PowerPoint, presentation design, and eLearning articles, including:

• Visual communication

Should you ever use clichés in your presentations? What do you gain by using them, or by not using them, and how can you successfully integrate them into your stories?

• Visual communication

Why when we come out of a presentation can we sometimes not remember a thing? Are there simple ways to avoid wiping your audiences' memory? Here are five ways you can improve your next presentation just by doing some thinking of your own…

• Sales presentations / Sales messaging
• Comments: 3

A presentation is a talk in which a ‘product, idea, or piece of work is shown and explained to the audience’ (Oxford English Dictionary), often including a ‘verbal report presented with illustrative material such as slides, graphs, etc.’ (Collins Dictionary). So, how can we define the related term ‘sales presentation’?

• Sales presentations / Sales messaging
• Comments: 3

Considering how important corporate presentations can be it's amazing how badly some companies do them. The wrong messages, presented in the wrong way, at the wrong time, and for the wrong reasons. If you are making any of the 13 mistakes below, your corporate presentation needs help.

• PowerPoint design
• Comments: 48

We’re often asked whether it’s possible to ‘cut out’ images in PowerPoint. Well, the good news is that it is, and the even better news is that we've written a How-To guide to show you how it’s done.

• Presentation skills
• Comments: 2

Overcoming presentation anxiety and recovering from presentation disasters - from someone who once fell off the back of a stage. Find out how I recovered and discover my top tips for handling any presentation mishaps that come your way.

• Presentation skills

Many of the principles of ballroom dancing can be applied to presentations. I’m not suggesting you break into a Quickstep whilst reporting financial results or wow new prospects with an Argentine Tango, but instead, you take heed of how dancers are able to present themselves effectively, keep the audience entertained and make an impact in just 2 and a half minutes.

• Sales presentations / Sales messaging

Bidding and presenting as the incumbent is different from capturing new business. You have a track record, they know you, it's harder to offer excitement. It's a bit like trying to impress a stranger versus trying to impress your own spouse...

• Sales presentations / Sales messaging
• Comments: 3

Many sales presentations go on for too long. But there is no single correct answer to the question What's the right length for a sales presentation? Audiences are different, sales cycles are different, and content is different.

• Sales presentations / Sales messaging
• Comments: 8

The typical sales presentation is too long, too hard to follow, and all about "me". The introduction is all about "me" not "you". The audience don't know how to fit the information they are given to the wider structure. Benefits come right at the end, when everyone stopped listening already. Let’s turn this approach on its head with a more effective sales presentation outline.