making good presentations

This simplistic presentation example employs several different colors and font weights, but instead of coming off as disconnected, the varied colors work with one another to create contrast and call out specific concepts.

What I like: The big, bold numbers help set the reader's expectations, as they clearly signify how far along the viewer is in the list of tips.

10. “Pixar's 22 Rules to Phenomenal Storytelling,” Gavin McMahon

This presentation by Gavin McMahon features color in all the right places. While each of the background images boasts a bright, spotlight-like design, all the characters are intentionally blacked out.

What I like: This helps keep the focus on the tips, while still incorporating visuals. Not to mention, it's still easy for me to identify each character without the details. (I found you on slide eight, Nemo.)

11. “Facebook Engagement and Activity Report,” We Are Social

Here's another great example of data visualization in the wild.

What I like: Rather than displaying numbers and statistics straight up, this presentation calls upon interesting, colorful graphs, and charts to present the information in a way that just makes sense.

12. “The GaryVee Content Model,” Gary Vaynerchuk

This wouldn‘t be a true Gary Vaynerchuk presentation if it wasn’t a little loud, am I right?

What I like: Aside from the fact that I love the eye-catching, bright yellow background, Vaynerchuk does a great job of incorporating screenshots on each slide to create a visual tutorial that coincides with the tips. He also does a great job including a visual table of contents that shows your progress as you go .

13. “20 Tweetable Quotes to Inspire Marketing & Design Creative Genius,” IMPACT Branding & Design

We‘ve all seen our fair share of quote-chronicling presentations but that isn’t to say they were all done well. Often the background images are poor quality, the text is too small, or there isn't enough contrast.

Well, this professional presentation from IMPACT Branding & Design suffers from none of said challenges.

What I like: The colorful filters over each background image create just enough contrast for the quotes to stand out.

14. “The Great State of Design,” Stacy Kvernmo

This presentation offers up a lot of information in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming.

What I like: The contrasting colors create visual interest and “pop,” and the comic images (slides 6 through 12) are used to make the information seem less buttoned-up and overwhelming.

15. “Clickbait: A Guide To Writing Un-Ignorable Headlines,” Ethos3

Not going to lie, it was the title that convinced me to click through to this presentation but the awesome design kept me there once I arrived.

What I like: This simple design adheres to a consistent color pattern and leverages bullet points and varied fonts to break up the text nicely.

16. “Digital Transformation in 50 Soundbites,” Julie Dodd

This design highlights a great alternative to the “text-over-image” display we've grown used to seeing.

What I like: By leveraging a split-screen approach to each presentation slide, Julie Dodd was able to serve up a clean, legible quote without sacrificing the power of a strong visual.

17. “Fix Your Really Bad PowerPoint,” Slide Comet

When you‘re creating a PowerPoint about how everyone’s PowerPoints stink, yours had better be terrific. The one above, based on the ebook by Seth Godin, keeps it simple without boring its audience.

What I like: Its clever combinations of fonts, together with consistent color across each slide, ensure you're neither overwhelmed nor unengaged.

18. “How Google Works,” Eric Schmidt

Simple, clever doodles tell the story of Google in a fun and creative way. This presentation reads almost like a storybook, making it easy to move from one slide to the next.

What I like: This uncluttered approach provides viewers with an easy-to-understand explanation of a complicated topic.

19. “What Really Differentiates the Best Content Marketers From The Rest,” Ross Simmonds

Let‘s be honest: These graphics are hard not to love. I especially appreciate the author’s cartoonified self-portrait that closes out the presentation. Well played, Ross Simmonds.

What I like: Rather than employing the same old stock photos, this unique design serves as a refreshing way to present information that's both valuable and fun.

20. “Be A Great Product Leader,” Adam Nash

This presentation by Adam Nash immediately draws attention by putting the company's logo first — a great move if your company is well known.

What I like: He uses popular images, such as ones of Megatron and Pinocchio, to drive his points home. In the same way, you can take advantage of popular images and media to keep your audience engaged.

PowerPoint Presentation Examples for the Best Slide Presentation

Mastering a PowerPoint presentation begins with the design itself.

Get inspired by my ideas above to create a presentation that engages your audience, builds upon your point, and helps you generate leads for your brand.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. This article was written by a human, but our team uses AI in our editorial process. Check out our full disclosure to learn more about how we use AI.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

PowerPoint presentations are not usually known for being engaging or interactive. That’s often because most people treat their slides as if they are notes to read off  and not a tool to help empower their message.

Your presentation slides are there to help bring to life the story you are telling. They are there to provide visuals and empower your speech.

So how do you go about avoiding a presentation “snoozefest” and instead ensure you have an engaging and interactive presentation?  By making sure that you use your slides to help YOU tell your story, instead of using them as note cards to read off of.

The key thing to remember is that your presentation is there to compliment your speech, not be its focus.

In this article, we will review several presentation tips and tricks on how to become a storytelling powerhouse by building a powerful and engaging PowerPoint presentation.

Start with writing your speech outline, not with putting together slides

Use more images and less text, use high-quality images, keep the focus on you and your presentation, not the powerpoint, your presentation should be legible from anywhere in the room, use a consistent presentation design, one topic per slide, avoid information overwhelm by using the “rule of three”.

• Display one bullet at a time

Avoid unnecessary animations

• Only add content that supports your main points

Do not use PowerPoint as a teleprompter

• Never Give Out Copies of the Presentation

Re-focus the attention on you by fading into blackness

Change the tone of your voice when presenting, host an expert discussion panel, ask questions, embed videos, use live polling to get instant feedback and engage the audience.

• He kept his slides uncluttered and always strived for simplicity
• He was known to use large font size, the bigger, the better.
• He found made the complex sound simple.

He was known to practice, practice, and keep on practicing.

Summary – how to make your presentation engaging & interactive, fundamental rules to build powerful & engaging presentation slides.

Before we go into tips and tricks on how to add flair to your presentations and create effective presentations, it’s essential to get the fundamentals of your presentation right.

Your PowerPoint presentation is there to compliment your message, and the story you are telling. Before you can even put together slides, you need to identify the goal of your speech, and the key takeaways you want your audience to remember.

YOU and your speech are the focus of this presentation, not the slides – use your PowerPoint to complement your story.

Keep in mind that your slides are there to add to your speech, not distract from it.  Using too much text in your slides can be distracting and confusing to your audience. Instead, use a relevant picture with minimal text, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

This slide is not unusual, but is not a visual aid, it is more like an “eye chart”.

Aim for something simpler, easy to remember and concise, like the slides below.

Keep in mind your audience when designing your presentation, their background and aesthetics sense. You will want to avoid the default clip art and cheesy graphics on your slides.

While presenting make sure to control the presentation and the room by walking around, drawing attention to you and what you are saying.  You should occasionally stand still when referencing a slide, but never turn your back to your audience to read your slide.

You and your speech are the presentations; the slides are just there to aid you.

Most season presenters don’t use anything less than twenty-eight point font size, and even Steve Jobs was known to use nothing smaller than forty-point text fonts.

If you can’t comfortably fit all the text on your slide using 28 font size than you’re trying to say and cram too much into the slide, remember tip #1.4 – Use relevant images instead and accompany it with bullets.

Best Practice PowerPoint Presentation Tips

The job of your presentation is to help convey information as efficiently and clearly as possible. By keeping the theme and design consistent, you’re allowing the information and pictures to stand out.

However, by varying the design from slide to slide, you will be causing confusion and distraction from the focus, which is you and the information to be conveyed on the slide.

Technology can also help us in creating a consistent presentation design just by picking a topic and selecting a sample template style. This is possible thanks to the SlideModel’s AI slideshow maker .

Each slide should try to represent one topic or talking point. The goal is to keep the attention focused on your speech, and by using one slide per talking point, you make it easy for you to prepare, as well as easy for your audience to follow along with your speech.

Sometimes when creating our presentation, we can often get in our heads and try to over-explain. A simple way to avoid this is to follow the “ Rule of Three ,” a concept coined by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

The idea is to stick to only 3 main ideas that will help deliver your point.  Each of the ideas can be further broken into 3 parts to explain further. The best modern example of this “Rule of Three” can be derived from the great Apple presentations given by Steve Jobs – they were always structured around the “Rule of Three.”

Display one sentence at a time

If you are planning to include text in your slides, try to avoid bullet lists, and use one slide per sentence. Be short and concise. This best practice focuses on the idea that simple messages are easy to retain in memory. Also, each slide can follow your storytelling path, introducing the audience to each concept while you speak, instead of listing everything beforehand.

Presentation Blunders To Avoid

In reality, there is no need for animations or transitions in your slides.

It’s great to know how to turn your text into fires or how to create a transition with sparkle effects, but the reality is the focus should be on the message. Using basic or no transitions lets the content of your presentation stand out, rather than the graphics.

If you plan to use animations, make sure to use modern and professional animations that helps the audience follow the story you are telling, for example when explaining time series or changing events over time.

Only add engaging content that supports your main points

You might have a great chart, picture or even phrase you want to add, but when creating every slide, it’s crucial to ask yourself the following question.

“Does this slide help support my main point?”

If the answer is no, then remove it.  Remember, less is more.

A common crutch for rookie presenters is to use slides as their teleprompter.

First of all, you shouldn’t have that much text on your slides. If you have to read off something, prepare some index cards that fit in your hand but at all costs do not turn your back on your audience and read off of your PowerPoint.  The moment you do that, you make the presentation the focus, and lose the audience as the presenter.

Avoid Giving Out Copies of the Presentation

At least not before you deliver a killer presentation; providing copies of your presentation gives your audience a possible distraction where they can flip through the copy and ignore what you are saying.

It’s also easy for them to take your slides out of context without understanding the meaning behind each slide.  It’s OK to give a copy of the presentation, but generally it is better to give the copies AFTER you have delivered your speech. If you decide to share a copy of your presentation, the best way to do it is by  generating a QR code  for it and placing it at the end of your presentation. Those who want a copy can simply scan and download it onto their phones.

Tips To Making Your Presentation More Engaging

The point of your presentation is to help deliver a message.

When expanding on a particularly important topic that requires a lengthy explanation it’s best to fade the slide into black.  This removes any distraction from the screen and re-focuses it on you, the present speaker. Some presentation devices have a built-in black screen button, but if they don’t, you can always prepare for this by adding a black side to your presentation at the right moment.

“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Part of making your presentation engaging is to use all the tools at your disposal to get your point across. Changing the inflection and tone of your voice as you present helps make the content and the points more memorable and engaging.

One easy and powerful way to make your presentation interactive is experts to discuss a particular topic during your presentation. This helps create a more engaging presentation and gives you the ability to facilitate and lead a discussion around your topic.

It’s best to prepare some questions for your panel but to also field questions from the audience in a question and answer format.

How To Make Your Presentation More Interactive

What happens if I ask you to think about a pink elephant?  You probably briefly think about a pink elephant, right?

Asking questions when presenting helps engage the audience, and arouse interest and curiosity.  It also has the added benefit of making people pay closer attention, in case they get called on.

So don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if rhetorical; asking a question engages a different part of our brain. It causes us to reflect rather than merely take in the information one way. So ask many of them.

Asking questions can also be an excellent way to build suspense for the next slide.

(Steve Jobs was known to ask questions during his presentations, in this slide he built suspense by asking the audience “Is there space for a device between a cell phone and a laptop?” before revealing the iPad) Source: MacWorld SF 2018

Remember the point of your presentation is to get a message across and although you are the presenter, it is completely fine to use video in your PowerPoint to enhance your presentation.  A relevant video can give you some breathing time to prepare the next slides while equally informing the audience on a particular point.

CAUTION: Be sure to test the video beforehand, and that your audience can hear it in the room.

A trending engagement tool among presenters is to use a live polling tool to allow the audience to participate and collect immediate feedback.

Using a live polling tool is a fun and interactive way to engage your audience in real-time and allow them to participate in part of your presentation.

Google Slides has a built-in Q&A feature that allows presenters to make the slide deck more interactive by providing answers to the audience’s questions. By using the Q&A feature in Google Slides, presenters can start a live Q&A session and people can ask questions directly from their devices including mobile and smartphones.

Key Takeaways from one of the best presenters, Steve Jobs

He kept his slides uncluttered and always strove for simplicity.

