Powerpoint training

[fatbasher]

One of my sales guys added applause once to his sales figures when they came up. 

Fucking love that......

I can just see the faces at our death by powerpoint sales meetings, priceless.

[@MacPhlea]

Here are my tips for being a PowerPoint Master...

Make your first page have really big letters

Make sure you fill your sub pages with as much detail as possible - to get the most out of your page use a really small font - you can get loads of lines in then and it will draw your audience in

Use lots of flashing effects... That way, if your audience do get bored, they will be distracted by the people with epilepsy

Rehearse what you have written on your slides... There's nothing people enjoy more than being to read along to your presentation word for word

Slip a humour slide in... You know the sort, an embarrassing Christmas photo of the boss at the christmas party...

People make a big deal out of the transition effects - to me they're fucking pointless unless you add sound as well like a 'swooooosh' for slide in/slide out or a big bang for the explode effect.

Finally, tell your boss that to make a really good impression you must have a sound system... Make sure you by one of those cheek mics... They look really cool and people will know straight away that you are The Presentation Master

[@MacPhlea]

I'm a PowerPoint trainer at work and a few tips I would give are;

Don't overkill the animations it will take away from what you are saying.

PowerPoint is meant to assist you and highlight main points in your presentation only and is not meant to be your presentation it can remove personality from it.

Don't put on paragraphs and read word for word use bullet lines and print off notes pages and add your own notes to them to remind yourself if you need to embellish a section.

Keep all fonts the same and only have 2 or 3 sizes.

If you're using a new version then add border effects to pictures, something simple and if you have slide with only text on add a simple small picture to the corner somewhere to break the text up, a white stick man is the type I often use.

Racist...

[Dozno9]

I do work for a German company though.

[Bogus Dave]

Put a graphic at the bottom, which shows how far through the presentation you are

[4D]

If you have a lot of text, present it as scrolling text like the opening of star wars - "In a sales office, far, far away...."

[Bogus Dave]

Use word art

[Cookie]

Some top quality suggestions so far. Most have confirmed my suspicions that powerpoint is piss easy and there isn't much to find. Still, in times of austerity, when pay rises are rare as australian golds at the Olympics then being given money for training cannot be sniffed at so I'll be having a look into the train signal jobby or whatever the other one from the last page was which I've forgotten already.

[Bewster]

I always use a little picture of a cartoon character throughout the presentation - it moves from slide to slide and is very small (about the size of one letter).

Very few people have asked me why I do it but they like the "where's wally"  side to it.

This year I have been working my way through Mr Men.

(note: don't do this on board presentatons)

[jayohaitchenn]

If you are seriously suggesting spending money on Powerpoint training, you are probably too stupid to use a computer.

Google is the only thing you need to learn any computer based skill. And I say this as a 3rd line infrastructure engineer.

[jonny72]

If you are seriously suggesting spending money on Powerpoint training, you are probably too stupid to use a computer.

Google is the only thing you need to learn any computer based skill. And I say this as a 3rd line infrastructure engineer.

Don't agree with that. Self training through the internet is fine in general but there is always the risk you will miss some important bits out which would only be covered by an in depth course or reference materials.

Not all people are good at self training either and really need classroom training or whatever to learn.

Besides, how would you use Google to learn how to use web browsers and search engines?

[Flashheart]

Besides, how would you use Google to learn how to use web browsers and search engines?

By, errrrm, doing a search?

*Edit

Hang on, if by that you are referring to people that may not know how to use google, then that is really scraping the barrel. If somebody needs detailed instructions on how to use a search engine then, to be frank, it's probably best for them they didn't work with computers at all.

[4D]

My Q&A forum wouldn't have any answers 

[jonny72]

By, errrrm, doing a search?

*Edit

Hang on, if by that you are referring to people that may not know how to use google, then that is really scraping the barrel. If somebody needs detailed instructions on how to use a search engine then, to be frank, it's probably best for them they didn't work with computers at all.

Plenty of people (especially older people who didn't grow up with them) don't know how to perform basic functions, such as navigating Windows and using a mouse, on a computer. If you don't know what a web browser is, don't know what a url is, don't know what a search engine is then using Google to self train isn't really an option.

It's not scraping the barrel - there are plenty of people I've helped, some of whom couldn't even turn a computer on. Saying they shouldn't be allowed to use computers is just naive, ignorant and rude.

Whatever you do, don't get a job as an IT trainer or working in IT support as you wouldn't last 5 seconds.

[4D]

This year I have been working my way through Mr Men.

Are you enjoying them? I used to have the books as a kid.