what is the last slide in a powerpoint presentation

• By Illiya Vjestica
• - January 23, 2023

10 Powerful Examples of How to End a Presentation

Here are 10 powerful examples of how to end a presentation that does not end with a thank you slide.

How many presentations have you seen that end with “Thank you for listening” or “Any questions?” I bet it’s a lot…

“Thank you for listening.” is the most common example. Unfortunately, when it comes to closing out your slides ending with “thank you” is the norm. We can create a better presentation ending by following these simple examples.

The two most essential slides of your deck are the ending and intro. An excellent presentation ending is critical to helping the audience to the next step or following a specific call to action.

There are many ways you can increase your presentation retention rate . The most critical steps are having a solid call to action at the end of your presentation and a powerful hook that draws your audience in.

What Action do You Want Your Audience to Take?

Before designing your presentation, start with this question – what message or action will you leave your audience with?

Are you looking to persuade, inspire, entertain or inform your audience? You can choose one or multiple words to describe the intent of your presentation.

Think about the action words that best describe your presentation ending – what do you want them to do? Inspire, book, learn, understand, engage, donate, buy, book or schedule. These are a few examples.

If the goal of your presentation is to inspire, why not end with a powerful and inspiring quote ? Let words of wisdom be the spark that ignites an action within your audience.

Here are three ways to end your presentation:

• Call to Action – getting the audience to take a specific action or next step, for example, booking a call, signing up for an event or donating to your cause.
• Persuade – persuading your audience to think differently, try something new, undertake a challenge or join your movement or community.
• Summarise – A summary of the key points and information you want the audience to remember. If you decide to summarise your talk at the end, keep it to no more than three main points.

10 Examples of How to End a Presentation

1. Asking your audience to take action or make a pledge.

Here were asking the audience to take action by using the wording “take action” in our copy. This call to action is a pledge to donate. A clear message like this can be helpful for charities and non-profits looking to raise funding for their campaign or cause.

2. Encourage your audience to take a specific action, e.g. joining your cause or community

Here was are asking the audience to join our community and help solve a problem by becoming part of the solution. It’s a simple call to action. You can pass the touch to your audience and ask them to take the next lead.

3. Highlight the critical points for your audience to remember.

Rember, to summarise your presentation into no more than three key points. This is important because the human brain struggles to remember more than three pieces of information simultaneously. We call this the “Rule of Three”.

4. If you are trying to get more leads or sales end with a call to action to book a demo or schedule a call.

Can you inspire your audience to sign up for a demo or trial of your product? Structure your talk to lead your prospect through a journey of the results you generate for other clients. At the end of your deck, finish with a specific call to action, such as “Want similar results to X?”

Make sure you design a button, or graphic your prospect can click on when you send them the PDF version of the slides.

5. Challenge your audience to think differently or take action, e.g. what impact could they make?

6. Give your audience actions to help share your message.

7. Promote your upcoming events or workshops

8. Asking your audience to become a volunteer.

9. Direct your audience to learn more about your website.

10. If you are a book author, encourage your audience to engage with your book.

6 Questions to Generate an Ending for Your Presentation

You’ve told an engaging story, but why end your presentation without leaving your audience a clear message or call to action?

Here are six great questions you can ask yourself to generate an ending for your presentation or keynote talk.

• What impression would you want to leave your audience with?
• What is the big idea you want to leave them with?
• What action should they take next?
• What key point should you remember 72 hours after your presentation?
• What do you want them to feel?
• What is the key takeaway for them to understand?

What to Say After Ending a Presentation?

When you get to the end of a book, you don’t see the author say, “thank you for reading my last chapter.” Of course, there is no harm in thanking the audience after your presentation ends, but don’t make that the last words you speak.

Think of the ending of the presentation as the final chapter of an epic novel. It’s your chance to leave a lasting impression on the audience. Close with an impactful ending and leave them feeling empowered, invigorated and engaged.

• Leave a lasting impression.
• Think of it as the last chapter of a book.
• Conclude with a thought or question.
• Leave the audience with a specific action or next step.

How to End a Presentation with Style?

There are many great ways you can end your presentation with style. Are you ready to drop the mic?

Ensure your closing slide is punchy, has a clear headline, or uses a thought-provoking image.

Think about colours. You want to capture the audience’s attention before closing the presentation. Make sure the fonts you choose are clear and easy to read.

Do you need to consider adding a link? If you add links to your social media accounts, use icons and buttons to make them easy to see. Add a link to each button or icon. By doing this, if you send the PDF slides to people, they can follow the links to your various accounts.

What Should you Remember?

💡 If you take one thing away from this post, it’s to lose the traditional ending slides. Let’s move on from the “Thank you for your attention.” or “Any questions.” slides.

These don’t help you or the audience. Respect them and think about what they should do next. You may be interested to learn 3 Tactics to Free Your Presentation Style to help you connect to your audience.

Illiya Vjestica

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How To End A Presentation & Leave A Lasting Impression

By Krystle Wong , Aug 09, 2023

So you’ve got an exciting presentation ready to wow your audience and you’re left with the final brushstroke — how to end your presentation with a bang. 

Just as a captivating opening draws your audience in, creating a well-crafted presentation closing has the power to leave a profound and lasting impression that resonates long after the lights dim and the audience disperses.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the art of crafting an impactful conclusion that resonates with 10 effective techniques and ideas along with real-life examples to inspire your next presentation. Alternatively, you could always jump right into creating your slides by customizing our professionally designed presentation templates . They’re fully customizable and require no design experience at all! 

Click to jump ahead:

Why is it important to have an impactful ending for your presentation?

10 effective presentation closing techniques to leave a lasting impression, 7 things to put on a conclusion slide.

• 5 real-life exceptional examples of how to end a presentation

6 mistakes to avoid in concluding a presentation

Faqs on how to end a presentation, how to create a memorable presentation with venngage.

People tend to remember the beginning and end of a presentation more vividly than the middle, making the final moments your last chance to make a lasting impression. 

An ending that leaves a lasting impact doesn’t merely mark the end of a presentation; it opens doors to further exploration. A strong conclusion is vital because it:

• Leaves a lasting impression on the audience.
• Reinforces key points and takeaways.
• Motivates action and implementation of ideas.
• Creates an emotional connection with the audience.
• Fosters engagement, curiosity and reflection.

Just like the final scene of a movie, your presentation’s ending has the potential to linger in your audience’s minds long after they’ve left the room. From summarizing key points to engaging the audience in unexpected ways, make a lasting impression with these 10 ways to end a presentation:

1. The summary

Wrap up your entire presentation with a concise and impactful summary, recapping the key points and main takeaways. By doing so, you reinforce the essential aspects and ensure the audience leaves with a crystal-clear understanding of your core message.

2. The reverse story

Here’s a cool one: start with the end result and then surprise the audience with the journey that led you to where you are. Share the challenges you conquered and the lessons you learned, making it a memorable and unique conclusion that drives home your key takeaways.

Alternatively, customize one of our cool presentation templates to capture the attention of your audience and deliver your message in an engaging and memorable way

3. The metaphorical prop

For an added visual touch, bring a symbolic prop that represents your message. Explain its significance in relation to your content, leaving the audience with a tangible and unforgettable visual representation that reinforces your key concepts.

4. The audience engagement challenge

Get the audience involved by throwing them a challenge related to your informational presentation. Encourage active participation and promise to share the results later, fostering their involvement and motivating them to take action.

5. The memorable statistic showcase

Spice things up with a series of surprising or intriguing statistics, presented with attention-grabbing visual aids. Summarize your main points using these impactful stats to ensure the audience remembers and grasps the significance of your data, especially when delivering a business presentation or pitch deck presentation .

Transform your data-heavy presentations into engaging presentations using data visualization tools. Venngage’s chart and graph tools help you present information in a digestible and visually appealing manner. Infographics and diagrams can simplify complex concepts while images add a relatable dimension to your presentation. 

6. The interactive story creation

How about a collaborative story? Work with the audience to create an impromptu tale together. Let them contribute elements and build the story with you. Then, cleverly tie it back to your core message with a creative presentation conclusion.

7. The unexpected guest speaker

Introduce an unexpected guest who shares a unique perspective related to your presentation’s theme. If their story aligns with your message, it’ll surely amp up the audience’s interest and engagement.

8. The thought-provoking prompt

Leave your audience pondering with a thought-provoking question or prompt related to your topic. Encourage reflection and curiosity, sparking a desire to explore the subject further and dig deeper into your message.

9. The empowering call-to-action

Time to inspire action! Craft a powerful call to action that motivates the audience to make a difference. Provide practical steps and resources to support their involvement, empowering them to take part in something meaningful.

10. The heartfelt expression

End on a warm note by expressing genuine gratitude and appreciation for the audience’s time and attention. Acknowledge their presence and thank them sincerely, leaving a lasting impression of professionalism and warmth.

Not sure where to start? These 12 presentation software might come in handy for creating a good presentation that stands out. 

Remember, your closing slides for the presentation is your final opportunity to make a strong impact on your audience. However, the question remains — what exactly should be on the last slide of your presentation? Here are 7 conclusion slide examples to conclude with a high note:

1. Key takeaways

Highlight the main points or key takeaways from your presentation. This reinforces the essential information you want the audience to remember, ensuring they leave with a clear understanding of your message with a well summarized and simple presentation .

2. Closing statement

Craft a strong closing statement that summarizes the overall message of your presentation and leaves a positive final impression. This concluding remark should be impactful and memorable.

3. Call-to-action

Don’t forget to include a compelling call to action in your final message that motivates the audience to take specific steps after the presentation. Whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, trying a product or conducting further research, a clear call to action can encourage engagement.

4. Contact information

Provide your contact details, such as email address or social media handles. That way, the audience can easily reach out for further inquiries or discussions. Building connections with your audience enhances engagement and opens doors for future opportunities.

Use impactful visuals or graphics to deliver your presentation effectively and make the conclusion slide visually appealing. Engaging visuals can captivate the audience and help solidify your key points.

Visuals are powerful tools for retention. Use Venngage’s library of icons, images and charts to complement your text. You can easily upload and incorporate your own images or choose from Venngage’s library of stock photos to add depth and relevance to your visuals.

6. Next steps

Outline the recommended next steps for the audience to take after the presentation, guiding them on what actions to pursue. This can be a practical roadmap for implementing your ideas and recommendations.

7. Inspirational quote

To leave a lasting impression, consider including a powerful and relevant quote that resonates with the main message of your presentation. Thoughtful quotes can inspire and reinforce the significance of your key points.

Whether you’re giving an in-person or virtual presentation , a strong wrap-up can boost persuasiveness and ensure that your message resonates and motivates action effectively. Check out our gallery of professional presentation templates to get started.

5 real-life exceptional examples of how to end a presentation 

When we talk about crafting an exceptional closing for a presentation, I’m sure you’ll have a million questions — like how do you end a presentation, what do you say at the end of a presentation or even how to say thank you after a presentation. 

To get a better idea of how to end a presentation with style — let’s delve into five remarkable real-life examples that offer valuable insights into crafting a conclusion that truly seals the deal: 

1. Sheryl Sandberg 

In her TED Talk titled “Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders,” Sheryl Sandberg concluded with an impactful call to action, urging men and women to lean in and support gender equality in the workplace. This motivational ending inspired the audience to take action toward a more inclusive world.

2. Elon Musk

Elon Musk often concludes with his vision for the future and how his companies are working towards groundbreaking advancements. His passion and enthusiasm for pushing the boundaries of technology leave the audience inspired and eager to witness the future unfold.

3. Barack Obama

President Obama’s farewell address concluded with an emotional and heartfelt expression of gratitude to the American people. He thanked the audience for their support and encouraged them to stay engaged and uphold the values that define the nation.

