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What is PowerPoint? A Beginner's Guide

What is PowerPoint? This blog provides the essence of PowerPoint, a versatile presentation software by Microsoft. Discover its features, uses, and the art of crafting compelling slideshows. Whether you're a student, professional, or simply curious, explore the power of PowerPoint and learn how to create impactful presentations effortlessly.

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According to Glassdoor , a PowerPoint designer's average salary in the UK is about £37,811 annually. In this blog, you will learn What is PowerPoint, its key features, its benefits, and how to use it, as well as learn some tips for creating effective presentations.   

Table of contents       

1)  What is PowerPoint?  

2)  Understanding the PowerPoint Interface  

3)  Key Features of PowerPoint 

4)  How to use PowerPoint to create a presentation? 

5)  Benefits of PowerPoint  

6)  Tips for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations 

7)  Conclusion      

What is PowerPoint?   

PowerPoint is a versatile and popular presentation software developed by Microsoft (MS). It is a part of the Microsoft Office Suite and offers various features and tools to create visually appealing and engaging presentations. MS PowerPoint allows users to combine text, graphics, multimedia elements, and animations to convey information effectively .   

Evolution of PowerPoint   

Understanding the PowerPoint Interface   

The PowerPoint interface provides a user-friendly environment for creating and editing presentations. Familiarising yourself with its essential components will help you navigate the software efficiently. Here's a breakdown of the MS PowerPoint interface:   

1)  Ribbon : The Ribbon is located at the top of the MS PowerPoint window and consists of multiple tabs, such as Home, Insert, Design, Transitions, and more.    

2) Slides pane : The Slides pane is on the left side of the PowerPoint window. It displays thumbnail images of your presentation slides, allowing you to navigate and rearrange them easily. You can add, delete, duplicate, or hide slides from this pane.   

3)   Notes pane : The Notes pane is located below the Slides pane. It provides space for adding speaker notes or additional information related to each slide.    

4)  Slide area : The Slide area occupies the central part of the PowerPoint window. It displays the selected slide, where you can add and arrange content such as text, images, charts, and multimedia elements .    

5)  Task panes : Task panes are additional panels on the PowerPoint window's right side. They offer various functionalities such as formatting options, slide layouts, animations, etc. Task panes can be opened or closed based on your specific needs.   

Understanding the MS PowerPoint interface will help you navigate the software effectively and make the most of its features. Whether you are creating slides, adding content, or applying formatting, having a good grasp of the interface ensures a smooth and productive experience .  

Key Features of PowerPoint  

When it comes to creating captivating and professional presentations, MS PowerPoint stands out as versatile and feature-rich software. Its array of tools and functionalities enables users to bring their imagination and ideas to life. Moreover, it also helps engage their audience effectively .    

1) Slide Templates : PowerPoint provides a collection of pre-designed templates that make it easy to create visually appealing slides.   

2)  Slide Master : The Slide Master feature allows users to define the overall layout, font styles, and colour scheme for the entire presentation .   

3)  Animations and transitions : PowerPoint offers various animation effects and slide transitions to add visual interest and captivate the audience .   

4)  Multimedia integration : Users can embed images, videos, and audio files directly into their presentations, enhancing the overall impact .   

5)   Collaboration tools : MS PowerPoint allows multiple users to work on a presentation simultaneously, making it ideal for team projects and remote collaboration .   

6) Presenter View : The Presenter View feature gives presenters access to speaker notes, a timer, and a preview of upcoming slides, enabling a seamless presentation experience .   

These features collectively contribute to PowerPoint's versatility and make it a powerful tool for developing engaging and impactful presentations.  

How to use PowerPoint to create a presentation?   

Creating a presentation in PowerPoint is a straightforward process. Whether it's simple animations or explainer videos learning H ow to use PowerPoint is an extremely valuable skill. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to create a presentation:   

1)  Launch PowerPoint and choose a template or start with a blank slide. 

2)  Add slides by clicking "New Slide" or using the shortcut key (Ctrl + M). 

3) Customise slide content by entering text and inserting visuals.  

4)  Rearrange slides for a logical flow by dragging them in the slide navigation pane.  

5)  Apply slide transitions for visual effects in the "Transitions" tab.  

6)  Add animations to objects in the "Animations" tab.  

7)  Preview your presentation by clicking "Slide Show".   

8)  Save your presentation and choose a format (.pptx or .pdf).  

9)  Share your presentation via email, cloud storage, or collaboration tools.   

By following these steps, you can create a well-structured and visually appealing presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint. Remember to keep your content concise, use engaging visuals, and practice your presentation skills to deliver an impactful presentation .   

Benefits of PowerPoint   

1) Visual appeal : Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to create visually appealing presentations with its wide range of design tools and features. You can use templates, themes, and customisable layouts to make your slides visually engaging and professional .   

2)  Easy to use : PowerPoint has a user-friendly interface, making it accessible to users of all levels. The intuitive tools and straightforward navigation make it easy to create, edit, and deliver presentations efficiently .   

3)   Flexibility : PowerPoint provides flexibility in terms of content creation. You can include various types of content, such as text, images, charts, graphs, videos, and audio files, to enhance your message and engage your audience effectively.   

4)   Organisation and structure : PowerPoint offers features to help you organise and structure your content. You can create multiple slides, use slide masters for consistent formatting, and arrange the sequence of slides to create a logical flow .   

5)  Presenter tools : PowerPoint includes built-in presenter tools that aid in delivering presentations smoothly. You can use presenter view to see your notes and upcoming slides while your audience sees only the presentation. Additionally, features like slide transitions and animations add visual interest and help you control the flow of information .   

6)  Collaboration and sharing : PowerPoint allows for easy collaboration and sharing of presentations. Several users can simultaneously work on the same presentation, making it convenient for team projects. You can also share your presentations via email, cloud storage, or online platforms, ensuring easy access for viewers .   

7)   Integration with other tools : PowerPoint can seamlessly integrate with other Microsoft Office applications, such as Word and Excel. You can import data and charts from Excel or copy and paste content between different Office applications, saving time and effort .  

8)   Presenter-audience interaction : PowerPoint provides features that facilitate interaction between the presenter and the audience. You can include interactive elements like hyperlinks, buttons, and quizzes to engage your audience and make your presentations more dynamic.   

9)   Portable and accessible : PowerPoint presentations can be saved in various formats, such as .pptx or .pdf, making them easily accessible on different devices. This portability allows you to deliver presentations on laptops, tablets, or even projectors without compatibility issues .   

10)  Time and effort savings : PowerPoint simplifies the process of creating presentations, saving you time and effort. The pre-designed templates, slide layouts, and formatting options enable you to create professional-looking presentations efficiently .   

Learn how to create customised slide shows in MS PowerPoint with our Microsoft PowerPoint MO300 Training .    

Tips for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations   

1) Simplicity is key : Keep your slides clean and uncluttered. Use concise bullet points and simple visuals to convey your message effectively .   

2)  Visuals matter : Incorporate relevant, high-quality visuals such as images, charts, and diagrams to enhance understanding and engagement .   

3)  Limit text : Avoid overwhelming your audience with excessive text on slides. Use brief phrases or keywords to communicate key points .   

4)  Choose legible fonts : Opt for clear and readable fonts that are easy to read, even from a distance. Maintain consistency in font styles throughout your presentation .   

5)  Consistent design : Maintain a consistent design theme, including colours, fonts, and layout, to create a visually appealing and professional presentation.   

6)  Emphasise important points : Use visual hierarchy techniques, such as font size, colour, and formatting, to draw attention to essential information .   

7)  Use transitions and animations sparingly : Incorporate slide transitions and animations thoughtfully, focusing on enhancing content and transitions without distracting the audience .   

8)  S lide notes for guidance : Utilise the slide notes feature to include additional details, explanations, or reminders for a well-prepared and confident presentation.   

9)  Practice and time yourself : Rehearse your presentation to ensure smooth delivery and stay within the allocated time. Practice helps you refine your content and delivery.   

10)  Engage the audience : Encourage audience participation through interactive elements, questions, or discussions to foster engagement and make your presentation more memorable.   

By implementing these tips, you can create effective MS PowerPoint presentations that capture attention, communicate information clearly, and engage your audience effectively.  

Conclusion      

We hope this blog has helped you understand What is PowerPoint and how it can help you. It offers powerful features with a user-friendly interface for creating visually appealing presentations. With its tools for organising information, incorporating text and visuals, and delivering impactful content, PowerPoint is a valuable tool for beginners to communicate their ideas effectively .   

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Why PowerPoint Is Important? (The Benefits Explained)

Presentations can be a great way to share ideas and information, but they can also be overwhelming and dull if not done correctly.

Fortunately, PowerPoint offers a number of features to help you create compelling presentations that can engage your audience and effectively deliver even the most complex concepts.

In this article, we will explore the basics of PowerPoint and why it is important, as well as the many benefits it can offer.

We will discuss how PowerPoint can help improve presentations, the role visuals can play, and the various features available to make the most of your presentations.

By the end of this article, you will be well-equipped to create and deliver powerful and engaging presentations with PowerPoint.

Table of Contents

Short Answer

Powerpoint is an important tool for presenting information in a visual and organized manner.

It allows people to present complex information in an easy to understand and engaging way.

It also enables the presenter to highlight the most important points and helps to keep the audience focused.

Powerpoint is an invaluable tool for anyone looking to present their ideas effectively.

The Basics of PowerPoint

PowerPoint is an important tool for businesses, as it can help to create professional-looking presentations.

It is a presentation software program developed and distributed by Microsoft, and it is available for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

With PowerPoint, users can create slides with text, graphics, animations, and other elements.