In this slide, you can easily see he is talking about the battery life, and it uses a simple image and a few words. Learning from Jobs, you can also make a great presentation too. Focus on the core benefit of your product and incorporate great visuals.

Source: Macworld 2008

SlideModel.com can help to reproduce high-impact slides like these, keeping your audience engagement.

He was known to use large font sizes, the bigger, the better

A big font makes it hard to miss the message on the slide, and allows the audience to focus on the presenter while clearing the understanding what the point of the slide is.

He found made the complex sound simple

When explaining a list of features, he used a simple image and lines or simple tables to provide visual cues to his talking points.

(This particular slide is referencing the iMac features)

What made Steve Jobs the master of presentation, was the ritual of practicing with his team, and this is simple yet often overlooked by many presenters.  It’s easy to get caught in the trap of thinking you don’t need to practice because you know the material so well.

While all these tips will help you create a truly powerful presentation , it can only achieve if applied correctly.

It’s important to remember when trying to deliver an amazing experience, you should be thoroughly prepared. This way, you can elevate your content presentation, convey your message effectively and captivate your audience.

This includes having your research cited, your presentation rehearsed.  Don’t just rehearse your slides, also take time to practice your delivery, and your tone.  The more you rehearse, the more relaxed you will be when delivering. The more confident you will feel.

While we can’t help you with the practice of your next presentation, we can help you by making sure you look good, and that you have a great design and cohesiveness.

You focus on the message and content; we’ll focus on making you look good.

Have a tip you would like to include?  Be sure to mention it in the comments!

Like this article? Please share

Audience, Engaging, Feedback, Interactive, Poll, Rule of Three, Steve Jobs Filed under Presentation Ideas

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2 Responses to “23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations”

Very great advices!

Greetings ! A compact composed communication for the host to have an impact -VOICE

Thank You ?

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9 Tips for Making Beautiful PowerPoint Presentations

Ready to craft a beautiful powerpoint presentation these nine powerpoint layout ideas will help anyone create effective, compelling slides..

How many times have you sat through a poorly designed business presentation that was dull, cluttered, and distracting? Probably way too many. Even though we all loathe a boring presentation, when it comes time to make our own, do we really do any better?

The good news is you don’t have to be a professional designer to make professional presentations. We’ve put together a few simple guidelines you can follow to create a beautifully assembled deck.

We’ll walk you through some slide design tips, show you some tricks to maximize your PowerPoint skills, and give you everything you need to look really good next time you’re up in front of a crowd.

And, while PowerPoint remains one of the biggest names in presentation software, many of these design elements and principles work in Google Slides as well.

Let’s dive right in and make sure your audience isn’t yawning through your entire presentation.

1. Use Layout to Your Advantage

Layout is one of the most powerful visual elements in design, and it’s a simple, effective way to control the flow and visual hierarchy of information.

For example, most Western languages read left to right, top to bottom. Knowing this natural reading order, you can direct people’s eyes in a deliberate way to certain key parts of a slide that you want to emphasize.

You can also guide your audience with simple tweaks to the layout. Use text size and alternating fonts or colors to distinguish headlines from body text.

Placement also matters. There are many unorthodox ways to structure a slide, but most audience members will have to take a few beats to organize the information in their head—that’s precious time better spent listening to your delivery and retaining information.

Try to structure your slides more like this:

And not like this:

Layout is one of the trickier PowerPoint design concepts to master, which is why we have these free PowerPoint templates already laid out for you. Use them as a jumping off point for your own presentation, or use them wholesale!

Presentation templates can give you a huge leg up as you start working on your design.

2. No Sentences

This is one of the most critical slide design tips. Slides are simplified, visual notecards that capture and reinforce main ideas, not complete thoughts.

As the speaker, you should be delivering most of the content and information, not putting it all on the slides for everyone to read (and probably ignore). If your audience is reading your presentation instead of listening to you deliver it, your message has lost its effectiveness.

Pare down your core message and use keywords to convey it. Try to avoid complete sentences unless you’re quoting someone or something.

Stick with this:

And avoid this:

3. Follow the 6×6 Rule

One of the cardinal sins of a bad PowerPoint is cramming too many details and ideas on one slide, which makes it difficult for people to retain information. Leaving lots of “white space” on a slide helps people focus on your key points.

Try using the 6×6 rule to keep your content concise and clean looking. The 6×6 rule means a maximum of six bullet points per slide and six words per bullet. In fact, some people even say you should never have more than six words per slide!

Just watch out for “orphans” (when the last word of a sentence/phrase spills over to the next line). This looks cluttered. Either fit it onto one line or add another word to the second line.

Slides should never have this much information:

4. Keep the Colors Simple

Stick to simple light and dark colors and a defined color palette for visual consistency. Exceptionally bright text can cause eye fatigue, so use those colors sparingly. Dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background will work well. Also avoid intense gradients, which can make text hard to read.

If you’re presenting on behalf of your brand, check what your company’s brand guidelines are. Companies often have a primary brand color and a secondary brand color , and it’s a good idea to use them in your presentation to align with your company’s brand identity and style.

If you’re looking for color inspiration for your next presentation, check out our 101 Color Combinations , where you can browse tons of eye-catching color palettes curated by a pro. When you find the one you like, just type the corresponding color code into your presentation formatting tools.

Here are more of our favorite free color palettes for presentations:

• 10 Color Palettes to Nail Your Next Presentation
• 10 Energizing Sports Color Palettes for Branding and Marketing
• 10 Vintage Color Palettes Inspired by the Decades

No matter what color palette or combination you choose, you want to keep the colors of your PowerPoint presentation simple and easy to read, like this:

Stay away from color combinations like this:

5. Use Sans-Serif Fonts

Traditionally, serif fonts (Times New Roman, Garamond, Bookman) are best for printed pages, and sans-serif fonts (Helvetica, Tahoma, Verdana) are easier to read on screens.

These are always safe choices, but if you’d like to add some more typographic personality , try exploring our roundup of the internet’s best free fonts . You’ll find everything from classic serifs and sans serifs to sophisticated modern fonts and splashy display fonts. Just keep legibility top of mind when you’re making your pick.

Try to stick with one font, or choose two at the most. Fonts have very different personalities and emotional impacts, so make sure your font matches the tone, purpose, and content of your presentation.

6. Stick to 30pt Font or Larger

Many experts agree that your font size for a PowerPoint presentation should be at least 30pt. Sticking to this guideline ensures your text is readable. It also forces you, due to space limitations, to explain your message efficiently and include only the most important points. .

7. Avoid Overstyling the Text

Three of the easiest and most effective ways to draw attention to text are:

• A change in color

Our eyes are naturally drawn to things that stand out, but use these changes sparingly. Overstyling can make the slide look busy and distracting.

8. Choose the Right Images

The images you choose for your presentation are perhaps as important as the message. You want images that not only support the message, but also elevate it—a rare accomplishment in the often dry world of PowerPoint.

But, what is the right image? We’ll be honest. There’s no direct answer to this conceptual, almost mystical subject, but we can break down some strategies for approaching image selection that will help you curate your next presentation.

The ideal presentation images are:

• Inspirational

These may seem like vague qualities, but the general idea is to go beyond the literal. Think about the symbols in an image and the story they tell. Think about the colors and composition in an image and the distinct mood they set for your presentation.

With this approach, you can get creative in your hunt for relatable, authentic, and inspirational images. Here are some more handy guidelines for choosing great images.

Illustrative, Not Generic

So, the slide in question is about collaborating as a team. Naturally, you look for images of people meeting in a boardroom, right?

While it’s perfectly fine to go super literal, sometimes these images fall flat—what’s literal doesn’t necessarily connect to your audience emotionally. Will they really respond to generic images of people who aren’t them meeting in a boardroom?

In the absence of a photo of your actual team—or any other image that directly illustrates the subject at hand—look for images of convincing realism and humanity that capture the idea of your message.

Doing so connects with viewers, allowing them to connect with your message.

The image above can be interpreted in many ways. But, when we apply it to slide layout ideas about collaboration, the meaning is clear.

It doesn’t hurt that there’s a nice setting and good photography, to boot.

Supportive, Not Distracting

Now that we’ve told you to get creative with your image selection, the next lesson is to rein that in. While there are infinite choices of imagery out there, there’s a limit to what makes sense in your presentation.

Let’s say you’re giving an IT presentation to new employees. You might think that image of two dogs snuggling by a fire is relatable, authentic, and inspirational, but does it really say “data management” to your audience?

To find the best supporting images, try searching terms on the periphery of your actual message. You’ll find images that complement your message rather than distract from it.

In the IT presentation example, instead of “data connections” or another literal term, try the closely related “traffic” or “connectivity.” This will bring up images outside of tech, but relative to the idea of how things move.

Inspiring and Engaging

There’s a widespread misconception that business presentations are just about delivering information. Well, they’re not. In fact, a great presentation is inspirational. We don’t mean that your audience should be itching to paint a masterpiece when they’re done. In this case, inspiration is about engagement.

Is your audience asking themselves questions? Are they coming up with new ideas? Are they remembering key information to tap into later? You’ll drive a lot of this engagement with your actual delivery, but unexpected images can play a role, as well.

When you use more abstract or aspirational images, your audience will have room to make their own connections. This not only means they’re paying attention, but they’re also engaging with and retaining your message.

To find the right abstract or unconventional imagery, search terms related to the tone of the presentation. This may include images with different perspectives like overhead shots and aerials, long exposures taken over a period of time, nature photos , colorful markets , and so on.

The big idea here is akin to including an image of your adorable dog making a goofy face at the end of an earnings meeting. It leaves an audience with a good, human feeling after you just packed their brains with data.

Use that concept of pleasant surprise when you’re selecting images for your presentation.

9. Editing PowerPoint Images

Setting appropriate image resolution in powerpoint.

Though you can drag-and-drop images into PowerPoint, you can control the resolution displayed within the file. All of your PowerPoint slide layout ideas should get the same treatment to be equal in size.

Simply click File > Compress Pictures in the main application menu.

If your presentation file is big and will only be viewed online, you can take it down to On-screen , then check the Apply to: All pictures in this file , and rest assured the quality will be uniform.

This resolution is probably fine for proofing over email, but too low for your presentation layout ideas. For higher res in printed form, try the Print setting, which at 220 PPI is extremely good quality.

For large-screens such as projection, use the HD setting, since enlarging to that scale will show any deficiencies in resolution. Low resolution can not only distract from the message, but it looks low-quality and that reflects on the presenter.

If size is no issue for you, use High Fidelity (maximum PPI), and only reduce if the file size gives your computer problems.

The image quality really begins when you add the images to the presentation file. Use the highest quality images you can, then let PowerPoint scale the resolution down for you, reducing the excess when set to HD or lower.

Resizing, Editing, and Adding Effects to Images in PowerPoint

PowerPoint comes with an arsenal of tools to work with your images. When a picture is selected, the confusingly named Picture Format menu is activated in the top menu bar, and Format Picture is opened on the right side of the app window.

In the Format Picture menu (on the right) are four sections, and each of these sections expand to show their options by clicking the arrows by the name:

• Fill & Line (paint bucket icon): Contains options for the box’s colors, patterns, gradients, and background fills, along with options for its outline.
• Effects (pentagon icon): Contains Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Soft Edges, 3-D Format and Rotation, and Artistic Effects.
• Size & Properties (dimensional icon): Size, Position, and Text Box allow you to control the physical size and placement of the picture or text boxes.
• Picture (mountain icon): Picture Corrections, Colors, and Transparency give you control over how the image looks. Under Crop, you can change the size of the box containing the picture, instead of the entire picture itself as in Size & Properties above.

The menu at the top is more expansive, containing menu presets for Corrections, Color, Effects, Animation, and a lot more. This section is where you can crop more precisely than just choosing the dimensions from the Picture pane on the right.

Cropping Images in PowerPoint

The simple way to crop an image is to use the Picture pane under the Format Picture menu on the right side of the window. Use the Picture Position controls to move the picture inside its box, or use the Crop position controls to manipulate the box’s dimensions.

To exert more advanced control, or use special shapes, select the picture you want to crop, then click the Picture Format in the top menu to activate it.

