Power Point Sound

Did the "Painless" part of the title get your attention?

Speaking in front of a group ranks with death of a family member and loosing a job when it comes to the emotional toll it takes on some people.

If you are one of those folks who look for any excuse not to give a presentation in a meeting, social club or your church take heart. You can learn to present with confidence and style. All it takes is following a few simple steps BEFORE you get up to speak.

The first decision you need to make is determine what kind of presentation you are giving. Generally presentations will fall into one of six different forms.

1. Providing information
2. Teaching a skill
3. Reporting specific progress
4. Selling a product, a service or an idea
5. Agreeing on a decision
6. Solving a problem

After you accurately determine the form of presentation you plan to make, the next step is building an outline. Things to consider when building you outline include an

• Incorporate a Strong Opening statement,
• What information does your audience need to hear?
• Be sure you clarify and industry jargon on acronyms.
• Clearly tell the participants exactly what's in if for them.
• What are the benefits?
• And a strong close.

When you have developed your outline it is time to "fill in the blanks". The detail of your notes will vary depending on factors such as your familiarity with the subject, the number of details that need to be given and the level and amount of technical information you will be sharing.

When the outline and notes are developed it's time for Practice, Practice and then some more PRACTICE.

It takes about six times going through the presentation before a facilitator is comfortable with the material. Don't skimp on time here, it will show up later.

During and after your presentation, be prepared for questions. A few tips to help here include planning for questions. Plan by answering as many questions as you can during your talk. If you get a question you don't know the answer too, don't fake it. Tell the group that you will get the information back to them as soon as you can.

Be sure to answer the question briefly, yet completely. Do not go over your entire presentation; simply answer what was ask.

Don't be afraid to ask for clarification if you don't understand the questions.

If you wold like to learn more on Painless Presentations email info@TrainingConnections.ORG. We offer a one-day or two-day class for your organization.

(C) 2003

(C) 2008 John Robertson--This article may be shared with others in its entirety. However, credit must be given to John Robertson and the following text must be included.

John Robertson is currently the Training Manager for a major wireless carrier and has over 30 years training and training management experience. While not at the office his interests include woodworking, metalworking, hunting, fishing, and the outdoors. He is also a part time videographer and produces How To DIY Videos. Check his website http://www.TinkerJohn.com for more ideas and plans.

A theme is a quick and easy way to give a professional and modern look to an entire 2007 Microsoft Office system document. A document theme is a set of formatting choices that include a set of theme colors, a set of theme fonts (including heading and body text fonts), and a set of theme effects (including lines and fill effects).

How To Use Power Point43908

A top complaint from audience members is that many presenters put too much emphasis on PowerPoint and technology while neglecting the message and interaction with participants. One way to deliver more effective presentations that improve your connection to your audience is to add a remote control to your presentation tools.

Why would one more piece of technology actually switch your focus from PowerPoint to your audience? Have you been distracted (or bored) as a presenter stopped the flow of their talk to pace back to the laptop to change to another slide or as they waited for a partner to move to the next slide? This is one of the 6 reasons why you need a remote for your PowerPoint presentations:

• Break Down the AV Wall. Without a remote, you are limited to the area by your laptop which builds a wall between you and your audience;
• Get Control. You never want someone else to control the computer while you have to keep saying, "next please" or flash hand signals. This approach breaks the flow of the speech, annoys your audience, and risks that your helper moves to the wrong slide;
• Fewer Distractions. Use a remote to stop distracting others who watch you walking back to your computer to move to the next slide. Plus, a remote helps you maintain eye contact with the audience instead of looking at your laptop;
• Smoother Animations. The impact and flow of most animations is lost when you run animations manually from your laptop;
• More Professional. Presenting without a remote takes away from the professionalism of a presenter and directs the focus to the technology (or to the lack of tech-savvy if anything goes wrong);
• Cool Factor. Okay, maybe not a key justification, but a remote is a nifty and useful addition to your technology tools.

With a presentation remote control, you can more effectively and smoothly deliver an electronic presentation and communicate your message. That said, even though I am a huge fan of remotes, you always want to know multiple ways to navigate with the keyboard while delivering a PowerPoint presentation. Keyboard commands may sometimes be faster or at least give you a backup plan.

Dawn Bjork Buzbee

Dawn Bjork Buzbee is The Software Pro and a certified Microsoft Office Expert and Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor. Dawn shares smart and easy ways to effectively use software and technology through her work as a speaker, trainer, and consultant. Discover more tips, tricks, tools, and techniques at http://www.SoftwarePro.com

There's a fast way to put the commands and buttons you use most often within easy reach put them on the Quick Access Toolbar. This row of buttons above the Ribbon already contains several buttons by default, but you can add new commands. The demo shows you two ways to do this, as well as how to remove them later if you want to.

Microsoft Power Point Design Template