It also has features such as the ability to embed audio and video, as well as the ability to animate objects.

Additionally, PowerPoint allows users to easily create attractive visuals and engaging presentations.

PowerPoint also has a number of features that make it easier to organize and deliver complex concepts in an understandable manner.

For instance, it offers a variety of slide layouts to help users structure their presentations in an organized way.

It also provides a range of tools to help create visuals that can help audiences to better retain information.

Furthermore, PowerPoint has a range of animation and transition effects that can be used to make presentations more dynamic and engaging.

In addition, PowerPoint supports the use of templates and themes, which can help to give presentations a more professional look.

It also allows users to easily collaborate and share their presentations with others.

This makes it easier for businesses to collaborate on projects and ensure that all stakeholders have access to the same information.

Finally, PowerPoint offers a number of features that can help to improve presentations, such as the ability to add notes and comments, as well as the ability to insert charts and graphs.

The Benefits of Using PowerPoint

PowerPoint is an incredibly useful tool for businesses, as it provides a range of benefits when it comes to creating presentations.

Firstly, PowerPoint helps users to easily create professional-looking slides with text, graphics and animations.

This makes it easier to create a visually appealing presentation, which can help to engage audiences and make it easier to retain information.

Furthermore, PowerPoint allows users to organize and deliver complex concepts in an understandable manner.

This means that it is easy to break down complex topics into more manageable chunks, making it easier for audiences to understand the concepts being presented.

Additionally, PowerPoint’s features make it easier to create compelling visuals that can help to keep viewers engaged.

Another benefit of using PowerPoint is its ability to help businesses save time.

Presenters can easily create presentations with PowerPoint’s templates and features, allowing them to quickly and efficiently create presentations that are both informative and visually appealing.

This saves businesses time and money, as they dont have to spend time and resources on creating presentations from scratch.

Finally, PowerPoint can be used in a variety of different ways.

It can be used to create presentations for meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops and more.

This makes it a great tool for businesses that need to create presentations for different types of events.

Additionally, PowerPoint can be used to create digital presentations that can be shared online, making it easier to reach a wider audience.

Overall, PowerPoint provides businesses with a range of benefits that make it an essential tool for creating effective and engaging presentations.

With its easy-to-use features, businesses can quickly and easily create visually appealing presentations that are both informative and visually appealing, helping to engage audiences and make it easier to retain information.

Additionally, PowerPoint’s features make it easier to organize and deliver complex concepts in an understandable manner.

Finally, it can be used in a variety of different ways, making it a great tool for businesses that need to create presentations for different types of events.

How PowerPoint Helps Improve Presentations

PowerPoint is an essential tool for businesses, as it helps to make presentations more effective and engaging.

It makes it easy to create professional-looking slides with text, graphics, animations, and other visuals.

This helps to keep audiences engaged and ensure that they are able to retain the information better.

PowerPoint also helps to organize complex concepts and deliver them in an understandable manner.

With its powerful features, businesses can create compelling presentations that are both informative and visually appealing.

This allows them to present their ideas in an organized and easy-to-understand format.

Moreover, the wide range of features that PowerPoint offers makes it easier to create presentations that are both visually appealing and easy to understand.

This includes features such as backgrounds, transitions, images, and animations.

These features can help to add depth and interest to presentations, making them more engaging and memorable.

The use of PowerPoint also makes it possible to quickly and easily update presentations.

This is especially useful for businesses that need to make changes to their presentations on a regular basis.

With PowerPoint, they can make changes in a matter of minutes, without having to start from scratch.

Finally, PowerPoint is a great tool for businesses to share their presentations with the world.

With its easy-to-use sharing options, businesses can easily share their presentations with other people, whether they are in the same office or halfway across the globe.

This helps to ensure that everyone involved in the presentation is able to access it and understand it.

In conclusion, PowerPoint is an invaluable tool for businesses that want to create effective and engaging presentations.

Its features make it easy to create professional-looking slides, organize complex concepts, and quickly and easily update presentations.

Furthermore, PowerPoint provides businesses with the ability to easily share their presentations with a large audience.

All in all, PowerPoint is an important tool for businesses, as it helps to improve presentations in a number of ways.

PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful visual tool that can help businesses craft compelling presentations.

With its simple yet powerful graphical features, it allows users to easily create stunning visuals that are sure to pique viewers interest.

PowerPoints visuals can be used to include text, graphics, animations, and even video clips to clearly illustrate complex concepts in a visually appealing manner.

This not only helps to engage the audience, but also helps viewers to better understand and retain the information.

PowerPoint also offers its users a range of different tools to customize their visuals.

From basic shapes and text boxes to more complex objects like charts and diagrams, there is an endless array of possibilities.

Furthermore, users have the ability to add animation and transitions to their visuals, making them more dynamic and engaging.

The ability to make use of PowerPoints powerful visuals can help businesses create a presentation that will be sure to stand out from the rest.

Organizing and Delivering Complex Concepts

PowerPoint is a great tool for organizing and delivering complex concepts.

Its powerful features make it easy to create visually appealing slides with text, graphics, and animations.

This makes it easier for audiences to understand and retain information more effectively.

For example, you can use PowerPoint to create diagrams to illustrate a concept, or to create an interactive presentation that allows the audience to learn at their own pace.

You can also use different colors and fonts to highlight important information or to draw attention to specific points.

Additionally, PowerPoint allows you to easily and quickly create professional-looking presentations, even with limited design skills.

This makes it a great tool for businesses to use when presenting complex concepts to their audiences.

Additionally, PowerPoint provides tools to help you keep your presentations organized, such as a built-in outline feature and the ability to add notes to slides.

This makes it easy to quickly review your presentation and ensure that you have included all the necessary information.

Finally, PowerPoint allows you to easily share your presentations with others, either online or as a printed document.

This makes it easy for businesses to collaborate and share ideas with colleagues and clients.

Making the Most of PowerPoint’s Features

PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful presentation tool, with a wide array of features and capabilities that make it perfect for creating engaging and informative presentations.

It allows users to easily create professional-looking slides with text, graphics, and animations, as well as a range of tools for organizing and delivering complex concepts.

One of PowerPoint’s most useful features is its ability to create effective visuals that can engage audiences and help them to retain information better.

By using transitions, animations, and other effects, the presenter can create captivating visuals that will help to keep their audience engaged.

Furthermore, users can also make use of the wide selection of templates available to create visually appealing slides in no time.

PowerPoint also offers a range of tools for organizing and formatting presentations.

By using tables, charts, and diagrams, users can easily present complex information in an understandable manner.

Additionally, the Outline View feature allows users to quickly create and organize their presentations, while the Notes and Comments features can help to provide more detailed explanations of the content.

Finally, PowerPoint also includes a range of tools for sharing and collaborating on presentations.

Users can easily share presentations with colleagues, and the SharePoint feature allows for real-time editing of documents.

This makes it easy to collaborate on presentations and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

In short, PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful tool for creating engaging and informative presentations.

Its wide selection of features make it easy to create visually appealing and complex visuals, as well as organize and share presentations with ease.

By making use of its powerful features, businesses can ensure that their presentations are both informative and visually appealing, helping to engage audiences and ensure that they retain information better.

Creating Compelling Presentations with PowerPoint

PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful presentation tool that can help businesses create compelling presentations that engage their audiences and effectively communicate complex concepts.

By combining text, graphics, animations, and other visuals, PowerPoint enables users to easily create attractive presentations that are both informative and visually appealing.

PowerPoint’s features also make it easier to organize and deliver complex concepts in an understandable manner.

The ability to add multiple slides and easily rearrange them allows users to structure their presentation in a logical order that is easy to follow.

Presenters can also use PowerPoint to create animations, transitions, and other visuals that make the presentation more engaging and help audiences retain the information they see more effectively.

Furthermore, PowerPoint allows users to add multimedia content to their presentations.

This can include video clips, audio clips, images and other visuals.

With these features, businesses can create presentations that are more dynamic and engaging, and can further help audiences retain the information.

Overall, PowerPoint is an essential tool for every business, and its features make it easy to create compelling presentations that engage audiences and help them to better retain the information.

By combining text, graphics, animations, and multimedia content, businesses can make use of its powerful features to create engaging presentations that are both informative and visually appealing.

Final Thoughts

PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful tool that can be used to create visually appealing and engaging presentations.

It gives users the ability to easily organize and deliver complex concepts in a way that is understandable and memorable.

By taking advantage of its many features, businesses can make use of PowerPoint to create compelling presentations that can help them to reach their goals.

With the right approach, PowerPoint can help you make a lasting impression on your audiences.

James Wilson

James Wilson has extensive knowledge in the information technology industry.His second love, besides dealing with computers, is smart home technology. He is continually updating information to better comprehend this problem and has a deep understanding of the apartment’s support system.

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Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials What is the Purpose of Microsoft PowerPoint?

What is the Purpose of Microsoft PowerPoint?

People who are new to using MS Office, might often come across the dilemma of understanding the purpose of Microsoft PowerPoint . If you have ever had to make a presentation , the chances are you have used PowerPoint. While there are a plethora of competitors like Apple’s Keynote, Prezi and various presentation web apps, however, PowerPoint is yet to find its replacement.

Why Use PowerPoint and What is it Used for?

PowerPoint was created by Robert Gaskins, who originally designed PowerPoint for Mac. However, Microsoft later acquired the app and made it a part of its Office suite. If you are thinking about what PowerPoint is used for, then you must be a newbie. But fret not, we will guide you through its purpose and uses. Robert Gaskins published this PowerPoint History  web page containing a very interesting read for those who are curious about PowerPoint History. The list includes various unpublished documents and PDFs about PowerPoint since its inception.

