Do you have expert PowerPoint soft skills? Are you an expert presenter? I’ll bet there’s at least one item here you might not know. Fortunate to have spent some time learning from Asia Platt, Brittany Holloway, and Mauricio Fuentes about expert presentations. Let’s go over some tips and tools to improve what you present, for more interaction, clarity, and more.
Quick Overview
Magnification tools like Magnifier, ZoomIt, and Teams
Laser pointer in PowerPoint
Rehearse and record PPT slide deck
Soft Skills tips and tricks
Magnification tools
Zoom – Can you see this?
Various methods for Zooming (including Teams)
Do you struggle with demo’s to present screens that customers struggle to view? See some magnifier tool options from windows client/server, teams, and PowerPoint below.
Magnifier (on Windows client/servers)
Click on Start > type Magnifier
Change zoom level
Move mouse to focal point
BE careful and don’t move mouse too much!!
ZoomIt
Good utility for demo’s and presentations. Zoom, draw, whiteboard, type pen (in colors), and more
ZoomIt SysInternals free tool download https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/zoomit
Shortcuts link
Teams built in Zoom
My own personal preference is Teams. Demo’s can work in a pinch if only Magnifier is involved in a lab demo.
Zoom in/out of Teams shared application/screen https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/zoom-in-and-out-in-microsoft-teams-dc3cd3d8-efb5-4995-8b31-434b3943ba52
Laser pointer in PowerPoint
Hit the Control Key to turn your mouse into a pointer, allowing your audience to know ‘what’ is being emphasized.
Click Control, or Control-L for Laser pointer when presenting in PowerPoint.
Rehearse with coach
Record PPT slide deck
Asia (Asha) suggested this method to record delivery for analysis. This helps check tone, pace, filler words, and more.
From PowerPoint, click on Slide Show > Rehearse with coach
PowerPoint Rehearse – record and get analysis from practicing your presentation.Go through presentation, and view analysis
Second page screenshot of more details
Soft Skills tips and tricks
- PowerPoints ‘Rehearse with Coach’ is an awesome way to practice and level set delivery.
- Magnification tools – Magnifier, ZoomIt, Teams (built in Zoom)
- Be creative and be yourself in delivery!
3. Involvement
Involvement example
Interaction soft skill – personalization.
I utilized this to reinforce (from my introduction), as an audience check in, gauging involvement. This helped me gauge where the audience was attention wise. Required audience thought before answering.
Hope this article provided another tool in the Presentation Soft Skills toolbox!
Hope this gave another tool in the Presentation Soft Skills toolbox!