Hit the Crop button, then use the controls on the picture’s box to size by eye. Or, click the arrow to show more options, including changing the shape of the box (for more creative looks) and using preset aspect ratios for a more uniform presentation of images.

The next time you design a PowerPoint presentation, remember that simplicity is key and less is more. By adopting these simple slide design tips, you’ll deliver a clear, powerful visual message to your audience.

If you want to go with a PowerPoint alternative instead, you can use Shutterstock Create to easily craft convincing, engaging, and informative presentations.

With many presentation template designs, you’ll be sure to find something that is a perfect fit for your next corporate presentation. You can download your designs as a .pdf file and import them into both PowerPoint and Google Slides presentation decks.

Take Your PowerPoint Presentation to the Next Level with Shutterstock Flex

Need authentic, eye-catching photography to form the foundation of your PowerPoint presentation? We’ve got you covered.

With Shutterstock Flex, you’ll have all-in-one access to our massive library, plus the FLEXibility you need to select the perfect mix of assets every time.

License this cover image via F8 studio and Ryan DeBerardinis .

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How-To Geek

6 ways to create more interactive powerpoint presentations.

Engage your audience with cool, actionable features.

Quick Links

• Add a QR code
• Embed Microsoft Forms (Education or Business Only)
• Embed a Live Web Page
• Add Links and Menus
• Add Clickable Images to Give More Info
• Add a Countdown Timer

We've all been to a presentation where the speaker bores you to death with a mundane PowerPoint presentation. Actually, the speaker could have kept you much more engaged by adding some interactive features to their slideshow. Let's look into some of these options.

1. Add a QR code

Adding a QR code can be particularly useful if you want to direct your audience to an online form, website, or video.

Some websites have in-built ways to create a QR code. For example, on Microsoft Forms , when you click "Collect Responses," you'll see the QR code option via the icon highlighted in the screenshot below. You can either right-click the QR code to copy and paste it into your presentation, or click "Download" to add it to your device gallery to insert the QR code as a picture.

In fact, you can easily add a QR code to take your viewer to any website. On Microsoft Edge, right-click anywhere on a web page where there isn't already a link, and left-click "Create QR Code For This Page."

You can also create QR codes in other browsers, such as Chrome.

You can then copy or download the QR code to use wherever you like in your presentation.

2. Embed Microsoft Forms (Education or Business Only)

If you plan to send your PPT presentation to others—for example, if you're a trainer sending step-by-step instruction presentation, a teacher sending an independent learning task to your students, or a campaigner for your local councilor sending a persuasive PPT to constituents—you might want to embed a quiz, questionnaire, pole, or feedback survey in your presentation.

In PowerPoint, open the "Insert" tab on the ribbon, and in the Forms group, click "Forms". If you cannot see this option, you can add new buttons to the ribbon .

As at April 2024, this feature is only available for those using their work or school account. We're using a Microsoft 365 Personal account in the screenshot below, which is why the Forms icon is grayed out.

Then, a sidebar will appear on the right-hand side of your screen, where you can either choose a form you have already created or opt to craft a new form.

Now, you can share your PPT presentation with others , who can click the fields and submit their responses when they view the presentation.

3. Embed a Live Web Page

You could always screenshot a web page and paste that into your PPT, but that's not a very interactive addition to your presentation. Instead, you can embed a live web page into your PPT so that people with access to your presentation can interact actively with its contents.

To do this, we will need to add an add-in to our PPT account .

Add-ins are not always reliable or secure. Before installing an add-in to your Microsoft account, check that the author is a reputable company, and type the add-in's name into a search engine to read reviews and other users' experiences.

To embed a web page, add the Web Viewer add-in ( this is an add-in created by Microsoft ).

Go to the relevant slide and open the Web Viewer add-in. Then, copy and paste the secure URL into the field box, and remove https:// from the start of the address. In our example, we will add a selector wheel to our slide. Click "Preview" to see a sample of the web page's appearance in your presentation.

This is how ours will look.

When you or someone with access to your presentation views the slideshow, this web page will be live and interactive.

4. Add Links and Menus

As well as moving from one slide to the next through a keyboard action or mouse click, you can create links within your presentation to direct the audience to specific locations.

To create a link, right-click the outline of the clickable object, and click "Link."

In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click "Place In This Document," choose the landing destination, and click "OK."

What's more, to make it clear that an object is clickable, you can use action buttons. Open the "Insert" tab on the ribbon, click "Shape," and then choose an appropriate action button. Usefully, PPT will automatically prompt you to add a link to these shapes.

You might also want a menu that displays on every slide. Once you have created the menu, add the links using the method outlined above. Then, select all the items, press Ctrl+C (copy), and then use Ctrl+V to paste them in your other slides.

5. Add Clickable Images to Give More Info

Through PowerPoint's animations, you can give your viewer the power to choose what they see and when they see it. This works nicely whether you're planning to send your presentation to others to run through independently or whether you're presenting in front of a group and want your audience to decide which action they want to take.

Start by creating the objects that will be clickable (trigger) and the items that will appear (pop-up).

Then, select all the pop-ups together. When you click "Animations" on the ribbon and choose an appropriate animation for the effect you want to achieve, this will be applied to all objects you have selected.

The next step is to rename the triggers in your presentation. To do this, open the "Home" tab, and in the Editing group, click "Select", and then "Selection Pane."

With the Selection Pane open, select each trigger on your slide individually, and rename them in the Selection Pane, so that they can be easily linked to in the next step.

Finally, go back to the first pop-up. Open the "Animations" tab, and in the Advanced Animation group, click the "Trigger" drop-down arrow. Then, you can set the item to appear when a trigger is clicked in your presentation.

If you want your item to disappear when the trigger is clicked again, select the pop-up, click "Add Animation" in the Advanced Animation group, choose an Exit animation, and follow the same step to link that animation to the trigger button.

6. Add a Countdown Timer

A great way to get your audience to engage with your PPT presentation is to keep them on edge by adding a countdown timer. Whether you're leading a presentation and want to let your audience stop to discuss a topic, or running an online quiz with time-limit questions, having a countdown timer means your audience will keep their eye on your slide throughout.

To do this, you need to animate text boxes or shapes containing your countdown numbers. Choose and format a shape and type the highest number that your countdown clock will need. In our case, we're creating a 10-second timer.

Now, with your shape selected, open the "Animations" tab on the ribbon and click the animation drop-down arrow. Then, in the Exit menu, click "Disappear."

Open the Animation Pane, and click the drop-down arrow next to the animation you've just added. From there, choose "Timing."

Make sure "On Click" is selected in the Start menu, and change the Delay option to "1 second," before clicking "OK."

Then, with this shape still selected, press Ctrl+C (copy), and then Ctrl+V (paste). In the second box, type 9 . With the Animation Pane still open and this second shape selected, click the drop-down arrow and choose "Timing" again. Change the Start option to "After Previous," and make sure the Delay option is 1 second. Then, click "OK."

We can now use this second shape as our template, as when we copy and paste it again, the animations will also duplicate. With this second shape selected, press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, type 8 into the box, and continue to do the same until you get to 0 .

Next, remove the animations from the "0" box, as you don't want this to disappear. To do this, click the shape, and in the Animation Pane drop-down, click "Remove."

You now need to layer them in order. Right-click the box containing number 1, and click "Bring To Front." You will now see that box on the top. Do the same with the other numbers in ascending order.

Finally, you need to align the objects together. Click anywhere on your slide and press Ctrl+A. Then, in the Home tab on the ribbon, click "Arrange." First click "Align Center," and then bring the menu up again, so that you can click "Align Middle."

Press Ctrl+A again to select your timer, and you can then move your timer or copy and paste it elsewhere.

Press F5 to see the presentation in action, and when you get to the slide containing the timer, click anywhere on the slide to see your countdown timer in action!

Now that your PPT presentation is more interactive, make sure you've avoided these eight common presentational mistakes before you present your slides.

Like what you're reading?

How to create a great thesis defense presentation: everything you need to know

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera April 13, 2024

Ready to take on your thesis defense presentation? It’s not just about wrapping up years of study; it’s your moment to share your insights and the impact of your work. A standout presentation can make all the difference. It’s your chance to highlight the essentials and really connect with your audience.

This is where Prezi comes into play. Forget about flipping through slide after slide. With Prezi, you craft a narrative that pulls your audience in. It simplifies the complex, ensuring your key points hit home. Let’s explore how Prezi can help transform your thesis defense into a successful presentation.

What is a thesis defense presentation and why are they needed? 

Whether you’re preparing for a master’s thesis defense or a Ph.D. thesis defense, this final step in your academic journey is the one with the most significance, as it dramatically influences your final grade. It’s also your chance to display the dedication and effort you’ve put into your research, a way to demonstrate how significant your work is. 

So, why is this such a big deal? A good presentation helps convince your teachers that your research is solid and makes a difference in your field. It’s your time to answer questions, show that your research methods were sound, and point out what’s new and interesting about your work. In the end, a great thesis defense presentation helps you finish strong and makes sure you leave a lasting impression as you wrap up this chapter of your academic life.

Best practices for making a successful thesis defense presentation 

In order to craft a standout thesis defense presentation, you need to do more than just deliver research findings. Here are some key strategies to ensure success, and how Prezi can play a crucial role in elevating your presentation.

Start with a strong introduction

Kick-off with an engaging introduction that lays out your research question, its significance, and your objectives. This initial segment grabs attention and sets the tone. Using Prezi’s zoom feature can make your introduction pop by visually underscoring key points, helping your audience grasp the importance of your work right from the start.

Organize your presentation clearly

A coherent structure is essential for guiding your audience through your thesis defense presentation. Prezi can help by offering a map view of your content’s layout upfront, providing a clear path through your introduction, methodology, results, and conclusion. This clarity keeps your audience engaged and makes your arguments easier to follow.

Incorporate multimedia elements

Adding multimedia elements like videos, audio clips, and animations can greatly improve the appeal of your thesis defense presentation. Prezi supports the seamless integration of these elements, allowing you to bring your research to life in a more vibrant and engaging way. Videos can serve as powerful testimonials or demonstrations, while animations can help illustrate complex processes or changes over time. This variety keeps your audience engaged and helps convey your message in a more exciting way.

Simplify complex data

Your findings need to be presented in a way that’s easy for your audience to understand. Prezi shines here, with tools that transform intricate data into clear, engaging visuals. By implementing charts and graphs into your presentation, you can make your data stand out and support your narrative effectively.

Engage your audience

Make your thesis defense a two-way conversation by interacting with your audience. Whether it’s through questions, feedback, or direct participation, engagement is key. Prezi allows for a flexible presentation style, letting you navigate sections in response to audience input, creating a dynamic and engaging experience.

Highlight key takeaways

Emphasize the key takeaways of your research throughout your presentation to ensure your audience grasps the most critical aspects of your work. With Prezi, you can use spotlighting and strategic zooming to draw attention to these takeaways, making them stand out. This method helps reinforce your main points, ensuring they stick with your audience long after your presentation concludes. By clearly defining what your audience should remember, you guide their understanding and appreciation of your research’s value and implications.

Practice makes perfect

Confidence in delivery comes from thorough practice. Familiarize yourself with every aspect of your thesis defense presentation, including timing, voice control, and gestures. Prezi Video is a great tool for rehearsing, as it allows you to blend your presentation materials with your on-camera performance, mirroring the live defense setting and helping you polish your delivery.

End with a lasting impression

Conclude your presentation powerfully by summarizing your main findings, their implications, and future research directions. Prezi’s ability to zoom out and show the big picture at your conclusion helps reinforce how each section of your presentation contributes to your overall thesis, ensuring your research leaves a memorable impact on your audience.

By using these tips and taking advantage of what Prezi offers, you can make your thesis defense presentation really stand out. It’ll not only hit the mark with your audience but also clearly show why your research matters.

Meeting tight deadlines with Prezi 

Facing a looming deadline for your thesis defense presentation? Prezi offers smart solutions to help you create a polished and engaging presentation quickly, even if it feels like you’re down to the wire.