Creating Slides for a Presentation

The first thing you need to understand about PowerPoint as a newbie is the concept of slides. Slide are like a blank document (so to speak), which presents your ideas in the form of text, images, charts and animations. The first slide is the one which introduces the topic of the presentation, this is followed by a step by step sequence which has a specific start and a conclusion (the ending).

Inserting Content

There are various ways of inserting content in PowerPoint. The Insert tab contains all the necessary options you need to insert a textboxes, images, charts, SmartArt Graphics and even videos or audio. The options are pretty much self-explanatory. You can also drag and drop objects like images to your slides.

Formatting Tools

Once you select an object in a slide (say an image, chart or textbox), the Formatting options tab becomes active from the Ribbon menu. If you select an image, the formatting options for the image will appear in the form of Picture Tools , likewise for charts, the Chart Tools option becomes active with formatting options. For the text, you will see the Drawing Tools option for changing the size, font and, color of your text.

Animations and Transitions

To spice up your presentation, you can use animations and transitions. Transitions are applied between slides and are used for switching a slide using an effect (e.g. raising curtains). The animations on the contrary, animate selected objects. You can for example, select an object and pick and animation from the Animations tab to give it that effect.

Presenting Your Content

Once you are done making your slides, hit F5 from your keyboard or click Slide Show button from the bottom right corner of PowerPoint. You will notice that clicking on the slides or hitting the Right/Left arrow keys from your keyboard allows you to navigate the slides. Use the Right key to proceed forward and the Left key to move backward when navigating your slides.

The purpose of PowerPoint is to act as a visual aid as a presenter goes along presenting their option, ideas, sales pitch, etc. Make sure to not make your slides too wordy and concentrate on adding only basic bullet points. Using videos can also help in explaining long concepts in a shorter time frame, with more precision.

In recent versions of Microsoft PowerPoint there are some powerful features added that enables you to broadcast a PowerPoint presentation via web (read  broadcasting a PowerPoint presentation ) or use the Presenter View to .

Using PowerPoint Templates

As making everything from scratch can be too laborious, you can always use high-quality readymade templates and simply edit them to quickly create a professional looking presentation. We at Slide Model provide High-Quality PowerPoint Templates that are easy to customize, right down to basic slide elements.

Explore our PowerPoint Templates gallery with 100% editable presentation designs.

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PowerPoint Tips, PowerPoint Tools, Presentation, Presentation Tips Filed under PowerPoint Tutorials

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What is PowerPoint and what it is used for

Who has never used a PowerPoint template as visual support for their presentation? However, do we really know what it is and what it is used for?

Although it may be clear to us, answering this question clearly and concisely is not so easy, so Slidesgo has decided to tell you today what PowerPoint is and what it is used for so that you will never have doubts again and everything will be crystal clear.

PowerPoint is a program that belongs to the Microsoft Office suite along with other famous software such as the Word processor or the Excel spreadsheet. It is very likely that you have heard of or even used all of them, but without being completely clear about what they are and what they are for. Let's answer these questions!

What is PowerPoint: Definition

What is powerpoint used for, what is a slide in powerpoint.

As we have mentioned, PowerPoint is, in short, software for editing presentations. Through slides (don't worry, now we are going to talk about them too) you can present the content you want adapting it to your liking.

The editing procedure is simple: either create a new presentation from scratch or modify a previously created template, such as those available in Slidesgo .

There is no limit to creating a PowerPoint template: you can use and edit images, text, music, add animations, and much more. Being creative with PowerPoint is very easy, as the design options are practically endless. If you have doubts about what you can do in PowerPoint and how at Slidesgo School we have a whole section dedicated to PowerPoint tutorials .

So, what do you need to create a PowerPoint presentation? Well, two things. A subscription to the Microsoft Office suite, which will allow you to use their other products and even combine them with your presentations, and, above all, a desire to let your imagination run wild!

We already know what it is, now let's see what it's for so you can start editing and creating your presentations.

In short, PowerPoint is visual support. The information is usually clearer when the speech is accompanied by a visual tool , whether it is an image, a video, or in this case, everything collected in a presentation. 

The two areas in which PowerPoint excels are business and also education , although it can be very useful in any field or subject. You can use, for example, a PowerPoint as a visual aid in the presentation of a marketing plan to capture the attention of the audience or to teach a lesson on history .

Apart from attracting the attention of the listener, PowerPoint allows you to summarize concepts and highlight the information that you believe has priority in your speech.

All right, we are moving up a level. The next question is an "A" question: what is a PowerPoint slide? If you don't know, don't worry, we will tell you in detail.

Slides are the units that make up your presentation. These are the ones you are going to edit and where you are going to add your content. You can add everything previously mentioned: text, tables, charts, graphs, images, videos, you can animate them for transition, change the background, and much more.

And this is the end of the lesson. We hope you found it useful and that it will be a help when you are editing in PowerPoint. If you want to know more about this tool, you can read this article from Slidesgo School about the advantages of Google Slides and PowerPoint .

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Let’s take the most famous formula: E=mc^2, Einstein’s relativity equation. It wouldn’t be the same if it was E=mc2, right? Okay, yes, some people write it like that because it’s very famous and it won’t be misunderstood. But technically… It can! This is where the sophistication of superscript or subscript enters the room! Do you know how to write them in equations, copyright brands or even footnotes in your presentations? Let’s figure out how.

How to Add Superscript and Subscript in PPT

It can be a registered brand, a footnote or a math formula that you need to properly write. “2^2+2” is not the same as “22+2”, is it? Using superscript or subscript in a proper way makes a whole difference in texts. If it’s for your mathematical or physics complex formulas or just an anecdotic footnote, let’s figure out how to write them in a powerpoint presentation!

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What Is Microsoft PowerPoint?

Get to know Microsoft’s presentation software

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Microsoft PowerPoint is a slideshow presentation program first developed by Forethought, Inc. for the Macintosh computer in 1987 and purchased by Microsoft in 1990. Microsoft has released several updated versions, each offering more features and incorporating better technology than before. The most current version of Microsoft PowerPoint is available in Microsoft 365.

Do You Need PowerPoint?

Presentation software is the easiest way to create and show the kinds of slides you've likely seen in meetings or classroom situations.

There are several free options, including LibreOffice , Apache OpenOffice , and SlideDog . However, if you need to collaborate with others on a presentation, integrate with other Microsoft programs (like Microsoft Word), or create a presentation that's viewable by anyone, purchase Microsoft PowerPoint .

If integration with other Microsoft programs isn't important, Google Workspace has a presentation program called Slides that allows for excellent collaboration with others.

Microsoft PowerPoint comes with all the features you need to create presentations. You can start with a blank presentation or choose from various preconfigured presentations (called templates). A template is a file constructed with styles and designs applied. This option provides an easy way to begin a PowerPoint with a single click.

You can also insert pictures and videos from your computer and the internet, draw shapes, and create and insert all kinds of charts. PowerPoint offers many ways to transition between slides and animate the items on any slide.

What Is a PowerPoint Presentation?

A PowerPoint presentation is a group of slides that you create either from scratch or a template that contains information you want to share. Often, you show the presentation to others in an office setting, such as a sales meeting, but you can also create slide shows for weddings and birthdays.

When you display the presentation to your audience, the PowerPoint slides take up the entire presentation screen.

Do You Have Microsoft PowerPoint?

Lots of (but not all) Windows-based computers come with Microsoft Office installed. That means you might have a version of Microsoft PowerPoint.

To see if you have Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your Windows device:

From the  Search window on the taskbar (Windows 10), the  Start screen (Windows 8.1), or from the  Search window on the Start menu  (Windows 7), type PowerPoint  and press Enter .

Note the results.

To find out if you have a version of PowerPoint on your Mac, you can find it in a couple of ways.

Look for it in the  Finder sidebar, under  Applications by selecting Go > Applications .

Or select the magnifying glass in the upper-right corner of your Mac's screen and type PowerPoint in the search field that appears.

Where to Get Microsoft PowerPoint

The two ways you can purchase PowerPoint are by:

• Subscribing to Microsoft 365 .
• Buying the Microsoft Office suite outright from the Microsoft website.

Microsoft 365 is a monthly subscription, whereas you pay only once for the Office Suite.

If you don't want to create presentations but only want to view what others have created, use PowerPoint Online to view it for free.

Some employers, community colleges, and universities offer Microsoft 365 free to their employees and students.

The History of PowerPoint

Over the years, there have been many versions of the Microsoft Office suite. The lower-priced suites only included the basic apps (often Word , PowerPoint, and Excel ). The higher-priced suites included some or all of them (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook , OneNote, SharePoint, Exchange, Skype , and more). These suite editions had names like Home and Student, Personal, or Professional.

PowerPoint is included regardless of which version of the Microsoft Office suite you are looking at.

Here are the recent Microsoft Office Suites that also contain PowerPoint:

• PowerPoint Online and PowerPoint 365 are available and updated regularly in Microsoft 365.
• PowerPoint 2019 is available in Office 2019.
• PowerPoint 2016 was available in Office 2016.
• PowerPoint 2013 was available in Office 2013.
• PowerPoint 2010 was available in Office 2010.
• PowerPoint 2007 was included with Office 2007.
• PowerPoint 2003 was included with Office 2003.
• PowerPoint 2002 was included in Office XP.

PowerPoint is available for the Macintosh line of computers too, as well as smartphones and tablets.

The easiest way to start a new PowerPoint presentation is to use a template. Microsoft offers a variety of them in a range of casual and professional tones. Choose one and replace the placeholder text and images with your own.

Go to the Insert tab and select Audio > Audio on My PC to play music across slides in a presentation . Locate the music file you want to use, then choose Insert . Select the audio icon, go to the Playback tab , and select Play in Background .

