The first step to effective powerpoint presentation is to select appropriate colors and themes. There are many themes offered by Microsoft powerpoint to fit many tastes. For business / professional purposes, it is very important to stick to simple themes with a few primary colors. Too many different colors make the whole presentation look a lot less professional. A neutral and relatively light background color is the best as well as being very easy on the eyes. Beige, buff, cream, champagne and khaki are all good choices here. Texts color should contrast with background color so that it is very easy to read, use black, brown or navy for the best results.

When typing up the powerpoint presentation, make it effective with important key points. Remember, less is more. When each slide has lots of information, your audience will not be able to remember what is important and what your presentation is about. Summarize what you have to say and make it direct and short. For example, if you are talking about yearly profits, highlight difference from last year, actual amount and other key information. Don't put paragraphs of words describing everything about each and every little thing concerning profits.

When you really need to illustrate a point across to the audience that is lengthy to write, you can use other formats in powerpoint. Pictures and videos are good tools to illustrate a concept that people won't lose their attention and will retain much of the information.

Formatting of the whole powerpoint presentation is very important and will make it effective for your intended purposes as well. Make all slides easy to read with large fonts. The smallest font should be no smaller than 30. This will make sure that people sitting at the back rows can see everything easily. There are many fonts available for powerpoint, but you will have to choose one that is basic and easy to read. Times new roman, arial and verdana are all good choices here.

Check the whole powerpoint presentation at the end by yourself at least two times for spelling. Then, have your trusted colleague check it for you again. Spelling errors can ruin everything and make the presentation not professional.