4. Brené Brown 

In her TED Talk on vulnerability, Brené Brown ended with a powerful quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts… The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” This quote reinforced her message about the importance of embracing vulnerability and taking risks in life.

5. Malala Yousafzai

In her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Malala Yousafzai ended with a moving call to action for education and girls’ rights. She inspired the audience to stand up against injustice and to work towards a world where every child has access to education.

For more innovative presentation ideas , turn ordinary slides into captivating experiences with these 15 interactive presentation ideas that will leave your audience begging for more.

So, we talked about how a good presentation usually ends. As you approach the conclusion of your presentation, let’s go through some of the common pitfalls you should avoid that will undermine the impact of your closing:

1. Abrupt endings

To deliver persuasive presentations, don’t leave your audience hanging with an abrupt conclusion. Instead, ensure a smooth transition by providing a clear closing statement or summarizing the key points to leave a lasting impression.

2. New information

You may be wondering — can I introduce new information or ideas in the closing? The answer is no. Resist the urge to introduce new data or facts in the conclusion and stick to reinforcing the main content presented earlier. By introducing new content at the end, you risk overshadowing your main message.

3. Ending with a Q&A session

While Q&A sessions are valuable, don’t conclude your presentation with them. Opt for a strong closing statement or call-to-action instead, leaving the audience with a clear takeaway.

4. Overloading your final slide

Avoid cluttering your final slide with too much information or excessive visuals. Keep it clean, concise and impactful to reinforce your key messages effectively.

5. Forgetting the call-to-action

Most presentations fail to include a compelling call-to-action which can diminish the overall impact of your presentation. To deliver a persuasive presentation, encourage your audience to take specific steps after the talk, driving engagement and follow-through.

6. Ignoring the audience

Make your conclusion audience-centric by connecting with their needs and interests. Avoid making it solely about yourself or your achievements. Instead, focus on how your message benefits the audience.

What should be the last slide of a presentation?

The last slide of a presentation should be a conclusion slide, summarizing key takeaways, delivering a strong closing statement and possibly including a call to action.

How do I begin a presentation?

Grabbing the audience’s attention at the very beginning with a compelling opening such as a relevant story, surprising statistic or thought-provoking question. You can even create a game presentation to boost interactivity with your audience. Check out this blog for more ideas on how to start a presentation . 

How can I ensure a smooth transition from the body of the presentation to the closing? 

To ensure a smooth transition, summarize key points from the body, use transition phrases like “In conclusion,” and revisit the main message introduced at the beginning. Bridge the content discussed to the themes of the closing and consider adjusting tone and pace to signal the transition.

How long should the conclusion of a presentation be?

The conclusion of a presentation should typically be around 5-10% of the total presentation time, keeping it concise and impactful.

Should you say thank you at the end of a presentation?

Yes, saying thank you at the end of a PowerPoint presentation is a courteous way to show appreciation for the audience’s time and attention.

Should I use presentation slides in the concluding part of my talk? 

Yes, using presentation slides in the concluding part of your talk can be effective. Use concise slides to summarize key takeaways, reinforce your main points and deliver a strong closing statement. A final presentation slide can enhance the impact of your conclusion and help the audience remember your message.

Should I include a Q&A session at the end of the presentation?

Avoid Q&A sessions in certain situations to ensure a well-structured and impactful conclusion. It helps prevent potential time constraints and disruptions to your carefully crafted ending, ensuring your core message remains the focus without the risk of unanswered or off-topic questions diluting the presentation’s impact.

Is it appropriate to use humor in the closing of a presentation?

Using humor in the closing of a presentation can be appropriate if it aligns with your content and audience as it can leave a positive and memorable impression. However, it’s essential to use humor carefully and avoid inappropriate or offensive jokes.

How do I manage nervousness during the closing of a presentation?

To manage nervousness during the closing, focus on your key points and the main message you want to convey. Take deep breaths to calm your nerves, maintain eye contact and remind yourself that you’re sharing valuable insights to enhance your presentation skills.

Creating a memorable presentation is a blend of engaging content and visually captivating design. With Venngage, you can transform your ideas into a dynamic and unforgettable presentation in just 5 easy steps: 

• Choose a template from Venngage’s library: Pick a visually appealing template that fits your presentation’s theme and audience, making it easy to get started with a professional look.
• Craft a compelling story or outline: Organize your content into a clear and coherent narrative or outline the key points to engage your audience and make the information easy to follow.
• Customize design and visuals: Tailor the template with your brand colors, fonts and captivating visuals like images and icons, enhancing your presentation’s visual appeal and uniqueness. You can also use an eye-catching presentation background to elevate your visual content. 
• Incorporate impactful quotes or inspiring elements: Include powerful quotes or elements that resonate with your message, evoking emotions and leaving a lasting impression on your audience members
• Utilize data visualization for clarity: Present data and statistics effectively with Venngage’s charts, graphs and infographics, simplifying complex information for better comprehension.

Additionally, Venngage’s real-time collaboration tools allow you to seamlessly collaborate with team members to elevate your presentation creation process to a whole new level. Use comments and annotations to provide feedback on each other’s work and refine ideas as a group, ensuring a comprehensive and well-rounded presentation.

Well, there you have it—the secrets of how to conclude a presentation. From summarizing your key message to delivering a compelling call to action, you’re now armed with a toolkit of techniques that’ll leave your audience in awe.

Now go ahead, wrap it up like a pro and leave that lasting impression that sets you apart as a presenter who knows how to captivate, inspire and truly make a mark.

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• Presentation Tips

How to End Your Presentation: Tips for Your Grand Finale

You have just created the most amazing presentation ever. You have written a touching speech and you are designing your last slides… Oh, wait. How to end your pitch? Sometimes people get distracted.   Don’t panic. You don’t need to read Aristotle’s Rhetoric to close your presentation in an effective way. In this tutorial, we will teach you some tips to influence your listeners and to get new clients, investors, students… They’ll love you and your product or service! 

Summarize and show a sneak peek

Make a lasting impact: quotes, use emotions to persuade your audience, involve your audience, add a “thanks” slide.

Just before saying “thanks” and “goodbye”, it’s time to summarize the contents of your presentation… and give something new to your audience.   Repetition can be a good idea! In this case, it will help your listeners. Thanks to it, they will manage to understand the global structure of your speech, if they didn’t before! In addition, if they had doubts or didn’t understand a section properly, their questions will be immediately answered.  Before or after talking about the main points of your presentation, give your audience something that will make them want to know more about your product or service.   In this respect you give them an opportunity to see something before it is officially available.  

This is a sneak peek. In Slidesgo, we add a special template in some of our Marketing themes .  You could, for example, add a video showing the features of your product. Make it visual, interesting and you will thrill your audience!  → Are you fascinated by the smart design of this News Agency Template yet? Give it a go! 

It’s usual to add a quote to your presentation. Recalling the perfect sentence by an authority is great when you want to persuade or to make a great impact in your listeners.   By authority, we refer to someone who is a specialist in an area or to someone who is pretty famous for his or her work, intelligence…   In the same way, you can also use closing lines of books or movies. They also have a great impact! Have you ever watched Some Like It Hot? The very last sentence pronounced in this movie, became one of the most well known and quoted lines in history. When Jerry confesses that he is a man, Osgood states: “Well, nobody’s perfect.”  Let’s use a famous quote in your presentation. Choose a sentence that represents your passion and that triggers a pleasant feeling in your audience. Talking about effort is always a good idea. The same can be applied to optimism, as it is a contagious emotion! 

Get this quote as an example. It is short, concise and it was pronounced by someone who is famous and successful!  → Did you like this energetic World After Coronavirus Template ? Get it for free!  

You have explained all the technical details of your company and your product or service. Now, let's add some emotive touches to what you want to say.   Of course, it’s something that you can use during the whole presentation, but ending in an emotional way will be very effective.   Our memory works better when emotions are around. We remember quite clearly moments of pure joy, moments of adventure or periods of grief, but you may not remember what you ate a week ago. There were no feelings attached to food (usually!).  Let’s have a look at the following slide: 

It clearly evokes a feeling of strength, self-improvement and self-realization. It seems that the girl can achieve anything she wants! It’s warm, lovely. This image tells a story related to feelings.  Use this sort of image, and match it with your words. Talk about the importance of diversity and how this will result in a better society, for example.  Talking about words themselves, don’t forget to use inclusive pronouns: we, us, our. Make yourself part of your audience. This way, they will feel as part of your team!  → Use now this Girls in Science Template ! 

If you don’t allow your audience to take part in your presentation, in what you say, they can get easily distracted.   Remember that you prepare your presentation or you give a speech having your listeners, clients or potential investors in mind. It’s not something that you prepare for you!  What should you do to involve your audience? We have talked about using “we” in the previous section. Employ “you” as well! This way, they’ll feel that you are directing your attention to them, that you want them to take part in what you are saying.  OK, linguistically speaking it’s a good tip. But… Is there anything else that we can do? Of course!  Asking them questions or rising a challenge can be great for doing so. Imagine this situation: you are just finishing and some of them have stopped paying attention… but you have a question ready for them!  You can use interactive templates in such cases. They are pretty uncommon and funny, so your presentation will turn into a game!

→ Use this Social-Emotional Learning Template now!   

It may seem trivial, but saying thanks at the end of your presentation is important. Why? Well, this serves as a clear indicator that tells your audience that you have finished. If you try to end, for example, with a summary, without any “thanks” slide, it can be confusing.   This is a customary thing to do. We all understand that, with “thanks”, the presentation is over. There are, of course, other important reasons to use this magical word!  Always remember that your listeners have devoted part of their valuable time listening to you and paying attention to your message. Saying thanks is a time-honoured practice. In fact, being polite is the way to persuade your listeners. 

Try using a slide to say “thanks”. Make use of a beautiful theme font and make the word stand out! Apart from that, you could also use this slide to provide your contact details.    They know that your presentation is coming to an end, so they will surely write down your email or your telephone number to contact you!  → Do you like this Wedding Template ? Download and edit it now, it’s free!  The key to have a grand finale is letting your audience understand that you care about them: say thanks, summarize the contents so they are easier to understand. Connect with their emotions! Practice, practice and practice. These tips will help you become as good as Martin Luther King in public speaking!   If you need more free Google Slides themes and PowerPoint templates , you can visit our website! We have beautiful and useful designs for you!    

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How to end a PowerPoint presentation.

By the time you reach the end of your PowerPoint presentation, it’s tempting to turn the last slide into a standard ‘thank you’ or ‘questions?’ slide. Don’t give into the temptation. Read these five tips, and make the last slide of your presentation as impactful as the first.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “you don’t get a second chance to make a great first impression”, but when it comes to presentations, the first impression is only half the story.

Serial-position effect  is the tendency of the human brain to only remember the first and last items in a series. If you consider your presentation as a series of incredible messages, that whole middle section is going to look a little fuzzy to your audience after just a few short hours. In fact, researchers testing presentation recall found that only 50% of information is remembered immediately following the last slide of the presentation. This number reduces to 25% by the next day and just 10% the following week.

For those of you reading this right before a big presentation, don’t throw your laptop against the wall in despair. There are ways to manipulate your narrative to take advantage of the serial-position effect and end your PowerPoint presentation with impact. 

In this article, we’re going to be focusing on just one aspect of the serial-position effect: the recency effect. This is how to capture your audience’s imagination, up to the very last slide of your presentation.

For storytellers, it’s often beneficial to start from the end and work backwards, making sure every message is pointing towards that end goal. Once you get back to the beginning, take a look at our tips for hooking your audience from the first sentence. 