To save your current presentation as a template, go to File > Save As . Click Browse , then choose PowerPoint template from the Save as type list options. Give your new template a file name and select Save .

If you want to make your presentations smaller, compress the pictures you use in them. Select an image so the Picture Format tab appears. Go to that tab and select Compress Pictures (it's in the Adjust group). Here you have a few options: Uncheck Apply only to this picture so that the changes apply to all images in the presentation. You can also choose Delete cropped areas of pictures , but you can't restore images to their original size. Finally, select Use default resolution in the Resolution section.

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Basic tasks for creating a PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoint presentations work like slide shows. To convey a message or a story, you break it down into slides. Think of each slide as a blank canvas for the pictures and words that help you tell your story.

Choose a theme

When you open PowerPoint, you’ll see some built-in themes and templates . A theme is a slide design that contains matching colors, fonts, and special effects like shadows, reflections, and more.

On the File tab of the Ribbon, select New , and then choose a theme.

PowerPoint shows you a preview of the theme, with four color variations to choose from on the right side.

Click Create , or pick a color variation and then click Create .

Read more: Use or create themes in PowerPoint

Insert a new slide

On the Home tab, click the bottom half of  New Slide , and pick a slide layout.

Read more: Add, rearrange, and delete slides .

Save your presentation

On the File tab, choose Save .

Pick or browse to a folder.

In the File name box, type a name for your presentation, and then choose Save .

Note:  If you frequently save files to a certain folder, you can ‘pin’ the path so that it is always available (as shown below).

Tip:  Save your work as you go. Press Ctrl+S often or save the file to OneDrive and let AutoSave take care of it for you. 

Read more: Save your presentation file

Select a text placeholder, and begin typing.

Format your text

Select the text.

Under Drawing Tools , choose Format .

Do one of the following:

To change the color of your text, choose Text Fill , and then choose a color.

To change the outline color of your text, choose Text Outline , and then choose a color.

To apply a shadow, reflection, glow, bevel, 3-D rotation, a transform, choose Text Effects , and then choose the effect you want.

Change the fonts

Change the color of text on a slide

Add bullets or numbers to text

Format text as superscript or subscript

Add pictures

On the Insert tab, select Pictures , then do one of the following:

To insert a picture that is saved on your local drive or an internal server, choose This Device , browse for the picture, and then choose Insert .

(For Microsoft 365 subscribers) To insert a picture from our library, choose Stock Images , browse for a picture, select it and choose Insert .

To insert a picture from the web, choose Online Pictures , and use the search box to find a picture. Choose a picture, and then click Insert .

You can add shapes to illustrate your slide. 

On the Insert tab, select Shapes , and then select a shape from the menu that appears.

In the slide area, click and drag to draw the shape.

Select the Format or Shape Format tab on the ribbon. Open the Shape Styles gallery to quickly add a color and style (including shading) to the selected shape.

Add speaker notes

Slides are best when you don’t cram in too much information. You can put helpful facts and notes in the speaker notes, and refer to them as you present.

Click inside the Notes pane below the slide, and begin typing your notes.

Add speaker notes to your slides

Print slides with or without speaker notes

Give your presentation

On the Slide Show tab, do one of the following:

To start the presentation at the first slide, in the Start Slide Show group, click From Beginning .

If you’re not at the first slide and want to start from where you are, click From Current Slide .

If you need to present to people who are not where you are, click Present Online to set up a presentation on the web, and then choose one of the following options:

Broadcast your PowerPoint presentation online to a remote audience

View your speaker notes as you deliver your slide show.

Get out of Slide Show view

To get out of Slide Show view at any time, on the keyboard, press Esc .

You can quickly apply a theme when you're starting a new presentation:

On the File tab, click New .

Select a theme.

Read more:  Apply a design theme to your presentation

In the slide thumbnail pane on the left, select the slide that you want your new slide to follow.

On the Home tab, select the lower half of  New Slide .

From the menu, select the layout that you want for your new slide.

Your new slide is inserted, and you can click inside a placeholder to begin adding content.

Learn more about slide layouts

Read more: Add, rearrange, and delete slides

PowerPoint for the web automatically saves your work to your OneDrive, in the cloud.

To change the name of the automatically saved file:

In the title bar, click the file name.

In the File Name box, enter the name you want to apply to the file.

If you want to change the cloud storage location, at the right end of the Location box, click the arrow symbol, then navigate to the folder you want, then select Move here .

On the Home tab, use the Font options:

Select from other formatting options such as Bold , Italic , Underline , Strikethrough , Subscript , and Superscript .

On the  Insert  tab, select  Pictures .

From the menu, select where you want to insert the picture from:

Browse to the image you want, select it, then select Insert . 

After the image is inserted on the slide, you can select it and drag to reposition it, and you can select and drag a corner handle to resize the image. 

On the slide canvas, click and drag to draw the shape.

Select the Shape tab on the ribbon. Open the Shape Styles gallery to quickly add a color and style (including shading) to the selected shape.

A horizontal Notes pane appears at the bottom of the window, below the slide.

Click in the pane, then enter text. 

On the  Slide Show  tab, select  Play From Beginning .

To navigate through the slides, simply click the mouse or press the spacebar.

Tip:  You can also use the forward and back arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the slide show.

Read more:  Present your slide show

Stop a slide show

To get out of Slide Show view at any time, on the keyboard, press Esc.

The full-screen slide show will close, and you will be returned to the editing view of the file.

Tips for creating an effective presentation

Consider the following tips to keep your audience interested.

Minimize the number of slides

To maintain a clear message and to keep your audience attentive and interested, keep the number of slides in your presentation to a minimum.

Choose an audience-friendly font size

The audience must be able to read your slides from a distance. Generally speaking, a font size smaller than 30 might be too difficult for the audience to see.

Keep your slide text simple

You want your audience to listen to you present your information, instead of reading the screen. Use bullets or short sentences, and try to keep each item to one line.

Some projectors crop slides at the edges, so that long sentences might be cropped.

Use visuals to help express your message

Pictures, charts, graphs, and SmartArt graphics provide visual cues for your audience to remember. Add meaningful art to complement the text and messaging on your slides.

As with text, however, avoid including too many visual aids on your slide.

Make labels for charts and graphs understandable

Use only enough text to make label elements in a chart or graph comprehensible.

Apply subtle, consistent slide backgrounds

Choose an appealing, consistent template or theme that is not too eye-catching. You don't want the background or design to detract from your message.

However, you also want to provide a contrast between the background color and text color. The built-in themes in PowerPoint set the contrast between a light background with dark colored text or dark background with light colored text.

For more information about how to use themes, see Apply a theme to add color and style to your presentation .

Check the spelling and grammar

To earn and maintain the respect of your audience, always check the spelling and grammar in your presentation .

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7 Reasons Why You Still Need PowerPoint

Meetings are critical to business success, but they consume a lot of your most precious resource – time. One meeting among a small team can fill an entire day’s worth of hours. And studies show that disorganized meetings are associated with lower market share, innovation, and stability. So, how can you ensure your meetings are both effective and efficient?

PowerPoint can help! Get more out of every minute in meetings by employing PowerPoint presentation design. When used well, PowerPoint is still a meeting’s most indispensable tool. At eSlide we have seen our clients experience greater meeting success – and greater business success – through better visuals and better meeting communications.

Here are seven reasons why you still need PowerPoint, and why you should use it at your next meeting:

1. PowerPoint Keeps Meetings On Topic

A good PowerPoint helps the presenter keep the meeting organized and moving at a good pace. With virtual meetings, keeping an audience focused is even more of a challenge, so having a good PowerPoint presentation design will help the presenter stay in command of the audience’s attention. Even simply using an agenda slide will help attendees stay on topic and ensure you accomplish what you need.

2. PowerPoint Boosts Presenter Confidence

Most people dislike public speaking so anything that makes the job easier is a win. Having a well-designed slide deck can serve as a content guide for presenters, so they don’t have to worry about forgetting any of their important points. This allows them to relax and feel more confident so they come across as more knowledgeable, authoritative and engaging. All of this makes it more likely that audiences will pay attention and be convinced by their message.

3. PowerPoint Enables Quick Communication of Complex Ideas

PowerPoint allows presenters to translate complex ideas, facts, or figures into easily digestible visuals. Visual representations of information activate the right hemisphere of the brain, which allows viewers to interpret, expound, and engage with what they’re seeing. In the case of a PowerPoint presentation, this right-sided brain function makes perfect use of the software’s primary purpose, i.e., translating detailed information into visuals that enable the presenter to avoid audience confusion and keep the meeting moving.

4. PowerPoint Makes Your Presentation and Presenting Better

The act of creating a PowerPoint deck – putting ideas ‘on paper’ – forces the presenter to hone their message. By going through this process, they become more familiar with their content. This refinement exercise gives them a better chance of delivering a well-crafted and well-executed presentation. Think of it as a series of practice sessions that solidify a presenter’s ideas in their own mind, resulting in a stronger, more focused presentation.

5. PowerPoint is Perfect for Visual Messaging

PowerPoint is often maligned for being boring, but this is a problem of use rather than something inherently wrong with the software. When used properly, i.e., as a visual medium, it’s the perfect vehicle for communicating in meetings. Research shows that the brain consumes and comprehends images more effectively than words alone. Using visual representations of information in a PowerPoint presentation design allows the audience to digest the presenter’s ideas instantaneously, without the need for additional explanation.

