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PowerPoint is a type of electronic program that was created by Microsoft. It uses a software package that a presenter can utilize to create slides, charts, graphs, audio, diagrams, screenshots and animations to name a few. A computer and projector is needed to facilitate the presentation. This method of presentation has escalated due to the ease and adaptability to various business meetings. Like any other product, there are advantages and disadvantages. This article will simply focus on some of the advantages of PowerPoint in business communication.
Stick To The Topic
PowerPoint is a God sent for nervous speakers as the speaker and audience are caught up with the actual visual kick it presents. It also acts as a cheat sheet for speakers as the speaker’s main ideas are at hand instead of being buried in a bunch of papers that can be difficult to find when needed. It allows the speaker to stick with the intended topic with good follow through by the audience.
Collaboration Tools
PowerPoint presentations provide tools for collaboration especially when speaking to a team of people working together in a project management system. The speaker now has the ability for further collaboration. He/she can now leave information to share, information to be reviewed or even to garner new information from coworkers. Once the presentation has been left for other team members, the individual who wants to participate simply click the “new comment button”. That type of togetherness is priceless as it encourages team participation.
Visually Appealing
The visual impact of this method of presentation improves audience focus and participation by allowing use of images, audio and videos. It allows the speaker to be interactive, friendly, and comical as necessary and to be creative without having to be the great orator. Look through some press kit examples for inspiration to create a PowerPoint that is visually stimulating without being distracting.
Customization Features
PowerPoint presentations provides for flexibility as slides can be customized, and can be rearranged at any given time. Speaking to a business community is usually a difficult task for most speakers but with PowerPoint presentations it is easy to create colorful slides, attractive designs, animations, and gives the speaker the choice to “drag and drop” different segments of the script as desired to enhance the presentation. This also creates an overall eye-catching appearance that attracts the audience and keeps them focused. In the business community PowerPoint presentations are highly desired since they eliminate the excessive paper handout.
Facilitates Note Taking
The slides can be text-heavy, which is good for business communication if the participants are expected to take notes for further review. The text can be image- heavy depending again on desired effect. It can also be a combination of both. Each speaker decides on his/her approach. Either way, it is a great way to get team members to pull out that sheet of office paper and start taking notes.
Engage Various Learning Styles
One of the best features of PowerPoint presentation is that it engages different learning styles which are present in all large groups. Those who learn by visual accommodation, those that learn by hearing and those by physical means, etc. can all walk away from that conference satisfied that their learning goals were achieved.
PowerPoint can increase visual impact with the use of clip arts, photos, sounds, animated designs and special effects. It provides annotations and highlights which enriches the presentation. It improves audience focus while it increases spontaneity and interactivity. It allows for less scripted and rigid presentations. The presenter is assisted to take audiences to the point where they want more. That strategy works extremely well for business communication groups as a business team that seeks to garner more knowledge is a progressive team.
Document Security
PowerPoint provides security for company issues as a digital signature can be used by the speaker to prevent anyone from changing contents of the presentation. For business communication, it can be used to decrease complexities so all team members can have a better understanding of the company issues being presented. For businesses that have shifts this type of presentation ensures that all employees are receiving the same information. It is less time consuming when preparation time has been allotted.
PowerPoint Presentation Design Tips
In order to create an effective and aesthetically pleasing slideshow, there are some simple tips you can take advantage of that will definitely help you get recognized in an organization that uses succession management. Perhaps the easiest of these to enact is to avoid the default Microsoft Office fonts. These standard fonts often underwhelm viewers, which can cause them to lose interest quickly. Avoid underwhelming your audience by selecting fonts that are not the standard Microsoft Office fonts. It is a quick fix that takes just a second, but it will definitely get noticed by your audience.
The new PowerPoint 2016 is now included in Microsoft Office 365 and boasts many new features. Some of them are: All languages are now included, it shows spelling errors, can eliminate typos, has the off line mode, and has default bullets/numbering to match any corporate design. A presenter can now save a presentation as a web page for uploading to the company’s website.
All these new features ensure an even more impressive performance, and makes life easier for the presenter. It establishes a vast arena of choices when using this method for a presentation. It provides an out for people without internet as it now has offline mode. No matter what language one speaks that individual can use PowerPoint. Need more? Check out these books – Teach yourself VISUALLY PowerPoint 2016 or PowerPoint for dummies, or choose from a long list of other texts. Remember, PowerPoint presentation is effective, easy, and enriching when used in all its glory!
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