A closer look at Prezi AI features

Prezi AI is a standout feature for those pressed for time. It assists in structuring your presentation efficiently, suggesting design elements and layouts that elevate your content. This AI-driven approach means you can develop a presentation that looks meticulously planned and executed in a fraction of the time it would normally take. The result? A presentation that communicates the depth and value of your research clearly and effectively, without the last-minute rush being evident. Here’s what Prezi AI can do:

• Streamlined creation process: At the core of Prezi’s efficiency is the AI presentation creator . Perfect for those last-minute crunch times, it’s designed to tackle tight deadlines with ease.
• Easy start: Kick off your presentation creation with just a click on the “Create with AI” button. Prezi AI guides you through a smooth process, transforming your initial ideas or keywords into a structured and visually appealing narrative.
• Visual impact: There’s no need to dive deep into design details. Simply provide some basic input, and Prezi AI will craft it into a presentation that grabs and holds your audience’s attention, making your thesis defense visually compelling.
• AI text editing: Spending too much time fine-tuning your message? Prezi AI text editing features can help. Whether you need to expand on a concept, clarify complex terms, or condense your content without losing impact, Prezi AI streamlines these tasks.
• Content refinement: Adjust text length for deeper explanation, simplify language for better understanding, and ensure your presentation’s content is precise and to the point. Prezi AI editing tools help you refine your message quickly, so you can focus on the essence of your research.

Using Prezi Video for remote thesis defense presentations

For remote thesis defenses, Prezi Video steps up to ensure your presentation stands out. It integrates your on-screen presence alongside your presentation content, creating a more personal and engaging experience for your audience. This is crucial in maintaining attention and interest, particularly in a virtual format where keeping your audience engaged presents additional challenges. Prezi Video makes it seem as though you’re presenting live alongside your slides, helping to simulate the in-person defense experience and keep your audience focused on what you’re saying.

Using these advanced Prezi features, you can overcome tight deadlines with confidence, ensuring your thesis defense presentation is both impactful and memorable, no matter the time constraints.

The Prezi experience: what users have to say 

Prezi users have shared compelling insights on how the platform’s unique features have revolutionized their presentations. Here’s how their experiences can inspire your thesis defense presentation:

Storytelling with Prezi

Javier Schwersensky highlights the narrative power of Prezi: “This is a tool that is going to put you ahead of other people and make you look professional and make your ideas stand out,” he remarks. For your thesis defense, this means Prezi can help you craft a narrative that not only presents your research but tells a story that captures and retains the committee’s interest.

Flexibility and creativity

Tamara Montag-Smit appreciates Prezi for its “functionality of the presentation that allows you to present in a nonlinear manner.” This flexibility is key in a thesis defense, allowing you to adapt your presentation flow in real time based on your audience’s engagement or questions, ensuring a more dynamic and interactive defense.

The open canvas

Vitek Dočekal values Prezi’s open canvas , which offers “creative freedom” and the ability to “create a mind map and determine how to best present my ideas.” For your thesis defense, this means Prezi lets you lay out and show off your work in a way that makes sense and grabs your audience’s attention, turning complicated details into something easy and interesting to follow.

Engagement and retention

Adam Rose points out the engagement benefits of Prezi: “Being able to integrate videos is extremely effective in capturing their attention.” When you need to defend a thesis, using Prezi to include videos or interactive content can help keep your committee engaged, making your presentation much more memorable.

These real insights show just how effective Prezi is for crafting truly influential presentations. By incorporating Prezi into your thesis defense presentation, you can create a defense that not only shows how strong your research is but also leaves a lasting impression on your audience.

Thesis defense presentations for inspiration 

Prezi is much more than a platform for making presentations; it’s a place where you can find inspiration by browsing presentations that other Prezi users have made. Not only that, but Prezi offers numerous templates that would be useful for thesis defense presentations, making the design process much easier. Here are a few examples that you may find helpful: 

Research project template by Prezi 

This Prezi research project template stands out as an ideal choice for thesis defense presentations due to its well-structured format that facilitates storytelling from start to finish. It begins with a clear introduction and problem statement, setting a solid foundation for the narrative. The inclusion of sections for user research, interviews, demographics, and statistics allows for a detailed presentation of the research process and findings, which are crucial when defending a thesis. 

Visual elements like user mapping and journey maps help make complex information understandable and engaging, which is crucial for maintaining the committee’s attention. Additionally, addressing pain points and presenting prototypes showcases problem-solving efforts and practical applications of the research. The template culminates in a conclusion that ties everything together, emphasizing the research’s impact and future possibilities. Its comprehensive yet concise structure makes it an excellent tool for communicating the depth and significance of your work in a thesis defense.

Civil rights movement Prezi

This Prezi on the Civil Rights Movement exemplifies an effective thesis defense presentation by seamlessly blending structured content, multimedia enhancements, and dynamic navigation. It organizes information into coherent sections like “About,” “Key Events,” and “Key People,” offering a comprehensive view ideal for a thesis presentation. The strategic use of videos adds depth, providing historical context in a dynamic way that text alone cannot, enhancing the audience’s engagement and understanding. 

Furthermore, Prezi’s open canvas feature brings the narrative to life, allowing for a fluid journey through the Civil Rights Movement. This method of presentation, with its zooming and panning across a virtual canvas, not only captivates but also helps to clarify the connections between various elements of the research, showcasing how to effectively communicate complex ideas in a thesis defense.

AI-assisted history template

This AI-assisted presentation template stands out as a great choice for thesis defense presentations, especially for those rooted in historical research. By merging striking visuals with rich, informative content, you can use this template to craft a narrative that breathes life into past events, guiding the audience on an engaging journey through time. Its sequential storytelling approach, empowered by Prezi AI , ensures a smooth transition from one historical point to the next, demonstrating the depth and continuity of your research. This template showcases Prezi AI’s capability to enhance narrative flow. By integrating advanced visuals and text, it captivates audiences and makes it an invaluable tool for presenting complex historical theses in a clear, compelling way.

Master your final grade with a Prezi thesis defense presentation 

Preparing for a thesis defense, whether for a master’s or Ph.D., is a pivotal moment that significantly influences your final grade. It’s your platform to demonstrate the dedication behind your research and its importance in your field. A well-executed presentation convinces your educators of your research’s validity and your ability to bring fresh perspectives to light.

To craft a successful thesis defense presentation, Prezi’s innovative features can be a game-changer. Prezi can empower you to transform presentations into captivating stories and provide you with the flexibility and creative freedom needed to make your presentation an outstanding success. Incorporating videos or utilizing Prezi’s non-linear presentation style can keep your committee engaged and emphasize your research’s significance.

Prezi also serves as a hub of inspiration, offering templates perfect for thesis defenses. From structured research project templates to dynamic historical narratives, Prezi provides tools that communicate your thesis’s depth and significance effectively, ensuring you leave a memorable impact on your audience. So, it’s time to revamp your thesis defense presentation and change it from dull to inspirational with Prezi. 

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AI presentation maker

When lack of inspiration or time constraints are something you’re worried about, it’s a good idea to seek help. Slidesgo comes to the rescue with its latest functionality—the AI presentation maker! With a few clicks, you’ll have wonderful slideshows that suit your own needs . And it’s totally free!

Generate presentations in minutes

We humans make the world move, but we need to sleep, rest and so on. What if there were someone available 24/7 for you? It’s time to get out of your comfort zone and ask the AI presentation maker to give you a hand. The possibilities are endless : you choose the topic, the tone and the style, and the AI will do the rest. Now we’re talking!

Customize your AI-generated presentation online

Alright, your robotic pal has generated a presentation for you. But, for the time being, AIs can’t read minds, so it’s likely that you’ll want to modify the slides. Please do! We didn’t forget about those time constraints you’re facing, so thanks to the editing tools provided by one of our sister projects —shoutouts to Wepik — you can make changes on the fly without resorting to other programs or software. Add text, choose your own colors, rearrange elements, it’s up to you! Oh, and since we are a big family, you’ll be able to access many resources from big names, that is, Freepik and Flaticon . That means having a lot of images and icons at your disposal!

How does it work?

Think of your topic.

First things first, you’ll be talking about something in particular, right? A business meeting, a new medical breakthrough, the weather, your favorite songs, a basketball game, a pink elephant you saw last Sunday—you name it. Just type it out and let the AI know what the topic is.

Choose your preferred style and tone

They say that variety is the spice of life. That’s why we let you choose between different design styles, including doodle, simple, abstract, geometric, and elegant . What about the tone? Several of them: fun, creative, casual, professional, and formal. Each one will give you something unique, so which way of impressing your audience will it be this time? Mix and match!

Make any desired changes

You’ve got freshly generated slides. Oh, you wish they were in a different color? That text box would look better if it were placed on the right side? Run the online editor and use the tools to have the slides exactly your way.

Download the final result for free

Yes, just as envisioned those slides deserve to be on your storage device at once! You can export the presentation in .pdf format and download it for free . Can’t wait to show it to your best friend because you think they will love it? Generate a shareable link!

What is an AI-generated presentation?

It’s exactly “what it says on the cover”. AIs, or artificial intelligences, are in constant evolution, and they are now able to generate presentations in a short time, based on inputs from the user. This technology allows you to get a satisfactory presentation much faster by doing a big chunk of the work.

Can I customize the presentation generated by the AI?

Of course! That’s the point! Slidesgo is all for customization since day one, so you’ll be able to make any changes to presentations generated by the AI. We humans are irreplaceable, after all! Thanks to the online editor, you can do whatever modifications you may need, without having to install any software. Colors, text, images, icons, placement, the final decision concerning all of the elements is up to you.

Can I add my own images?

Absolutely. That’s a basic function, and we made sure to have it available. Would it make sense to have a portfolio template generated by an AI without a single picture of your own work? In any case, we also offer the possibility of asking the AI to generate images for you via prompts. Additionally, you can also check out the integrated gallery of images from Freepik and use them. If making an impression is your goal, you’ll have an easy time!

Is this new functionality free? As in “free of charge”? Do you mean it?

Yes, it is, and we mean it. We even asked our buddies at Wepik, who are the ones hosting this AI presentation maker, and they told us “yup, it’s on the house”.

Are there more presentation designs available?

From time to time, we’ll be adding more designs. The cool thing is that you’ll have at your disposal a lot of content from Freepik and Flaticon when using the AI presentation maker. Oh, and just as a reminder, if you feel like you want to do things yourself and don’t want to rely on an AI, you’re on Slidesgo, the leading website when it comes to presentation templates. We have thousands of them, and counting!.

How can I download my presentation?

The easiest way is to click on “Download” to get your presentation in .pdf format. But there are other options! You can click on “Present” to enter the presenter view and start presenting right away! There’s also the “Share” option, which gives you a shareable link. This way, any friend, relative, colleague—anyone, really—will be able to access your presentation in a moment.

Discover more content

This is just the beginning! Slidesgo has thousands of customizable templates for Google Slides and PowerPoint. Our designers have created them with much care and love, and the variety of topics, themes and styles is, how to put it, immense! We also have a blog, in which we post articles for those who want to find inspiration or need to learn a bit more about Google Slides or PowerPoint. Do you have kids? We’ve got a section dedicated to printable coloring pages! Have a look around and make the most of our site!

Annual skilled trades competition builds technical and professional skills for Iowa students

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024
• Headline Story

Southeast Polk senior Simon Frohock (R) competed in the cabinet making contest for a second year.

High-quality career and professional skill development took center stage last week as over 600 high school and college students took part in the annual SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference . Held in Ankeny at the Des Moines Area Community College campus, this two-day competition featured over 50 different leadership and technical competitions for students to test their technical skills and knowledge, explore career pathways and make valuable connections with local industry leaders.

Southeast Polk High School seniors Delvis Kouete and Simon Frohock, both 17, were well-prepared for the competition, which featured timed activities related to industrial technology, carpentry, robotics, automotive repair and job interview techniques, among many others. For this year’s skills competition, Delvis competed in architectural drafting and was a member of the school’s quiz bowl team. Simon, the 2023 state champion in cabinet making, returned for a second year in the cabinet making contest. Both students competed well in their individual competitions, with Delvis placing fifth and Simon serving as this year’s runner-up.

“The skills competition can help you strive for excellence in your work and learning,” Simon said. “Even though it’s a competition and there is pressure to do well, it’s a good, low-risk way to see what an employee in this work has to do every day.”

Both Simon and Delvis noted that the competition not only helps to strengthen a student’s technical skills, but it also engages students in career pathway discovery and professional skill development.

