After running a boy scout event on the computer merit badge, there's one thing that I know for sure ... kids know way more software features than we do! One of the assignments I gave them was to create a PowerPoint presentation; and not only were they all extremely creative, but all of them used cool tricks that I've never used before. That being said, there's a reason that I've never used those "cool" tricks - it's because I never need them.
The scouts had a great time creating these PowerPoint presentations; but unless you want to show the equivalent of a Bugs Bunny cartoon to your boss or a client that you're trying to get business from, you probably won't want to hire any of them as a slide show consultant. The key to great PowerPoint slides is simplicity. Let me clarify, I didn't say plainness, dullness, uncreativeness, or colorless - because you actually need all of those things in order to create great PowerPoint slides; but each one of these aspects needs to be done simply.
Background
Don't just change the color; you should definitely take advantage of the slide design & templates to change the backgrounds of your slides. But when you select a background design, use the ones that give the allusion that it's just one color; in order words, don't pick one that too busy. In the end, the background needs to enhance the words on the screen and not distract from them.
Slide Transition & Custom Animation
There's a lot of fun ways to move from one slide to the next, or from one bullet to another. For the most part though, the basic "Fade" is all you need. Again, you don't want the transitions & animation to distract from your presentation; you also don't want the appearance that you have to add junk to your presentation to make up for a lack of substance. Making simple moves shows power!
Graphics
We've all seen PowerPoint presentations with graphics on every single slide. It's fun for about 2 or 3 slides, but then it gets redundant. Your text content is your centerpiece, but that doesn't mean not to use any graphics; just make sure that those graphics make your text content look good.
Keeping presentations simple has served me well for a long time, and I always get compliments afterwards. So for your next presentation, I hope these tips help to make your PowerPoint presentation great! But if you get stuck on how to use something, ask one of your kids ... you'll be surprised what they know (just don't let them do it for you)!