In the recent times, there is a lot of argument going on about the use of PowerPoint slides in business presentations.
I even remember seeing a book titled something like – ‘Real leaders don’t do PowerPoint’. It looks as though all the issues with business presentations today are entirely due to PowerPoint. Nothing can be more absurd than that argument.
To my mind, the issues are with the way PowerPoint is used in business presentations.
( Note: By business presentations, I mean all strategy, marketing, sales, training presentations that are used in business. This is to differentiate it from TED talks and motivational speeches)
Watch the video below to know more:
Do you Really Need to Create PowerPoint Slides for Business Presentations?
First off, let us try to understand if we need PowerPoint slides for our business presentations at all.
To make it easy to make my point, let me use a simple analogy…
Let us say, you were driving one day – and your vehicle unexpectedly got stuck in the mud. Now, you need to get down and push the car out of the rut. What will you do?
Will you use just one hand to push the car out of the rut, or will you use both the hands? Of course you will use both your hands.
The same way, if you want to push your message into the minds of your audience, you can choose to use just words or use a combination of words and visuals.
When you use just words you are using only one channel to get your message across. Whereas when you use words + visuals – you use two complementary channels of communication.
Countless studies have shown that when you present your ideas using both words and visuals, you enhance the retention of your message in the minds of your audience.
The key point to note however is – your words should complement the visuals.
When PowerPoint Can Be a Powerful Tool
Realize that PowerPoint is a simple and effective visual tool for your presentations. A tool is only as good as the user. When used well, PowerPoint can be your most potent weapon in winning business presentations.
Here is something I want you to note:
If you want to make a motivational presentation – then you don’t need PowerPoint slides to support your speech. In fact, the slides may even come in the way of your audience imagining or reliving the stories you share.
But, if you want to make a high impact business presentation – you need visuals to support your words. You can’t expect your audience to make sense of your data without a relevant chart. You can’t expect them to visualize a process, without the assistance of a process diagram.
In short – if you want to make a memorable business presentation – you definitely need a set of well-designed visual slides to support your talk.
[DAP isLoggedIn=”N” errMsgTemplate=””] However, I understand that not everyone can create effective and professional looking business PowerPoint slides all by themselves.
That is why we created the most comprehensive and creative PowerPoint Training online for Business presenters. It is called Ramgopal’s PowerPoint Mastery Program. You can find more details about the program by clicking on the link here.
I especially invite you take a look at our 4 step Neuro Slide design process, that allows you to convert any text based slides into clear and memorable visual slides in a matter of minutes.
The process is simple enough that any beginner can understand and implement the 4 step process easily. At the same time, each of the steps is backed by latest research from brain studies. So, you can be sure about the results you get from your presentation.
In fact, Ramgopal’s PowerPoint Mastery Program is the only program you’ll need to create business presentations that are clear, compelling and effective – even if you are a novice in PowerPoint.
So, please check out the details of the program by clicking on the link here?
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