Chantal

I often hear people saying they?ve been subjected to ?death by PowerPoint? at some event or other. Lots of other people advise against using PowerPoint because it can be the death of a presentation.

I?d like to stick up for PowerPoint and tell you why I think it?s a great tool and how to use it properly!

In June I was asked to give a 20 minute presentation to a Chamber of Commerce networking lunch. The topic was online marketing and how to integrate it, to make sure that whatever tools you use, they have the same message and all pull in the same direction for you.

The best way for me to illustrate how this can be done was by using PowerPoint. I started with a slide that outlined what I was going to cover, with just three bullet points. I then went through 10 different aspects of online marketing, using one slide for each. That?s my first tip ? one key message on each slide; and just one slide for each element. If you can?t fit it all onto one slide, then you?re trying to say too much!

Tip number two is to use more graphics than words on your slides. We use one side of our brains to read words and the other side to listen, so unless your audience is really good at using both sides of their brains at once, they?ll find it difficult to read and listen. This means that if you carry on talking, the people reading the slides won?t hear what you say. In addition, some people take in information better if it?s presented visually, so graphics and images will get your message across better than a list of bullet points. Each of my slides has one image on it and most have no words at all ? see the examples below.

These two slides how you can integrate your online marketing by maintaining your branding across all platforms. How else could I have done this, if not with PowerPoint?

Tip three is keep it simple. All my slides are static ? no flashing images, no titles whizzing across the screen, no fading in or out. Just because you can do all that with PowerPoint doesn?t mean you have! If it doesn?t add anything to your presentation and doesn?t help you to get your message across, then don?t do it.

Have I convinced you yet that used properly, PowerPoint can lend a professional air to your presentations? I?ll publish another three tips in another blog post.