If you’ve been keeping up with our  storytelling tips and tricks , you’ll already know that you should use the end of your presentation to summarise all your key messages and tie up any loose plot points.  

We’re talking about what happens after that.

We’re talking about levelling up. 

5 ways to end a PowerPoint presentation

1. start a revolution.

You wouldn’t put together a PowerPoint presentation in preparation for a Friday night catch up with your best friend. Presentations are designed to encourage fundamental change. If done correctly, a presentation is just a series of messages that speak to the audience emotionally, backed up by logic and cemented with credibility. And they have to end with a rallying cry. 

The call to action is how you communicate to the audience the first step towards their better future. Whatever it is you want them to think, feel, or do at the end of your PowerPoint presentation, needs to be clear when you reach the last slide. 

Of course, you could just tell them what you want them to do. But, as any parent, manager, or Prime Minister will tell you, people don’t like being told what to do. In fact, they actively revolt against it. It’s much more effective for them to reach that conclusion themselves, with just a little gentle guidance from you.

This all sounds like witchcraft, but there are plenty of ways to manipulate your audience without them catching on, if that’s what you’re worried about.

2. Pull a stunt

You need to do something different to make an impact.

Imagine yours is just one presentation in a whole string of slideshows. By the last slide of the last presentation, they’re all going to have blended into one. If you can’t flirt your way to being placed as the first or last of the day, you’re going to have to go bigger and better for your finale. Bring out the dancers.  

Too many people think of their slides as a box to contain their ideas. We say, think outside the box. I know, we’re probably the first people to ever say that. But seriously, break down that wall between digital and physical. Show your audience what you mean. And use your slides as support. 

Your impactful moment doesn’t have to be acted out or over the top, just something out of the norm, and out of the slide. People are 30% more likely to retain information when there’s a visual aid to accompany the audio. This could be in the form of a statistic, an animation, or an image, or it could be something you do.

For example, say you want to end your presentation with a shocking statistic. Big numbers can become meaningless, as the sheer size is difficult to comprehend. Make your point digestible with context.

Say you want to communicate the number of coffee farmers in Kenya who can’t make a living wage, as a way to illustrate the importance of fair trade. You could just say 150,000, or you could bring out a clear container with 150,000 coffee beans in it. And pour them slowly out on the stage.

Dramatic? Maybe.

Messy? Sure.

Impactful? Definitely.

Gimmicks and tricks can feel forced but, if cohesive with your story and your messaging, they can create a buzz around your presentation, reinforce your message and be impossible to forget.

In 2009, Bill Gates was campaigning for Malaria relief awareness and aid. Mid presentation, he reached for a jar, unscrewed the lid, and released a cloud of mosquitos into the room, saying: “Not only poor people should experience this.”

Jaws dropped, the room was buzzing – in more ways than one – and no one has forgotten that moment. What a way to end a PowerPoint presentation.

I’m not suggesting you give your audience Malaria, but by moving away from traditional presentation practice, you can shake your audience out of their PowerPoint coma, make an impact and coerce them into action.

3. Go full circle

I know we said we were only going to talk about recency effect today, but what can we say? We’re all give.

Primary effect is the other half of the whole. The explanation for why we remember the start of the list. By making both these halves work seamlessly together, we can create a calming effect in the brains of our audience. Let me explain.

Humans like things to be neat. We like a question to have an answer. We like a pen to have a lid. We hate when a mystery key shows up with no sign of a lock. And we need stories to have an end.

Give your audience a sense of completion by starting with a story, and picking it back up on the last slide of the presentation. Not only will this keep them engaged throughout, wondering whether the hero will ever overcome the villain, but they will feel enormous relief and accomplishment when they finally find out. 

The start of your story should set up the challenge. The characters in the story should reflect the people in your audience, they should be able to see themselves in your story and relate to the characters’ struggles.

When you pick the story back up at the close, you should regale your audience with their triumphs. And the reason behind this turnaround? Well, they took your advice, obviously.

This is a more human way to integrate case studies into your presentation. You want to show your audience that your solution has worked for others like them, but case studies can be so cold, so focused on facts and numbers. Stories are emotional, persuasive, and easy for our brains to understand.

4. Turn the tables on your audience

Think about the last five presentations you saw. How many of them ended with a Q&A? Yawn.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t give your audience the chance to ask questions, but by ditching the obligatory ‘questions?’ end to your PowerPoint presentation, you create the opportunity to do something different for your close. 

We believe presentations should be interactive throughout. Regularly checking in with your audience, or encouraging them to get involved with activities, polls, or games, will keep them engaged from start to finish. Breaking down the barrier between presenter and speaker allows you to connect with your audience. They’ll feel valued, part of the process, and are more likely to be persuaded by your message. 

So, that’s what you shouldn’t do for the last slide of a presentation, but I bet very few of you were searching for  how not to end a PowerPoint presentation .

Flip the script. Don’t ask for questions to close, ask a question yourself. By ending on a provocative and rhetorical question, your audience will be thinking about your presentation for hours afterwards. Pitch them a hypothetical situation, where they have the power to control their future. How are they going to make this dream a reality? Coincidentally, the answer happens to be exactly what your product or service is offering.

5. Get handsy

Speaking of breaking down the barrier between speaker and audience, our final tip is to give them something to get their mitts around. 

Since Primary School, we’ve all understood the sentiment ‘show, don’t tell’. It’s unlikely your pet hamster, Scratchy, or the collection of Roman coins your grandma bought you on a trip to a real amphitheatre are going to seal the deal in your business presentation, but the Show and Tell philosophy still stands. 

If your product is as good as you’ve been telling them it is for the last 20 minutes, let them have a go and see for themselves. And if it’s not a physical product you’re selling, this would be the perfect time to slip in some success examples from your  creds deck .

No one likes goodbyes, but by implementing one of these powerful conclusions, you’ll end your PowerPoint presentation with metaphorical fireworks and your audience will be unable to get you out of their heads. 

If you’re struggling with more than just the final slide, our talented team have plenty of tricks up their collective sleeve for banging beginnings and memorable middles too. Why not get in touch to talk about your next presentation project?

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Rethinking final slides.

All good things must come to an end, but how? As your presentation draws to a close, how should you wrap it all up so that you end with a bang, and not a fizzle?  In John’s earlier post, Rethinking Title Slides , he considered the options available when opening your presentation. Now he turns his attention to the ending.

In a previous post, I offered a few ways to think differently about the title slide in your PowerPoint presentations. Contrary to what many people think, a title slide is not always necessary. And, if you have one, there is no rule that says that it has to be the first slide that you show.

Well, if we have looked at the title slide, it only seems right that we look at final slides as well.

Thanks but No Thanks!

Perhaps the most common final slide that you see is the one that thanks the audience. Here are some of the standard variations:

You get the idea. And they are all bad options.

Many clients are genuinely surprised when I tell them never to use a “Thank you” slide again. But there are two solid reasons for not doing so.

First, in many cases, you should not thank your audience. Imagine Martin Luther King as he brought his inimitable I Have a Dream speech to close. Imagine if he had added a “Thank you” to the ending:

“And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! Thank you very much!”

Something powerful, something fundamental would have been lost. “Thank God Almighty” that King was smarter than that. He knew that leaving the audience with rousing oratory to inspire them was the only way to end that speech.

In situations where you are presenting your vision to the company, or exhorting your audience to take some kind of action, dispensing with “Thank you” is the best option. Instead, leave them with something that sticks long after they have left the auditorium. Some hypothetical examples are below:

And I know, that if we work together, we will succeed!

You know what you have to do. Now, go out there and do it!

The journey will be long and the journey will be hard, but there is no turning back. I am confident we will reach our destination.

Second, if you would like to thank your audience and it is appropriate to do so, is having a slide that says “Thank you”, which you typed out two days (or two hours) before really the best way? Of course not!

If you want to thank your audience, look them in the eye and thank them from the heart, not the screen. They will appreciate the connection and your thanks will be much more authentic and therefore much more meaningful.

Without Question

Another bad slide on which to end is the following:

Does your audience need a slide to know that you are moving to a Q&A session? Of course not. If you want to have a Q&A session, have a black slide and then open the floor up for questions.

As an aside, I believe that, when speakers have control over the situation, they should not end with a Q&A. Why not? Because you never know whether the questions are going to be on point or interest only to a few people. There is a risk that many people in the audience will reach for their smartphones and that is how your presentation will end: with a fizzle, not a bang.

So I always recommend that speakers cover everything they want to cover and then announce that they will take questions for however many minutes they like before they conclude. That way, the speaker controls the conclusion.

6 Good Closing Slides

So, if slides like “Thank you” and “Questions?” and, worst of all, “Thank you! Questions?” are out, what should you have for a final slide?

There is no hard and fast rule, and the final slide that you choose will depend on things like the audience and your message. But here are some good options:

1) A powerful image

Use an image that relates to your talk and that captures the feeling or message that you are trying to convey.

2) A summary of your key points

You can use a subtle animation such as “Fade” (PowerPoint) or “Dissolve” (Keynote) to bring your points in one by one, emphasizing each as you go.

3) A call to action

Inspire your audience and move them to action.

For example, let’s imagine that a company has been having trouble invoicing its customers on time. The problem has been traced to a lack of communication between the sales team and the accounting department. A final slide for such a presentation could list what is expected from Sales, what is expected from Accounting and what is expected from both.

Use a quote that relates to your message, perhaps with an image of the person who first said it. This slide could be doubly powerful if you opened the presentation with the quote (not using a slide) and then returned to it at the end of the presentation to reinforce the idea.

5) Your contact details

This is especially useful when speaking to large audiences whom you do not know. But keep the information simple and easy to write down. An email, a phone number and a website address are good options, individually or in combination.

6) A black slide

Yes, a black slide can be a good option, for example if you want to end your presentation with a powerful story. By turning the screen black, you refocus the audience’s attention on you. Never forget that the slides are not the presentation; the speaker is the presentation and the slides are there to support the speaker.

As I mentioned in my previous post, psychologists frequently talk about the learning principles of primacy and recency . People tend to remember the first thing they hear or see and the last thing they hear or see.

So don’t waste your final slide on something as banal as “Thank you” or “Questions?”. You can do much better than that. Your presentation will have a polished ending and your audience will appreciate it.

If you have any thoughts on this subject or think I’ve missed any good final slide ideas, please feel free to share them with us in the Comment section below.

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John Zimmer

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rohit aggarwal

15th April 2019 at 8:42 am

thanks for the information

23rd April 2019 at 10:42 am

Thank you, Rohit. Glad you found it helpful.

10th November 2023 at 8:54 am

Such an insightful read! The final slide often lingers the longest in our audience’s memory—it’s where we leave a lasting impression. Rethinking this crucial part of the presentation might just be the key to leaving a more impactful message.

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7 Brilliant Ways to End Any Presentation: When to Use a Presentation Thank You Address

I like building and growing simple yet powerful products for the world and the worldwide web.

Published Date : December 4, 2020

Reading Time :

As important as an introduction is to a speech presentation, the end of your presentation is what you leave your audience with.  Being able to give a proper presentation thank you address is a helpful public speaking skill .

When is it appropriate to simply say “thank you” and close your presentation?

In what moments does a presentation require more from you? 

How do you tell your audience thank you for watching my presentation if you made a visual presentation?

What is the importance of saying thank you to your audience for listening?

We intend to answer all these questions in this article, and we hope you read the whole page to understand the complete concept of the presentation thank you. 

How Should I End a Presentation? Different Ways of Ending a Speech Or a Presentation

For someone who is a speech expert and has attended many presentations and orations, I can tell that each presenter concludes their speech in different ways. Most speakers will showcase presentation thank you images as a visual aid at the end of a PowerPoint, while others give a summary. 