6. PowerPoint Allows the Audience to Be ‘In The Moment’

When a presenter uses PowerPoint, attendees know they can have the deck afterward so they can focus on listening rather than taking notes during the meeting. This allows the audience to give the presenter their full attention, going on the journey as the presenter tells it. And because a PowerPoint deck is a perfect post-meeting handout, the presenter’s work is done when the presentation is finished.

7. PowerPoint Helps You Deliver a More Memorable Message

Well-crafted PowerPoint presentation design that makes the most of this visual medium enables an audience to remember ideas and messages better. Studies show that humans retain visuals easier than they do words, whether spoken or written down. Therefore, a presenter is more likely to move their audience to action if the audience can better recall what it is they have been asked to do after the meeting is over.

Bonus Tip: PowerPoint Presentation Design Professionals Save You Valuable Time

Your time is valuable, so don’t spend it on anything you don’t have to. eSlide has been working with top executives from Fortune 500 companies around the globe for more than 20 years. PowerPoint presentation design and enhancement is all we do. Let us focus on your presentation design, so you can focus on your content and meeting preparation.

Contact eSlide today to learn how we can save you time and help you deliver better results!

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Microsoft PowerPoint: How to Use It to Teach

Microsoft PowerPoint is a powerful teaching tool and this is how it can help your classroom

Recent updates

This article was updated in October 2023

Microsoft PowerPoint is a powerful slide-based presentation tool that can be used by teachers and students as a way of communicating digitally. This comes as part of the Microsoft Office 365 package so, if your institution uses that, you may already have access to this power tool.

This lets you create presentations from scratch or -- helpfully -- using templates that allow you to input the data you need to end up with a professional finish, fast. Since the software is cloud-based, it can allow you to jump between devices while working on a single project that's also easy to access and share.

Of course there is some very direct competition from Google, which is free. So can Microsoft justify the price that goes with its PowerPoint tool?

Read on to find out everything you need to know about Microsoft PowerPoint for education.

• Best Digital Tools for Teachers
• What is Google Classroom?

What is Microsoft PowerPoint?

Microsoft PowerPoint is a slideshow presentation tool; in fact, it was one of the first and is still one of the most famous and widely used. Mainly aimed at business use, PowerPoint is crammed full of powerful features.

For schools already using the Microsoft ecosystem of software, this is a very easy tool to integrate and allows for simple sharing of presentations with students, other teachers, and parents. Go beyond the Microsoft world though and that can become more difficult unless you're using the online specific version of PowerPoint, as opposed to the more feature-rich full software – but more on that in the cost section below.

Microsoft PowerPoint can be used from scratch but also offers a broad library of templates that allow for quick and easy construction of presentations with a high-quality finish. That means the end result can be more engaging and can take far less time and effort to create, both for teachers and students.

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Collaboration, in real-time, is also an option in the case of the online version of PowerPoint, making this useful as a place for students to work together even when physically distanced.

What's new in Microsoft PowerPoint?

In recent months Microsoft has announced a slew of updates. This is nothing new, but for education specifically, these are the points that are of interest. 

Microsoft had added an enhanced Teleprompter view in Recording Studio. This includes an auto scroll feature that allows teachers to easily refer to a script while keeping eye contact in the video recording.

Tasks are a new addition to PowerPoint, which allow teachers to annotate points on student work, so as to assign an action for them to carry out in their work.

Reactions are a useful new feature that let you react to something without having to type words -- letting students know you've seen it, without opening up more dialogue or costing you time.

How does Microsoft PowerPoint work?

Microsoft PowerPoint follows the layout you may have experienced before in Word or Excel. You start with a selection of template options, or a blank start, which brings you into the editing mode. This has the slides down the left of the screen with a larger central part showing the current slide. Above that are the options in word and icon formats.

Editing is very easy, as when you select a section of the slide, that element will then be available to customize with prompts popping up to help. Drag-and-drop is also an option for moving items about or adding images into your slides, for example.

So the basic use of Microsoft PowerPoint is simple enough, however, there are lot of options. This could be daunting except Microsoft offers plenty of support so you can dive into those options to explore more. The Microsoft 365 support center has how-to articles, step-by-step video tutorials, an active community forum, and even a 24/7 live chat support team.

Once you're happy with your presentation, you can share it using a simple link, or you can present it to the class in the room or digitally by simply hitting the play icon. This also lets you see one screen, behind the scenes if you like, while the students just see the slides as each comes up – ideal if you want to keep notes and answers hidden.

What are the best Microsoft PowerPoint features?

Microsoft PowerPoint ease of use makes it a great tool for education. The ability to drag and drop images, music, video, files, and more into the slide and have the software do the work of converting and fitting it is an often underrated feature.

Collaboration is a great feature that allows students to work together on projects. Since students can see one another's changes, live, they don't need to be in the same room or in communication to work effectively together. Of course, having a bit of a plan of who does what also helps avoid any overlap.

Thanks to the wide use of Microsoft tools, there is a broad array of devices on which PowerPoint will work, from desktop computers and laptops to tablets and smartphones. It also plays nice with lots of projectors and smartboards, making presentations in varying locations an easy option, all using digital content stored in the cloud.

Microsoft PowerPoint offers great 3D support, making it a useful tool for sharing images, renders, and more. From physical objects in design or science class to virtual interactive maps, there's lots you can integrate into a Microsoft PowerPoint slide.

How much does Microsoft PowerPoint cost?

Microsoft charges for PowerPoint in varying ways, including a free option.

The Office 365 A1 plan gets you a host of online (slightly limited) versions of the apps, including PowerPoint, for free . This also comes with Outlook, Word, Excel, OneNote, Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, and more.

Step up to the Office 365 A3 plan , at $3.25 per user per month for staff or $2.50 per student , and you get all the above. You also get access to the full desktop apps as well as additional management and security tools.

Go for the top Office 365 A5 plan and it's $8 per user per month for staff and $6 per student . This gets you all the above plus "best-in-class intelligent security management", advanced compliance and analytics systems. 

Microsoft PowerPoint Best Tips and Tricks

Work together Create a project on the big screen, as a class, to work out how to use the software and work through any issues as a class.

Collaborate Set up groups for projects and have them work collaboratively to see how this tool can function across the cloud to enhance teamwork and the end results.

Try templates Encourage students to work with the templates to find ways to expressing what they need in the most time efficient way possible.

Luke Edwards is a freelance writer and editor with more than two decades of experience covering tech, science, and health. He writes for many publications covering health tech, software and apps, digital teaching tools, VPNs, TV, audio, smart home, antivirus, broadband, smartphones, cars and much more.

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11 Advantages of Using Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations!

By: Author Shrot Katewa

If you suddenly find yourself in a position where you have to present information to other people, you might wonder what software is the best to use to deliver a professional presentation. There are different options to choose from and you just don’t know what to use.

The biggest advantage of using PowerPoint is that PPT files are the most commonly used and widely accepted file formats. PowerPoint is easy to use, cost-effective and boasts a huge online community for support. You also get access to thousands of templates to make your presentation look good.

But, there are several other advantages of using Microsoft PowerPoint for your presentations too. In this article, I’ll some of the most effective benefits of using Microsoft PowerPoint for presentation design!

Note – If you are on the fence but interested in getting PowerPoint, check out this limited-time deal to get Office 365 1-year subscription for the lowest price on Amazon!

1.   Most Widely Accepted File Format

Microsoft PowerPoint is a widely accepted file format where slides are used to convey information. It is a standard component of the Microsoft Office Suite and is compatible with Google Slides, Keynote, and other open-source presentation software.

According to some research results regarding the popularity and use of presentation software, it is estimated that PowerPoint is currently installed on more than a billion computers worldwide ! It is believed that there might be about 30 million PowerPoint presentations created every day.

The advantage of using such a popular and widely used software program is that it is most probably a familiar program for the person you share a presentation with.

2.   Wide Variety of File Export Options

A great advantage offered by PowerPoint is that you can export the whole presentation, or parts of it, in a variety of formats. PowerPoint presentations can also be made available on many different devices, and you can always control what content you want to display.

As you don’t have to send a presentation necessarily in .ppt or .pptx format, the receiver doesn’t require PowerPoint or PowerPoint Viewer to open the presentation.

You can export in PDF format and your layout and design will not be altered. The presentation’s slides can also be saved and exported in .png or .jpg format.

If needed, a presentation can also be exported to a video and saved in Mp4 format. If gifs form part of your presentation, they can be saved and exported as Animated GIFs . 

You always have the print option to export your presentation or parts of the presentation to Word. When you’ve exported it to Word the content can be edited before printing it.

Whichever way of exporting you decide on, you can export the presentation either as a whole or only some of the slides.  And it can be sent as an attachment with an email or you can use the Cloud to facilitate the saving and exporting processes of the presentation.

3.   Provides huge Flexibility in Design & Creativity

PowerPoint provides huge flexibility in design and creativity. You can, for instance, use its visual hierarchy features when you create your slides. With this feature, you assure that the right elements and content catch the eye.

Other features include the merging of shapes, the creation of layers, and the creative use of color. You also get an eyedropper tool in PowerPoint that allows you to use any color from your screen in your presentation!

With the Design Ideas feature , you can create the content of a slide and PowerPoint will offer you a variety of design choices to make it better.

The design features PowerPoint offers can in many aspects be compared to advanced design software solutions like Adobe InDesign. You don’t need separate software to design your slides – PowerPoint provides you with built-in features.

4.   Allows you to Use Creative Templates

The designs of your presentations are what catch the eye and help you to convey your message to your audience. PowerPoint’s creative templates spare you the time of designing your own templates.

However, if you are a good designer yourself, PowerPoint allows you to create your own templates if you want to.

Note – Check out some of the most popular PowerPoint templates on the internet!

