Why is PowerPoint a cue to take a nap for so many professionals? Is it because they can? Nobody is watching them, and they can finally catch up on some much-needed rest? Unfortunately, nobody is watching the presenter, either.
Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the most used and most loathed tools in business today. It’s the go-to tool for 99% of presentation visuals intended to communicate with others. But if you ask people their opinion of it, they’ll tell you how boring and useless, ineffective or tacky the results usually are. What’s wrong with this picture? Why are they using this potentially powerful tool if it is so ineffective — just to sadistically torture their colleages?
The problem is that PowerPoint fundamentals are so easy to learn, it provides false security. Like playing the piano, it is easy to make noise, but playing well takes certain skills and practice. Most business people go about it bass-ackwards. They begin with the words they wish to say and mistake PowerPoint for a teleprompter. This is no player-piano! At best, PowerPoint can help focus and guide others with clues about the context, but there can be no subsitute for having clear ideas or information to convey, then working from the audience’s needs and expectations to identify the best design and use of the media.
Like the Internet itself, PowerPoint is a visual media. You wouldn’t create a single web page in 30 minutes and declare yourself proficient. Why do that with PowerPoint? Busy professionals then spend the rest of their career using that same incomplete skillset over and over, learning very little from each presentation because few dare to say out loud “Wow, you really suck at that!” (though they think it privately, right before they tune out), nor do they offer constructive suggestions for improvement. No wonder so many of us are guilty of “death by PowerPoint.”
This interactive and fun seminar or webinar reveals how easy it is to fall into the trap of creating annoying and useless slides, and more important, how rewarding it can be to break out of that mode and create and deliver truly engaging, even brilliant and inspiring presentations.
Webinar Details: Join author and presentations coach Daniel Robin as he shows you how to avoid the mishaps and mistakes that derail your message and undermine your credibility. Not as difficult to master as your new smartphone and a lot more fun.
This session will show you how to:
- Avoid the “cram-it-all-in” obsession (how many chunks of information are reasonable per slide? What’s a “chunk” anyway?)
- Use animation and motion without annoying the audience
- Prevent PowerPoint from making you look stupid (it happens … a lot)
- Effectively present “bullet point” lists without sounding robotic, or find out how to avoid them altogether!
- Turn presentations into “conversations” that keep listeners engaged
- Get out from under your slides and begin to convey your true expertise
- Design slides that actually support and reinforce your key points
- Connect with your audience so your message is understood and remembered
How? Call toll-free in the USA 1-800-962-4733 to inquire about times and dates that fit your group’s schedule. For a more in-depth experience, check out this course description.