Irrespective of the speaker’s methods, here are seven ways to end a presentation or speech .

1. Closing with a Summary

 Summarizing key points of your speech when concluding an oration is an age-old method of finishing your address. It is a technique speakers and writers use to close and ensure their audience remembers their main point.

Using a summary for closure is very common with lectures, and the traditional presentation thank you addresses.

2. Closing with the Power of Three

The power of three uses a pattern of three words, phrases, or more to emphasize a point and make it more memorable. A typical use by Julius Caesar is “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

3. Closing with Metaphors

Metaphors are a figure of speech that compares two entities figuratively and makes it seem like they are the same. In basic English Language, the definition of metaphors indicates a form of comparison without using comparative words (for example, like and as).

It is ideal for motivational speech presentations and graduation speeches . This type of closing works perfectly if you used an analogy, anecdote, or reference to the comparative subject during your presentation.

4. Using Facts to Recreate Engagement

Some of the most memorable speech presentations end with things that regain the audience’s attention. If you search google, you will find facts related to your discussion and share them to surprise your audience.

5. Using an Illustration or Image

A bit similar to using metaphors, you can finish with stories or use an illustration to close. This method is quite common because many orators can use it to start their speech and end it.

Visual aids are essential to help drive your point across when you present, and you can also use them to close effectively.

6. Closing with a Quote or a Short Sentence

If you can condense your summary to a less wordy short sentence, it tends to leave a longer-lasting impression on your listeners. It is essential to ensure that the short message conveys your authenticity and the importance of your message.

Using a quote is a timeless way to conclude any type of speech or presentation. However, it is essential to have a quote relevant to your address; if not, you can make a quote out of a point you made while presenting.

7. Making a Provocative Closing

Closing provocatively makes use of calls to action to move your audience toward a particular goal. An example of this type of conclusion is usually observed with preachers, activists, and advertisers.

Many preachers make altar calls at the end of their sermons, and activists usually end with a wake-up call to move the audience to action.

What is the Best Way to End a PowerPoint Presentation?

PowerPoint presentations take a lot of time to make and can take an audience almost no time to forget. Figuring out how to make a strong closing will help give your audience something to remember. 

The way you close each ppt depends on the nature of your discussion. 

Closing a Persuasive PPT

Your thank you note for presentation after a persuasive PowerPoint should win the members of your audience over. To convince them ultimately, you can include:

• A call-to-action
• Verified facts

Closing an Informative PPT

Informative PPTs share data, so the ideal closure for them are presentation thank you images that show:

• A summary of all the ideas you shared
• A conclusive concept map
• Bulleted key points
• A recap of the objectives of the presentation

Closing an Introductory PPT

The general concept of introductory speech presentations is to:

If you are giving an initial pitch, the best presentation thank you images will give your audience a proper means to contact you or follow up on your next program. 

Note: When concluding any PowerPoint, your thank you for watching my presentation slide will naturally need to follow the same pattern with the entire PPT. It is also helpful if you are creative with the presentation thank you.

The General Importance of Saying Thank You

Saying thank you is a means of expressing one’s gratitude over an action completed or a gift. In any setting, your ability to express gratitude irrespective of whether or not you deserved the service you got goes a long way. 

Some advantages of expressing gratitude include:

What is the Importance of Presentation Thank You Images?

As a part of the audience, after spending time listening to a speaker talk all day, especially when you have the option to leave but stay, a minute presentation thank you would suffice.

It’s no secret that some presenters do not say thank you after their speech , so what do you gain by thanking your audience?

• Helps you reinforce already established value. 
• Strengthens speaker-audience relationships. 
• Serves as a foundation for trust.
• Stimulates conversation by question and answer strategies.
• Makes you unique in numerous places.

How to Say Thank You at the End of Your Presentation: Simple Tips and Tricks

Saying thank you is not only about expressing gratitude. Many times, saying thank you is a business strategy, and presenting thank you images needs to prove their worth for your business.

Some simple pointers to remember are:

• Remain professional
• Avoid grammatical errors as much as possible.
• Try not to seem salesy instead, be polite.
• Employ perfect timing

Using the Right Voice Tone

Every type of presentation setting demands a specific tone type. You will need to adjust your tone to avoid being misunderstood.

Personalize It and Try to Maintain Relevance

It is rather rude to use a copy and paste post-presentation thank you message. Instead, it’s best to make a unique, personalized thank you note that is audience-specific.

Additionally, its best to remain within the subject matter for the conclusion by sharing relevant information.

Ask Questions and Answer Previous Ones

Suppose you got any questions before the presentation, it is best to answer them now. If you used an “any questions slide,” you can also answer questions from there.

When your time starts finishing, and you cannot answer any more questions, try to provide contact details or follow up with their concerns.

Practice the perfect end to your presentation with Orai

When to Use and When to Avoid a Thank You Presentation Slide

Using tact is a vital tool when facing public speaking opportunities. It is essential to know when it is okay to share a thank you presentation slide and when it isn’t necessary.

Some of the times, when saying thank you for listening to my presentation is appropriate and essential are:

• When you have an audience that showed up voluntarily, it is essential to express gratitude.
• If you are expressing gratitude to your team for putting in hard work
• If your audience needed to travel to attend your presentation

On the other hand, there are some situations when presentation thank you images are either inappropriate or unnecessary:

• If you plan to answer questions after your presentation or host an interactive session, presentation thank you images will prompt your audience to leave the meeting.
• If your presentation has terrible news, a presentation thank you will be insensitive and inappropriate.
• When you need to assign a task or follow-up on anything, its better to end with that rather than a thank you slide.

Potential Alternatives to a Presentation Thank You Image

Ending with a simple presentation thank you is often seen as a weak presentation. Most times, it is best to complete your presentation creatively or using a call-to-action. 

So in what ways can you effectively end your speech using visual aids without needing to use presentation thank you images?

Using a “One More Thing” Slide

This type of presentation thank you option introduces (for lack of a better term) the final bomb or the hidden gem. If you were introducing a new product, for example, your one more thing slide would probably show an unexpected benefit of purchasing the product to woo your audience.

This type of slide is not appropriate for every presentation, so you will have to take the nature of your audience into account when inputting this idea.

A Slide that Continues the Conversation

This type of ending could feature a form of presentation thank you that continues the discussion. It may be a bunch of arguments that gear your audience’s communication with each other or with you.

Ideally, you will need to provide them with contact information so that they can communicate with you after you finish. If you are searching for new prospects for partnership or employment, this is the best slide to include such details.

Closing with “Any Questions?”

This type of closing is the most common type aside from the mainstream presentation thank you images. As I stated earlier, it isn’t appropriate to include a presentation thank you if you hope to continue any form of discussion. 

Asking for questions boosts audience engagement, and it serves as a memory aid, so they remember your presentation. However, it isn’t uncommon to have no one asking you questions while you present. 

If you want to avoid the awkwardness of an unanswered no questions slide, here are some things you can try:

• Asking the first question yourself as an icebreaker.; your inquiry has the potential to open room for more questions
• Ask a friend in the audience to break the ice with the first question.
• Asking your audience to prepare for questions in advance by providing them with necessary materials
• Distributing writing material to the audience pre-presentation to motivate them to write down questions they might have had during your speech so that you can answer them effectively at the end.

Practice your presentations with Orai. Get feedback on your tone, tempo, confidence , and consciousness to help you get your presentation on point.

Thank You Letters: Taking it A Step Further

Numerous presentations, especially business idea pitching, hardly lead to immediate sales. In such a case, ending with a presentation thank you and contact information isn’t enough. 

You will need to take it a step further by sending a thank you letter so that they can remind you, mostly if they have already forgotten. So, how do you follow up on a potential client or previous sponsor with a presentation thank you?

Elements of a Good Thank You Letter

When you think of writing an excellent thank you letter, you will need to consider elements that will ensure that your recipient reads it and carries out the appropriate action. 

You do not require a soothsayer to tell you that people do not read every letter. So how do you beat the odds and make your message worthwhile? Here are some elements you can include to that effect.

A Strong Subject Line

If you can remember the times you opened a spam mail on purpose, I am sure it had something to do with the subject. Most companies treat letters like this as spam and have no reason to read them.

However, if you can create a subject line that clearly states your intentions, you have a better chance of having your mail read.

Clearly Expressed Gratitude

Start the letter by expressing gratitude for attending your presentation and giving you time. You can also include other factors you think you need to express gratitude for in your message.

A Summary of Your Presentation 

They aren’t likely to have any reason to remember all the points you made during your presentation. Now is the perfect time to remind them and highlight the issues you presented they could have missed. 

It’s best to use bullet points to give them room for skim reading. Additionally, if you guys have reached an agreement, you should include it in the letter for clarity .

Answers to Prior Questions 

If they had questions that you were unable to answer while presenting, now is the perfect time to answer them. It is a gesture that shows potential clients that you care about their concerns.

Additionally, you can encourage more questions to keep the conversation going.

A Professional Closing Note

Most people have customized closing remarks that they send with each mail that usually has the following characteristics in small icons:

• Your name and position in the company
• The company’s name (and logo if possible)
• The company’s website URL

Practice with Orai and become an expert

Final Tips For Thank You Letters and Speeches 

Irrespective of how you decide to make your presentation thank you slide, these six tips will help you:

• Include a call to action for your audience.
• Try not to end with questions.
• Refer to the opening message.
• Use anecdotes to summarize.
• Incorporate the rule of three where you can.
• Avoid leaving your audience confused about whether or not your presentation is over.

Examples of Presentation Thank You Letter

Subject line: A follow up on (topic or product)

Hi (insert name)

Express gratitude: I am grateful that you took out time to attend today’s program. (Includegratitude for any other sacrifice they made.

Here is a quick recap (___) 

With respect to your questions on ___, here is an attachment with detailed answers. Feel free to ask further questions.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regard,

Business signature

Final Notes: Saying Thank You is a Vital Life Skill

As far as life goes, being able to say thank you properly is essential. Even if you are giving a paid lecture, presentation thank you notes give your audience a sense of importance for being a part of your work process. 

An asset every public speaker has after overcoming the fear of public speaking is their ability to express gratitude to their audience for the time they spent listening.

I hope you remember to say thank you, creatively!

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Last Slide in a PowerPoint Presentation

Last updated on November 2nd, 2023

The last slide in a PowerPoint presentation is not less important than other slides. Moreover, usually, the last slide in a PowerPoint PPT presentation is the slide that remains the most time visible and the one that has more changes to remain in the memories of your audience.

What is a Last Slide in a PowerPoint Presentation?

The last slide of a presentation is the slide that remains open when you end the presentation.

A last slide or final slide can help to close a sale, to open a debate or room for questions in a Q&A session, or to let the audience know how to contact you, in the case you end it with a contact us slide. When the presenter is ready for questions from the audience or a debate is generated at the end of a PowerPoint presentation. So, paying particular attention to the design of the last slide of a PowerPoint presentation is essential.

What are examples of final slides in a PowerPoint presentation?

Here is a short summary of possible last slide examples that you can include in a presentation:

• Contact slide. A slide with your contact information
• Summary slide
• Q&A slide
• Conclusions slide
• Next Steps slide
• Call to Action slide
• Thank you slide

These are examples of closing slides that you can use in your presentations.

How to design an effective last slide for your presentations

The conclusion of your presentation is crucial as it leaves a lasting impression on your audience. An effective last slide acts as a powerful tool to summarize your key points, provide contact information, and exhibit gratitude towards your audience. One popular and heartfelt option is the use of a Thank You slide.

A Thank You slide is not just a polite gesture; it’s a strategic move. It conveys your appreciation for the audience’s time and attention, helping to end your presentation on a positive note. This slide doesn’t need to be elaborate but should be clean, clear, and sincere. Here is an example of a modern Thank you Slide created as a PowerPoint template by SlideModel.

