PowerPoint

It doesn't have to be like this.

Over the years that I have worked in sales support and corporate communications I must have seen literally thousands of PowerPoint presentations. They nearly all had one thing in common: they were dreadful.

The average PowerPoint presentation is thrown together at the last minute by someone who has never had any formal training in creating a PowerPoint presentation or in delivering one. Huge swathes of documents and spreadsheets are cut and pasted onto slides. Interminable lists of bullet points are created. Cringe-worthy clip-art is sprinkled randomly over a few slides and then every animation effect possible is used to fly, wipe, spin and zoom this mish-mash of rubbish at our eyeballs.

The overall effect is either terminal boredom or total information overload.
Because of this most people hate PowerPoint. They hate presenting with it and they hate attending presentations. But it's not PowerPoint that's at fault.

Most companies have a website. They spend a lot of money to have the website designed, created, hosted and promoted. But the guaranteed audience for a web site is zero. Some companies produce brochures. These must be photographed, designed, printed and distributed, again at some considerable cost, but again the guaranteed audience for a brochure is zero.

A PowerPoint presentation has a guaranteed audience. Often an audience who will make a decision based on the presentation. They may buy your product, choose to work with your company or accept a change in the way things are done. This is a crucial point in communicating your message, yet how much have you spent on creating a presentation that will deliver your message in the most effective way?

Why has it become acceptable for the Salesperson or even the CEO of a large company to stand there and deliver a dreadful presentation when it would take very little effort to make things better?

To try and help I have worked with C-Two to create a seminar; "The Art and Science of Visual Communication" which aims to show people how PowerPoint can be used in much more effective ways. I show how PowerPoint works, why it usually doesn't and how we can make simple changes to improve the situation.

By using simple examples and easy to use tips, I'll show you how to increase the effectiveness of your presentations and lead to engaged and enthusiastic audiences.

I have also written a book about PowerPoint together with writer and broadcaster David McFetridge which is available from the Amazon Kindle store here

If you use Powerpoint you should check it out.

If you would like to know more please email me and I will be happy to talk to you.