Using PowerPoint To Present Yourself Professionally

It is essential that we also have the skills and knowledge to deliver feedback of this development in a professional and coherent manner. PowerPoint 2007 is the ideal application to use whenever you need to create a professional, polished, dynamic and high-impact presentations quickly and easily.

As more and more of us are encouraged to actively pursue continuous personal development in the workplace, it is essential that we also have the skills and knowledge to deliver feedback of this development in a professional and coherent manner.

The ability to deliver first-class presentations has become more established as we develop our technical skills. Preparing a talk on a topic and presenting it to an audience - whether it be to one person or an entire room of people - goes hand in hand with pitching and selling ourselves in today's workplace. As well as allowing feedback and measuring knowledge, presentations can be used to test for general communications skills or as a way of measuring specific knowledge. The usual format is to present on a laptop or projector and follow up with a 10 to 15 minute questions and answers session.

But your presentation needs to convey much more than the content of each slide; presentations can be used to assess anything from communication and presentation skills, or the ability to put forward an argument and how you think on your feet, to your level of knowledge on a particular topic or sales technique. And this is why PowerPoint 2007 is the ideal application to use whenever you need to create a professional, polished presentation - whoever your audience may be. PowerPoint 2007 allows you to create dynamic and high-impact presentations quickly and easily.

Obviously how you present your ideas depends on the brief. When highlighting general communications skills you may be asked to present on a topic of your choice. Ensure that you have researched your topic thoroughly and do not try to present on something which sounds impressive, but you might not be confident talking about. It's better to create a slide show on your hobby or personal interests which you really are passionate about, rather than the life and works of Homer if the only knowledge you have on the character is from the TV show.

You may be asked to present on a topic such as your ability to sell new business. PowerPoint 2007 is ideal for this type of presentation. You can include specific data and display it in an interesting and creative chart or by use of the graphics tools. By using SmartArt graphics, you are able to convey this type of data dynamically using stunning visual effects, shapes, WordArt and charts, including three-dimensional (3-D) effects, shading, reflections, glows and much more.

If you are lucky, you will be given a subject in advance in order to prepare a presentation. Pre-prepared presentations are usually used to assess communication skills or the ability to present an argument. However, in some circumstances you may be asked to prepare a presentation on the day of an assessment. On the day preparation is more likely to test your ability to think on your feet or how you operate under pressure.

If you know that this is going to happen beforehand, it's essential that you understand how to use PowerPoint to your advantage. Even if you do not know the subject matter before you present, you can help build your own confidence when it comes to delivering. Get up to speed on which version of the application you will be using; find out how the presentation will be shown (ie via laptop, or large-screen); and learn the basic steps of how to create interesting and professional looking slides so that there's no last minute panic before your chance to shine. Even if you have no idea about what you might be presenting on, find out how much preparation time you will be given. This will help you decide on the amount of information you need to gather - whether in text or pictures - before you begin to create your presentation.

If you are given free rein on content choice, but are struggling for inspiration, the following topics might help you think about how you can use PowerPoint 2007 to stimulate some creative thinking: What would you achieve within the first years within the organisation?; or Present Your CV; or Make a Sales Pitch For a Product/Service.

While thinking about what you would like to convey to the audience, you can also think about how you can use PowerPoint 2007 to bring flow and continuity to your presentation with the use of Themes and Quick Styles. Themes simplify the process of creating professional presentations. The background, text, graphics, charts and tables can be formatted to reflect the theme that you select, ensuring that all elements in your presentation complement one another.

Remember that during your presentation the audience will also be paying attention to your presentation style, how engaging you are, your body language and your ability to present information. Obviously if content is important, your level of knowledge and expertise will also be assessed. If you feel uncomfortable being in the spotlight for too much of the time, you can make use of the Presenter View in PowerPoint 2007. Simply run your presentation from one monitor while your audience views it on the second monitor.

So, if you want to ensure that your presentation skills don't let you down, make sure you are familiar with the latest PowerPoint program - it could be the difference between delivering or falling short in that important presentation.