To design an effective last slide in a PowerPoint presentation , you can use different techniques, but it will depend on the target and goal of a PowerPoint presentation. For example, if you plan to have a Q&A round when you end a presentation, you can be proactive and display a Q&A slide design with top potential questions to respond to.

Alternatively, in the PowerPoint end slide you can display contact information using a QR code for users to scan with their smartphones or your Twitter or social network accounts.

Below you can find some good examples of contact page and questions and answer slide designs and PPT templates  that you can use in your PowerPoint presentations.

This is a straightforward contact page or last slide design with a simple figure that will make your presentation kinder. However, you can add more information to the slide, for example the QR Code and the Contact details.

Suppose you want to encourage questions at the end of a PowerPoint presentation. In that case, you can add a Questions title more prominent in the slide design, and why not a questions sign illustration or vectors like the one used with the zoom tool in the solar system PowerPoint presentation or free solar PowerPoint template ?

Another variant of this last questions slide design for PowerPoint can be the following slide design that you can find in the inflation PowerPoint template with animations . In this case you can find a PowerPoint illustration of a 3D figure digging or looking for more information. This is a great example on how to design a last slide PowerPoint template .

Aside of Questions and Answers slide designs you can also use a Thank you clipart or Thank you slide as the last slide or final slide of presentation. It is very common to see this kind of Thank you slides in PowerPoint as a gesture of thanks to the audience for the time spent watching the presentation.

Finally, you may use a different layout for your final slide of a presentation. PowerPoint has many different layouts that you can choose for each slide, so if you want to make a unique final slide design, you can switch to another non-traditional layout or custom layout instead.

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Last Slide of Your Presentation: How to Leave a Lasting Impression

Most of us have been in the position of having witnessed far too many presentations where the finale was dull or boring and where the audience, who had been attentive up to that point, started to lose interest or even went away. This can be extremely disheartening after hours of hard work on a presentation, and it might even leave you feeling embarrassed. It is therefore very important to always make sure that there is something special to the very end of your presentation to keep the attention focused and to provide a lasting impression. In this blog post, we are going to share some top tips on how to create the perfect last slide for your presentation that will captivate your audience and make a lasting impression. We will look at how to finish off your presentation on a high note, make a memorable closing statement and more, so read on to find out more.

What is the Last Slide of Presentation?

The last slide of a presentation is an incredibly powerful tool. It allows the presenter to summarize their key points, impress the audience with the central theme of their talk, and leave the audience wanting more. Unfortunately, this final slide can also be a missed opportunity if not crafted carefully. The most common type of last slide is a simple summary of the talk’s key points. This helps to reinforce the major themes and provide an easy reference for the audience members to recall what they heard during the presentation. However, this type of slide can be unengaging and potentially lead to confusion since only limited information is being provided. Additionally, if too much text or data is included on this slide, it can overwhelm viewers and distract from the rest of the message. Alternatively, some presenters use their final slide as an opportunity to draw attention to a single powerful image or quotation that encapsulates their message. This approach is often more effective since it captures viewers’ emotions and helps drive home the main point of the presentation even after they have left your session. While this type of slide may be more memorable and engaging than a traditional summary slide, it can also feel incomplete without additional context or explanation provided by the presenter. There are numerous ways to craft an effective last slide for a presentation; however, caution must be taken when developing and designing one’s final impression for viewers. Fortunately, by understanding both sides of this debate, presenters will be better prepared to create an effective last slide that gives their audience something to remember long after they have left the room. With that in mind, let’s move on to explore how to write an effective last slide that truly leaves a lasting impression on viewers.

Writing Your Last Slide

When it comes to writing your last slide, the approach you take can be the difference between an effective and unforgettable presentation or a forgettable one. Depending on your style and the message you want to convey, either using a few words or visuals to create the presentation’s impact can be successful strategies. The first method is to use minimalistic wording for your last slide. This option works best for powerful messages that don’t need any additional explanation. For example, if your presentation was about how important teamwork is in an organization, you could end with “Teamwork makes the dream work”. You may have already discussed this idea in your presentation, so ending it with this-one liner will painlessly summarize this message in the minds of your audience members. On the other hand, some presenters prefer to layer on extra visuals to add weight and memorability to their last slide. Including an eye-catching image that ties into the main theme of your presentation or has personal meaning can leave a lasting impression. If you are discussing employee turnover rates in companies, think about including a photo of people that joined forces and applied a collective effort for success. Even without words, this image may resonate better with certain people and make them think more deeply about your topic after the presentation is over. Finally, no matter what route you take when writing your last slide, make sure that it is consistent with your content and emphasizes the critical points of your presentation goal so that it leaves a lasting impression on those who viewed it. These two approaches are how many presenters choose to cap off their presentations and should not be taken lightly as they offer an opportunity to reinforce key ideas from throughout your speech and keep your message top-of-mind long after you finish speaking. By thoughtfully constructing what will be said and shown on your last slide, you will be able engage and motivate your audience while leaving a memorable impression behind as they walk away. Now that we have looked at how to write an effective final slide, let’s move onto reinforcing our main points so that our audience remembers our presentation long after it has ended.

Reinforce Your Main Points

Reiterating your key points at the end of your presentation will help to ensure your message resonates with the audience long after they leave. To do this, you need to review and discuss the main points you have laid out earlier in the presentation. This is also a great time to explain why these points are important and how they contribute to the overall objective. One way to reinforce your main points is to revisit key highlights throughout the presentation and reiterate why they should be remembered. Tying back in visuals associated with these critical points is also a great way for your audience to engage with each point one last time. Additionally, using graphics or other visual aids that reinforce your message can help stick that last impression in the minds of those watching. Your slides should be concise enough so as not to overwhelm your audience, yet still give the essence of each point you want them to remember. On the other hand, some people argue that too much summarizing during a presentation can lead to boredom and cause those listening to lose focus. Therefore it is important to ensure that you are reiterating the information in a new way or showing something new so as not to lose their attention. Additionally, it is important not to repeat yourself too much, as no one likes hearing things more than once and it helps to keep the recap brief with just enough detail that your audience can visibly see how all of the pieces fit together. By taking time to properly reinforce your main points before leaving the stage, you are helping to ensure that your presentation ends on an impactful note and leaves a lasting impression with those listening. As we move forward into our next section about including visuals for maximum effectiveness, keep in mind how powerful visuals can be when it comes creating energy and emotion within a presentation.

Include Visuals

Using visuals in your last slide is a great way to make a lasting impression on your audience. Visuals can help provide clarity to the material, help break up the text, and keep the audience engaged. Consider including visual elements such as images, icons, illustrations, charts, videos, and graphs to make your presentation memorable. Including too many visuals may detract from the impact of your message, so you should carefully select only those which are necessary. Images should be relevant to your topic and used appropriately. Graphs should be used to provide clear analysis of key data points, while videos can help edify the main takeaways of your presentation. It’s also important to keep all visuals cohesive by using colors, text size and types that flow together. Whether it’s an infographic or a video summary of your presentation, visuals should be simple and easily understandable for viewers to quickly decipher and remember what you discussed. Wrapping up your presentation with information-rich and visually stimulating materials will ensure that you have made a lasting impression on your audience. Be sure that all slide elements are professional, organized in an easy-to-follow manner and properly integrate them with any verbal commentary you plan use during the conclusion of the presentation .

Key Points to Know

The use of visuals in the last slide of a presentation is highly recommended as they can help to provide clarity, break up text and keep audiences engaged . When selecting visuals, choose those that are relevant and appropriate for the topic and be sure not to overuse them. Graphs should be used to analyse data points; videos should highlight takeaways; and all visual elements should be coordinated and professional. Finally, including information-rich visuals in the conclusion of a presentation will ensure that it has made a lasting impression on the audience.

Wrapping Up Your Presentation

Wrapping up your presentation is a vital step for leaving your audience with a lasting impression. If you want to create an effective last slide, it’s important to end on a strong note, emphasize the main points from throughout the presentation and provide an opportunity for questions. First, determine whether you should use a specific slide or not. When wrapping up a presentation, some prefer to summarize their points without showing an additional slide. Others think having one last slide as part of the conclusion can make a stronger impact on the audience. There’s no right answer – it largely depends on the type of information you need to convey. After deciding if you should present a final slide or not, come up with the content of your closing remarks. Summarize the key messages discussed during your talk and leave the audience with something memorable—like a quote or thought-provoking statement. This provides reinforcement of what you presented and encourages people to reflect on what they learned from your topic thereafter. It’s also important that during this pause , any questions that remained unanswered get clarified. Finally, be sure to thank your audience for attending and inviting you to present. Appreciating the time allotted for your session reinforces the value of both their presence and participation. At this point, if done correctly, you should have created a strong impression in your audience’s mind via an effective last slide or remarks and set the stage for creating a memorable impression afterwards. Now that you know how to wrap up your presentation effectively and leave your audience with something positive in mind, let’s pause here before continuing on to discuss how you can use visuals and content to really create an impactful memorable impression after they walk away from your session.

Create a Memorable Impression

Creating a memorable impression on your audience can be the most important part of a presentation. It’s your opportunity to leave them with something that they will remember and take away from the discussion. With the right approach, you can keep your audience engaged and interested until the very end of the presentation – even long after it’s finished if done correctly. When considering how to create a lasting impression, design and content are both important. Start by thinking about what visuals or images will make the most impact on your audience. Using tools such as graphs or pictures to support your message helps to cement the points you’ve been making throughout the presentation. Additionally, including a short quote or opinion from a well-known figure in the field can help to further convey your message in an interesting and powerful way. However there is also an argument for keeping things simple. For example, rather than overwhelming your audience with a strong image or abstract concept at the end of your presentation, you may find more success in leaving them with something easy to remember such as a performance summary statement – this could be a review of key points that were discussed combined with a few words emphasising why they should care about what they heard. This often works well in leaving a lasting impression while still avoiding overloading viewers with too much complex information at once. Ultimately, creating an effective last slide for your presentation should involve careful consideration of the design and content you use to best summarise the major points you have discussed for maximum impact on your audience. Next, we will discuss why it is important to keep this final slide brief and succinct.

Keep it Brief

When it comes to presenting a lasting impression on your audience with the final slide, brevity is key. An overly long presentation can be distracting and might dampen the desired impact you wish to create. Depending on the length of your presentation, there is usually no need for a lengthy explanation in order to bring the whole event to a strong conclusion. Instead, a concise summary will help summarize all the essential points without dragging out the presentation and overstaying its welcome. By choosing relevant visuals and brief statements which leave a vivid image in the minds of your viewers, you can both amplify any powerful emotions as well as condense an already longer message . The importance of being succinct must be balanced against the limited time available. Even if it means sacrificing some level of detail and allowing some perspective or information to remain unexplained or unsolved, retaining focus on key words or phrases will ensure that your points are not lost in lengthy details. Furthermore, there may be times when detailed conclusions are appropriate due to the nature and duration of your presentation; during such circumstances brevity should be reserved only for questions asked by audience members so that one person’s comment does not expend too much time or block any potential feedback from others in attendance. At the end of it all, it’s important to remember that shorter may be better — but not necessarily always preferable — when crafting an effective last slide for maximum retention. Ultimately, striking a balance between providing enough detail for comprehension and maintaining focus on clear phrases is ideal for creating an impactful conclusion. With this in mind, following directly onto our next topic we explore powerful endings and potential questions that can be posed during closing slides.