When using PowerPoint’s creative templates feature, it automatically generates design ideas to choose from. You get virtually unlimited options because this feature matches the content you are creating to professionally designed layouts in the background.

This template creation feature is a great advantage for users without any design background. It lets you design presentations that look professional even if you don’t have a design background.

5.   Functionality to Use Both Online and Offline

PowerPoint offers you the option to work either online or offline. When you’re using PowerPoint online you can create and share basic presentations directly in your browser. 

But it must be remembered that web-based PowerPoint doesn’t have all the features that you’ll have access to with desktop PowerPoint.  For “normal” presentations the online web version is good enough and you can present your slide show from anywhere where you have internet access.

To utilize all the features of PowerPoint you have to install the software on your desktop device.

PowerPoint offers you the freedom to work online or offline whichever mode suits you the best for a specific presentation. Many PowerPoint users work with both modes – depending on what they are creating and for what purpose.

6.   Allows easy Collaboration and Sharing with other Team Members

PowerPoint is an ideal tool to share and collaborate with team members when you are creating a presentation as a team. You have various options.

You can independently create a presentation and then send it to team members for comments or editing. Or you can work simultaneously on the same presentation with others via web-based PowerPoint or by saving your desktop-created presentation in the Cloud.

7.   Option to Add a vast Variety of Multimedia

PowerPoint provides you with tools to make any presentation more interesting by using multi-media. When using PowerPoint you can in the same presentation have

• text with the option to install additional fonts ,
• videos and video snippets,
• background music,
• a narrator’s voice explaining the visual material on the screen,
• graphics to illustrate tendencies,
• tables to compare information, and more.

And you don’t need separate tools to create interesting presentations – everything is built-in into PowerPoint. You can either just add the various types of files to the presentation or you can add the formats as such into the presentation.   

8.   Suitable for Beginners and Advanced Users alike

The versatility of PowerPoint ensures that on the one hand, presentation creators with advanced design skills are not disappointed with the design tools and possibilities offered by PowerPoint and on the other hand, beginners and people without any designing background can create professional-looking presentations.

 This is one of the most important advantages of PowerPoint – anyone can use it successfully.

9.   Cost is relatively Inexpensive

PowerPoint is normally part of the Microsoft Office package and is included in the Microsoft Office one-off price or subscription. But if you are not a Microsoft Office user, you can purchase PowerPoint from the Microsoft Store at a reasonable price of about $160.

Note – Check out this limited-time deal to get Office 365 1-year subscription for as little as about $60 on Amazon!

Once you’ve purchased PowerPoint you can use it without extra charges to create presentations and to present them for non-commercial purposes. However, there are licensing and relatively small annual fees involved if you use the PowerPoint presentations commercially. 

10. Suitable for Teaching

A PowerPoint presentation in the class is an effective way to reinforce content that has to be retained.

With features like the possibility to record your voice to accompany the PowerPoint slides, it is also easy to convert the presentations that have been used in the class into videos to post online. The students can then review the work done in the class at home.  T

his method works effectively for academic lessons and training sessions.

PowerPoint presentations online can also sometimes be the only way to teach and train students. During the Covid pandemic, for instance, classes are sometimes not possible and online sessions are the only way to keep on teaching.

A large percentage of these online sessions have started as PowerPoint presentations.  

11. Huge Online Community and Microsoft Support for Troubleshooting Issues

Microsoft offers 24/7 support for PowerPoint users and there are literally hundreds of articles online available on how to troubleshoot issues. The huge online community of PowerPoint users is also actively involved on websites like Quora to help fellow users to get solutions for their issues.

Credit to benzoix (on Freepik) for the featured image of this article (further edited)

Blog > How to structure a good PowerPoint Presentation

How to structure a good PowerPoint Presentation

08.09.21   •  #powerpoint #tips.

When creating presentations, it is particularly important that they are well organized and have a consistent structure.

A logical structure helps the audience to follow you and to remember the core information as best as possible. It is also important for the presenter, as a good presentation structure helps to keep calm, to stay on the topic and to avoid awkward pauses.

But what does such a structure actually look like? Here we show you how to best organize your presentation and what a good structure looks like.

Plan your presentation

Before you start creating your presentation, you should always brainstorm. Think about the topic and write all your ideas down. Then think about the message you want to communicate, what your goal is and what you want your audience to remember at the end.

Think about who your audience is so that you can address them in the best possible way. One possibility is to start your presentation with a few polls to get to know your audience better. Based on the results, you can then adapt your presentation a little. Use the poll function of SlideLizard and have all the answers at a glance. SlideLizard makes it possible to integrate the polls directly into your PowerPoint presentation which helps you to avoid annoying switching between presentation and interaction tool. You can keep an eye on the results while the votes come in and then decide whether you want to share them or not.

• an informative
• an entertaining
• an inspiring
• or a persuasive presentation?

Typical Presentation Structure

The basic structure of a presentation is actually always the same and should consist of:

Introduction

Make sure that the structure of your presentation is not too complicated. The simpler it is, the better the audience can follow.

Personal Introduction

It is best to start your presentation by briefly introducing yourself which helps to build a connection with your audience right away.

Introduce the topic

Then introduce the topic, state the purpose of the presentation and provide a brief outline of the main points you will be addressing.

Mention the length

In the introduction, mention the approximate length of the talk and then also make sure you stick to it.

The introduction should be no longer than two slides and provide a good overview of the topic.

Icebreaker Polls

According to studies, people in the audience only have an average attention span of 10 minutes, which is why it is important to increase their attention right at the beginning and to arouse the audience's interest. You could make a good start with a few icebreaker polls for example. They lighten the mood right at the beginning and you can secure your audience's attention from the start.

For example, you could use SlideLizard to have all the answers at a glance and share them with your audience. In addition, the audience can try out how the polls work and already know how it works if you include more polls in the main part.

Get to know your audience

As mentioned earlier, it is always useful to think about who your audience actually is. Ask them questions at the beginning about how well they already know the topic of your presentation. Use SlideLizard for this so that you have a clear overview about the answers. You can use both single- and multiple-choice questions or also open questions and display their results as a WordCloud in your presentation, for example.

Include a quote

To make the beginning (or the end) of your presentation more exciting, it is always a good idea to include a quote. We have selected some powerful quotes for PowerPoint presentations for you.

Present your topic

The main part of a presentation should explain the topic well, state facts, justify them and give examples. Keep all the promises you made earlier in the introduction.

Length and Structure

The main part should make up about 70% of the presentation and also include a clear structure. Explain your ideas in detail and build them up logically. It should be organized chronologically, by priority or by topic. There should be a smooth transition between the individual issues. However, it is also important to use phrases that make it clear that a new topic is starting. We have listed some useful phrases for presentations here.

Visualize data and statistics and show pictures to underline facts. If you are still looking for good images, we have selected 5 sources of free images for you here.

Focus on the essentials

Focus on what is most important and summarize a bit. You don't have to say everything about a topic because your audience won’t remember everything either. Avoid complicated sentence structure, because if the audience does not understand something, they will not be able to read it again.

Make your presentation interactive

Make your presentation interactive to keep the attention of your audience. Use SlideLizard to include polls in your presentation, where your audience can vote directly from their smartphone and discuss the answers as soon as you received all votes. Here you can also find more tips for increasing audience engagement.

Repeat the main points

The conclusion should contain a summary of the most important key points. Repeat the main points you have made, summarize what the audience should have learned and explain how the new information can help in the future.

Include a Q&A part

Include a Q&A part at the end to make sure you don't leave any questions open. It's a good idea to use tools like SlideLizard for it. Your audience can ask anonymous questions and if there is not enough time, you can give them the answers afterwards. You can read more about the right way to do a question slide in PowerPoint here.

Get Feedback

It is also important to get feedback on your presentation at the end to keep improving. With SlideLizard you can ask your audience for anonymous feedback through star ratings, number ratings or open texts directly after your presentation. You can then export the responses and analyse them later in Excel.

Presentation style

Depending on the type of presentation you give, the structure will always be slightly different. We have selected a few different presentation styles and their structure for you.

Short Presentation

If you are one of many presenters on the day, you will only have a very limited time to present your idea and to convince your audience. It is very important to stand out with your presentation.

So you need to summarize your ideas as briefly as possible and probably should not need more than 3-5 slides.

Problem Solving Presentation

Start your presentation by explaining a problem and giving a short overview of it.

Then go into the problem a little more, providing both intellectual and emotional arguments for the seriousness of the problem. You should spend about the first 25% of your presentation on the problem.

After that, you should spend about 50% of your presentation proposing a solution and explaining it in detail.

In the last 25%, describe what benefits this solution will bring to your audience and ask them to take a simple but relevant action that relates to the problem being discussed.

Tell a Story

A great way to build an emotional connection with the audience is to structure a presentation like a story.

In the introduction, introduce a character who has to deal with a conflict. In the main part, tell how he tries to solve his problem but fails again and again. In the end, he manages to find a solution and wins.

Stories have the power to win customers, align colleagues and motivate employees. They’re the most compelling platform we have for managing imaginations. - Nancy Duarte / HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

Make a demonstration

Use the demonstration structure to show how a product works. First talk about a need or a problem that has to be solved.

Then explain how the product will help solve the problem and try to convince your audience of the need for your product.

Spend the end clarifying where and when the product can be purchased.

Chronological structure

When you have something historical to tell, it is always good to use a chronological structure. You always have to ask yourself what happens next.

To make it more interesting and exciting, it is a good idea to start by telling the end of something and after that you explain how you got there. This way you make the audience curious and you can gain their attention faster.

Nancy Duarte TED Talk

Nancy Duarte is a speaker and presentation design expert. She gives speeches all over the world, trying to improve the power of public presentations.

