If you’re like most presenters, your focus at any given time is probably pretty fragmented. You’re probably thinking about all the different things you need to do, check off your list and get through. Planning to make a PowerPoint portrait presentation and the ensuing execution are often just one more thing that ends up being pushed to the side. Presentations often feel like an afterthought, something that needs to be done but not something that deserves your full attention. Don’t let this continue!

Presenting effectively requires intentionality and attention to detail. It takes planning and preparation, which means you need to create space in your schedule for it as well as make it a priority. Fortunately, creating a PowerPoint portrait doesn’t take much time or effort, which makes it a great way to start streamlining the process of preparing for presentations.

What Is a Powerpoint Portrait?

A PowerPoint portrait is a type of PowerPoint slide that shows a person. PowerPoint portraits are a great way to visualize your message when you’re trying to get your audience to understand the importance of an upcoming event or presentation. They’re also useful for showing off key members of your organization or for visually representing your company’s culture.

A PowerPoint portrait is ideal for visualizing key information from your presentation or creating a mood or tone for your company’s brand. For example, a PowerPoint portrait of your CEO might help you strengthen the message you’re trying to send or make it a little more personal for your audience.

How to Create a Powerpoint Portrait in 6 Easy Steps

Before you get started on your PowerPoint portrait, it’s helpful to first think about what you want to communicate with your image. What do you want your audience to get out of looking at your portrait? What message do you want them to walk away with? This can help you decide on how you want to represent certain aspects of your presentation in your image.

To start, find a person to model your image on. Ideally, the person you choose should be someone who has a strong connection to your audience; they should be someone who your audience can relate to and who they might want to follow as a professional.

Create the skeleton of your presentation

Now that you have a model, it’s time to begin creating the skeleton of your presentation. Your presentation will typically include a preamble and then the main body of your talk. The preamble is where you might include some context about the talk or about your organization. The main body of your talk is where you convey your message. Depending on the type of talk you’re giving, this could be a series of bullet points or a more narrative-based approach.

Add content and take notes

With your presentation skeleton in place, it’s time to begin adding content and taking notes. Creating visual notes with PowerPoint is a great way to visually represent the information you want to convey during your talk. You can also use visuals to help your audience understand information they might be hearing for the first time.

You can also create visual content and notes such as pie charts, flow charts, diagrams or images to help illustrate your points. Try to keep your content and notes as visual as possible to help your audience understand your points more.

Add audio and video

Now that your skeleton and content are in place, it’s time to add the audio and video you’ll use to create your PowerPoint portrait. Most PowerPoint presentations are two-dimensional, so you’ll want to make it easy for your audience to hear and see what you’re presenting.

You can also use video in your presentation to add a more dynamic and engaging experience for your audience. You can create video tutorials, explain your business model, show how your product works or simply record yourself giving a talk to illustrate the points you want to make. Be sure to follow these best practices to create an effective video.

Make It Look intentional

When you’re creating a PowerPoint portrait, be intentional in how you represent yourself. Make sure your image looks as polished as it can, both on the outside and on the inside. Make sure that your outfit fits your image, that you’re not wearing shoes you shouldn’t be, and that you’re hair is done nicely. Before you begin recording, take a few moments to look at yourself and make sure that you look as polished as possible.

Make It Look intentional Keeping your presentation image looking intentional is key to creating an effective PowerPoint portrait. This can help your audience get a better understanding of what you’re presenting, particularly if the content is more visual. This can also help improve the quality of your presentation image by avoiding casting yourself in a less than polished light.

Summing up

If you’re like most presenters, your focus at any given time is probably pretty fragmented. You’re probably thinking about all the different things you need to do, check off your list and get through. Planning a presentation and the ensuing execution are often just one more thing that ends up being pushed to the side. Presentations often feel like an afterthought, something that needs to be done but not something that deserves your full attention.

Don’t let this continue! Presenting effectively requires intentionality and attention to detail. It takes planning and preparation, which means you need to create space in your schedule for it as well as make it a priority. Fortunately, creating a PowerPoint portrait doesn’t take much time or effort, which makes it a great way to start streamlining the process of preparing for presentations.