“Being a part of SkillsUSA and competing in the skills competition has helped me learn new skills with my hands and work on teamwork, communication and leadership skills,” Delvis said. “You learn how to work with other people that aren’t like you and get your mind thinking about your future career.”

Along with the individual contests, all competitors at the SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference were required to submit a resume and take a professional development test that focused on workplace, professional and technical skills as well as overall knowledge of SkillsUSA.

“SkillsUSA helps provide real-world context to the content being taught by classroom educators,” said Kent Storm, state director for SkillsUSA Iowa. “Taking the learning beyond the classroom allows students to grow and learn next to industry partners and gain valuable experience."

As one of Iowa’s career and technical student organizations (CTSO) , SkillsUSA champions the skilled trades industry and provides opportunities for students to apply the skills they have developed in classrooms through conferences, competitions, community service events, worksite visits and other activities.

“Participation in a CTSO like SkillsUSA helps students gain hands-on experience and connect classroom curricula to careers,” said Cale Hutchings, education consultant at the Iowa Department of Education. “Through CTSOs, students can become leaders and strengthen their employability skills, which is valuable as they explore potential next steps in their college and career pathways.”

SkillsUSA boasts a roster of over 400,000 members nationwide. In Iowa, over 1,300 students and advisers in career and technical education programs participate in local SkillsUSA chapters.

At Southeast Polk, 21 student members are a part of their SkillsUSA chapter. Led by industrial technology teachers and chapter advisers Ryan Andersen and Brett Rickabaugh, the students have been involved with several community service projects, employer presentations and opportunities to work closely with instructors.

“Any time a student participates in SkillsUSA, it gives us more time with that student to elaborate on what we’ve learned in class,” Andersen said. “They can connect the idea to the planning, design and completion of a project and how that activity fits into a real career. That’s something we can’t replicate without a CTSO.”

Anderson also stated that students who participate in SkillsUSA and activities like the State Leadership and Skills Conference build confidence through their experiences.

“It really helps students to have the confidence to rely on their skills and what they know,” he said. “The skills competition requires them to use problem-solving skills and build off their knowledge to continue to learn and persevere.”

This year’s first-place winners at the SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference will move onward to compete with 6,000 other students at the national conference in Atlanta this June.

For Simon and Delvis, the skills competition was another step in building necessary skills and acumen for their futures. Simon, with his penchant for cabinet making, already has a full-time job lined up after graduation with a local cabinet shop. Additionally, Delvis would like to pursue something within the computer science field, perhaps in the coding or software engineering areas, and although he is changing fields, he believes SkillsUSA has helped him feel more prepared for the future.

“It has definitely helped me with skill-building and problem-solving,” he said. “What I’ve learned will be beneficial no matter what I decide to do next.”  

• Transcripts

GFL Environmental Inc. (GFL) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

GFL Environmental Inc. ( NYSE: GFL ) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call May 2, 2024 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Patrick Dovigi - Founder and CEO Luke Pelosi - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Stephanie Moore - Jefferies Kevin Chiang - CIBC Wood Gundy Sabahat Khan - RBC Capital Jerry Revich - Goldman Sachs Michael Hoffman - Stifel Patrick Tyler Brown - Raymond James Michael Doumet - Scotiabank Tobey Sommer - Truist Chris Murray - ATB Capital Markets James Schumm - TD Cowen

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to the GFL Environmental 2024 First Quarter Earnings Call. My name is Glenn, and I will be the operator of today’s call. At this time, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions]

I will now hand you over to your host, Patrick Dovigi, Founder and CEO of GFL Environmental. Patrick, you may now begin.

Patrick Dovigi

Thank you and good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to today’s call and thank you for joining us. This morning we will be reviewing our results for the quarter. I am joined this morning by Luke Pelosi, our CFO, who will take us through our forward-looking disclaimer before we get into details.

Luke Pelosi

Thank you, Patrick. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. We have filed our earnings press release, which includes important information. The press release, as well as a presentation to accompany this call, is available on our website.

During this call, we will be making some forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws, including statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate may occur in the future.

These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those set out in our filings with the Canadian and U.S. securities regulators. Any forward-looking statement is not a guarantee of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements speak only as of today’s date and we do not assume any obligation to update these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise.

This call will include the discussion of certain non-IFRS measures. A reconciliation of these non-IFRS measures can be found in our filings with the Canadian and U.S. securities regulators.

I will now turn the call back over to Patrick.

Thank you, Luke. Once again, we started the year with the strength of our high-quality employees and asset-based driving performance ahead of expectations. This is our fifth year of being a public company and I continue to be humbled by the capacity of more than our 20,000 employees to consistently deliver results ahead of our plans.

On our last call, in what has become our usual practice, we provided our 2024 guidance with an industry-leading degree of transparency and the details of the moving pieces that we anticipated this year, including what we expected to be industry-leading organic margin expansion in our base business.

We also outlined the specifics of our planned M&A and growth investments. Our first quarter results are better than we guided and we fully expect this positive momentum to continue for the balance of the year.

Luke will walk us through the details, but I wanted to first highlight a few key metrics. First quarter pricing was 7.7% on a like-for-like basis. Our pricing strategies continue to outperform expectations and we remain optimistic about our ability to realize incremental pricing opportunities as we replicate the pricing playbook that our public company peers have already successfully employed.

With the strength of our first quarter pricing, we are highly confident that we will be able to meet or exceed our price guidance for the year. We expect the recent strength in commodity prices to continue to be upside versus our guidance.

On the cost side, labor turnover is sequentially improving and is yielding efficiencies in onboarding cost, productivity and the overall cost of risk. R&M costs are also improving as unit cost inflation moderates and fleet replacement rates improve. The result is the realization of outsized price-cost spread that supports ongoing margin expansion.

Volume growth in the quarter was negative 3%. This was significantly better than our expectations as the negative impact on volume of the unusually cold January weather in our southern markets was offset by the positive impact of milder weather in most of our northern markets in February and March.

We expect some of this could be a pull-forward of second quarter volumes. However, we remain confident in our full year volume expectations, including our guidance. We also remain confident in the effectiveness of our deliberate volume strategies.

As we’ve discussed, our industry-leading growth has provided us outsized opportunities to improve asset utilization and drive margin expansion through the internal -- intentional shedding of lower-quality revenues. We believe the benefits of these strategies are evident in our margin performance.

As we highlighted on our year-end call, we are also actively deploying growth capital across a variety of initiatives that we expect will generate significant ROIC for years to come. In the first quarter, we deployed $62 million into incremental growth investments, primarily related to recycling and RNG infrastructure. For the full year 2024, we remain on track to deploy $250 million to $300 million into these investments, as we previously guided.

The EPR landscape in our Canadian markets continues to evolve and we remain confident that we will see upside to the $80 million to $100 million of incremental adjusted EBITDA we previously identified associated with these initiatives. As we said earlier, the contribution from these contracts is expected to start late this year, ramp up through 2025 and achieve our expected full contribution in fiscal 2026.

On RNG, our first facility at the Arbor Hills Landfill is continuing to ramp up its operations, generating cash flow in line with our expectations. We have two or three more facilities that we’ll expect to come online by the end of the year. We remain confident that we will realize the $175 million of adjusted EBITDA previously disclosed once our portfolio of landfill gas to energy facilities is fully operational in the coming years.

In addition to organic growth initiatives, we have deployed approximately $500 million into six acquisitions since the beginning of this year. All these acquisitions were in solid waste within our existing geographies.

The largest of the six acquisitions we discussed in our last earnings call is a vertically integrated asset in Central Florida, one of the fastest growing markets in the U.S. This asset is highly complementary to our existing network and we expect that it will act as a driver for significant organic growth for us in this market for years to come.

Like most acquisitions of this caliber, the M&A process commenced over six months before closing and the consummation of this transaction was fully anticipated when we provided our capital allocation framework in November of last year.

While we continue to maintain a robust acquisition pipeline, we remain absolutely committed to the guidance for our total 2024 growth investments and net leverage that we set out at the beginning of the year.

As we have consistently demonstrated, the predictable recurring nature of the revenues and cash flows generated by our business allow us to forecast the full year’s results with a high degree of accuracy.

Within a given year, weather-driven timing differences between the first and second quarters can impact comparability on a year-over-year basis, and therefore, we typically have waited until the first half of the year to give updated guidance for the year.

While we believe there could be some revenue pull-forward from the second quarter because of weather-related impacts, based on the quality of the margin performance in the first quarter, we are increasing our guidance for 2024 adjusted EBITDA to $2.23 billion. We will provide a more fulsome guidance update when we report our second quarter results.

I’ll now pass the call to Luke, who will walk us through the quarter in more detail and then I’ll share some closing comments before we open it up for Q&A.

Thanks, Patrick. Our accompanying investor presentation provides supplemental analysis to summarize performance in the quarter in a consistent format to what we’ve previously provided. Revenue for the quarter of $1.8 billion was 6.5% higher than the prior year, excluding the impact of the solid waste divestitures. Stronger-than-anticipated pricing and volume were the primary drivers of this result that was $25 million ahead of internal expectations.

While the January cold weather in our southern markets negatively impacted volumes, the above-average temperatures later in the quarter in many of our northern U.S. and Canadian markets partially offset the January impacts.

As Patrick said, the strength of our first quarter pricing activities is highly encouraging for the achievement or exceedance of our pricing expectations for the year, with over 80% of our full year pricing impact already locked in based on the contracted nature of our business.

Page 3 shows the bridge for solid waste adjusted EBITDA margins compared to the first quarter of 2023. As anticipated, the change in commodity and fuel prices from the prior year served as a margin tailwind, whereas the net contribution of M&A and divestitures was a 20-basis-point margin headwind versus the first quarter of 2023. Underlying solid waste margins expanded by 100 basis points, 50 basis points better than planned, a result that would have been even greater without the weather-related impacts.

The flow-through benefits of the outsized price-cost spread, our intentional volume-shedding initiatives, RNG contribution and incremental operating leverage coming from improving employee turnover and asset utilization are exceeding expectations and reinforce our optimism and our ability to exceed the industry-leading organic margin expansion we included in our base guide for this year.

Page 4 highlights the performance of our Environmental Services segment in the quarter. To contextualize this year’s performance, it is important to recall the prior year comparable period saw an unseasonably high level of activity, resulting in 25% organic revenue growth in that quarter. We had called out this outsized performance in our Q1 2023 reporting. Normalizing the prior period for this outperformance, we saw over 10% topline revenue growth in this segment.

Unusually cold weather in the south in January, as well as the imposition of earlier spring road weight restrictions because of warmer weather in our northern markets that are typically implemented in the second quarter, negatively impacted volumes. The impacts on our southern markets alone impacted margins by over 100 basis points. The rollover impact of the fire we had at one of our facilities in late Q4 was a 20-basis-point drag on ES margins.

The timing of event-driven work and the sale of used motor oil also resulted in reduced revenue versus the prior year. The fact that we are exceeding our margin expectations in the face of these headwinds serves to highlight the quality of the underlying portfolio and our overall growth strategy for this segment.

Adjusted free cash flow for the quarter was $49 million, an increase of nearly $100 million over the prior year period and ahead of our internal expectations. The outperformance of adjusted EBITDA, a lower seasonal investment in working capital and capital expenditures that were $25 million less than the plan all contributed to the significant outperformance versus expectations. We expect the working capital and CapEx variances to be timing differences and remain confident in our full year expectations for both of these line items.

Page 5 summarizes reported net leverage, which was 4.3 times on March 31st, reflecting the impact of normal core seasonality and the change in FX rates from the start to the end of the quarter.

During the quarter we received a credit rating upgrade from S&P and remain on positive credit watch from both the rating agencies, reflecting the material improvement in our credit quality and the expectation for further improvement in the near term. As we previously said, we anticipate material credit rating upgrades prior to the maturity of most of our existing debt, providing an opportunity for near-term lower borrowing costs and improved free cash flow conversion.

As Patrick said, we remain absolutely committed to our previously stated leverage targets and with the strength of the first quarter performance, we are confident in our ability to achieve these targets, exiting 2024 with net leverage between 3.65 times and 3.85 times.

