presentations Archives | PowerPoint Tips Blog

It’s about the audience

September 20, 2019 by Ellen Finkelstein 1 Comment

You’re always presenting for your audience. Your presentation shouldn’t be about you.

What type of presentation will give your audience the most value?

Ask yourself…

What do they need and want?

Your content needs to be relevant to the needs and wants of your audience. Sometimes that’s hard to know but if you can survey them in advance or do some research, you’ll be more on track.

Sometimes, you’ll prepare a presentation and discover during it that you are going in the wrong direction. If possible, change tack and adjust.

What will help them understand and remember the content?

[Read more…]

Free PowerPoint alternatives – Canva

April 24, 2018 by Ellen Finkelstein 2 Comments

This is a guest blog post by Kavita Paliwal. Kavita is Outreach Specialist of Content writer at Canva. When not glued to her laptop, she can be found making travel plans that rarely happen 😉 Connect with Kavita on Twitter and Linkedin

Creating presentations has become the key part of many job positions, whether you are a speaker, an executive or manager. And for many people out there, it is a great challenge to get the message conveyed in a visually appealing manner, although it shouldn’t be. One such tool that is creating buzz for creating presentations is Canva.

This article will help you out with the step-by-step guide to create a presentation that not only makes you feel confident but also helps you leave the best impression.

So let’s get started!

1. Sign-up for Canva (or log in)

Go to Canva.com. [Read more…]

Import text from Word or Notepad

February 8, 2016 by Ellen Finkelstein 8 Comments

I recommend writing what you will say in Word first, because it’s easier to focus on your message. In another post, “Organize content with an outline,” I provide some more details.

Get text into PowerPoint. Share on X

Importing an outline

You can import then text from Word or even Notepad (or any text editor) to create a new presentation. This is called importing an outline. Follow these steps to create the outline:

Open a Word or Notepad document.
Type the content if you haven’t already done so, following the guidelines below.
Make sure each line, whether for a slide title or bulleted text, is on its own line. There should be no blank lines, because these come in as blank slides!
For each slide title, format the line as Heading 1 in Word or just type in Notepad.
For each line of bulleted text, format the text as Heading 2 in Word or insert a tab in Notepad
For each line of indented bulleted text, format the text as Heading 3 in Word or insert 2 tabs in Notepad
Save the file as a .docx or .txt file.

Here’s an example done in Notepad. Notepad is the free text editor that comes with Windows.

[Read more…]

Write for your audience—and a delicious recipe!

June 15, 2010 by Ellen Finkelstein 3 Comments

I’ve written on this topic before (see the links below), but it’s important enough to cover again.

This past weekend I went to a conference. I heard some great content, but a lot of it was either over my head or irrelevant to my needs. From what the audience said (a number were beginners), I think this was true for others.

Recently, I tasted a delicious candy that a friend of mine made and she gave me the recipe. I made it for a benefit concert’s bake sale and people raved about it. My son heard about it and asked me for the recipe.

I started typing it in an e-mail to him, but then I realized that, although he does a fair amount of cooking (and likes it), he’s still a beginner.

Here’s the recipe as I would have given it to a seasoned cook:

Ginger Chocolate Bonbons

1 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 c. sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. ground ginger
5 oz. chocolate chips, melted and cooled
1 c. roasted ground almonds, sprinkles, cocoa powder or coconut

Place cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese for 30 seconds. Slowly add sugar and ginger and beat until smooth. Add melted chocolate chips and beat until combined. Chill about 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Shape chilled mixture into 1-1/2 inch balls. Roll in the chosen covering. Chill. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Makes about 24 balls.

Ginger Chocolate Bonbons for Beginners

Here’s the way I wrote it in the e-mail:

1 8-oz pkg (or container) cream cheese, softened (left out of the refrigerator for a while)
1 cup sifted powdered sugar (I didn’t sift it, but it would be best to). You know the difference between powdered and granulated sugar? Also called confectioner’s sugar. It’s pure white and very fine.
1 teaspoon ground ginger
5 oz. chocolate chips, melted and cooled (you generally melt them in a double boiler. That’s what I did. Cooled just means so they’re not hot. If you put them in the refrigerator, they get hard again) Ask me if you don’t know what a double boiler is.
1 cup toasted finely chopped or ground almonds, chocolate sprinkles, cocoa powder or grated coconut (I used ½ c. cocoa and ½ c. coconut and made half of the balls with each)-for rolling

Shape chilled mixture into 1-1/2 inch balls. Roll in the chosen covering. Chill. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. If you can keep them that long, congratulations. I think they’ll be eaten in a few minutes! Makes about 24 balls.

See the difference? Let me know if you like them!

What makes a successful sales presentation?

June 8, 2010 by Ellen Finkelstein 2 Comments

Do you give sales presentations? Perhaps you travel to prospective clients‘ offices and pitch a product or service. You may give webinars online to sell your wares. Another scenario: You invite people to your office and give them a presentation on what you offer.

Many products and services are sold via presentations. Your success depends on the effectiveness of your presentation. Sure, you also need to set up the presentation in advance and follow up afterwards, but the presentation is the pitch.

Here are some of my thoughts about what makes a successful sales presentation:

You have a solution that the potential customer needs

You can give the most stunning presentation ever, but if you don’t have a solution to a problem of the potential customer, you probably won’t make the sale. If you do, you’ve cheated him/her into thinking you do, and that isn’t ethical.

You explain how your solution will solve your potential customer’s problem

On the other hand, you may have a solution, but not explain it clearly and this is where presentation preparation comes in. As you prepare what you will say, check to make sure that your content is clear and organized.

Explicitly state the problem, based on prior discussions or on answers to your questions during the presentation. Then show how your product or service will solve the problem.

You provide supporting data to back up your solution

You may have a great solution, but how do you get people to believe you? This is the art of persuasion. (See my e-book, The Art of Persuasion.)

Lost Art of Persuasion

When you explain your solution, you need to connect everything you say to their problem and back it up with both hard and soft data. Hard data is facts and figures. Soft data is testimonials, your company’s experience, names of well-known customers, and conveying how your solution will make them feel.

Your visuals are clear

Slides that you create need to be crystal clear. Because people can’t read and listen at the same time, if you use slides with lots of text, they’ll read them and won’t hear much of what you’re saying—that isn’t being clear.

Your diagrams and charts need to be easy to understand and make your point without irrelevant content. If you need to provide highly detailed data such as a spreadsheet, use a handout so people can follow along the rows with their finger. Don’t provide data that isn’t necessary during the presentation. Leave it as a handout afterward, if people want to study it before making a decision.

All text should be legible and keep animation to a minimum, unless it shows a process. All visuals should be high-quality. Avoid distracting backgrounds.

Use the Tell ‘n’ Show Method, which puts one point on a slide and backs up that point with a photo, diagram, or chart. Watch my video about how to design slides with one point on a slide on YouTube.

For more detailed instructions, check out my webinar, Slide Design for Non-Designers.

High Impact Slide Design for Non-Designers

You connect with your audience

When you speak, think of your presentation as a conversation, especially in a small group. Interact with your audience, meet their eyes, ask and answer questions, be friendly and natural. Your potential customer wants to buy from a person not a presenter.

What has worked for you?