In her famous TED Talk "The Secret Structure of Great Talks" she dissects famous speeches such as Steve Jobs' iPhone launch speech and Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. In doing so, she found out that each presentation is made up of 4 parts:

• What could be
• A moment to remember
• Promise of “New Bliss”

Related articles

About the author.

Helena Reitinger

Helena supports the SlideLizard team in marketing and design. She loves to express her creativity in texts and graphics.

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The big SlideLizard presentation glossary

A podcast is an audio or video contribution that can be listened to or viewed via the Internet. Podcasts can be used for information on specific topics but also for entertainment.

Slide Master

To create your own Template in PowerPoint it is best to use the Slide Master. After updating the Slide Master with your design, all slides (fonts, colours, images, …) adapt to those of the Slide Master.

Slide Layouts

PowerPoint has different types of Slide Layouts. Depending on which type of presentation you make, you will use more or less different slide layouts. Some Slide Types are: title slides, section heading slides, picture with caption slides, blank slides.

Eulogy Speech

A eulogy speech is given at a funeral. It is given by familiy members or friends of the deceased. The aim is to say goodbye and pay tribute to the person who has passed away.

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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• Government Exam Articles

An Introduction To MS PowerPoint

MS PowerPoint is a program that is included in the Microsoft Office suite. It is used to make presentations for personal and professional purposes.

In this article, we shall discuss in detail the functions and features of a PowerPoint presentation, followed by some sample questions based on this topic for the upcoming competitive exams. 

To learn more about the different programs under Microsoft Office , visit the linked article. 

Given below are a few important things that one must know about the development and introduction of Microsoft PowerPoint:

• The program was created in a software company named Forethought, Inc. by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin. 
• It was released on April 20, 1987, and after 3 months of its creation, it was acquired by Microsoft.
• The first version of this program, when introduced by Microsoft was MS PowerPoint 2.0 (1990).
• It is a presentation-based program that uses graphics, videos, etc. to make a presentation more interactive and interesting.
• The file extension of a saved Powerpoint presentation is “.ppt”.
• A PowerPoint presentation comprising slides and other features is also known as PPT.

Gradually, with each version, the program was more creative and more interactive. Various other features were added in PowerPoint which massively increased the requirement and use of this MS Office program.

From the examination point of view, MS PowerPoint happens to be a very important topic. Candidates who are preparing for the various Government exams can visit the Computer Knowledge page and get a list of topics included in the syllabus and prepare themselves accordingly. 

Basics of MS PowerPoint

Discussed below are a few questions that one must be aware of while discussing the basics of MS PowerPoint. Once this is understood, using the program and analysing how to use it more creatively shall become easier.

Question: What is MS PowerPoint?

Answer: PowerPoint (PPT) is a powerful, easy-to-use presentation graphics software  program that allows you to create professional-looking electronic slide  shows. 

The image given below shows the main page of MS PowerPoint, where a person lands when the program is opened on a computer system:

Question: How to open MS PowerPoint on a personal computer?

Answer: Follow the steps below to open MS PowerPoint on a personal computer:

• Click on the start button
• Then choose “All Programs”
• Next step is to select “MS Office”
• Under MS Office, click on the “MS PowerPoint” 

A blank presentation is open on the screen. According to the requirement, a person can modify the template for a presentation and start using the program.

Question: What is a PowerPoint presentation or PPT?

Answer: A combination of various slides depicting a graphical and visual interpretation of data, to present information in a more creative and interactive manner is called a PowerPoint presentation or PPT.

Question: What is a slide show in a PowerPoint presentation?

Answer: When all the slides of a PowerPoint presentation are set in series and then presented to a group of people, where each slide appears one after the other, is a set pattern, this is known as a PowerPoint slide show. 

Question: What all elements can be added to a slide?

Answer: The following elements can be added to a Powerpoint slide:

• Photographs
• Media Clips

All these elements are mainly used to enhance presentation skills and make the slide more interactive.

To learn more about the Fundamentals of Computer , visit the linked article. 

For a better understanding of the Microsoft PowerPoint and its operations, functions and usage, refer to the video given below:

Features of MS PowerPoint

There are multiple features that are available in MS PowerPoint which can customise and optimise a presentation. The same have been discussed below.

• Slide Layout

Multiple options and layouts are available based on which a presentation can be created. This option is available under the “Home” section and one can select from the multiple layout options provided.

The image below shows the different slide layout options which are available for use:

• Insert – Clipart, Video, Audio, etc.

Under the “Insert” category, multiple options are available where one can choose what feature they want to insert in their presentation. This may include images, audio, video, header, footer, symbols, shapes, etc. 

The image below shows the features which can be inserted:

• Slide Design

MS PowerPoint has various themes using which background colour and designs or textures can be added to a slide. This makes the presentation more colourful and attracts the attention of the people looking at it.

This feature can be added using the “Design” category mentioned on the homepage of MS PowerPoint. Although there are existing design templates available, in case someone wants to add some new texture or colour, the option to customise the design is also available. Apart from this, slide designs can also be downloaded online.

Refer to the below for slide design:

During the slide show, the slides appear on the screen one after the other. In case, one wants to add some animations to the way in which a slide presents itself, they can refer to the “Animations” category. 

The different animation styles available on PowerPoint are:

Apart from all these options; font size, font style, font colour, word art, date and time, etc. can also be added to a PPT.

Also, there are various other subjects that are included in the exam syllabus for various competitive exams. Candidates can check the detailed section-wise syllabus in the links given below:

Uses of PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint presentations are useful for both personal and professional usage. Given below are a few of the major fields where PPT is extremely useful:

• Education – With e-learning and smart classes being chosen as a common mode of education today, PowerPoint presentations can help in making education more interactive and attract students towards the modified version of studying
• Marketing – In the field of marketing, PowerPoint presentations can be extremely important. Using graphs and charts, numbers can be shown more evidently and clearly which may be ignored by the viewer if being read
• Business – To invite investors or to show the increase or decrease in profits, MS PowerPoint can be used
• Creating Resumes – Digital resumes can be formed using MS PowerPoint. Different patterns, photograph, etc. can be added to the resume
• Depicting Growth – Since both graphics and text can be added in a presentation, depicting the growth of a company, business, student’s marks, etc. is easier using PPT

Government exam aspirants can upgrade their preparation with the help of the links given below:

Sample MS PowerPoint Questions and Answers

As discussed earlier in this article, Computer Awareness is included in the syllabus for many competitive exams. Thus, to understand the program from the examination point of view is also a must. 

Given below are a few sample questions based on MS PowerPoint.

Q 1. How many maximum slides can be added to a PowerPoint presentation?

• No fixed number

Answer: (3) No fixed number

Q 2. Slide Sorter view can be selected under which of the following categories?

Answer: (4) View

Q 3. The combination of which keyboard keys can be used as a shortcut to add a new slide in MS PowerPoint?

Answer: (3) ctrl+M

Q 4. Header and Footer option is available under which of the following categories?

Answer: (1) Insert

Q 5. Which of the following is not included in the “Insert” category in MS PowerPoint?

Answer: (4) Animation

Similar types of MS PowerPoint Questions may be asked based on the features or usage of the program. Thus, one must carefully go through the elements and aspects of PPT. 

For any further assistance related to the upcoming Government exams, candidates can check the Preparation Strategy for Competitive Exams page. 

Get the latest exam information, study material and other information related to the major Government exams conducted in the country, at BYJU’S.

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How-To Geek

6 ways to create more interactive powerpoint presentations.

Engage your audience with cool, actionable features.

Quick Links

• Add a QR code
• Embed Microsoft Forms (Education or Business Only)
• Embed a Live Web Page
• Add Links and Menus
• Add Clickable Images to Give More Info
• Add a Countdown Timer

We've all been to a presentation where the speaker bores you to death with a mundane PowerPoint presentation. Actually, the speaker could have kept you much more engaged by adding some interactive features to their slideshow. Let's look into some of these options.

1. Add a QR code

Adding a QR code can be particularly useful if you want to direct your audience to an online form, website, or video.

Some websites have in-built ways to create a QR code. For example, on Microsoft Forms , when you click "Collect Responses," you'll see the QR code option via the icon highlighted in the screenshot below. You can either right-click the QR code to copy and paste it into your presentation, or click "Download" to add it to your device gallery to insert the QR code as a picture.

In fact, you can easily add a QR code to take your viewer to any website. On Microsoft Edge, right-click anywhere on a web page where there isn't already a link, and left-click "Create QR Code For This Page."

You can also create QR codes in other browsers, such as Chrome.

You can then copy or download the QR code to use wherever you like in your presentation.

2. Embed Microsoft Forms (Education or Business Only)

If you plan to send your PPT presentation to others—for example, if you're a trainer sending step-by-step instruction presentation, a teacher sending an independent learning task to your students, or a campaigner for your local councilor sending a persuasive PPT to constituents—you might want to embed a quiz, questionnaire, pole, or feedback survey in your presentation.

In PowerPoint, open the "Insert" tab on the ribbon, and in the Forms group, click "Forms". If you cannot see this option, you can add new buttons to the ribbon .

As at April 2024, this feature is only available for those using their work or school account. We're using a Microsoft 365 Personal account in the screenshot below, which is why the Forms icon is grayed out.

Then, a sidebar will appear on the right-hand side of your screen, where you can either choose a form you have already created or opt to craft a new form.

Now, you can share your PPT presentation with others , who can click the fields and submit their responses when they view the presentation.

3. Embed a Live Web Page

You could always screenshot a web page and paste that into your PPT, but that's not a very interactive addition to your presentation. Instead, you can embed a live web page into your PPT so that people with access to your presentation can interact actively with its contents.