In terms of guidance, with the strength of this year’s start, we’re feeling highly confident in our ability to exceed our previously communicated targets. As Patrick said, the strength of the first quarter’s margin performance allows us the confidence to increase our adjusted EBITDA guidance to $2.23 billion.

However, as Patrick noted and we’ve consistently said, there can often be timing shifts between the first and second quarters, so we will maintain our normal course practice of waiting until July before we formally update our full set of guidance for the year.

Specifically related to the second quarter, we note the following. Consolidated revenue is expected to be approximately $2.055 billion. Solid waste revenues are expected to be $1.56 billion to $1.57 billion, driven by pricing just over 6% and volume that’s anticipated to improve approximately 50 basis points sequentially from the first quarter, or approximately negative 2.5%.

For Environmental Services, we expect to realize between $475 million and $500 million of revenue, representing another quarter of 10% growth over the prior year. The wider-than-typical revenue ranges within the segments are to account for the potential weather-driven pull-forward of revenue into the first quarter from Q2.

In terms of margin, we expect consolidated adjusted EBITDA margins to accelerate over 300 basis points sequentially over the first quarter to just under 28.5% or nearly 70 basis points over Q2 2023.

At the segment level, this assumes solid waste margins of 32.25% to 32.5%, ES margins of almost flat with the prior year around 29.6% and corporate margins of negative 3.2%. The guide then contemplates further margin expansion in the third quarter before stepping down in the fourth quarter as per the typical cadence of the business.

Putting that together yields between $585 million and $590 million of adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter. Additionally, we expect $220 million to $230 million of net capital expenditures, $105 million of cash interest, an investment in working capital between $65 million and $75 million, and other operating items of approximately $25 million for Q2 adjusted free cash flow of approximately $160 million to $170 million.

In terms of net leverage, we expect a modest step up in Q2 as a result of seasonality and completed M&A and then to rateably step down in Q3 and Q4. Adjusted net income is expected to be approximately $100 million for the second quarter.

I will now pass the call back to Patrick, who will provide some closing comments before Q&A.

Thanks, Luke. The drive of our employees to make our business better every day is evident in what we have achieved this quarter and the opportunities we are creating for steadily improving performance in the near and longer term.

I want to thank each and every one of them for their dedicated contribution to Team Green. As I’ve said on many of our calls, our focus has always been on delivering what we say we’re going to do. This quarter is no exception.

Our results for the quarter continue to demonstrate the underlying quality of our asset base and the impact of the effective and consistent implementation of our key value creation strategies. At the same time, the discipline-targeted growth investments we are making today are setting us up to deliver strong organic growth for many years to come.

We have provided comprehensive, easy-to-follow guidance for the year and we’ve started off 2024 delivering on exactly what we said we were going to do. We intend to continue to do more of the same in the coming quarters.

I will now turn the call over to the Operator to open the line for Q&A.

Question-and-Answer Session

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] With our first question comes from Stephanie Moore from Jefferies. Stephanie, your line is now open.

Stephanie Moore

Hi. Good morning. Thank you.

Good morning.

To start, could you give us an update on this EPR? Patrick, you mentioned upside to the $80 million to $100 million of EBITDA. Where are you seeing the additional opportunities and what is the timing? Thanks.

Yeah. So, I think, as we discussed, the $80 million to $100 million of incremental EBITDA is in the bag today, signed, contracted, et cetera. As we said, there was -- there’s a few large, particularly hauling and transfer contracts that were out for bid sort of late last year.

We have been notified that we have been selected as a preferred vendor for the entire city of Toronto on the recycling side. It’s not done as of yet, but we are in contract negotiations to finalize that and hope to have a very good update for you on our Q2 call.

As well, there’s a multitude of other sort of residential contracts. Mostly the ones we’re focused on is one that we actually already currently do and we expect that those will be awarded over the next sort of three to four months.

So, again, pretty good opportunity and upside from those. And as we look at the other provinces, Quebec and the Maritimes continue to release incremental bids and legislation continues to go through in Western Canada.

But I think, you know, on the Q2 call, we’ll give you sort of a very good update on where we stand with EPR. But very good news on our side that we were notified of being the preferred vendor for contract negotiations for the entire city of Toronto.

Got it and that’s helpful. And then this is a follow-up. Maybe, Luke, free cash flow was much better than expected for the quarter and it looks like you are seeing some improvements in working capital management. Where are you in that process and kind of what are your expectations for working capital cadence for the remainder of the year? Thanks.

Yeah. Thanks, Stephanie. It’s a great question and certainly an area where we do see continued opportunity. I mean, for context, you’ve got to remember, I mean, working capital with the levels of M&A we’ve done historically, sometimes you can have impacts of that that, manifest in the working capital line and therefore harder to sort of smooth that out over the four quarters. As we now have the stability of the base business, it allows for more sort of regular cadence.

So with the seasonality profile of our business, primarily the northern markets, we’re going to continue to see investments in the first half that then reverse in the second half. However, as you can see in this quarter, the magnitude of the swing is becoming more and more muted. So it’s going to allow for much more predictable and stable free cash flow generation on sort of quarter-over-quarter basis and you’re seeing that in this quarter’s results. So we do think this year’s cadence will be similar. Q2 we’ll see another investment, albeit at a lower level than historically, and then the reversals that we’ve customarily realized in Q3 and Q4 are expected as well.

Great. Thanks so much.

Thank you. With our next question comes from Kevin Chiang from CIBC Wood Gundy. Kevin, your line is now open.

Kevin Chiang

Hey. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe just on the rest of the M&A spend this year, I just want to make sure I have this correctly. So it looks like you spent just over $111 million in Q1, which doesn’t look like it includes the Angelo acquisition, which I think on the last call you suggested a sizable acquisition would be about half the expected spend this year. So it looks like you’re about two-thirds, if my math is correct, about two-thirds of the way through the $600 million to $650 million of M&A spend this year. Just wondering, one, is my math correct? And then two, just the visibility on spending the rest of that capital, is that something we should expect in the second quarter here or does that kind of smooth out through the rest of the year, just given how active you’ve been through the first four months of this year?

Yeah. So I think we spent year-to-date about $500 million, so it leaves somewhere between $100 million and $150 million spend for the sort of rest of the year. I think you’ll see some of that trickle in in later Q2 and spread out through Q3 and early Q4. But I wouldn’t expect it all to sort of be spent by the end of Q2. It’s going to trickle into the next couple of quarters.

Yeah. And Kevin, in terms of the financial statements, you have it right. Q1 saw four acquisitions closed, but Angelo’s the largest and another were closed actually the beginning of April. So it’s in that year-to-date number that Patrick said, but within the quarter proper you had the lower spend on just those four smaller acquisitions.

That’s helpful. And maybe just a second one for me and I appreciate you’ll provide a more fulsome update on the full year guide when you report Q2 and you talked about wanting to see some of the impact maybe on volumes shifting between Q1 and the second quarter here. But I guess if I look at it simplistically, you assumed a level of seasonality in Q1 in your previous guidance. If I apply that seasonality to what you actually printed in Q1, plus adding in some of this M&A, which you haven’t included in your guidance, plus maybe a more favorable commodity price environment than you had assumed, because you’re pretty conservative, it feels like it’s a pretty sizable increase versus where you’re sitting now. I’m sure you won’t confirm this, but north of $2.3 billion of EBITDA doesn’t feel out of the realm of possibility when I look at the puts and takes. Maybe broad strokes if there’s anything you would comment on that in terms of maybe where my math might be wrong or maybe where we might be right?

Without giving formally updated guidance, you’re heading in the right direction, I would say. But we’re going to come out at the end of Q2 and we’ll give updated guidance for the full year, including the contribution from M&A and any other things that pop up along the way, particularly as we get through the first half of the year and get a real trajectory of volumes and where pricing is going to lie. But, I think, Kevin, you’re on the right path.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer that question. Good results there. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Kevin.

Thank you. With our next question comes from Sabahat Khan from RBC Capital. Your line is now open.

Sabahat Khan

Great. Thanks and good morning. I think you noted in the prepared remarks that labor turnover is trending lower and some of the other costs trending lower. Improving EBITDA margins seems to be a bit of a trend we’ve seen in this reporting cycle. If you can maybe give a bit more detail on how much the labor turnover has improved, how you expect that to trend the year -- trend through maybe the rest of the year, and maybe a bit more color on the repair and maintenance costs, et cetera, as well? Thanks.

Yeah. So I’ll give it to Luke on a couple of others. But on the labor front, basically, like we said, in sort of the peak of COVID, jobs market was really tight, labor voluntary turnover, particularly in the residential book of business was trending sort of closer to 30%. That dropped to sort of mid-20s last year and has trended to low 20s this year. Pre-COVID we were in the high teens range. So, we’re getting significantly closer. Still some room to go, but it’s certainly heading in the right direction and you’re seeing that flow through to the P&L and you’re definitely seeing that on the margin front.

Yeah. And then Sabahat, it’s Luke speaking on R&M. I think it’s a similar story and trend line that things are moving in the right direction. I mean, if you look for the quarter, R&M was about 10.3% of revenue.

Now, that was flat with Q4, but being achieved on the seasonally lower Q1 revenues, right? And so if you think of how that then rolls forward with the revenue upticks and the improved efficiency in R&M, we see a path to that going back into the sort of single-digit as you get into the middle of the year and probably ending the year in the mid to higher 9s level.

So I think there’s still some conservatism in that number and the improvements that we’re seeing across the business should drive incremental opportunity there. So we’re feeling really good with how that trend line is moving.

Okay. Great. And then maybe if I can tease out on Patrick’s comments around that Toronto recycling contract. I know you said you’re still in contract negotiations, but any big picture parameters around kind of the scale, directional margins for this business versus a base business under the EPR regime, just anything you can share even at a high level to give us perspective on what this could mean or what it could look like? Thanks.

Yeah. I mean, it’ll be -- remember, keep in mind, we do 60% of the work already today. 40% of the work is being done by others, mostly city workers. The contract value will be in excess of $50 million a year. I think that sort of margins accretive to what our blended margin is today for solid waste.

That’s $50 million to EBITDA?

No. $50 million of revenue…

… in excess of $50 million of revenue.

Okay. Great. Thanks very much.

But you know, over -- it’s a 10-year contract, so the -- it’s going to be over $0.5 billion a year or $0.5 billion in aggregate over 10 years.

That make sense. Thank you.

Thank you. With our next question comes from Jerry Revich from Goldman Sachs. Jerry, your line is now open.

Jerry Revich

Yes. Hi. Good morning, everyone. I’m wondering if you could just talk about the acquisitions that you’ve completed year-to-date since they’re all within your footprint. Can you just give us a flavor for the extent of route consolidation opportunities? How many more stops per truck do you expect post-integration? Just give us a feel for how accretive these opportunities are versus the existing routes in your markets, if you don’t mind?

Yeah. Thanks, Jerry. It’s a key component of our whole sort of M&A strategy, as you’re doing these densifying tuck-ins, getting the efficiency that you’re speaking to. Unfortunately, the small population of, there’s six transactions, one larger, one Angelo, you’ve got five little small tuck-ins. It’s going to be widely varied by market and by region what that opportunity sort of looks like.

But you’re thinking about it the exact right way, that if I’m buying a business today that’s operating eight or nine trucks in a market where we’re operating significantly more than that, there’s probably an opportunity to park one, two, three trucks, depending on the sort of density.

So what we’ve historically said is on these smaller acquisitions that may be on the face of it, if you’re paying somewhere between sort of 6 times to 8 times for a small one on a pre-synergy basis, post the synergies, you might be able to take anywhere from 2 turns to 3 turns of cost out of that business by virtue of those cost savings from the route consolidation, facility consolidation, headcount consolidation, et cetera.

So it does vary for these specific deals. I’d say they’re no different than typical. So you’re probably going to be in that range. But that’s how we typically think about the M&A on the tuck-in nature.

And in terms of the additional acquisitions that you have in the pipeline for the balance of the year, it sounds like it’s the same opportunity. We’re going to have an outsized benefit from consolidation since it’s all going to be within the existing footprint. So the M&A pipeline sounds like it’s going to come with higher synergies than, obviously, in the past it’s been a combination of these type of acquisitions and building up footprint. But correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like we’re going to see outsized synergy opportunities with the pipeline that you have planned?