Thank You Slide in PPT 

Thank You slides are a popular concluding element to many PowerPoint presentations. They offer the presenter the opportunity to formally thank their audience for their attention, or use the slide as a way to reiterate one’s key points before they end the presentation. Depending on one’s objectives and audience size, Thank You slides can be effective tools or redundant and unnecessary, so it is important to consider both sides of the argument before including them in your presentation. Thanks You slides can help show that the presenter values the time and energy of their audience. A well-crafted Thanks You slide conveys appreciation for both short and long-presentations alike, and reinforces the professionalism of the presentation as a whole. Furthermore, it gives the presenter another chance to drive home any CTA’s (Call To Action) before ending their speech. Including a Thank You slide may appear redundant for short presentations if not done properly. Additionally, for larger crowds, presenting a slide with simple words of gratitude may come off as insincere or lack creativity. In general, if it appears forced or overly-generalized, it may detract from its effectiveness instead of leave a lasting impact on an audience. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference and understanding one’s audience when deciding whether or not to include a Thank You slide in PPT presentations. No matter what conclusion is reached, it pays to consider all aspects of using this common tool in order to maximize its effectivity in order deliver a powerful message in every presentation .

Answers to Common Questions

Are there any specific design guidelines to follow when creating a last slide.

When creating a last slide for your presentation, there are some specific design guidelines to follow. Firstly, it should make an impact with the visuals – use bright, vibrant colors and high-quality imagery or iconography. Secondly, ensure that your call to action is clear and succinct – the audience should understand exactly what you want them to do afterward. Thirdly, make sure all necessary text is present and visible – stick to basic typography and avoid overly long sentences or paragraphs. Finally, keep your design simple – too much going on can distract from the message of the presentation. Following these guidelines will help you create an effective last slide that leaves an impressive lasting impression.

What different elements can I include in the last slide my presentation?

When creating the last slide of your presentation, it is important to include a few key elements to ensure that you make a lasting impression. The first element you should include is an attention-grabbing visual. This could be an image, a graph or chart, or a quote that relates to the content of your presentation. In addition, you should also include a succinct and memorable summary of the main points from your presentation. Make sure this summary effectively conveys the main takeaway with just a few sentences or short phrase. Finally, include a call to action for your audience – something thoughtful and meaningful for them to do after hearing your presentation. It could be a request for feedback or questions, or perhaps offering resources for further study on the topic. By carefully selecting these three elements, you will be able to craft an effective last slide of your presentation that leaves a lasting impression on your audience.

What tips can I use to create an engaging and impactful last slide?

To create an engaging and impactful last slide, there are a few key tips to take into consideration. First and foremost, try to end with a memorable message – something that will linger with your audience long after you’ve finished speaking. For example, you could include a call-to-action or a strong statement about the values and mission of your organization. This can help solidify the core message of your presentation and draw attention to how attendees should apply the information to their own lives and work. Another tip for creating an effective last slide is to use visual elements such as charts, diagrams, graphs, photos, videos or other multimedia tools. These elements add visual interest and help emphasize key points while still being easy to grasp in a short time. Use colors strategically as well; stick with hues in the same color family but mix in bold shades here and there for emphasis. Finally, make sure your closing slide is concise, organized, and free of any unnecessary text or images. Eliminate filler words like “In conclusion…” or “I hope this has been helpful…” so that nothing distracts from your main message. Leaving just enough room for appreciation gives the right impression that you’ve accomplished what you set out to do. By following these strategies and practicing them before taking your presentation live, you should be able to create an engaging and impactful last slide.

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PowerPoint Tips  - Simple Rules for Better PowerPoint Presentations

Powerpoint tips  -, simple rules for better powerpoint presentations, powerpoint tips simple rules for better powerpoint presentations.

PowerPoint Tips: Simple Rules for Better PowerPoint Presentations

Lesson 17: simple rules for better powerpoint presentations.

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Simple rules for better PowerPoint presentations

Have you ever given a PowerPoint presentation and noticed that something about it just seemed a little … off? If you’re unfamiliar with basic PowerPoint design principles, it can be difficult to create a slide show that presents your information in the best light.

Poorly designed presentations can leave an audience feeling confused, bored, and even irritated. Review these tips to make your next presentation more engaging.

Don't read your presentation straight from the slides

If your audience can both read and hear, it’s a waste of time for you to simply read your slides aloud. Your audience will zone out and stop listening to what you’re saying, which means they won’t hear any extra information you include.

Instead of typing out your entire presentation, include only main ideas, keywords, and talking points in your slide show text. Engage your audience by sharing the details out loud.

Follow the 5/5/5 rule

To keep your audience from feeling overwhelmed, you should keep the text on each slide short and to the point. Some experts suggest using the 5/5/5 rule : no more than five words per line of text, five lines of text per slide, or five text-heavy slides in a row.

Don't forget your audience

Who will be watching your presentation? The same goofy effects and funny clip art that would entertain a classroom full of middle-school students might make you look unprofessional in front of business colleagues and clients.

Humor can lighten up a presentation, but if you use it inappropriately your audience might think you don’t know what you’re doing. Know your audience, and tailor your presentation to their tastes and expectations.

Choose readable colors and fonts

Your text should be easy to read and pleasant to look at. Large, simple fonts and theme colors are always your best bet. The best fonts and colors can vary depending on your presentation setting. Presenting in a large room? Make your text larger than usual so people in the back can read it. Presenting with the lights on? Dark text on a light background is your best bet for visibility.

Don't overload your presentation with animations

As anyone who’s sat through a presentation while every letter of every paragraph zoomed across the screen can tell you, being inundated with complicated animations and exciting slide transitions can become irritating.

Before including effects like this in your presentation, ask yourself: Would this moment in the presentation be equally strong without an added effect? Does it unnecessarily delay information? If the answer to either question is yes—or even maybe—leave out the effect.

Use animations sparingly to enhance your presentation

Don’t take the last tip to mean you should avoid animations and other effects entirely. When used sparingly, subtle effects and animations can add to your presentation. For example, having bullet points appear as you address them rather than before can help keep your audience’s attention.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you create a presentation—your audience will thank you. For more detailed information on creating a PowerPoint presentation, visit our Office tutorials .

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Blog > 10 creative Ideas for your Title- and End-Slides in Presentations

10 creative Ideas for your Title- and End-Slides in Presentations

11.13.19   •  #powerpointtips #presentation.

Of all the slides in a PowerPoint presentation, the ones that are without a doubt the most important ones are the first and the last one. It makes perfect sense – the title slide sets the general tone. Make it boring and you’ll loose your audience’s attention within the first few minutes. If you’re making it exciting and innovative on the other hand, you’re taking a big step towards giving an amazing presentation and having an engaged audience. It is very similar with the final slide. It will be the one that people are going to remember most, the one that is supposed to make people leave the room thinking ‘Wow! What a great presentation!’ A bad ending could even mess up what would otherwise be a good performance overall (just think of a good TV show with a bad ending…).

The most common mistakes for title and final slides

If you asked 100 people what belongs on your PowerPoint’s title slide, the majority would answer ‘The title, maybe a subtitle, the presenter’s name and company, the date’. That kind of title slide is alright, but you usually say all of these things in the beginning of a presentation anyway. Also, it is very likely that most of your attendees know these things – they usually signed up for it after all. So what’s the point in listing all of that information on your title slide, when you could also use it for making a stunning first impression? Not only the title slide is commonly designed in an uncreative and conventional way. Too often, you can see PowerPoint presentations ending with the ‘Any Questions?’ or even worse – the ‘Thank you for your attention’ slide. ‘Thank you for your attention’ is a set phrase that has been said so many times it can’t possibly be delivered in an authentic way anymore. Therefore, it’s better to think of something else for your grand final. Finding an unconventional ending that suits your presentation style makes you seem much more charismatic and authentic than using an empty phrase.

1. An inspiring quote

An inspiring quote on your slide is a perfect way to both start and finish your presentation. Well, it does not have to be inspiring. It could be any quote that is somehow connected to your presented topic. Just have fun looking through books and the internet to find interesting quotes that you want your audience to hear. Good pages to look at for inspiration are goodreads and brainyquotes.com .

2. A blank slide

This might seem strange to some people, but a blank slide can be really powerful if you want to have your audience’s full attention. You can use the advantage of blank slides by incorporating them at the beginning, in the end or even in between your regular slides. You can either use a blank slide of your regular template (so there will still be some design elements on it) or go all in and make the slide completely black (or white).

3. A call to action

If the goal of your presentation is to really make your audience act in some kind of way, there is no better way to start – or better yet end your presentation than with a call to action. This can be literally anything from little trivial things like “Drink enough water during the presentation so your brain stays intact!” – which will lighten up the mood – to more serious calls like “Help reducing waste by recycling whenever possible!”.

4. A question

Usually, it is the audience that asks questions after a presentation. However, you can also turn that around and ask your attendees instead. However, it’s important to ask a question that can be answered easily and individually – the best questions involve previous experiences and personal opinions (asking about facts or questions that are hard to understand can often lead to silence and no one wanting to answer).

5. An interactive poll

Nothing engages the audience like a live poll. Conduct one right at the beginning to get everybody envolved, and/or wait until the end to get your audience’s opinion on something. Icebreaker polls are the perfect way to start, as they lighten the mood. You can easily create polls for free with interactive software tools such as SlideLizard .

6. A funny picture, meme, or quote

I’m pretty sure that every student nowadays has that teacher that just tries a little too hard to be cool by throwing in a meme on literally every single slide. That may be a bit too much. But just a little comedy at the beginning or in the end can make you seem very charismatic and entertaining and catch the attention of your listeners. Open (or close) with a joke, a funny picture or a quote – whichever you feel comfortable with. It is usually best if it has something to do with the topic you’re presenting.

7. An interesting fact

Catch the audience’s attention by putting an interesting fact concerning the topic on one of your slides – ideally at the beginning, but maybe also in the end (to keep up the audience’s interest even after the presentation is done).

8. The title, but with a twist

If you feel like you need to put the presentations name/topic on the front slide, but still want that little creative twist, just change the title slightly. According to what I’m proposing, rather dull presentation titles like e.g. “Marine Biology – An Introduction to Organisms in the sea” can be transformed to “Marine Biology – Diving Deep” (or something less cheesy if you prefer). Make it either funny or over-the-top spectacular and catch the audience’s attention!

9. A bold statement, opinion, or piece of information

This is probably the best way to capture your audience from the beginning on. Start with a radical, crazy opinion or statement and then get your attendees hooked by telling them that during the presentation, they will learn why you’re right. It could be anything, really, as long as it goes well with your presented topic – from the statement “Everybody has the time to read 5 books a month” to “Going to college is a waste of time” or “The human species is not the most intelligent on earth” – Take whatever crazy, unpopular theory or opinion you have, throw it out there and (very important!) explain why you’re right. You’ll have your audience’s attention for sure and might even change some of their opinions about certain things.

10. No title and end slide at all

Yes, that’s a possibility as well. If you absolutely can’t think of any creative or otherwise good way to start and end your presentation – even after reading the tips mentioned above – then simply don’t. That’s right - no title and end slide at all. You can pull that of by simply introducing yourself in the beginning, then getting right into the topic (which makes a good impression, long introductions are usually rather tedious) and when you’re at your last slide just saying a simple ‘Goodbye, thank you and feel free to ask questions’.

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About the author.

Pia Lehner-Mittermaier

Pia works in Marketing as a graphic designer and writer at SlideLizard. She uses her vivid imagination and creativity to produce good content.

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Learning management system (lms).

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are online platforms that provide learning resources and support the organisation of learning processes.

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Audience Response Systems (ARS) are technical solutions that are used in presentations in order to increase the interaction between the presenter and the audience. There are various forms of ARS that offer different features.

