5 PowerPoint hacks to improve your webinar presentations

When people hear “PowerPoint”, they tend to get the wrong idea. This is due to PowerPoint getting a bad name. This is likely because people are thinking about lengthy bullet points, too many words, and a basic-looking presentation.

What if I told you that PowerPoint is actually an extremely powerful tool in the world of webinars? 

Once you figure out how to use it efficiently, you will be able to harness the true potential of PowerPoint and enhance your webinar experience.

To help you out, I’ve put together 5 PowerPoint hacks.

5 PowerPoint Hacks For Your Webinar Presentation

If you’re already confident in your abilities with PowerPoint, I’d suggest taking a look at these 4 PowerPoint Tricks That No One Is Talking About.

Hack #1: Create A PowerPoint Template To Use For All Webinars

You don’t need to be a graphic designer to build a professional and eye-catching webinar presentation. However, having a bit of a creative spark and patience while you nail down the process definitely helps.

You may already have a template you must work with, especially if you’re in a corporate environment. If you have more leniency, you have a great opportunity to develop your own sleek presentation that reflects and complements the tone of your webinar.

Be sure to keep your slides professional and polished. It’s Imperative credibility of your webinar.

Once they’ve been created, you can now duplicate them and keep your own design as your template moving forward.  This way each webinar continues to stay consistent with your brand.

Hack #2: Learn Keyboard Shortcuts

Learn to use the keyboard shortcuts in PowerPoint. It’ll save you time and make you look like a presentation wizard. Nothing grinds a presentation to a halt like a presenter fumbling through awkward pauses and technical issues.

It’s every presenter’s nightmare.

To avoid these errors, you can practice a few simple key navigation commands:

  • F5: start your presentation
  • N or ➡️(Arrow Key): advance to the next slide
  • P: moves back to the previous slide
  • Enter + Slide Number: jump directly to the slide specified

Knowing these simple keyboard shortcuts will keep you confident when presenting and help you feel more at ease about your presentation. 

Hack #3: Use “Poll Everywhere”

Poll Everywhere is a great PowerPoint hack, and once you start using this tool, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it. In short, Poll Everywhere allows you to add interactive polls into your slides, your viewers respond and their responses populate on the screen. 

Whether it’s presentation feedback or content related questions during the presentation, you’re opening a window of conversational pieces. This could facilitate healthy discussion, which inevitably brings you and your audience closer.

By using this inexpensive and simple digital tool, you won’t have to worry about engagement again.

Hack #4: Use animations, but don’t get carried away!

Another effective way to enhance your PowerPoint slide and webinar experience is the use of animations. Animations can be an extremely fun application. However, be sure that the content of your presentation isn’t simply dancing for the sake of dancing, rather than providing useful value.

Animations are extremely effective if used correctly to complement and supplement your presentation.

If used improperly, it is simply distracting. The coolest feature of the animation tool is that you can control everything from the angle of turn to the speed of transition.

You can use the animations to highlight points you want to make one at a tie. Set up the animations to reveal your information in parts, which will tease the audience and keep them curious while simultaneously keeping your audience focused on each element of your presentation individually. 

This type of animation can also help you stay on topic and better explain each point as they appear. 

Hack #5: Keep it Minimalistic

As DaVinci himself once said:

“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.” – Leonardo DaVinci.

Okay, so you’re not painting the Monalisa. However, this phrase still rings particularly loud when applied to a webinar presentation.

No one likes seeing slides flooded with bullet points and words.

Nothing loses an audience’s interest as quickly. Instead, choose to display key information in a unique and eye-catching way, such as infographics, images, and videos.

The use of videos is an astonishingly effective medium to include in your presentation. Who doesn’t love an interesting and informative video? Including a video that resonates with your audience can revitalize activity and energy.

It will also inject an all-important variety between slides. A video can also be an effective tool for explaining a challenging concept that is hard to explain solely through words or visual images.

Let’s Recap:

With these 5 simple PowerPoint hacks, your webinars will stand out and engage your audience.

  1. Create A Template: Create a sleek and professional template for continued use and to keep all your webinars consistent.
  2. Learn Keyboard Shortcuts: Be a better webinar presenter, use keyboard shortcuts so you don’t fumble.
  3. Try “Poll Everywhere”: A simple and inexpensive PowerPoint hack that allows you to interact live with your viewers.
  4. Use (some) Animations: Keep your viewers paying attention using simple animations.
  5. Minimalistic is Key: No one will pay attention to a busy presentation. Use visuals and videos to explain complex topics rather than an extensive amount of bullet points.

Start enhancing your webinars using PowerPoint presentations. It’s a powerful tool that’s often forgotten about. Give these PowerPoint hacks a try and let us know what you think.

Matthew Ley

Matthew Ley

Matt Ley is the current President and co-founder of The Streaming Network. Starting his career in virtual events in 2007, Matt is an industry veteran that is passionate about helping customers stand out in their industry with compelling virtual events that people want to attend. The driving ambition for Matt is that virtual events are not a utility for information distribution but an opportunity for firms to create a competitive advantage. Matt is an accomplished speaker, moderator and a sought-after thought leader.

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