To do this, we will need to add an add-in to our PPT account .

Add-ins are not always reliable or secure. Before installing an add-in to your Microsoft account, check that the author is a reputable company, and type the add-in's name into a search engine to read reviews and other users' experiences.

To embed a web page, add the Web Viewer add-in ( this is an add-in created by Microsoft ).

Go to the relevant slide and open the Web Viewer add-in. Then, copy and paste the secure URL into the field box, and remove https:// from the start of the address. In our example, we will add a selector wheel to our slide. Click "Preview" to see a sample of the web page's appearance in your presentation.

This is how ours will look.

When you or someone with access to your presentation views the slideshow, this web page will be live and interactive.

4. Add Links and Menus

As well as moving from one slide to the next through a keyboard action or mouse click, you can create links within your presentation to direct the audience to specific locations.

To create a link, right-click the outline of the clickable object, and click "Link."

In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click "Place In This Document," choose the landing destination, and click "OK."

What's more, to make it clear that an object is clickable, you can use action buttons. Open the "Insert" tab on the ribbon, click "Shape," and then choose an appropriate action button. Usefully, PPT will automatically prompt you to add a link to these shapes.

You might also want a menu that displays on every slide. Once you have created the menu, add the links using the method outlined above. Then, select all the items, press Ctrl+C (copy), and then use Ctrl+V to paste them in your other slides.

5. Add Clickable Images to Give More Info

Through PowerPoint's animations, you can give your viewer the power to choose what they see and when they see it. This works nicely whether you're planning to send your presentation to others to run through independently or whether you're presenting in front of a group and want your audience to decide which action they want to take.

Start by creating the objects that will be clickable (trigger) and the items that will appear (pop-up).

Then, select all the pop-ups together. When you click "Animations" on the ribbon and choose an appropriate animation for the effect you want to achieve, this will be applied to all objects you have selected.

The next step is to rename the triggers in your presentation. To do this, open the "Home" tab, and in the Editing group, click "Select", and then "Selection Pane."

With the Selection Pane open, select each trigger on your slide individually, and rename them in the Selection Pane, so that they can be easily linked to in the next step.

Finally, go back to the first pop-up. Open the "Animations" tab, and in the Advanced Animation group, click the "Trigger" drop-down arrow. Then, you can set the item to appear when a trigger is clicked in your presentation.

If you want your item to disappear when the trigger is clicked again, select the pop-up, click "Add Animation" in the Advanced Animation group, choose an Exit animation, and follow the same step to link that animation to the trigger button.

6. Add a Countdown Timer

A great way to get your audience to engage with your PPT presentation is to keep them on edge by adding a countdown timer. Whether you're leading a presentation and want to let your audience stop to discuss a topic, or running an online quiz with time-limit questions, having a countdown timer means your audience will keep their eye on your slide throughout.

To do this, you need to animate text boxes or shapes containing your countdown numbers. Choose and format a shape and type the highest number that your countdown clock will need. In our case, we're creating a 10-second timer.

Now, with your shape selected, open the "Animations" tab on the ribbon and click the animation drop-down arrow. Then, in the Exit menu, click "Disappear."

Open the Animation Pane, and click the drop-down arrow next to the animation you've just added. From there, choose "Timing."

Make sure "On Click" is selected in the Start menu, and change the Delay option to "1 second," before clicking "OK."

Then, with this shape still selected, press Ctrl+C (copy), and then Ctrl+V (paste). In the second box, type 9 . With the Animation Pane still open and this second shape selected, click the drop-down arrow and choose "Timing" again. Change the Start option to "After Previous," and make sure the Delay option is 1 second. Then, click "OK."

We can now use this second shape as our template, as when we copy and paste it again, the animations will also duplicate. With this second shape selected, press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, type 8 into the box, and continue to do the same until you get to 0 .

Next, remove the animations from the "0" box, as you don't want this to disappear. To do this, click the shape, and in the Animation Pane drop-down, click "Remove."

You now need to layer them in order. Right-click the box containing number 1, and click "Bring To Front." You will now see that box on the top. Do the same with the other numbers in ascending order.

Finally, you need to align the objects together. Click anywhere on your slide and press Ctrl+A. Then, in the Home tab on the ribbon, click "Arrange." First click "Align Center," and then bring the menu up again, so that you can click "Align Middle."

Press Ctrl+A again to select your timer, and you can then move your timer or copy and paste it elsewhere.

Press F5 to see the presentation in action, and when you get to the slide containing the timer, click anywhere on the slide to see your countdown timer in action!

Now that your PPT presentation is more interactive, make sure you've avoided these eight common presentational mistakes before you present your slides.

10 Tips for a Persuasive Presentation

Powerful presentation is persuasion. here's how to elevate your impact..

Posted May 11, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

• Presentations aim to effect change. It's essential to be clear about what change you want to see.
• Powerful presenters embrace and extend empathy to seek first to understand their audience.
• Substance and style both matter to create an audience-informed communication experience.
• Persuasive presentations are relevant, reasoned, real, and resonant.

How many of us realize that giving a presentation or making a speech is all about persuasion , influence, and emotional intelligence ? Impactful presenters understand the power of empathy to understand and engage their audience, the efficiency and kindness of having a clear objective and message, and the importance of substance and style—all as a way to connect in a way that engages and inspires.

Much has been written on the power and behavioral science of persuasion, not least by expert Robert Cialdini. His bestselling book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion explains seven research-based universal principles of influence .

From my experience as a leadership coach working with thousands of people worldwide, I have compiled a list of ten essentials to elevate our presentation.

1. Maintain an "other" focus. What do you know about your audience and how can you find out more? Ask yourself what kind of a speaker will appeal to your audience, what arguments are likely to resonate with them, and what feelings you want to inspire so the audience will positively respond to your ask.

If your audience is predominantly data-driven, you may want to use more evidence-based arguments. If the audience is mixed, a combination of data, authority, and storytelling may be more appropriate. Extend Daniel Goleman’s three types of empathy to gather intelligence , understand your audience, and tailor your intervention to connect more profoundly.

2. Determine a specific objective. Presentations aim to effect change in some way. What change do you want to see in your audience?

For instance, gaining their approval for a certain investment, soliciting their buy-in for a change, or creating a sense of enthusiasm for an idea or initiative. The purpose of a presentation is to bring about change so make sure you are clear on what kind of change you want to bring about.

3. Design a grabber. Our attention spans have shrunk as we have more and more competing demands on our attention . If you want to get someone’s attention, you need to grab it at the outset and try and hold on.

You can do this in several different ways. Throw out a question that demands a response from the audience. Give a surprising fact or statistic, or quote from a well-known figure. Tell a story or an anecdote. A good grabber captures the attention of everyone there and makes them focus on what you have to say.

4. Crystalize your message and construct your arguments. Your message is the heart of your speech. Craft a brief phrase that clearly defines your proposal in 10-12 words—for example, “This post is about crafting presentations that inspire and engage others to elevate their presentations.”

Make it memorable by choosing inspiring words, symbols, catchy expressions, something that will remain in the audience's mind. As Brené Brown says: “Clear is kind,” and a clear message provides a path to develop your ideas.

When you have a clear and concise message, it helps you formulate your arguments. Think of developing your arguments using the rule of three —three compelling arguments to convince but not overwhelm your audience.

5. Prepare a call to action. Remember, we want to change our audience in some way, so we need to make our ask clearly and concretely. Consider your call to action in terms of what you want your audience to think/feel/do:

• Think: “I want you to think about how you can improve your presentations.”
• Feel: “I want you to feel enthusiastic and motivated so that you can elevate your power to persuade.”
• Do: “I want you to try out some of these tips and tools for yourself.”

6. Craft a memorable closing. Close the speech in an elegant and memorable way. We need people to remember what we've told them, so prepare it well.

This is not the time to improvise. Try to connect your closing to your opening grabber, which makes the presentation more memorable. Good preparation means preparing everything to the very end—finish well.

7. Plan your delivery. A dynamic speaker draws listeners in by using vocal variety (tone, intonation, speed, volume, pace, pauses, silence) and body language (posture, gestures, expression, and movement) to highlight important points and hold the audience’s attention. Be intentional: How will you use your voice and your body to emphasize a thought or idea? Think about it: If you increased the time you spent on style or delivery by 20 percent, what would it mean for the impact you make?

8. Think about how you will engage your audience. You want the audience to feel considered throughout. Include pauses so they can process what’s being said; connect with individuals throughout the room and make deliberate eye contact while speaking, especially when delivering key points. Read and respond to the audience by changing how you deliver as you go based on the audience’s nonverbal communication .

9. Rehearse and practice. Practice is one of the most crucial elements of presenting—and probably the most neglected one. If this is new to you, start by reading your presentation in front of a mirror to get comfortable speaking your presentation.

Next, video yourself and watch out for nervous or distracting habits to eliminate them and identify any areas where you can improve your delivery. If you are feeling brave, practice in front of an audience and ask for feedback.

10. Prepare your success rituals and mantra. Public speaking and/or stage fright can feel debilitating for some. Have your calm-down ritual prepared and ready to go before you start your presentation. This might be a certain gesture, a power pose, breathwork, or a mantra.

Try this tip: Identify three adjectives to describe how you would like to show up during this presentation. This sets an intention and helps focus our cognitive and emotional resources on success.

Powerful presenters embrace and extend empathy to seek first to understand their audience. They use this intelligence to carefully make choices about substance and style to create an audience-informed communication experience that feels relevant, reasoned, real, and resonant and creates a pathway for change.

Palena Neale, Ph.D. , is a women’s leadership coach, lecturer, and founder of unabridged, a boutique leadership development practice.

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