Bullet Points – Cliff Atkinson

Could you make a presentation without using boring bullet points? Hence, this book will prove that you can do it.

One of the strength of this book is it explain presentation structure as unity. You can also separate your slides if you intend to convey your presentation completely or only as a summary.

In Beyond Bullet Points – Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate and Inspire, Cliff teaches us the simple way to observe flow of presentation from the audience point of view. He encourages you to create story based on the audience’s perception. Then move the audience from current condition to the better one.

Cliff is also a speaker and a consultant who has been helping many prominent lawyers and Fortune 500 companies. He created a presentation design which had successfully convinced the Juries in a court and won the file suit that was worth of $ 253 million, in 2005.

Get the Beyond Bullet Points Book at Amazon.com

7. Sticky Presentation – Ang Tian Teck

This book explains how to create an effective presentation design, so that, it will give lasting impressionfor the audience. Ang Tian Tek is a Singaporean who becomes a consultant and trainer for many companies in this city country.

Sticky Presentation – A Different Approach to Presentation Design and Delivery will teach you the concept and the “sticky” approach. It shows you how to convey ideas that could stick and get into the mind of your audience.

This book is unique, because it does not follow the usual format. Reading this book feels like watching a set of slides and practical tips presented in interesting designs.

Get the Sticky Presentation at Kinokuniya Singapore

8. The Visual Slide Revolution – Dave Paradi

Those who use presentation to sell ideas, products or services to decision makers, I highly recommend Dave Paradi’s book The Visual Slide Revolution – Transforming Overload Text Slides Into Persuasive Presentations. Dave Paradi is a professional and a speaker who has been invited frequently by Fortune 500 companies. This book would be useful for businessperson who deals everyday with data and numbers or for a manager who makes a presentation every week. This book tells you how to design powerful slides using a clear and simple technique. Most of the samples are coming from the corporate world.

Perhaps the slides used as examples are not as attractive as those in other books. But don’t make a wrong conclusion; you will learn so many useful things from this book. For instance, you will learn how to show data changes visually, how to explain complex process in a simple way, and how to choose the right diagram to explain complicated data.

Get The Visual Slide Revolution at Amazon.com

9. Presentasi Memukau (Amazing Presentation) – Muhammad Noer

Not many good books about presentation available in Indonesian language. You could find books that show you how to make slide, but it focus merely on the technical aspect of using PowerPoint. There are other books that teach you technically how to speak in public, but they don’t explain how to make use of visual communication in a presentation when you are in front of the audience.

To overcome this issue, I wrote a book which contains thorough explanation about presentation. This book had been prepared after having accomplished necessary matters. Such as doing research based on valuable resources relating to presentation subject, watching the video of remarkable presentations by great presenters and delivering presentations including the one at the TEDx Jakarta. Hence, I specially present this book for all the loyal visitors of Presentasi.net.

Presentasi Memukau (Amazing Presentation) – Bagaimana Menciptakan Presentasi Luar Biasa (How to Create a Remarkable Presentation) explains comprehensively the aspects that you should acknowledge in order to deliver a great presentation.

You can freely download this book, but other books will require payment. This intention is for good cause, which aims to educate anyone. Hopefully, this book will be a valuable inspiration for presenters in Indonesia to be able to deliver a world class presentation. We are in the process of translating this book into English so you can also enjoy it.

Those are the selected books about presentation that I recommend. Collect and read those best books in presentation. You will learn many things to be a capable presenter who could make a world class design and perform like presenters at TED.