Modern presentation design – 10 facts that have changed in the last five years

The design fundamentals of presentations are constantly evolving. Many things that were standard just a few years ago are hardly used today. The design of the PowerPoint presentations and the performance of the speaker must always be adapted to the current requirements. We show you what has changed in the last five years.

The only constant is change. This is also true for professional presentations. Some developments are advancing so rapidly that only professionals who deal with presentations on a daily basis can keep track of them all. But do you really have to include every trend and every new technique in your presentation? If you really want to convince with a professional appearance, the answer is usually yes. Design and presentation technique can quickly seem stale when using old techniques in front of an experienced audience. No matter how fascinating the content – the risk of appearing “old school” is great and can quickly lead to doubts among the audience as to whether the speaker is really up to date with his content. When in doubt, it is safer to hire a presentation agency to have an innovative presentation created. The risk of achieving only a second-rate result with your own resources is great and can mean that you do not really inspire your audience. In order for you to get to know the changes of the last five years, Smavicon has compiled the 10 most important innovations for you:

1. The shortening of lecture times. Get to the point, is the motto. Slide battles with over 20 slides and 30 minutes of presentation are less and less in demand. Short impulse presentations of a few minutes in length are becoming more and more popular. Boards often only allow 5 minute presentations with slides.
2. The lectern is going out of fashion. The speaker should be more dynamic and well visible in the center. Free standing in front of the largest possible screen is considered absolutely chic and innovative today.
3. Online presentations are on the rise. Increasingly, presentations are no longer given directly to an audience. More than 50% of all presentations are now shown at online conferences and meetings.
4. Classic rhetoric is out.
5. Natural rhetoric is in. The audience likes “real” people who tell their story authentically. Inexperienced speakers who formulate their message in their own words are often better received by the audience than the professionals with their perfectly polished speeches.

Two presentation megatrends in particular define the presentation picture: exciting storytelling and strong visualization. In both cases, quite a high school, but which gives absolutely resounding results

6. Storytelling is on everyone’s lips. A good lecture or presentation includes a story. In the past, the more facts, benefit arguments, advantages, the better. Today, stories peppered with info have to do the bulk of the convincing.
7. Professional visualization. A presentation that is precisely tailored to storytelling with a convincing implementation is the second megatrend. The Smavicon presentation trainings therefore focus, among other things, on strengthening a story at all important points through optimized visualizations. Today, visualization is valued more highly than rhetoric. Strong visualization underpins professionalism. Information and entertaining elements support the central message.
8. Visual communication. The so-called third wave of communication started about 20 years ago and does not stop at presentations. This is all about pictorial communication. We transfer knowledge and information via graphics and images. Single words or even extensive texts are more and more replaced or translated by icons and pictograms. Animations also replace static slides.
9. 3-D design. Since 2016, the design elements have been changing. In the past, for example, flat designs (graphically minimalist design style), material designs (raised areas, slight depth effect), or texture designs (surface structure of a graphically represented object) were widely used. Today, the trend is moving towards 3D designs. In 2019, the isometric display will follow its path to success. You can find out what that might look like here.
10. PowerPoint is the undisputed number one. PowerPoint is the dominant presentation tool on the market. There are another 46 presentation tools, but they have hardly been able to gain market share. These include Keynote or Prezi, for example. PowerPoint has integrated niche vendor functionality with 2016, offering more and more AI (artificial intelligence) elements in the software, such as automatic image editing.

These trends will remain or even gain in importance in the coming years. To ignore them would be to miss out on important levers of success for your successful presentation. Learn more about the current trends in our presentation trainings here .