Yeah. And they’re all in the existing footprint. Again, going back to opportunities, like Luke said, to consolidate sort of SG&A costs, consolidate, hauling facilities, move those trucks onto our existing routes and really focused around markets where we have underutilized post-collection assets, whether that’s recycling facilities, transportation, landfills, to drive incremental volumes for those facilities that we’re not getting, which is going to just yield exceptional sort of ROICs on those investments that we’re making.

And Jerry, just in terms of the specific modeling, we typically think and see that initially these businesses are getting incorporated at margin decretive levels, right, just the normal core sort of pre-synergies. And then it’s with over those first sort of six months, nine months to 12 months, depending on the market and the business, where you then take them up to the accretive margins for the reasons you articulated.

Hey. Can I ask you on a separate topic? Landfill gas heading into the election, I’m wondering are you folks thinking about locking in any of the gas that you have coming online on long-term contracts or are you happy to bring it online with the RIN market structures, any updated thoughts on what the voluntary market looks like as well, if you don’t mind?

Yeah. I mean, things keep continuing, to trend in the right direction. From our perspective, we’re still selling into the transportation market today, particularly our partners at BP and OPAL continue to see that as the best way to maximize value today. Although, we are seeing the voluntary market prices continue to trend up to the point now where they’re exceeding mid-20s per MMBtu and heading closer to $30 per MMBtu. So I think you will see at some of our facilities come online, we’re going to start looking to enter into those longer-term contracts for a portion of the gas.

I appreciate the update. Thank you.

Thanks, Jerry.

Thank you. With our next question comes from Michael Hoffman from Stifel. Michael, your line is now open.

Michael Hoffman

Thank you very much. Good morning, Patrick, Luke. Just so…

… maybe we prevent everybody from getting your numbers too high. If you spent $500 million, you probably bought between $160 million and $170 million of revenues at 25% margins. You’ve got to layer it in for eight months or nine months and then you walk them up into 2025. But that’s the walk-up, just so we don’t get ahead of ourselves?

Well, before we start, Michael, I want to -- first, I want to say thank you to you because I know this is going to be your last call with us. And I think, you’ve done this industry, a great service for a long number of years and you’ve certainly been a very big help to lots of the company, particularly as we navigated going public over the last number of years. So I wanted to say thank you, not only from GFL, but for the rest of the industry for everything you’ve done for the industry, because you’ve been a very big champion of the industry for each and every one of us as companies, and I think, we owe you a big thank you for all you’ve done for the industry over the last number of years. And with that, I’ll turn it over to Luke, and he can walk you through.

Michael, I echo everything that Patrick just said. So thank you and wishing you all the best of luck in your future endeavors, but look forward to catching up next week as well. On the specific M&A…

… what I’d say, Michael, is while the math you suggested would be normal in a typical GFL year, this year with Angelo’s, it’s a little bit sort of skewed, because the disproportionate amount of dollars went to one large vertically integrated asset.

So what we said is for the $500 million, we actually got $100 million of revenue. Now the margin profile, because so much of it is coming out of a large vertically integrated, is much greater than typical and so that’s closer to a 40% number. And with that though, the basis of what the math you’re doing is absolutely right.

So if you bought, call it $40 million of EBITDA and you got that sort of three quarters of the way through the year, the contribution in year would be in that sort of $30 million kind of range and that is the building block as it relates to M&A and then incremental M&A will have incremental contribution.

And then other points Kevin worth highlighting of commodity and other tailwinds are real, but as we all know, there will be headwinds. So we can’t only count the good guys, but you’re absolutely right. It’s more of the 2025 that you’ll get the full year benefit of all of that M&A spend plus the synergies.

Okay. So and thank you very much for those kind comments. That was unexpected and very kind of you. Thank you. Following up, working capital, we should still presume it’s a use because you’re still growing the company. It’s just going to be a less of a use than it has been because you’re getting better at managing it. Is that the right way to think?

I think that’s right. But you’ve got to remember, like, the volumetric shedding that’s been done of some of what we call bad revenue. Sometimes bad revenue is coming from bad customers, right? And so the -- around the edges, that helps and then just the broader improvement. It’s been hard to optimize the ship as you were growing at the rate at which we were and as we now have stability, we’re able to pull the levers that our peers have already done to optimize in those areas.

And so we still think there is opportunity, for instance, within our DSO. And we will continue to drive after that, which will see a recovery of that investment and will help offset what the normal course growth would be associated with organic growth. But you’re thinking about it exactly right.

Okay. And then to that end, you have had a lot of self-help opportunities just because where you are in the life cycle, whether it’s automation and residential or CNG on the trucks or digital on the cab. Can we talk about what inning you are in that and how that kind of reflects back to your comments you made about your working capital?

Yeah. I think, where we’re sort of sitting today, we do have a lot of self-help opportunities. I mean, have we -- for 2024, again, rolling out 3,500 tablets into our commercial trucks, being able to capture all sort of incremental charges from block bins to overweight bins is a big thing that we’re focused on. I think that’s the biggest piece of the sort of low hanging fruit and we’re in process of doing that.

Again, continued fleet conversion to CNG, I would say, is going to be the next biggest wave over the next couple of years, particularly on the backs of a bunch of the EPR contracts that we’re sort of looking to execute on and the lion’s share of those trucks will be converted over to CNG.

I think we were sort of low-teens previously. Now, if you look at the fleet, sort of high-teens on CNG. And as we said, we have a goal stated goal of getting that to sort of 45% to 50% of the overall fleet.

And then again, as we said on a previous call, we are -- there is -- we still have about $150 million of revenue that’s in sort of low margin residential contracts for the most part. And as we said, we’re looking to exit some of that revenue or sell it to a local competitor or local market that will do better for it.

I think all of those together help sort of with the capital allocation program, will help with the margin profile and just continue with putting us on the right trajectory to continue moving forward.

Okay. Last one for me is and I applaud that you’re giving a level of detail in the 90-day view, but I back up and go, that means you are having a much greater confidence and ability to see where the model’s going. What can you attribute over the last year or two that has given you, one, the confidence to do it as you turn this consolidation story into an ongoing operating company? What would you point to specifically that gives you that confidence to be able to do that 90-day view?

Well, I think, if you look at the business and how it’s come together, right, like there hasn’t been a -- there wasn’t a year for the first sort of 14 years or 15 years of our founding that we weren’t growing at north of a sort of 30% to 40% CAGR.

Obviously, with the higher rates for longer narrative, leverage particularly in the public markets became sort of a myopic focus of ours. And again, with -- the committed goal of us and the stated goal of moving leverage into the sort of mid-3s, again, that’s allowed us to take our foot off the M&A gas pedal.

And I think if you look historically at what the business has done, I mean, there is -- we’ve been pretty sort of muted on the M&A front for the last sort of year and a half. And I think you get the true picture of what the operating power is of this business, because there hasn’t been a huge amount of M&A.

So the story has been pretty easy to follow. Our operators are sort of just managing their existing book of businesses without M&A. So the confidence we have in the forecasting, et cetera, is what you’re seeing today and I think you’re going to continue to see for the future.

And even as we sort of get that leverage to the level where, you know, the lion’s share of investors wants it, particularly in an interest rate environment like we’re in today, I think, the business is just now of a size and scale that M&A is really just a modest contribution and just -- a real part of sort of the growth algorithm, but it’s not going to be the part of the growth algorithm that’s front and center.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you again for the kind words. I’ll see you Sunday.

Thanks, Michael.

Thank you, Michael. With our next question comes from Patrick Tyler Brown from Raymond James. Patrick, your line is now open.

Patrick Tyler Brown

Yes. A very formal introduction. Good morning, guys.

Good morning, Patrick Tyler.

Can you hear me?

So I think you guys have a debt tower that’s coming up next year. I know your credit quality is improving, but just based on where you are today, do you think that refinancing that 25 tower is going to prove a cash interest headwind next year?

Yeah. So, Tyler, you’re right. There’s about a $1.2 billion across two bonds that come up next summer. They currently carry a blended coupon of about sort of 4.25% and 4.3%. If you’re redoing that today, you’re probably more in the mid-to-high 6s is what you’re seeing. So there’s certainly an incremental headline cash interest cost on that.

However, where we have an opportunity from some structuring perspectives, the existing bonds that you would be refinancing are domiciled in Canada, whereas you’d be issuing the new ones out of a U.S. entity, thereby providing meaningful cash tax shield, right, because we’re becoming a bigger cash taxpayer in the U.S.

And so, net-net, on the free cash flow line, the cash tax savings would largely offset the interest costs. And so you’d have a reclass or gross up on the actual line items, but net-net, your free cash number would be a pretty de minimis impact.

Okay. Excellent. That’s very, very helpful. And then, Patrick, can we get some high level thoughts on GIP? Can you maybe run down some of the end year financials, just how it was tracking in terms of EBITDA and leverage and just any thoughts about monetization there?

Yeah. I mean, as we stated, last year, again, that business experienced headwinds just from the run up and sort of the inflationary environment, as we’re coming on the backside of that, which largely through this year we’ll be through and we’ll be getting sort of back to where we anticipated that business would be.

But I would say this year, low 200s from an EBITDA level without M&A, that business again today is sort of running 12% to 13% margins. We expect it to go to sort of 15% over the coming -- over the course of the next year. Leverage sort of in the mid-5s as a private company. But again, we have a couple of interesting sort of M&A opportunities that’ll get done in that business as well.

But again, nothing has changed from what I believe the thesis to be. We’ll grow that business and expected sort of a $1 billion of equity value that’ll come out of that. I would assume, as we can -- we’ll just look at market opportunities.

As you know, there’s been a real run up in valuations in that sector, particularly with CRH sort of listing now in the U.S. coupled together with Lafarge separating their European and the North American business, other comps like road, all of those have had a pretty good runs over the last little while.

So, I think the thesis is only getting better and time has been our friend and will continue to be our friend, but we want to optimize the value of that. But I think that’s a late 2025, 2026 type event where we look at that.

And again, I’m not wed to any sort of exit in that. I mean, from our perspective, it’s really a triple track process, whether it’s an IPO, whether that’s a financial sponsor, just given the perfect size of that for financial sponsors today or whether that’s strategic. But I think there’s a lot of opportunity for exits in that. We just, we want to get it to the right number and get the equity value where we want it.

Okay. Perfect. And then my last one here. So there’s been a lot of movement on PFAS in the U.S., but I’m just curious, has there been any -- has anything happened in Canada similar? I just don’t really know. And I’m just curious how you view PFAS in your ES lens. Is that something that, is within or outside of the scope of your ES business and could that be an opportunity longer term? Thanks guys.

Lots of -- I would say lots of chatter as the chatter picks up in the U.S., but nothing specific in Canada at the moment. Obviously, the legislation that is being proposed was actually, I think, in line with what we believed was going to happen. I think there’s still some more room to go, but at the end of the day, landfills are not the generator of this. They’re a solution to the problem. We’re passive receivers of this material. So I think, that’s going to continue to play out in our ES business.

Yes, a big part of what we’re looking at is different technologies. As we know, everybody thinks they have the solution to PFAS, but at the end of the day, what solution is going to work and how economically is it going to work and et cetera.

So we are in discussions with a multitude of companies that, I think, we’re either sort of looking to acquire a partner with to create a sort of solution to the PFAS issue that, we’re going to be happy to, everyone’s going to be happy to dealing with in the near future.

But fundamentally Tyler, I mean, our perspective would be in the long run PFAS will be a tailwind for price and volume for our business. And so the exact sort of form in which that shakes out remains to be seen, but we’re feeling optimistic that this is ultimately going to be an opportunity for us across both our solid and liquid waste segments on a price and volume perspective.

All right. Thanks guys.

Thanks Tyler.

Thank you. With our next question is coming from Michael Doumet from Scotiabank. Michael, your line is now open.

Michael Doumet

Hey. Good morning, guys. I wanted to get back to the, to the guidance. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the initial expectation was that margin expansion would increase as the year progressed. So can you comment on, whether that margin cadence still stands, obviously, outside the comments regarding the pull-forward?

Yeah. I think that’s absolutely right, Michael. It’s a first half, second half story. I mean, within H1, as we’re articulating, the outperformance in Q1 may sort of eat into what was the otherwise expansion expected in Q2, but absolutely. I mean, if you look at the sort of cadence that’s being expected in the original guide, I don’t think that has changed and with the strength of Q1 performance, we think maybe that gets a little bit better.

