Powerpoint Presentation Skills

However, you may feel you would benefit from more formalised training in Powerpoint. I’m in favour of a holistic approach to this kind of training. It’s not enough to become familiar with the mechanics of producing slides in Powerpoint. The audience has come to see you, not your slides. Powerpoint is just another tool to enhance your message. You need training in how to capture your listeners’ attention and keep them engaged. This can only be achieved through training in delivery techniques.

Like any tool, Powerpoint’s effectiveness greatly depends on the person wielding it. Powerpoint is a visual aid, with the emphasis being on the word ‘aid’. All too often, novice speakers lose sight of this fact and make their Powerpoints the focus of their presentations. It can be a way of trying to reduce nerves, by taking the audience’s attention off the speaker and onto a screen full of bullet points.

Ultimately, public speaking and presenting is about communicating ideas and emotions and getting others to understand or adopt your point of view. However, too often I see speakers using Powerpoint as a way of listing fact after fact after fact in bullet points, which is a surefire recipe for boring the audience. It certainly does not enhance the message. If all the speaker wants to do is show a list of facts and figures, why not just compile them in a report and cancel the presentation entirely? Why would we need to see them speak?

It’s tempting to dive straight into Powerpoint and start typing in an endless list of bullet points, without giving much thought to the purpose of your presentation…