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Top Contributors in PowerPoint: John Korchok  -  Steve Rindsberg  -  Bob Jones AKA: CyberTaz  -  Jim_ Gordon  👏

November 13, 2023

Top Contributors in PowerPoint:

John Korchok  -  Steve Rindsberg  -  Bob Jones AKA: CyberTaz  -  Jim_ Gordon  👏

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Ask a new question

how do i make my last slide in powerpoint to stop the slide show when finished playing the slide or to show that until the esc button is pushed?

I have a really long song playing during the presentation (it's for a women's conference at church) and when the last slide has finished viewing to the timing I set, the whole presentation starts over. The song is finished of course which doesn't make a difference. I have the slides timed perfectly. I just need the presentation to not start from the beginning all over again.

I appreciate any help I can get. I truly truly truly thank anyone who can help me with this issue.

Time is getting pretty tight for me to have this completed and this is all I need to fix in order to have my presentation completed.

Side Note: I have a computer science degree so I know my way around computers and stuff. I have just never worked with PowerPoint in all of my 50 years on this earth, and I am STRUGG-GLING!!!!! ;-)

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In the Slide Show Setup dialog box, choose Presented by a speaker (full screen) and make sure Loop continuously until Esc is NOT checkmarked.

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What is the best last slide for a presentation

What should be the last slide of your presentation depends on your motivation for making the presentation. A good last slide of any ppt will give the reader the next step they can take to act on what they have learned.

This can be to read further material, try a product, connect on social media, or sign up for an event. You should avoid using a simple thank you slide that expresses your sentiment rather than capitulating on that of the readers’.

What to say on the last page of a presentation?

Your PowerPoint last slide should express a clear call to action (CTA). This is a statement that answers the question “what’s in it for the readers?” and explains exactly what they should do to reap the benefits.

A good CTA should be easy to understand and easy to act on. The time span from action to getting the benefit should be as short as possible (preferably immediate), and this should be clear from the way you word your CTA.

How to make your last presentation slide funny?

Making your last slide of the presentation funny is no easy task. First, you have to know your audience intimately and know what they would consider funny and what they would consider offensive. Then you would have to make sure you are making a joke that your entire audience will understand. The best and safest funny endings are a wink at your own short comings.

What is the last slide of the presentation?

The last and final slide of a presentation is commonly used for saying thank you to express gratitude for the reader or listener (having given their precious time). But this is a common mistake. The last slide of your presentation serves you and your audience best as a launching pad for action . The final slide should explicitly tell your audience how they can make use of what they’ve learned. This, of course, depends on the goal and content of your presentation.

Types of final slides of presentation

• Thank you slide (don't just say thank you)
• Quotes slide (finish with an inspiring quote)
• Contact slide (email, website, social media)
• Next step slide (lead the reader to the next step down the buyer journey)
• Calendar slide (for scheduling a meeting)
• Call to action slide (an immediate action the reader can take to build a relationship with you or your business)
• Further reading slide (Good for white papers and case studies )
• Signup slide (good for any sales presentation and product one-pagers )
• Sign document slide (good for proposals and RFPs)
• Subscribe slide (newsletter, e-magazine, or e-learning)
• Donate slide (good for NGOs and political campaigns)
• Pricing slide (good for proposals, RFPs, SaaS decks , and big-ticket items)
• Benefits slide (reiterate the main benefits of what the presentation described)
• FAQ slide (the equivalent of a Q&A in a speech presentation for text presentatio ns)

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A step-by-step guide to captivating PowerPoint presentation design

november 20, 2023

by Corporate PowerPoint Girl

Do you often find yourself stuck with a lackluster PowerPoint presentation, desperately seeking ways to make it more engaging and visually appealing? If your boss has ever told you to "please fix" a presentation and you didn't know where to start, you're not alone. In this article, we'll walk you through a straightforward method to transform your PowerPoint slides into a visually captivating masterpiece. 

Let's dive right in! 

Clean up your slides 

The first step in this journey to presentation excellence is all about decluttering your slides and elevating their impact. Say goodbye to those uninspiring bullet points that often dominate presentations. Instead, focus on what truly matters – the key call-out numbers. By increasing the font size of these numbers, you ensure they take center stage, immediately drawing your audience's attention. 

To make those numbers pop, consider breaking the text after the numbers into the next line and adding a touch of color. The contrast created by pairing a dark color with a lighter shade, like dark teal and light teal or burnt orange with peach, can work wonders. This simple adjustment makes your data more engaging , enhancing the overall impact of your presentation. 

Add dimension with boxes 

Now, let's introduce an element of depth and organization to your slides. By adding boxes, you'll create a visually pleasing structure that guides your audience through the content. In the "Insert" menu, select "Table" and opt for a one-by-one table. Change the table color to a light gray shade, elongate it, and position it neatly to the left of your text. 

To improve readability and aesthetics, increase the spacing between text phrases. A small adjustment in the before spacing setting (setting it to 48) significantly enhances the visual appeal of your slides. 

Insert circles 

To further enhance the visual appeal and engagement of your slides, let's introduce circles. In the Insert menu, navigate to Shapes and choose the circle. Adjust the circle's height and width to 1.2, ensuring it complements your content seamlessly. Match the circle's shape fill color with the corresponding text color for a harmonious look. 

Avoid using colored outlines for the circles, as they may distract from the overall aesthetic. This simple addition of circles adds an element of visual interest to your presentation, making it more captivating. 

Choose icons 

Now, it's time for a touch of creativity. Selecting icons to complement your text can elevate the clarity and appeal of your slides. In the "Insert" menu, you can search for relevant keywords to find the perfect icon from PowerPoint's extensive library . 

For instance, if your text discusses investment portfolio yield, search for "growth" and choose an upward arrow growth icon. These icons add an extra layer of visual appeal and clarity to your content, making it more engaging and informative. 

Final touches 

To wrap up the transformation process, we come to the final touches that give your presentation a polished, professional finish. Align your icons with their corresponding circles and change the shape fill color to white. This simple adjustment creates a crisp, cohesive look that ties everything together seamlessly. 

In conclusion, by following these steps, you've embarked on a journey to enhance your PowerPoint presentation . These initial steps are just the beginning of your exploration into the world of design elements and styles that can cater to your specific presentation needs. The key to a stunning PowerPoint presentation lies in the details. By following these steps, you can turn a lackluster set of slides into a visually engaging and dynamic presentation that will captivate your audience. So, the next time your boss says, "Please fix," you'll know exactly where to start. Happy presenting! 

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Create a new presentation with Copilot for Microsoft 365 in PowerPoint

Create a presentation from a file with copilot.

With Copilot for Microsoft 365 in PowerPoint, you can create a presentation from an existing Word document. Provide Copilot in PowerPoint with the link to your Word document, and it will generate slides, apply layouts, and choose a theme for you.

Create a new presentation in PowerPoint.

Select Send . Copilot will draft a presentation for you!

Edit the presentation to suit your needs, ask Copilot to add a slide , organize your presentation, or add images.

Best practices when creating a presentation from a Word document 

Leverage word styles to help copilot understand the structure of your document .

By using Styles in Word to organize your document, Copilot will better understand your document structure and how to break it up into slides of a presentation. Structure your content under Titles and Headers when appropriate and Copilot will do its best to generate a presentation for you. 

Include images that are relevant to your presentation 

When creating a presentation, Copilot will try to incorporate the images in your Word document. If you have images that you would like to be brought over to your presentation, be sure to include them in your Word document. 

Start with your organization’s template 

If your organization uses a standard template, start with this file before creating a presentation with Copilot. Starting with a template will let Copilot know that you would like to retain the presentation’s theme and design. Copilot will use existing layouts to build a presentation for you. Learn more about  Making your presentations look great with Copilot in PowerPoint . 

Create a new presentation with Copilot

Edit the presentation to suit your needs, ask Copilot to add a slide , or start over with a new presentation and refine your prompt to include more specifics. For example, "Create a presentation about hybrid meeting best practices that includes examples for team building.”

Create a presentation with a template

Copilot can use your existing themes and templates to create a presentation. Learn more about making your presentations look great with Copilot in PowerPoint .

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Don’t Present Without These 16 PowerPoint Dos and Don’ts

Table of Contents

Have you ever struggled to hold your audience’s interest during a presentation? Painstakingly created slide after slide only to be met with bored, disengaged faces? 

Even the most confident speakers can falter when it comes to crafting compelling PowerPoint decks. Without proper slide design best practices, it’s easy to lose your audience in a sea of dense text, chaotic graphics, and disorganized content.

You don’t have to suffer through presenting lackluster slides anymore. In fact, following simple PowerPoint best practices can totally transform your deck from meh to marvelous.

In this post, we’ll share 16 PowerPoint dos and don’ts to level up your presentations and captivate audiences. These tips will help you create professional, visually striking slides your viewers will remember.

16 Dos And Don’ts Of Powerpoint Presentations

Here are some important 16 presentation dos and don’ts you need to keep in mind while creating slides and presenting them.

PowerPoint Dos

Let’s start with the best practices and strategies to implement when designing PowerPoint presentations. What techniques should you use to create memorable, polished slides?

1. Keep It Simple With Minimalist Design

Let’s start with a common mistake – overcrowded, distracting slide design. We get the temptation to tart up slides with fancy backgrounds. But resist the urge! Fancy templates with complex colored patterns or photos unrelated to your content just make it harder to digest key information.

Instead, embrace the power of simplicity. Stick to minimalist templates and avoid template themes with extra decorations. Use neutral backgrounds and empty negative space to let your content shine. Remember, your audience came for your message, not for clip art kittens. Keep slides clean and attention stays where it should be.

2. Cut the Clutter – Follow the 6×6 Rule

Now for another slide buzzkill – mammoth blocks of dense text. You may be tempted to pack slides with long sentences and paragraphs. Don’t give in! Text-heavy slides are guaranteed to lose audiences fast.

For easy-to-digest nuggets, follow the handy 6×6 rule. Limit slides to just 6 lines of text maximum, with each line containing 6 words max. Anything more turns into an overwhelming wall of words.

Stick to concise phrases, short sentences, and bulleted lists. Use just keywords and supporting stats – leave nonessential info out. With this less is more approach, key points will stick better.

SlidesAI is a text-to-presentation add-on tool that converts walls of text into beautiful slides. It does this automatically generate condensed phrases and bullet points from your text ensuring clutter-free slides throughout your presentation.

3. Boost Engagement With Quality Visuals

Speaking of key points sticking better…you know what helps even more? Quality graphics and visuals!

Research shows we process images 60,000 times faster than text. So reinforce your points with strong visuals. Use high-resolution photos, charts, illustrations, and infographics. But avoid clipart or random stock photos – ensure every graphic clearly supports your narrative.

Well-designed visuals make presentations more memorable and engaging. Just remember to optimize graphics for high-resolution viewing and include alt-text (alternative text) descriptions for accessibility. Then watch those visual aids boost information retention and audience interest.

SlidesAI has a library of 1.5M high-quality premium stock images that you can select and include in your slides.

4. Create Brand Consistency With Formatting

Imagine a presentation where every slide had a totally different layout, colors, and font… no visual consistency at all. It would look sloppy and amateurish, right?

Formatting matters – big time! Brand your presentation by using consistent design elements throughout all your slides.

Pick one professional font combination and stick to it. Limit your color palette to 2-3 colors max. Maintain alignment and space elements consistently.

With unified branding, your deck will feel polished, intentional, and visually pleasing. Bonus – consistent branding also boosts memorability as the audience becomes familiar with your “look”.

SlidesAI ensures complete branding consistency across all presentation slides by applying your color schemes, fonts, etc to designs through artificial intelligence.

5. Check Accessibility Settings

Speaking of memorability, if some audience members can’t actually view your slides, they certainly won’t remember your message.

