microsoft presentation

microsoft presentation

The Power of Microsoft Presentation

1. Introduction

The power of Microsoft Presentation is one of the databased works that provides quite comprehensive information on using Microsoft PowerPoint to create effective and powerful presentations. This essay is written in such a way that it does not intend to undermine other alternatives of presentation software, but rather the author’s sole purpose of writing this essay is to give an overview on Microsoft PowerPoint and to explore the worth of this software. This essay has ample screenshots of the steps and each of them is duly explained. As for the start, this essay will first look into the evolution of Microsoft Office which includes PowerPoint and also the author’s computer components. This is to facilitate better understanding on the hardware and software used. After introduction, we bring to an overview on its user interface and also some salient features of this software. Then we will proceed to a main menu of this essay in sequential steps. This essay also contains hyperlinks at the end of each page to facilitate readers to navigate back to previously read materials for easy references. This essay would be invaluable to people who wish to make a good impression right from students to formers. Only with that, it is almost certain that readers will have no chance of regret reading this essay. Because as the sayings say: “First impressions count.” “This is the chance of a lifetime.”

2. Enhancing Visual Communication

Overloaded with this concept in mind, we formulated a design that removes the ability for the user to revert to the alternative methods. By manipulating the Slide Master function in PowerPoint, we created our own default design that is simply a blank black slide. Title and content slides are still possible to create from this point, but using the assertion-evidence pattern it should be made obvious that putting assertion into the title box and evidence into the content box is the most effective method to realize the goal of the slide. Finally, we have created an add-in for PowerPoint called the PEBL and a web page at [Link] which both offer easy access to these blank slides and a more thorough demonstration of effective slide design.

PowerPoint provides potential presenters with many different ways to overwhelm their audience with visual entertainment, but too many of these methods are design templates. To a novice, document themes seem like a perfect tool to create effective presentation slides; they offer many different color schemes and slide layouts that are easily applied to a presentation. But altering the colors and look of the slide background deters from the main point of the slide, and the standard location of title and content text that each theme offers impedes upon the free form design that can be so crucial to sharing information effectively. Changing the location of the title and content box can be confounding to viewers who simply want to read the slide, and if the text is later changed then it leads to inconsistency across slides. Along with this, the huge array of graphical objects available in PowerPoint entices many presenters to place irrelevant or redundant information on their slides in the form of charts, tables, or diagrams. Such an extraneous display can often simply cloud the issues presented in the slide, especially if the presenter is forced to go through the slide slowly and explain each graphic. In order to avoid these pitfalls, it is important to have a clear mental picture of what the slide should demonstrate and to stick to presenting the simplest visual that fully realizes the goal. Visual communication is often misconstrued as a hierarchy in which the best method to reach the audience is to present the information in the most entertaining way possible. But by using the assertion-evidence pattern to direct the audience’s focus to the top half of the rightmost column in Figure 3.

With the relatively recent advent of computers and presentation software, the art of communication is being redefined. Many presenters have completed a slide presentation, walked away regretting that they spent more time trying to make their slides entertaining than they did communicating their message. We have developed a pattern we call the Assertion-Evidence structure for PowerPoint slide that is specifically designed to an effective visual that is synonymous with clear, precise, and strong communication. It simply differentiates between two types of text and places our focus on the text that entails assertion.

3. Streamlining Content Creation

Creating content for your presentation is an area often not given the attention it deserves. How often have you copied an existing presentation, then deleted the slides you didn’t need, or made small changes to existing slides, and hoped nobody would notice? We all have to put our hands up at some time for doing that! By spending a little more time planning the structure and content of your presentation, you can produce more effective presentations that better communicate your key messages. Before you create your presentation, it is important to take time to consider the E3C3 Principle. The E3C3 Principle refers to engaging, establishing, expanding, concreteising, and concluding. This principle will enable you to build a well-thought-out structure and put the ideas down on paper. The E3C3 principle is discussed in The Art of Storytelling section.

4. Engaging Audience Interaction

– Q&A – Asking and answering questions can happen during the whole presentation or at selected points. It can be rhetorical where you ask the questions and answer them, or more effective if you pose questions to the audience. – Small Group Discussions – You pose a question related to your content and give the audience 1-2 minutes to discuss it, followed by whole group feedback. – Games and Quizzes – These can be an effective way of reinforcing learning. They can be simple, such as a quick quiz with verbal answers, or more complex involving score keeping and/or prizes. – Hands-on Activities – For training sessions especially, allowing participants to engage in a brief activity related to the content can reinforce learning. For example, if you were delivering a presentation on presentation design, you could get participants to redesign a slide.

An engaged audience is likely to carry home more of your key message than a passive one. Interactivity can take many forms, but “engaging the minds” with activities that cause the audience to think can lead to deeper learning and are more likely to result in changed behavior (i.e. implementation of your message). Some of the most common forms of interactivity in a presentation include the following:

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, throughout the creation of this book, I have faced many problems such as time management and have learned from them in order to improve my skills for future reference. I have highlighted throughout this book the power that you can bring to a business with the use of the presentation program from Microsoft and how it can take an individual’s idea that one step further. If more business people can harness the power of this program, they will gain a competitive advantage and redefine best business practice. During the project, I have evaluated my own ability and organized a plan of how I will work in order to complete it. I believe I have succeeded in achieving my aim and will continue to use this management and planning in the future, where I wish to improve my skills in order to create a presentation of this quality to a real client for a real issue. Each of the small problems I have faced during this book, I have remembered for future reference so I don’t make the same mistake twice, and I have thoroughly noted the way I have resolved the issue. An example of this was formatting problems; I have tried many different layout styles and have made the mistake of text being hard to read. By returning to this problem and improving it, I have learned how to pick the right layout for the style of presentation.