Online PowerPoint Presentation.com

Far too often, I see online PowerPoint presentations that just come to an end after an important issue has been discussed. The presenter might finish by saying “well, that’s all I have” or a similarly pathetic statement that just feels awkward. Every online PowerPoint presentation needs a strong concluding slide.

Your conclusion slide should have 3-5 key messages that have already been introduced throughout the presentation, and reiterated on this final slide. Repetition is a key element in any PowerPoint presentation to keep your audience engaged, and for them to walk away remembering your message. The conclusion slide isn’t just to tidy up your presentation, but it’s you last chance to drive home the messages you just spent the rest of the presentation explaining.

The conclusion slide may also have a few bullet points on calls to action that are required either by individuals, or concepts in general. Keep your conclusion slide clean and simple and spend most of your time speaking to it, not reading from it. Use large fonts that have a good contrast with your background, so that everyone can read the messages and let them sink in. Save your most prominent message for last, and emphasize it in your presentation. Finally, be sure to thank the audience for their time and attendance, and if possible and appropriate, field any questions they may have.

The level of success and the efficacy of message penetration will largely depend on how comfortable and familiar you are with your own material. Practice makes perfect. Go through your online presentation multiple times to make sure you are clear on every issue you bring up, and be ready for any questions you may be asked. You will quickly lose the confidence and attention of your audience if you seem unfamiliar, or unsure about the material your are presenting.

While you may be confidence and well-versed in using the Microsoft PowerPoint application, all bets are off when you are presenting online through a web conferencing provider. Most web conference companies convert your PowerPoint presentation into a format compatible with their technology. The interface for presenting is usually a bit, if not very different than navigating through the original PowerPoint presentation. Practicing with your online presentation through your web conferencing service provider is a necessity. Make sure you are familiar with how to upload the presentation, navigate through your slides (both forward, backward, and skipping ahead or forward to a specific slide), and how to use the video and audio systems so that you can make adjustments as necessary. Make sure you have a phone number to contact your web conferencing company immediately if you run into any problems, or have any questions prior to your event.

Practicing can only help so much. Even the most well-practiced and prepared presentation can go awry. Having a contingency plan, particularly if you are presenting to important clients or partners can be useful when presenting online. If your web conferencing service fails during your presentation and you are unable to get your service provider to rectify the problem, you may want to have the phone numbers and email addresses of your audience so that you can then email them the PowerPoint presentation, and get them on an audio-only conference call to continue the presentation and let them move through the slides themselves.