Powerpoint Presentation Skills Preparation

Possibly the most neglected of PowerPoint presentation skills is the skill of preparation including practice and rehearsal.

Most people invest time in preparing their PowerPoint slides but do not practice their PowerPoint presentation skills.

Practice your PowerPoint presentation skills on your family and friends. Consider videotaping your practice and objectively review your practice. It can be advisable to ask someone to review your video as many times it is difficult to be objective.

Check out the room you where the presentation is to take place. If there is time run through your presentation to get a familiar with the room. It also give a chance to discover and eliminate any possible technical hitches.

Preparation can be boring but it is probably the most important of PowerPoint presentation skills to be proficient in. It is like an actor rehearsing for a play

Powerpoint Presentation Skills - Simplicty

The next of the key PowerPoint presentation skills is to keep the slides simple and clear.

In this PowerPoint presentation skill the objective is for the images used in the PowerPoint slides is to be simple to be understand and to be clear as to their purpose. Normally the PowerPoint slides should not need a lot of in-depth explanation. The PowerPoint slides lose their effectiveness if the audience is confused by them and their reason for being included is not clear. Einstein's view on this was "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

To summarize the essence of this post on key PowerPoint presentation skills is to keep them KISS - keep it super simple - to be effective in achieving their purpose.

Key PowerPoint Presentation Skills

In this post I am starting a series of posts on the key PowerPoint presentation skills needed for more effective PowerPoint presentations.

The first of the key PowerPoint presentation skills is to use visuals rather than words in your PowerPoint slides. Visuals including graphs, pictures, charts add to the overall effectiveness of the presentation by being more memorable and easier to understand than lots of text for the audience. The audience will retain more and be more interested in the presentation. This makes it easier for the presenter to achieve their objective.

The key learning of the first of the key PowerPoint presentation skills is to use graphics where possible, avoid the bullet points. Graphics have more eye appeal and help to engage the audience.

PowerPoint Presentation Skills - Do you make this mistake?

In this post I talk about the key mistake to avoid when using PowerPoint slides that will greatly help towards great PowerPoint presentation skills.

Many presenters make the mistake when presenting using PowerPoint of filling their slides with way too much text using bullet points or long sentences. This significantly undermines the effectiveness of using PowerPoint slides. They do not have any eye appeal and tend to bore the audience. There can also be a tendency for the presenter to read thePowerPoint presentation out aloud. The audience may wonder why it was not sent as a report they could have read in their office.

Therefore one of the key PowerPoint presentation skills is to minimize the use of text in the PowerPoint slides. In this case less is more, when giving a PowerPoint presentation.

Effective PowerPoint Presentation Skills

Effective PowerPoint presentation skills are attainable by everyone. Presenting does not have to be the anxiety inducing experience that many people experience.

Also effective PowerPoint presentation skills are necessary in most careers today and without these skills it is difficult to advance when you have reached a certain level of seniority.

When you have mastered PowerPoint presentation skills you will not only effective communicate ideas and information, you will also engage the audience, be more persuasive and more interesting.

I think there are two related general areas to effective PowerPoint presentation skills:-

1. PowerPoint slides skills - how to prepare - how to use the PowerPoint Program and the design of the slides
2. Presentation skills - these are public speaking skills and include preparation and delivery

PowerPoint Presentation Skills

Developing your PowerPoint presentation skills makes a big difference in the success of a presentation. I know from my own personal experience the effect of betterPowerPoint presentation skills on getting my ideas and information across.

PowerPoint is a great tool when used properly. It adds visual appeal and interest to the presentation. It can get ideas and information in a much more concise and clear way than just words. However, many people don't take the time to develop theirPowerPoint presentation skills and their effectiveness is poorer for it.

I have sat through (and have given them) where it is obvious the presenter did not take the time to develop their PowerPoint presentation skills. Common problems are too much text, too long and bad planning.

Most people (myself included) with only a little application can have the PowerPoint presentation skills to be more effective and more interesting.