Your PowerPoint Presentations

There is a revolution taking place in the world of presentations. With the growing popularity of webinars, new technologies, and Microsoft PowerPoint 3D tools, presenters are now challenged more than ever to improve their speaking skills, their PowerPoint presentations and to find new ways to engage audiences effectively, over different platforms.

Many of those challenges facing presenters, especially those delivering webinars are not new but they may be magnified when presenters don’t have the luxury of being face to face with their audience. So what it the secret to keeping your audience engaged for the entire duration of your presentation? Whether you are face to face or remote, if you make your point, the power of the presentation and not your PowerPoint, you will be successful on any given platform.

Any executive or professional will tell you, the higher up the corporate ladder you go, the more important your presentation skills will become. As a Technical Support Analysis, I saw firsthand presenters embrace new technologies, adding the latest bells and whistles available, while their presentation seemed to scream silently, what is the point? Conversely, the presentations that were not too fancy not too plain, always seem to work best with audiences. The point of those presentations quickly became a conversation with those audiences.

There are many tips and tricks posted on the internet on how to modernize your presentations. Whatever you choose, remember it is not all about you; the messenger, it is all about the point and not the PowerPoint. So here are a few strategies that can help you with your next presentation.

• Know your main point – the key message you want your audience to receive and retain long after the presentation.
• Get to the point early and stay on point – Be the messenger – not the message.
• Be classy not too fancy. Us the 10-second slide rule. Slides should not take more than 10 seconds to read and understand.
• When presenting webinars, personalize your presentation. Use the list of attendees to engage your audience by name.
• Close with a powerful statement that includes your main point – Do not end with the question – Any Questions? – Any Questions?  – Then Your closing!

Finally, to add power to your point, you must add energy to your words. Keep in mind “Silence Sends The Message” – A little silence adds power to your point and your PowerPoint!