And so, we set out this year with a guide that, from our perspective, I think, had industry leading organic growth as the impact of M&A was muted and so it was therefore all organic, and where we’re sitting today, if you’re reading the TVs, I think, we’re teeing up. That’s going to be better than initially anticipated. Exactly how much remains to be seen and we look forward to updating you on that in July. But that cadence, everything is looking as expected, just perhaps a little bit better.

Makes sense. And then you talked about the sustainability of the strong start to price in a year. How are unit costs tracking versus your initial expectation?

I’d say they’re right in line. I mean, when we look at labor, I mean, labor is still 5% plus number and you’re putting all together, you’ve got cost inflation in the sort of mid-to-high 5s, but it’s stepping down as you’re comping the tougher quarters and as all of the other disruption, whether it be fleet replacement, et cetera, is getting better.

So we’re feeling, that price cost spread that we articulated in the year that could be upwards of 150 basis points. We’re feeling good on that. Look, I don’t think this is going to be a year with the way cost inflation is moderating that we’re going to have to go back to the pricing lever as frequently as we’ve done maybe in the past 24 months and therefore yield a materially different pricing outcome.

I think, the cost unit -- cost inflation appears to be moving as anticipated and therefore our pricing guide will be as anticipated. And then you got to remember, I mean, I said in the prepared remarks like 80% plus of this year’s pricing activities already done, right? And that’s just a function of the rollover from prior year and the weighted average of Q1 pricing activity being the lion’s share for the year.

So we’re feeling really good on the spread, which is ultimately what we’re trying to manage as we’ve demonstrated before. If the unit cost changes for expectations, we’ll revisit the pricing initiatives. But right now we’re feeling really good on how those trends are playing out.

Perfect. Thanks. Okay. And then maybe just to sneak one in just on the working capital management, I think I understand the improvement there. It doesn’t sound so much structural. In the sense that you’re getting less working cap, more that you’re smoothing things out from a seasonal perspective. But as we looked at kind of future years as well, that’s smoothing out. That doesn’t go away. It might actually even get better?

Yeah. I think that’s right. I mean, if you look at the extent of the swings that we’ve historically had, like I think last year, the H1 investment was just under $200 million and then you recover all of that in H2, right? And that’s just with the seasonal profile and ramp of the revenues. This year, the way we’re teeing it up now is that the H1 investment is going to be just over $100 million, right? So I think $120 million is what we sort of alluded to in the guide there.

So, material improvement over last year. Again, for the year as a whole, you’re still netting out to roughly the sort of same place, but just tempering the volatility, if you will, of the investments. Part of it is by the changing business mix, more and more business in the southeastern U.S. where they have a different seasonality profile is certainly sort of helpful.

And then part of it is just continuing to sort of optimize our processes and the information coming out of our systems to manage this appropriately. So we continue to see it as an opportunity. I think it will always be an H1 investment, H2 recovery, although the quantum of changes from quarter-to-quarter will temper and be more muted than historically.

Perfect. Thanks very much.

Thank you. With our next question is from Tobey Sommer from Truist. Tobey, your line is now open.

Tobey Sommer

Thanks. How does the 80% of pricing activity for the year already being done compared to last year at this time and the historic experiences kind of want to dimensionalize that comment?

Yeah. So Tobey, it’s Luke speaking. I think the last couple of years have been unique from pricing because they’ve deviated from the historical norm that majority of your pricing activity happened in the first quarter and that was really in response to the cost inflation we saw in 2022 and 2023 that had you pulling on the price lever more frequently throughout the year than you customarily do.

So as a result, what happened was 2022s and 2023s price cadence was very off. Now by the second half of 2023, we started to more approach normal and so 2024 is set up in what I’d call a more typical year and was a more typical year. You roughly have anywhere from 25% to 35% of your in-year pricing rolling forward from last year’s pricing activities.

So you think about Q2, Q3, Q4 pricing actions in 2023 roll over into 2024 that accounts for roughly 25% to 35% of this year’s price. Q1 activities is roughly sort of 50%, 55% of your overall sort of pricing activity for the year and then that radially steps down from Q2, Q3, Q4, Q2 is like 10%, Q3 is like 5% and Q4 is de minimis.

And so I’d say it’s the last couple of years that have been atypical. This year is returning to a more typical cadence. And I think 2025 should be very typical. But again, it’s one of the very attractive attributes of our business that allows us this early in the year to already have the confidence in the contribution from that aspect of our topline revenue growth.

Thank you. In Environmental Services, I’m curious about the outlook for growth over the balance of the year. You talked about 10% on an adjusted basis. Is that a good trend line? And are there any other adjustments that you could remind us or do you need to call anything out?

No. So the adjustments really, if you’re calling the Q1 presentation, I mean, the -- it was a perfect storm of opportunity in Q1 of last year and everything just came together and the business exceeded topline, even our internal by about $40 million. So we normalized for that.

If you think about the guide for this year, ES growth is supposed to be sort of mid-single digits organically. The Q1 and Q2 normalized growth is inclusive of M&A. But so really, if you think about ex-M&A for the year, we’re anticipating this mid-single digit topline growth.

This is really a price led growth strategy. That’s probably offsetting some shedding of lower quality volume. I think that will pick up in Q2 and Q3 and for the year as a whole, we’re feeling good at that mid-single-digit number. But what’s exciting us the most is the effectiveness of our topline growth strategy as measured by the sort of margin expansion, right?

And if we look at the Q1 result, despite some of the headwinds to see the margin coming in, 70 basis points better than plan, that I think is a testament to the effectiveness of this chasing quality over quantity on the topline and that’s going to be something we sort of continue to do.

I mean, our business, unlike some of our peers, one of the benefits of our ES business is you’re sort of 80% plus of it’s this recurring maintenance sort of tight nature. And there is a small component that is more event sort of driven, but it’s the quality of that sort of underlying recurring business that allows us to sort of drive that margin expansion. So I think for the year, that mid-single-digit holds and we’re encouraged by the margin expansion that we’ve seen in Q1.

Great. Thanks. Last one for me, you mentioned negative weather impact at the beginning of the quarter. Clearly it was very cold in lots of places and then a little bit unseasonably warm towards the end. If you net that out, what sort of impact did weather have on the quarter?

I mean, it’s hard to say to just measure the, just the bad guys, I think on your sort of volume and solid waste, it was probably pretty close to offset by virtue of the pull-forward of the warmer weather. I think about it in Ontario and Quebec and Michigan solid waste benefit.

I mean, it was really the ES business that felt it on both sides because the warm weather and a lot of our Michigan and other areas where they introduced half load season earlier, the nature of that business is large, full-size tankers just won’t run in that sort of road conditions. So I think, you probably saw 10 basis points plus of margin impact and I think I said that in prepared remarks from the weather on sort of ES.

Solid, I think, it’s probably a wash we had anticipated with the January to be negative 4.5% and we ended up at that negative 3% number, which I think you largely sort of offset by the benefit of the warmer weather and the end of the quarter.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. With our next question comes from Chris Murray from ATB Capital Markets. Chris, your lines are open.

Chris Murray

Yeah. Thanks guys. Good morning. Luke, it was interesting looking at the chart and the one of the things you did pull out and didn’t talk about a little bit was, some of the surcharge pricing and getting that into the system. And then you’ve also sort of talked about some of the system things you’ve been doing, maybe putting, I think you said you were going to put some tablets in the trucks to be let the capture maybe some better some better pricing opportunities. Can you just talk a little bit about what’s left to do structurally and kind of catching up your pricing to what you think your peers have been doing over the years?

Yeah. It’s Patrick speaking. I think, again, structurally, if you look at the ind -- if you look at the margin sort of independently of the two sort of LLBs, I mean, if you look at let’s, if you look at Environmental Services, that business sort of on a like-for-like basis is sort of running at 3 basis points to 4 basis points higher than the rest of the sector on after sort of SG&A allocation.

So, I think we still have a lot to do. I think we’re still fuel surcharges, environmental surcharges. There’s a bunch of other charges that we think we can implement in that business to push that business on a like-for-like basis to that sort of high 20s.

Our solid waste business today, again, whole sort of SG&A allocation sort of running in the high 20s today. If you look at the implementation of the repricing of sort of the EPR contracts, hauling municipal -- hauling contracts that continue to come over, plus the implementation of the fuel surcharges, environmental surcharges, the level set that we’ve been through over the last couple of years, that’s what’s allowed that sort of outsized margin expansion.

Coupled together now with, again, the implementation of the tablets in our trucks, again, to allow us to capture charges that we’re able to charge contractually that we may be sort of missing today. And I said, the role out of those 3,500 tablets is going to be very meaningful, and again, the sort of catchable nuts.

So I think when you sort of put that all together, plus EPR, plus RNG in the solid waste book of business, which we have very little of today, that is going to push us, I would say, closer to industry leading margins in solid waste.

So all that together, we think over the next two years to three years, all of that happens. And I say, by 2026, you have a real sort of turning point on sort of on margins and the free cash flow profile of the entire business and free cash flow conversion as we sort of move there.

Okay. That’s helpful. I’ll leave it there. Thanks guys.

Thank you. With our last question for the day from James Schumm from TD Cowen. James, your line is now open.

James Schumm

Hey guys. Good morning. Nice quarter. Patrick, maybe just to follow up on that last point. So by 2026, do you think that your margin free cash flow profile will sort of equal your larger peers? Do you think you can fully catch up?

I think the free cash flow conversion will still continue to lag a little, but that’s just solely from the capital structure perspective. I think on margin perspective, you’re definitely going to be there and I think you’re still have a little bit of the lag just in terms of the way our RNG portfolio is structured, right? Because you’re going to get even a contribution from the RNG portfolio, but the first dollars out of the RNG project actually go to repay a portion of the debt. That’s the way they’re sort of structured today.

So, you’re going to have a year and a half basically payback on those and then you’re going to you get the ramp of the free cash flow and that. But from a margin perspective, again, you look at EPR, you look at RNG, you look at all the self-help opportunities internally. I think headline margin numbers certainly are going to be there, free cash flow conversion and we’ll get there. It just might be sort of a year to year and a half behind.

Right. Right. Great. Thanks for that. And then just on the M&A front, as you noted, you’re around $500 million of M&A. So tracking ahead there for the year, how do you think about that strategically going forward for the rest of the year? Do you continue to bid on tuck-in work? Do you put more low ball bids out there? And I’m just trying to think about how you strategically handle as you get closer to your target $600 million to $650 million. Do you put in some low bids and if you win them and exceed your guidance, so be it because it’s a great opportunity or is that $600 million to $650 million a hard cap that you’re definitely not going to surpass?

The $600 million to $650 million is definitely a hard cap. We’ve committed to that in the capital allocation framework. That’s what drives the -- that’s what drives where we’re going to end up on a leverage level. So all of that is what we are going do.

Again, the full -- we have very -- acquisitions just don’t happen in a week, right? So we have very good visibility on where the pipeline sits, what we’re going to close over the next couple of quarters.

And then, we’re getting to a point in the year where, again, acquisitions, like I said, don’t happen in a week, generally take six months to eight months between negotiations with sellers implemented and sometimes they take years.

But we feel very comfortable in that number. Obviously there’ll be rollover. We’re getting to the point where we’re getting now where we can start pushing stuff until 2025. But for 2024, we’re definitely committed to the framework. We’re definitely continuing to the committed to the leverage levels.

And I think as that rolls into 2025, I think we got a question from someone over the course of the night, are you just going to honor this for 2024 and then drive leverage back up in 2025 with an influx of deals and the answer to that is no.

I think if you look at the free cash flow generation, the organic margin expansion, the organic growth in the base business, how much capacity that gives us for M&A, while that -- while still driving down leverage. I mean, that puts us squarely sort of sub-mid-3s next year for 2025. So, that’s the model we’re working towards. So no, I feel very comfortable with what we put out and we are going to stick to that hard cap.

Okay, great. Thanks for the answers guys. Appreciate it.

We have no further questions for the line. I will now hand back to the management team for closing remarks.

Thank you everyone. Much appreciated. We look forward to speaking to everyone after our Q2 results in July. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

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