Ensure your presentation is inclusive and accessible to all by checking key settings. Use color contrast and legible fonts so those with visual impairments can still grasp the content. Optimize images with alt text descriptions. Verify videos are captioned.

It may take a bit more effort up front but making your presentation accessible opens your message to a wider audience. It also demonstrates corporate responsibility.

6. Create Custom Icons and Illustrations

Most PowerPoint templates come with generic icons. However, you can amplify brand personality and memorability by creating custom icons and simple illustrations.

Don’t just use a generic checkmark when you can insert your own branded indicator relevant to your company. Design illustrated characters to represent concepts. Even use emojis strategically to inject fun and improve recall.

Handcrafted visuals, even if basic in style, make presentations stand out and drive home key points better than generic clip art ever could.

7. Use Subtle Animations – But Not Too Many!

Animations, when used well, can help guide the audience’s eye and transition between ideas smoothly. Emphasize key points and important transitions with subtle animations.

Entrance and exit effects can focus attention while builds and motion path animations can demonstrate processes dynamically. Use sparingly and subtly for the best impact.

But avoid going animation crazy with sounds and excessive movement. That becomes more distracting than engaging. Limit animations so they enhance content rather than detract.

8. Pace Your Delivery

Creating stellar slides is an excellent start but don’t stop there. The live delivery is just as crucial. Invest time practicing your presentation with your slides.

Rehearse the flow and pace of your narrative. Refine and memorize transitions between slides. Nail your timing to keep the audience engaged. Get so comfortable delivering your content that the slides become natural visual aids.

With great slides and honed delivery skills, your audience will hang on to your every word from the introduction to a powerful conclusion.

PowerPoint Donts

Just as important as the dos are the don’ts. What pitfalls should you avoid when designing PowerPoint presentations?

9. Don’t Use Distracting Backgrounds

Remember our tip to embrace minimalism? Well, the opposite is using distracting backgrounds. Avoid loud colors, complex patterns, or images totally unrelated to your content. At best, they are distracting. At worst, they make key info harder to comprehend.

Stick to simple, neutral backgrounds. If using an image, ensure it directly reinforces your narrative. Anything extra risks your message getting visually lost. Keep backgrounds clean so content remains the focal point.

SlidesAI avoids using distracting backgrounds like crowded templates or unrelated images in the presentations. It focuses on simple, clean backgrounds to keep attention on your key content.

10. Don’t Overwhelm With Walls of Text

We covered the 6×6 text limit rule earlier. But even with 6 lines and 6 words, slides can become text walls without good visual breakdown. Big blocks of text are tiring to read and make retainment tough.

Instead, thoughtfully chunk text into concise sections. Use headers, subheaders, and bullet points to organize key bits. Align text left for easier scanning. Supplement with supporting imagery. Breaking up text improves comprehension drastically.

11. Don’t Rely On Boring Bullets

Speaking of bulleted lists, bullet overkill is another issue that turns slides into snore fests. Slides crammed with back-to-back bullet points lose audiences fast. The endless text blurs together with minimal memorability.

For memorable content, limit bullets to key takeaways only. Then reinforce each point visually – a photo, icon, chart, etc. Quality visuals boost memorability way more than a slide stuffed with 11 bullet points ever could.

12. Don’t Use Inconsistent Formatting

Remember, formatting matters! Shifting layouts, fonts, and color schemes appear disjointed and sloppy. The mismatched design screams amateur hour.

Establish a visual style and stick to it slide to slide. Use the same fonts, limit your color palette, and space elements consistently. Most importantly – maintain alignment across all slides. With unified branding, your presentation will look polished and professional.

SlidesAI ensures your presentation formatting stays consistent slide to slide by applying your preferred color palette, fonts, etc through its intelligent algorithms.

13. Don’t Include Unnecessary Animations

Animations can be great for guiding the viewer’s eye and demonstrating motion. But avoid going overboard. Excessive animations, sounds, and movement become more distracting than engaging.

Use animations subtly and intentionally. Emphasize only key points and important transitions with simple builds or entrance effects. Anything superfluous, whether flying text or whooshing sounds, pulls attention away rather than enhancing content.

Keep it simple and purposeful. Let smooth, minimal animations work behind the scenes rather than take center stage away from your narrative.

14. Don’t Use Unsupported Graphics

Only include images, photos, charts, etc that directly support the ideas and messaging in your presentation. Don’t insert fluffy visuals that have no clear tie to your content.

Every visual aid you present should clearly reinforce your narrative rather than derail tangents. Unsupported graphics quickly become distractions. They also undermine your credibility if audiences can’t grasp the connection.

Keep it focused. Be intentional about every visual you include. Remove anything superfluous that doesn’t serve a purpose.

15. Don’t Plagiarize Content

While it’s fine to find inspiration from other presentations, copying chunks of text or visuals without proper attribution is unethical. Never pass off someone else’s hard work as your own.

Always credit sources directly within your presentation if incorporating external ideas, quotes, charts, images, etc. Also, avoid violating copyright laws by inserting visuals without licensing them appropriately first.

Your presentation should showcase your unique ideas, voice, and message. Ensure you create original content or properly cite anything derived from others. Your integrity depends on it.

16. Don’t Wing Your Speech

With great slides completed, don’t just wing it on presentation day. The live delivery is just as crucial. Invest time to refine your pacing, transitions, slide timing, and flow.

Practice your speech thoroughly with the deck so your narrative and movements feel natural. Nail down transition phrases between slides. Get 100% comfortable presenting your content.

With stellar slides and a well-rehearsed delivery, your presentation is sure to wow audiences from start to finish.

There you have it – 16 PowerPoint dos and don’ts for creating memorable, professional PowerPoint presentations. Apply the dos to make high-impact slides, and avoid the don’ts for mistake-free presentations.

Put these PowerPoint best practices into play and watch your ordinary slides transform into extraordinary visual stories. Your audiences will be engaged from start to finish.

But even with these tips, crafting stunning presentations can be time-intensive. Instead, let SlidesAI do the work for you using the power of AI.

SlidesAI integrates with Google Slides and PowerPoint (coming soon) to instantly generate professional presentation decks from your content. Simply input your text – SlidesAI will turn them into visually cohesive slides designed for audience engagement.

SlidesAI saves tons of time by handling slide layouts, formats, graphic design, and branding tailored to you. The AI delivers presentation-ready slides in seconds.

Take your Presentation skills from amateur to pro – try SlidesAI for free today!

What are the dos and don’ts of PowerPoint presentations?

Key PowerPoint dos include simple designs, concise text, quality visuals, consistency, accessibility, custom icons, subtle animations, and practice. Don’ts involve distracting backgrounds, walls of text, boring bullets, inconsistent formatting, excessive animations, irrelevant graphics, plagiarism, and winging it.

What is the 5 by 5 rule in PowerPoint?

The 5 by 5 rule recommends having no more than 5 lines of text per slide and 5 words per line. This keeps each slide focused and text easy to digest. Too much text overwhelms audiences.

What is the 7 rule on a PowerPoint presentation?

The 7 rule states that your slides should have no more than 7 bullet points. Like the 5 by 5 rule, this maintains simplicity for the audience. More than 7 bulleted items become hard to retain.

What are the 5 rules of PowerPoint?

5 key rules are: don’t cram slides with too much text, minimize slides for emphasis, utilize quality visuals, stick to a consistent format, and limit animations. Following these makes presentations professional, clean, and engaging.

Frequently Asked Questions

Key PowerPoint dos include simple designs, concise text, quality visuals, consistency, accessibility, custom icons, subtle animations, and practice. Don'ts involve distracting backgrounds, walls of text, boring bullets, inconsistent formatting, excessive animations, irrelevant graphics, plagiarism, and winging it.

5 key rules are: don't cram slides with too much text, minimize slides for emphasis, utilize quality visuals, stick to a consistent format, and limit animations. Following these makes presentations professional, clean, and engaging.

Save Time and Effortlessly Create Presentations with SlidesAI

How to Create Action Buttons in Microsoft PowerPoint

Posted: November 23, 2023 | Last updated: November 23, 2023

Action buttons, as the name suggests, are buttons that trigger an action in Microsoft PowerPoint. Adding action buttons can make your presentations more interactive.

You can add a button to move up a slide or play a video. This guide explains how to create, design, and add effects to action buttons in PowerPoint.

How to Add Action Buttons in Microsoft PowerPoint

Go to your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and open the slide on which you want to create an action button. Here are three simple steps to add an action button to your slide:

1. Insert the Shape

Click on the slide where you want to insert the button. Go to the Insert tab, click Shapes , and then under Action Buttons at the bottom of the menu, click the button shape that you want to add.

Once you've selected a shape, click and drag your cursor across the slide to draw. Keep dragging around until you see the desired dimensions, and then release the click. Of course, you can always resize or reposition the shape if needed, even after you've drawn it.

Microsoft PowerPoint lets you use any image to create an action button as well. To add an image and assign it an action, go to the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Pictures . Once inserted, click the picture, then on the Insert tab, in the Links group, click Action .

If you need to perform some basic editing, you can use the built-in image editing tools in Microsoft PowerPoint .

2. Open the Action Settings Dialog Box

Creating an action button involves linking another space and a piece of information to your slide. This means you can link to another slide, another presentation, a URL, a video, or a document.

Action buttons work differently than hyperlinks in a PowerPoint presentation , which are generally used to link to URLs. To assign an action:

• When the shape is selected from the Action Buttons category: You’ll see an Action Settings dialogue box pop up as soon as you finish drawing the button.
• When the shape is selected from any other category: You'll need to right-click on the shape and select Action Settings .
• When you're using an image as your action button: Right-click on the image and go to Action Settings .

3. Configure the Action

After you've opened the Action Settings dialog box, head over to the Mouse Click tab to configure an action that triggers when someone clicks on the action button. Alternatively, you can use the Mouse Over tab to create an action that triggers when someone hovers the cursor over the action button.

• Link to : You can assign the shape to act as a link to the next slide, previous slide, another presentation, other files, and more.
• Run program : You can choose to create an action to run a program using this option. Then click on Select and browse for the application you want to launch when someone clicks the button.
• Run macro : You can link to a macro using this option. If you don't have a macro in the slideshow, the option will appear grayed out.
• Object action : Use this option to select an OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) object. Again, if your slideshow doesn't have an OLE object, this option won't be available.
• Play sound: Select the sound of your choice from the drop-down menu, or select Other Sound to upload your audio.

Click OK to apply. Go to the Slideshow on the ribbon and select Play from start to test the action buttons.

How to Add Effects to the Button in PowerPoint

Adding visual effects is a great way to draw attention and make your presentation visually appealing. To add visual effects, you can use the animation pane in Microsoft PowerPoint . Click on your action button and go to the Animations section on the ribbon at the top. Select an animation from the available options.

How to Edit an Action Button in PowerPoint

There are various ways to edit an action button in your PowerPoint presentation.

• Action Settings option: Right-click on the action button, go to Action Settings , and change the assigned action.
• Edit link option: Right-click on the image and go to Link > Edit Link .
• Insert section: Or, you can click on the action button and go to the Insert section on the ribbon. Select Action or Link to edit the assigned action quickly.

Next, to edit the appearance or the animation of the action button, click on the action button and go to the Shape Format section on the ribbon. This section allows you to customize the shape, size, color, and more. In fact, you can also change the button's shape if you like without changing the action assigned to it.

Try Out Action Buttons in Your Presentations

Try playing around with action buttons while preparing for your next presentation to see if it can make the presentation more interactive and visually appealing. While you're at it, you might also want to learn about using a PowerPoint screen recorder to engage your audience and leave a lasting impression.

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