There are a wide variety of options available for use on different platforms when it comes to animation. Knowing how to use these animations effectively is the key to avoiding fatal flaws in your presentation. Employing animations incorrectly can overwhelm a presentation. Not utilizing animations at all also has its drawbacks, making the slide deck seem less polished. Over the years we have found some tried and true guidelines we thought we’d share to get you started.
Easily Elevate (without taking center stage)
Animations on any platform can elevate messaging as a sleek or clever addition to the way the story is told. However each slide should always be able to stand its own without any animation. The goal is to enhance your story, not to distract from it. A great approach is to hold off on including any animations until you’re completely satisfied with your deck’s design. After all, the animations shouldn’t be what your audience remembers.
Start Small
If you’re unfamiliar with the tool altogether, the “less is more” approach should work well starting off. It’s best to first animate the objects in the foreground–these items are usually your talking points. Backgrounds typically take the least amount of time for your audience to grasp. With the correct background, the brain should be able to make a simple connection to the reason for the imagery on the slide. For this reason, there’s really no need to waste time animating the background image of a slide. This includes the title slide!
Create Consistency
When choosing animations, find 1-3 to use throughout your entire presentation. Hopefully you’ve already spent a lot of time creating that visually cohesive deck. Let’s not chop it up now with an animation medley! We don’t want to tell you what to do, but the two animations we use most often here at Ethos3 are “Fly In” and “Fade.” They’re easy to adjust, practical, and don’t take a lot of time to build.
Timing Trials
PowerPoint defaults most of the animations to take 0.5 seconds to complete. This is a solid starting point. Very rarely do we push that number past 1.0 seconds. We highly recommend taking time to fully familiarize yourself with the software to find what you like. Sit back and see how the build feels, whether rushed or too slow. Again, all of this is completely up to you and your preferences. Staying consistent with style as well as timing throughout your deck is the key to seamless animation.
Try Transitions
Let’s say you’re pressed for time. You just finished rehearsing your presentation for a conference meeting in 10 minutes. You haven’t had time to add animations throughout your deck. Transitions are here to help. Simply select all your slides, click on the “Transitions” tab, and choose your go-to. Transitions are the quickest and easiest way to spruce up your presentation. Again, we urge you to stick to the basics. We love using “Fade” or “Push.”
Pro tip: leave “Vortex” and sound effects for the true animation masters of the world (i.e. middle schoolers)
The next time you’re in an audience, critique the usage of animations in the deck you’re observing. See which transitions were impressive and which ones you could have done without. Notice whether the presenter followed the guidelines we have compiled. As often as possible, put yourself in the shoes of an audience member and try to understand your deck from a new vantage point. Need someone much more removed to take a look? Our content creators would love to! Reach out today and let us know what you’re seeing that may need improvement–we’re always here to help!
